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May 9th

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Post by Archengeia Fri Aug 19, 2016 9:51 am

It takes the remainder of the previous evening for the airship to finally finish loading its cargo and take off. The ship hums quietly as it travels, and hosts inform all those curious that they will arrive at their destination in about 3 days. They apologize for the lack of entertainment in the interim, and hope their guests will be comfortable during the stay. They also help every given Human, including Higaide and Rory, find the 'call' button on the wall in their room, where they can call for help, service, food, etc.

There is also a large cafeteria style area which is adjacent to a library of sorts, which also contains several board and card games. Both have people present night and day to help out, and are willing to take requests for orders rather than whatever is out at the moment.
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Post by K Sat Aug 20, 2016 1:34 pm

Three days trip inside an Airship... well, staying cooped up inside this room is a waste, so Higaide will walk about, playing it bogart, and start networking with the rest of the humans.

If people start exchanging their pasts, he'll talk about how he was a lowly craftsman's store clerk in Hlaalu when he was a kid until he broke his boss's nose and ditched it all to become an adventurer - that's always a good story. He'll also mention Jenna and Jonathan, Ivy and Maeve and Anji (you never know, some people might have seen or heard something about any of them). Information about the Exchange, Pinnacle, etc, is classified and will not be mentioned. Aside from that, he'll keep his eyes open about this ship's crew, and anything else about it's structure he may not have already picked up on.

Is there security staff guarding the doors and walkways, are they Human or Sclavi or what, and can i get some measure of them (do they look bored, as if doing just another job, or severe, like they're doing something important).

In short, i want to absorb all i can about the people and my surroundings.
K
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Post by Rory Sun Aug 21, 2016 7:47 am

I will also get wistful and see if I recognize any familiar faces among the crowd. As far as anyone is concerned, I'm a nobody named Orran who doesn't want to talk about the past too much.

I will try to visit the cargo hold and check on the status of that stasis food crate he's stored in. There's no need to open it right now, I just wanna make sure nothing's happened to it. I will ask where they'll be taking the food, and offer to have me and my friend Higaide help move cargo when we land.

I will browse the library for a bit to see just what sort of information they've been feeding en mass to the humans on these trips.
(I am guessing this is a 2-part ability check, Intelligence and Wisdom.)
Rory
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Post by Archengeia Fri Sep 02, 2016 8:11 am

Higaide's overall excursions turn up a few factoids. First, 100% of the people on board (aside from Javan) are Human. Staff, personnel, etc. Second, there are no guards that he's spotted to speak of, which by itself is odd. Polite Human servants will shoo Higaide away from any sensitive areas but no weapons or armor are to be seen. Most of the people he encounters are cautiously hopeful, but a definite note of anxiety is in the air, and if he asks about even a little it becomes clear where it's coming form, since the Humans have been displaced by major powers more than once recently and usually for the worst.

Rory verifies that Javan's crate is still there. To his surprise, it's also the only major item within the hold. Asking about reveals that most of the Humans' belongings usually fit within their given rooms, so no real need to use the hold.

Rory has no problem flipping through several books in the library, but the more he goes through the more he doesn't understand. They talk about functions and designs he's never even heard of. On the third day of the voyage, Rory (assuming he continues to hit the library) will finally stumble upon something he actually recognizes; something described in detail that corresponds to the titanium golem he saw in-person back on Aphus Lassel.

Neither Rory nor Higaide encounter anyone they know in the three days.
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Post by Rory Fri Sep 02, 2016 8:11 pm

I f***ing knew it.

I hold onto that book. That is Rory's proof that these people can't be trusted. I start browsing for others written by the same author(s), mainly to see if they've written about anything else that relates to the reasons why we are here (scions, humans, the lassels). He might not have written anything on those, so more importantly, anything(not necessarily written by the same authors) related to the following in order of importance, scions, humans, and the lassels, takes priority.
Rory
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Post by Archengeia Fri Sep 02, 2016 8:43 pm

Sadly Rory doesn't find much else that he's searching for. The days have led him to notice a pattern to the books; they're all instructions or manuals of some sort.
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Post by Rory Sat Sep 03, 2016 1:07 am

I speak to a librarian and inquire about this. "All the books here look like manuals - as much as I understand them anyway - but I haven't found any storybooks, or anything else besides how-to's and so on. Why?"

Separate query: "Can you tell me more about these "golems" that this book talks about?"
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Post by Archengeia Sat Sep 03, 2016 2:02 am

The librarian gives a fairly honest answer in that he does not know who selected the catalogue and why it's just manuals, though he informs Rory he's more than welcome to borrow the books if he chooses to. When asked about the 'golems', the librarian asks if Rory is interested in their construction and maybe should seek looking into that sort of profession in the near future.
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Post by Rory Sun Sep 04, 2016 1:31 am

I just leave with the book.

I visit Javan's food crate again. I want to be sure that no one will happen upon me talking to a large crate. Is there anyone there?
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Post by K Sun Sep 04, 2016 5:48 am

If the ship has internal sensors, it may detect him the moment you open the box.
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Post by Rory Sun Sep 04, 2016 7:34 am

[What is this book about, exactly? Did I notice any other books containing information on golems? Or, with clear/obvious external signs indicating the contents might be about golems, if I didn't skim them?]

'Kay. I leave the crate alone. I return to our room to show Higaide the instruction manual about golems that mentions an example of a titanium golem. I start to rant about my conspiracy theory. This may perhaps annoy you or caused you to be worried for me. Or convince you, that's always a possibility.


"Look here, read this part. Doesn't that sound like the golems we saw on Aphus Lassel? And this book was in the library - still wrapping my head around that, a library on a ship. All those walls of books hold nothing but instructions manuals."


"Of course! To help the captured humans study various professions. And who benefits this mass migration of humans? Who can control hundreds of our people with total psionic domination? This Gaerlan whom we have yet to meet. It's his people who are receiving them as shackled hands for his own designs and ambitions."

There is a slight glimmer of hope in Rory's eyes as he says this. If it holds true, his theory is accompanied by the possibility of meeting Fierneceal again...and of potentially having to go up against Gaerlan to free the humans and keep them safe from ill-intent outside influences, which replaces that glimmer of hope with one of apprehension.
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Post by Archengeia Sun Sep 04, 2016 8:42 am

The book seems fairly high-level technical, to the point where Rory has difficulty even understanding it due to its vocabulary. This isn't a slight on Rory's INT score, it's just using words he's never encountered before, a lot. However several books in the area where Rory found it seem to also concern Golems.
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Post by K Sun Sep 04, 2016 5:04 pm

"Never been to Aphus Lassel. Too busy slaving under the Tumeroks."

He takes the book, flips through the pages. Nice pictures.

"If the Scions actually needed us to learn anything by ourselves, instead of just shoving whatever information they want us to have directly into our minds after they overwrite and twist them like a pretzel, i'd be a happy monk."

He keeps flipping through the pages, absentmindedly.

"I get the feeling this is too hands-on for them. Pinaccle too; just lacks the self-important oomph you know them for. This whole thing is too... functional. I mean, we're in a cargo ship, refitted to haul people. Even our friend back there was all silver-tongue, but didn't have any actual power to brainwash anyone. Heck, it lost it's temper easier than i'd thought, all things considered. No, my money is on the other team. The bastards that led us by the nose the last time we were in Sho."


OOC: Higaide deliberately avoids saying their name aloud, btw.
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Post by Rory Sun Sep 04, 2016 7:52 pm

Rory, somewhat embarrassed by his tendency to jump to desired conclusions, just nods. I guess those golems of "titanium" aren't so special after all. "Hmm...that does make sense. Still, I wonder what this," he jabs a finger at the book's illustration of the familiar golem, "is doing here. If they're not allied with or working for Pinnacle, or the scion, then what's their game?"
What would a hidden force trying to dominate the splintered factions of the former Undermarket, neither through psionic power, or whatever the Pinnacle is capable of, need with so many humans?
"Free labor? Oh who cares. And honestly, part of me feels like we'll have more trouble dealing with 'them' than those other two."
Rory
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Post by K Mon Sep 05, 2016 4:35 pm

"Well..." - he muses - "As i hear it, they have one thing in common with the folks from Aphus: Dry Technology. They don't use magic at all."

He pauses for a second before continuing.

"If all we find at the end of this trip is a bunch of Humans and Tuskers just wanting to help their own, i'll feel a little bad about that thing we beat to shreds back there. And i guess all this still falls within the realm of good business if you gain a massive workforce that's motivated to give you 100% out of sheer gratitude. I'm not that optimistic, though. Especially if they happen to want these guys to build titanium golems for them. I mean, you could probably build yourself a nation if you had enough of those things, but i remember how one made of water almost killed us, let alone that."

He points at the schematic on the page. Then exhales a thoughtful sigh.

"We'll have to gauge our approach depending on what we find down there. I'm starting to worry it'll be complicated."
K
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Post by Rory Tue Sep 06, 2016 12:45 pm

"I wouldn't bet on tuskers. If we're talking about that particular mix of humans and tuskers, I wouldn't expect them to be familiar with this continent's sciences so soon, let alone magic...right? But yeah, we are sorta stuck for the time being."

For my meals, I eat legumes and dried fruit, and I only drink water. I've been browsing the library for books and then taking them to the cafeteria to eat while I read. Otherwise, I'm in the library while I read, or in our room while I eat.
Rory
Rory

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