< They Meet In The Middle | Ex Pulplogs | Room Full Of Corpses >
ST After Corve and the short, irritable man in white armor finished their discussion and sealed their bargain the Circle was interrupted by the sound of someone approaching, whistling a jaunty tune to himself. The white-armored man turned a dark look towards the new intruder, sighing.
Captain Oteki whistles a jaunty tune! And hums once in a while. "Hmmmm hmmmm hmmmmmmmm hmmm hmmmm hm-hm-hm-hmmmmmm!"
Myrrh "Oh this had better not be another flower monster..."
Corve turns a little, raising an eyebrow and narrowing his eyes. Last thing they need is more surprises. They've been here long enough. "It had better not be any sort of monster, for its sake."
Xar`Rex tenses lightly, and the bracers 'round his wrists flow to cover his claws in a golden sheath. "Another guardian?"
Carmine turns to scowl towards the approaching hum, sword held at her side for the moment, presenting a profile of sunlight crisscrossed with red runs to whoever appears.
Corve knows they look intimidating. It's not so much the fact that each of the members of his Circle is a powerful asset. They just /look/ scary. He takes a few steps towards the direction of the sound.
Captain Oteki appears! With a spring in his step, a tune on his lips, and a grin on his face. And a giant spiked fighting gauntlet on his arm, but you can just ignore that part. "Why hello thar!" he calls out as he notices the Circle, giving a pleasant wave.
Corve raises his eyebrow again and licks his teeth, Valor's Fist clenching slowly as he takes in the appearance of the newcomer. He's about to demand who the man is, when he recalls the talk he had with the dwarven man standing near him when they first met. "Hello." Okay, now: "Who are you?"
Short Man turns an irritable gaze on the jaunty man with the gauntlet. Stocky and strongly built but still diminutive, the white-haired, grey-skinned man is armored in heavy white plate, a pair of thick battleaxes slung across his back.
Xar`Rex turns to face the new man, a rather enormous stone reptilian that one might peg as a statue of an Anklok, were it not for the wings that are arched slightly behind his back, and the fact that he's moving. He wears a gold breastplate, some oddly delicate jewelry, and little else.
Captain Oteki poses, fists on his hips, and introduces himself. "Oteki Devil-Prince, Cap'n o'the Ill Omen, Scavenger King and Adventurer." he states, before giving an exaggerated bow. "Now if ye don't mind me askin', who might you folk b..." he begins, before spying Xar. "Sweet merciful Sol, ye're a big 'un."
Xar`Rex raises a brow. "And you are very small." he says, in his imperfectly accented tongue.
Carmine 's gaze mollifies slightly as she sees it is at least human, though she is still holding the sword. Her skin is the dusky brown of the south, red hair flowing down from her shoulders. Her body is attractive and well muscled, her current dress revealing a lot of it, four ribbons of red silk and bracers and chocker in gold all that she is wearing, a few small pouches hanging from her belt.
Myrrh studies the...captain. Great. A scavenger. "So...what exactly brings you to a hidden city in a dead island at the Bottom of the Sea?"
Corve isn't a very tall man- but aside from the Dragon King, he's probably the tallest. A rough shade of a beard runs across his face, and his coat- an orichalcum affair- runs down to just past his knees. On his back is a rifle made of the same material. He doesn't look too happy.
Captain Oteki takes a look around. "Well, actually, I'm mostly down 'ere in the hopes o' discoverin' why precisely this particular island be on the seafloor in th'first place." he explains. "Though some sort o' method o' makin' this investigation profitable for myself and my crew would not go unappreciated."
Xar`Rex "There are defenses, how did you get past them alone?"
Corve snorts. "You sound like a Brumian."
Myrrh Myrrh looks like he's in his late 20's, looking clean shaved with brown skin and eyes, he's slightly taller than Corve which isn't suprising. He looks like some kind of easterner. "Well other than a city full of Contagion corpses there isn't much yet."
Myrrh "Other than the ghosts that is."
Captain Oteki grins. "Havin' dealt with the good people o'Brume on several occasions, I'm gonna take that as a compliment." he states, before looking back the way he came. "An' as for the "defenses", they proved amenable to a little pleasant conversation, though I did manage to lose the clothin' I came in with when a couple o'fine barbed plant ladies got a little too enthusiastic."
Corve thins his lips out. "I see."
Xar`Rex blinks at Oteki.
Myrrh gives Oteki a confused look. "What, they didn't try to drain your blood?"
Corve "Obviously there's more than one danger to look out for," he says. Then he looks over to the short man, raising a brow. "Does this happen often?"
Captain Oteki quirks an eyebrow. "Oh is that what they was tryin' to do?" he says to Myrrh. "Nothing a few words in the right place can't fix. Though from what I been told, they ain't doin' it for their own good."
Carmine "Oh?" Carmine demands, a little sharply.
Short Man "What happen?"
Short Man looks somewhat irritated at all these people bothering him.
Corve "A lot of people showing up and making your work hard."
Captain Oteki takes a half-step back from Carmine, and frowns. "Aye, ma'am. Seems to me that their father is a little on the... odd side. Been approached by one of the young ladies hopin' to barter escape from his labyrinth, I was."
Short Man "No, generally not."
Xar`Rex "Hmh. It is good that you are not trying to harm us. I do not like that."
Corve is sick of playing games with supernatural entities that make his job more difficult. With a sharp sigh, he nods. "I apologize for our intrusion- it's time we handled our business. You can handle him anyway you want." Then he turns. "Let's go- we're wasting time."
Carmine "Their father?" Carmine asks, a little more curious now
Captain Oteki grins up at the big Dragon King. "I ain't the type to do any harmin' unless absolutely neccessary, big guy." he states, before glancing back at Carmine. "Aye. God o'the Labyrinth. Big ol' tree, strange fruits growin' from it. Ye didn't see it?"
Myrrh "No but there are quite a few strange plant creatures about.
Xar`Rex "Oh, the orange fruits. They smelled very tasty." He eyes the gauntlet curiously, "Did you make that?" he points
Myrrh currently has a moss ball looking...thing on perched on his shoulder.
Corve grimaces. Oh, beautiful. Just bloody perfect. Now they're going to stick around and talk to a stranger for no apparent reason other than curiosity. He sighs again, exhasperated.
Short Man wanders back to his tower to see if the annoying intruders kill each other before he has to let some of them inside.
Captain Oteki looks at the gauntlet on his arm. "Nay, my large friend." he explains. "From what I gather it was made for me. A very, very long time ago." he explains. And then looks at Myrrh. "Ah, I see. Well from what I gathered, the gent is a right bit crazy, and has been usin' the lesser progeny of the Labyrinth, includin' his daughters, to keep people from leavin', so that he might have worshippers. An' he gave me one o'them fruits,
ST Snuffles extends a pseudopod toward Oteki, sniffing at the newcomer, then he withdraws the appendage and snuggles Myrrh's neck, apparently unconcerned.
Captain Oteki supposedly it would o'killed me if I'd tried to... engage in congress wit' his daughters. I wonder where he got that impression."
Corve "Same place every other father gets it."
Xar`Rex snorts. "Humans and their mating habits."
Captain Oteki strokes his chin. "Come to think of it, I get that reaction from a disconcertin'ly large percentage o'fathers with daughters o'the appropriate age." he muses thoughtfully. "Can't fathom why that might be."
Corve wants to seriously claw his own eyes out at the moment. "Then you're rather daft, aren't you?"
Xar`Rex "We must go, to save Brume. It was nice to meet you. It is a good idea not to mate with anything down here."
Corve looks at Xar and then up at the ceiling, wondering if the Sun can see them. "Thank Sol for voices of reason."
Xar`Rex turns, with those sage words, and regards the tower, which has a large crater at its base, although the cracks have mended themselves.then looks at Corve
Myrrh "Nice to meet you! Try not to be rent into bloody bits!"
Xar`Rex "How do we go in?"
Corve looks at the keeper's tower. "Keeper! We're ready!" 'Keeper' because he's uncomfortable calling him 'short stuff.'
Captain Oteki grins at Xar. "Sound advice there, lad." he says with a grin. "Yer cap'n there ain't the most pleasant o'folks, is he?" he asks, before looking at the tower. "I have no idea." he adds. "Looks like we're goin' the same direction."
Xar`Rex "He is worried. We must save his people, and there is a thing here that we must find. We do not know what it is, but we will find it."
Short Man "Ain't you all killed yourselves yet?"
Myrrh "Nope! Although not without lack of trying. Can't get into the damn thing.:"
Corve raises a brow and looks over his shoulder. "Caught me on a bad day- what with my entire home about to join this piece of it. Forgive me for not being more jovial about the death of everything I've ever known." He turns to short man. "Open it. We're ready."
Short Man "You expecting to take that new one with you?" He looks from Corve to Oteki
Corve "That's between him and you."
Captain Oteki nods sagely. "Then I s'pose I can understan' the need f'r haste." he states quietly, before grinning pleasantly at the short man.
Corve looks expectantly at the short man, raising a brow.
Carmine steps closer to corver, her daiklave vanishing into sunlight
Short Man "I already warned all them that lettin' you inside means you're going to be rent into bloody bits and destroyed for all time. But they still want to go in. If they do ever come back out, they're bound and promised not to leave with anything I don't want 'em takin' away. You agree with all that and I suppose I can let you inside too."
Short Man "Four bodies, five bodies..no matter really."
Captain Oteki ponders that. "Assumin' I do survive, an' I come out o'there with some sort o' treasure or other, what's the percentage o'chance that ye'll be lettin' me keep it?" he asks in a businesslike fashion.
Corve "Not high."
Short Man grunts assent.
Xar`Rex "You will not steal from us if we let you come with us?" his words act like a question, but sound like a statement.
Myrrh "That rather puts a kink in things. Still! A chance at some treasure is better than none."
Corve "We dont' have a choice, and we don't have time." Corve doesn't sound very patient.
Captain Oteki nods slowly, tapping a finger against his temple. "Well, there goes the likelihood o' gettin' out o'here with enough loot to pay for expenses and buy some damn food." he mutters. "Eh, I s'pose I can agree to them terms anyway. Looks like these nice folks are on a mission of greater importance than my own, an' from the looks o'things, they may need the help o'someone who can actually talk to people without comin' off like an
Captain Oteki angry bear."
Corve grunts, sounding much like an angry bear.
Captain Oteki points. "Like 'at."
Xar`Rex chuckles.
Corve practices a great amount of restraint as he looks at the short man. "Open the door, please." It doesn't sound very polite.
ST The white-armored guardian shakes his head once again before turning to the stone wall of the tower where the craters caused by Xar and Carmine have now been healed by the action of the stone beetles. The man pauses for a moment, gathering himself and slams his palm into the stone before him. There is a moment of silence.
ST And another moment.
ST The silence draws out for several moments.
Captain Oteki starts to whistle again.
Xar`Rex "Snuffles might find you food, if you are nice." Xar posits charitably.
Captain Oteki grins. "That's be nice, but it be more me crew that I be worryin' about. Loyal folk ought to be rewarded for their hard work."
ST "No pets inside, remember." The man waits a few more seconds, then taps the wall lightly with two fingers. This time, there is a soft swuush noise as the stone falls away to white sand, from which a number of tiny white stone beetles scurry. Beyond the pile of sand there is a dark interior to the spire.
Carmine walks up to the entrance and peers inside.
Myrrh gives the short man an annoyed look then picks up Snuffles and sets him down. "Wait here, i'll only be a little while. See if you can't get some nice food?" Pats Snuffles reassuringly on the...head.
Captain Oteki grins. "That's a nice little... plant... fungus... creature ye got there."
Corve looks at Jaks, his large raptor. "Stay here, Jaks. Take care of Snuffles." And then he joins Carmine at her side, unholstering his rifle. "Everybody look sharp- if we're going to get rent to piece, whoever does it is going to have to /work/ for it. Let's go."
Captain Oteki steps up, the straps holding his gauntlet in place creaking as he flexes his hand within. "At the very least, I be gettin' the impression that this'll be an interestin' way t'spend the afternoon."
Myrrh "I found him early in the gardens. He's very useful!"
Xar`Rex steps through the door!
Carmine steps in behind Xar
ST Once everyone has stepped into the spire the short man thumps the sand with one foot and it quickly rises up, reforming into the stone wall. For a moment, the Circle and Oteki are in darkness until slowly, flickeringly, light begins to radiate from some of the stones in the walls of the spire.
Captain Oteki grins at Myrrh. "Well he ain't tried to eat me or stolen my clothes, so he be a step above most o'the plants I've met down here thus far." he says with a grin, before being plunged into momentary darkness.
Corve waits, patiently, until the lights are at what seems to be their brightest. "Let's get moving. We need to find what we're looking for and get out."
Myrrh "I wonder if it's traps or monsters...or maybe both. Atleast it isn't Gut Monkies..."
Xar`Rex "Gut monkey? What is that?"
Captain Oteki frowns. "Or disturbingly obese Guild representatives in search of love." he replies cryptically.
Myrrh "I'll tell you later Xar."
Captain Oteki smiles suddenly. "Xar, is it then. Nice to meet you. I'm Oteki." he says, sticking his hand out toward the big Dragon King. "Love the wings, by the way. Never quite seen anything like 'em."
ST The base of the spire is filed with strange mechanisms, vast pieces of clockwork as large as any of the Circle and many larger. Huge cogs and sprockets rotate slowly against each other without obvious purpose or reason. There is almost no noise, simply a soft occasional grating as some bit of dust catches.
ST Occasionally a flash of Essence will arc in the gloom from unseen apparatuses hidden from sight. There are no doors or windows and the seemingly limitless expanse of machinery fills space far beyond that which could possibly have been contained within the stone spire they stood outside moments ago.
Carmine "This place is too big." Carmine notes, with a frown. Places shouldn't be like this.
Xar`Rex "Oh," he grasps the hand in a stony paw and shakes it - another of those odd customs. "I am Xar`Rex. They are a blessing, and a curse."
Corve nods slowly at Carmine's comment. "Damn right, love. Uh... I don't even know where to begin..."
Xar`Rex is distracted by the clockwork...workings of the tower. He immediately begins to try to figure out what they are and how they work, while attempting not to be terribly rude to the short guy with the hair.
Captain Oteki "Mmm." he intones thoughtfully at Xar's words. "Though, can't that be said about most things that make a man unique, though?" he replies, before glancing toward Corve. "I for one be thinkin' that "up" is the most likely way to be goin'."
Xar`Rex "These are my friends. Carmine, Corve and Myrrh."
Captain Oteki nods. "Seem like a close group, ye do. S'good to have friends." he muses, still looking up. "Ye have any idea what this contraption is supposed to be doin', other than makin' our egress more difficult?"
Xar`Rex "It is a tomb."
Myrrh grunts when his name is mentioned, completely entranced by the massive clockwork mechanism.
Xar`Rex "Do you have friends?"
Captain Oteki nods slowly, still staring upward. "A few. They be waitin' back up on my ship." he states quietly. "Yer friends, though, they be Chosen o'the Sun, aye?" he adds after a moment.
Corve looks at Carmine, biting the inside of his cheek. Approaching her, he puts a hand on her shoulder. "You feeling better?"
Xar`Rex "Yes, we are all Chosen of the Sun. What are you?"
Carmine nods and kisses him on the lips
ST So far as Myrrh and Xar can determine, the vast clockwork structures and their random discharges serve no technical purpose. From what they can see, the gears and cogs don't seem to drive anything or produce power. If they have purpose, it certainly is not mechanical. Maybe they are simply decoration?
Captain Oteki smiles. "I be the Captain." he answers with an amused grin. "The Eye in the Sky that the lot of us apparently owe fealty to decided that when he picked me up and filled me with the uncertain light o'his hidden face."
Xar`Rex blinks at Oteki, confused. "What does that mean?"
Corve smiles and kisses her back, grasping her hand gently. "Good. Worried me for a while there."
Carmine "...Sorry."
Captain Oteki grins, and leans close in a mock conspiratorial tone. "Means I be an Eclipse, lad."
Corve shakes his head and kisses her again. "Don't be. Just glad I've still got you."
Xar`Rex 's confusion clears, "Oh. I am sorry, your words, your accent, they are different. I am not used to it."
Carmine looks slightly surprised at Oteki's words.
Corve isn't that suprised. Only Solars and Dragon Kings carry orichalcum- and he saw some of it on the man's glove. "Eclipse, hm? I guess that begs a bit more introduction."
ST Xar's attention is drawn to a small collection of gears and sprockets that seem damaged, they are moving only spasmodically and most of the noise from the mechanisms comes from them, protesting their damage.
Xar`Rex waits til Corve begins his introduction to slip away and check out the poor gears
Corve smiles for the first time in a while as he nods to Carmine. "Glorious Carmine Elegance- Dawn. The tinkerer over there is Myrrh- Twilight. Xar needs no introduction. And I'm Corve. Night."
Carmine whispers in Corve's ear "What's an Eclipse?"
Captain Oteki nods. "'At's about what I figured. Ye really /are/ in need of someone with social skills, from the sound of it. No offense, ye unnerstand." he says with a grin.
Myrrh grunts as his name is mentioned again. He looks about the vast collection of gears, still seemingly not ready to say anything. Although he does seem to be interested in all the sparks...
Corve smiles and whispers back. "Eclipse is a Caste. T He? gifts we're given by the Sun- each one belongs to a stage in his progression. Dawn," he taps her shoulder, "Zenith, Twilight," he nods to Myrrh, "Night," gestures to himself... "And Eclipse."
Carmine "I'd worked that out." she says with a frown. "What's an Eclipse?"
Xar`Rex calls Myrrh over, and points to the damaged bits. "Look at this. This doesn't look right."
Corve "Oh. Hrm. An Eclipse is when the Sun doesn't shine during the day. It gets... blocked."
Corve feels kind of silly now.
Captain Oteki gives a little two-finger wave-salute when his Caste is mentioned. "I be the socially an' politically savvy aspect o'the whole mess."
Carmine "Oooh." The idea sounds patently bizzare to her.
Captain Oteki starts exploring the nooks and crannies of the area. Hey, if the short guy outside said that the likelihood of being killed was high in here, it was possible that there would be old, dusty bones to loot. "Certainly a breathtakin' sight, when the Sun hides his face in darkness. Not somethin' ye see every day." he says conversationally as he wanders about.
Xar`Rex inspects the gears closely, to see where they are going wrong
Myrrh approaches Xar, wondering what the DK is doing.
Myrrh "What's wrong?"
Myrrh examines the damaged gear.
ST To Xar's surprise his examination uncovers signs of battle. Some of the gears here have been sliced into with something very sharp, others bashed out of shape by massive objects.
Xar`Rex "It looks like there was a battle. See, here?" he points
ST Oteki, wandering around, finds no bones to loot, no corpses to pilfer. Sadly it seems the dead here aren't left around to be robbed.
Myrrh "Hmmm...maybe this is all some giant trap and some of the people who came before disarmed it?"
Captain Oteki frowns. "Ye know, I ain't gettin' the best feelin' about this whole affair."
Corve "You're quick," he says to Oteki, Judging Thunder in his hand. "I suggest we stick together."
Xar`Rex "Well, if it is a trap, we asked to get in. It was difficult to damage the walls outside. Is it bigger in here than it should be?"
Myrrh "Much bigger...i'm not sure how it's doing this."
Captain Oteki gives Corve a look of mock-annoyance. "No, I mean the rather disconcertin' lack o'mortal remains. Ye'd think that with so many threats o'bein rent to pieces, a man who looked hard enough'd find some o'those pieces, aye? I be thinkin' this thing is even more dangerous than it looks."
Corve shrugs. "Let's look harder then," he says, his Caste mark flaring as he infuses his senses and mind with essence, each detail in the place holding a story all its own for the Brumian assessor.
Xar`Rex "Do you think we should fix it?"
Xar`Rex "Why did the small bugs not fix it?"
Carmine "They might just be very small pieces..."
Captain Oteki points toward Carmine. "See, that be my point, ma'am."
ST Even with Corve's supernatural ability to find things others have hidden, he is unable to locate any traces of dead bodies. No scent of blood or decomposing corpses, no bone fragments nor unusual stains. If there were any bodies here, their presence was concealed beyond Corve's ability to uncover.
Corve frowns, scratching his chin momentarily. "Odd. Let's keep moving- we have to find what we're looking for."
Captain Oteki nods. "If it be all the same to the lot o'ye, I think I'm gonna head upward before yer friends finish doin' whatever they be doin' over there."
Captain Oteki takes a few moments to do what look like a series of stretches, during which the blue-green stone inset in his forehead begins to thrum with a filmy, blue-green light. Then, after a moment of contemplating a logical route, he begins to ascend, through use of a series of carefully-timed, feather-light leaps.
Xar`Rex looks up at the wind of Oteki's passing, watching to see if he gets eaten
Corve looks up at Oteki's rise and snorts. "I can do that... almost."
ST Oteki's leaps carry him from gear to cog to sprocket, climbing higher and higher amongst the massive clockworks. From the final perch he can see far into the distance, viewing an apparently endless expanse of clockwork mechanisms that whir and click, accomplishing nothing he can see. Above there is only darkness, nothing further.
Captain Oteki remains on his high perch for an undetermined length of time, staring off into the endless... endlessness. "Arright." he calls down. "This place is /obviously/ bigger on th'inside than it were on th'outside."
Xar`Rex places his hand on the stone of the floor, and calls to the spirit within
Myrrh "You know this reminds me of my manse near Rivers...man that went on forever. It might be a test of some sort?"
ST Xar can sense a vast, powerful sprit sleeping deep within this place. A creature of limited scope, but ancient and powerful, glutted on the strength of the enchantments that protect this place. It stirs vaguely in its slumber as it feels Xar's attempt to contact it.
Xar`Rex offers up some more essence as chiminage, trying to wake the spirit with presents!
Captain Oteki decides to do get back off of the giant death machine, and makes his way back down to the ground.
ST Slowly, slowly, the spirit stirs as Xar feeds it Essence and calls for it to awaken. As the spirit stirs, the clockwork mechanisms slow down and, eventually halt. With the wakening of the spirit, they begin to move together, shifting alignments, altering their patterns. Slowly, they begin to work once more. This time, they work with purpose.
ST The spirit is rousing, its attention focusing on Xar.
Xar`Rex spares a moment to hope the spirit will *appreciate* his little gift
ST The stirring spirit consumes Xar's gift of Essence hungrily, ravenously. Xar at first is pleased the spirit is wakening, but then he feels it pulling at his reserves of Essence, tugging at the motes to consume them.
Xar`Rex pulls his hand away, stepping back, and looking around, trying to stop the flow of his Essence
Captain Oteki lands on the ground in a crouch near Carmine and Corve. "They did something bad, didn't they?" he asks.
ST The spirit has not manifested yet but Xar can feel its presence, still half slumbering. And the flow of his Essence is hard to stop, much to his dismay.
Carmine "...Xar...what are you doing?"
Xar`Rex jumps off the ground, hovering in midair to break the contact
Corve wonders the same, but doesn't say so.
Corve "Xar... you alright?"
Xar`Rex "I wanted to talk to the spirit of the stone... the tower is awakening, not the stone I touched.
Myrrh "Xar I don't think I can fix the gea-...Xar, did you get it working?"
ST Xar is unable to sever the connection between himself and the waking spirit of this place. It is drawing his Essence away swiftly, hungrily. In moments it has consumed nearly a third of his power.
Xar`Rex "It is stealing my Essence!" he says in alarm, and a bit of anger.
Myrrh "Well where is he?"
Xar`Rex "in the stone! He is the tower."
Myrrh "Well...maybe he doesn't know what it's doing?" Tries to reach Xar, not exactly sure what he can do for him at the moment.
Xar`Rex is only a foot or two off the ground at the moment, and is not difficult to reach, if one does not mind being buffeted by large stony wings
ST More and more of Xar's motes are being sucked away by the spirit, he is nearly spent!
Xar`Rex "Xeth!" he says apparantly to no one. "Make him stop!"
Captain Oteki looks around at the tower. "What the hell do you expect us to do? I could ask it to quit if you want!" he shouts, before doing just that, an easily-visible wash of flickering, flowing blue-green Essence flowing through him. "Great spirit of this edifice, we humble Chosen of the Unconquered Sun beg that you release our companion." he asks.
Xar`Rex begins randomly burning his own Essence out of spite.
Corve can't think of anything to do, frankly. He's not equipped to handle occult phenomenon like this.
ST Around Xar the clockworks are spinning faster and faster, whirring to a climax of noise and motion. Sparks spit from many of the nearby gears as they rotate and whirl, lightning sparks between them and jumps to Xar. The Dragon-King finds himself wrapped in a cocoon of brilliant lightning as his power is drawn away.
Xar`Rex first breathes out a flicker of flame, which proceeds to crawl over his skin, lighting himself on fire, then his form begins to warp and shift, becoming impossibly larger and, rather more scary. His claws lengthen and gleam with wicked sharpness, his fangs grow so large they cannot be contained by his now-larger maw. His scales thicken and grow razor edges.
Carmine "Xar...?! What is happening to Xar..."
Myrrh "Oh I hope that isn't the tower..."
ST In response to Carmine's question, there is a sudden explosion of light and sound as two of the vast cogs spin off their settings and rocket towards him. In the light of the explosion, the sudden flare of Xar's own fires and the lightning around him everyone is blinded!
ST When the blindness clears, there are only two smoking gears of enormous size laying flat on the floor. There is no sign of Xar'Rex.
Xar`Rex lets loose a roar of challenge that echoes through the chamber as it is suddenly cut off
Captain Oteki shields his eyes with his gauntlet. "Seems the spirit wasn't exactly amenable to conversation." he says flatly, still awash in a smoldering aura of light.
ST As the last of the light clears, the spirit is now visible, a young-looking figure of indeterminate gender made of coiled wire and gears. Out of sprocket eyes, she looks at the four Solars that have come into her domain. In a voice of clicking clockwork she announces, "I have awakened!"
Corve raises an eyebrow. "Well- here we go again," he says. Xar's not dead. Not until Corve sees it for himself- and even then, one's eyes aren't always reliable.
Myrrh "What did you do with Xar?!"
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