Into The Machine

Last we left our Adventurers at this very same place - hidden deep away within the Ninetails hills - they were welcomed by the rather anti-social entity known as Fremy Speeddraw. Very little information was given by her at the time, aside from the fact that she'd been requested to guide them here by their own alliance leadership.

Venturing into the metalic and stone labyrinthian lab, they quickly spotted signs of a rather explosive escape. The source of which they later found out was Fremy herself.

Moving in deeper, they find connections to the Tower of Mages, as well as storages and enchanted engineering plans of sorts. It seems they were doing some kind of research by making use of Relics to touch peoples' Cosmospheres; a term used akin to that of a soul.

They were on a clock at the time, dealing with 'failed' Werefangs, referred to as Chimeras by Fremy. They group managed to get out with something called a 'Dive Crystal'. And with tale of an important machine called a 'Dive Machine' being within this lab, they now venture to try and acquire one of those Dive Machines -- in the hopes that it may be the answer to their lost memories!

But last time, they were chased out by those powerful Chimeras - though they did not chase outside of the lab - so they will have to be careful doing this and avoid their patrols.

Now, darkness falls over the hills. And the gathered group prepares to venture in once more. Their future may very well depend on this mission.

With no Fremy accompanying them this time Shiruba has taking the lead scout point herself. They had to be as quick and efficient as possible in this, to find the fabled machine and hopefully avoid the wandering feral Chimeras as much as possible. Which had the wolfgirl on high alert as they approached the entrance to the facility, even knowing the creatures would not venture to the outside beyond the walls. They could not be much farther within for all they know, and that would put a right quick end to this whole endeavour.

She had Thundersnow Howl at the ready in her hands, though no arrow nocked so she could pull on it's elemental powers as soon as necessary. Going to interiors wasn't very nice for birds, so instead she has her Bun-Bun companion with instead, Yojimbo currently sitting in the hood of her cloak and leaning over her shoulder. His senses were likely better suited for the underground-like structure anyways.

"Everyone be on your guard." A sidelong glance at some of the members of the group that have habits of being a little spacey at times. "We want to avoid the Chimeras as much as possible and as long as we can, but they are not to be taken lightly either way."

Gwen is eager for a bit of a dungeon crawl she's been doing crafting for months for the most part and had a bit of cabin feaver. This was also a chance to escape her mother and the wall. So here Gwen is now aiming to be the party tank as she's made ready to deal with the Chimera or what ever else might be waiting for them she looks to Shiruba for a moment nodding.

"Right evade as long as we can, and don't play around if we engage right?"

Schneider has returned to the scene of the crime, as it were, though exactly /which/ thing done here is the greater crime is a matter of debate. But in the ruins is a thing that may restore his memories, which seem foggy in some places. And of course he's right alongside the LOONS as a Lore researcher, though with the end purpose of finding the legendary LOGOUT button, told of in song and story.

He has come here today to help the more investigative allies find out what can be found out, aiding them with his ... who is he kidding? He's here to blow up anything that tries to stop our investigations. He follows along with the group, looking our warily as we proceed.

    Merek wears all his attire with the hood up, and a hand upon the two swords which he carries with him, taking his time to look between the people there, "We are going to succeed. I am getting my memories back. I... Don't know how many I've lost at this point, but we have to succeed." He's a lot more stoic and a bit gruff compared to usual. Also his beard looks a little more scruffy than usual, like he's been up at night thinking a lot. He'd informed Uta of the place, and looks to wave to her if he sees the woman.

    A little disappointed Frenemy Speedo isn't going to be joining the group for this expedition, Fuka is nonetheless hyped for a return to the Chimera labs. Or whatever they're officially called... Fuka's not really that big on official names. She even managed to recruit a couple of new faces for the dungeon crawl, deciding the goal is a vitally important one she's happy to support; well worth taking risks for.

    The little sylph nods enthusiastically, agreeing with the advice thusfar. "The monster pack in there conned Red." she explains, using the gamer terms. She looks around, then adds an explanation. "To inspection, I mean, signalling they're above our group's strength. Raid-level threat. We *might* be able to survive the fight, especially with this group's gathered threat level, but it'd be a lot of risk and some would probably die, which really kinda defeats the purpose! So yeah... avoid and escape rather than fight, got it!"

When Merek, Gwen, Fukaziroh and the others told Uta about their new thread of investigation, saying that her interest was piqued was an understatement. While normally if one were to try to invite her with "Uta, we have some Lore research for you to take part in" one would have her at 'Lore' -- actually, no, one would have her at 'Uta', this time there was so much packed into this story that one had her at every single word.

Especially 'Chimeras'.

"Chimeras," Uta mumbles, as she proceeds along with the rest of the party, the tip of her staff marking her steps rhythmically. "Li Gan will certainly love to know about this. Unless he already knows about this. Or at least part of this. I mean, it would explain why he is interested in hybrid monsters in yamato specifically. Actually, hm." She taps her chin. "This is strange, he seemed to be surprised that combined monsters were present in Yamato, as opposed to other places. If he knew about this- Hm. Could this mean... could this mean that the Cait Sith/Were 'Fang Ausfuehrung Zwei'-," the latter part rendered by the Translation System the way Uta's approximate knowledge of German understands it: the 'Zwei' as a clear 'two', and 'Ausfuehrung' as a vague semantic blob encompassing the meanings of 'version, model, issue, series'. "-, as Spahthjahr identified the race of our Yamato Adventurers, are... not the second batch of Were Fang created by the Tower of Mages, but that someone else entierely, possibly on a completely different continent, created them first? Of course, it's possible that both versions were created by the Tower of mages. And it's interesting that, according to the Palace Land libraries, they don't seem to be aware that the Cait Sith, Were Fang, and Spriggan were created in Yamato... could it be that it's because... they weren't? Not the first time around, at least."

Uta snaps back to reality once Shiruba urges everyone to attention. "Oh, right. Right. Chimeras. Avoid them. But we should also document them. For Li Gan. You have Artisany, right, Shiruba?", she asks, unsure. "We'll need drawing. If not, I suppose we'll have Gwen sew puppets of them. Hopefully Li Gan won't be too perplexed by the unorthodox way of conveying information."

"I'm curious as how one can get memories -back-," Uta muses to Merek. "Does it means they're not really lost? And if so, -where- are they stored?"

As ever Kaydon has found himself summoned by Shiruba for more adventure, back in those labs they'd explored before. The chimeras hadn't been quite something they were prepared to deal with the previous time, but this time the group was more aware of their existence, and could plan accordingly.

Kaydon already had the Jaeger out in his hand, the back of the blade resting on his shoulder as he walked behind Shiruba, "I agree with not taking them lightly but this time we're at least ready for them." Though yes, avoiding them entirely and not getting overrun would be the better option.

    Stories of what happened on the last voyage here made their way to Miyako by one means and another, and she's determined that she has to see the place herself. Not only is the idea of any sort of information about the Cosmosphere fascinating, she has her own interest in knowing more about the Tower of Mages' doings. So when she hear about a new expedition being prepared, she leapt at the chance to accompany them.

    So she pacxked herself up and headed off, following Uta to meet up with the rest of the group. "Wish I had a camera," she mulls, after taking in the briefings from Uta and Fuka. "Would make this so much simpler."

Prophylaxis /was/ actually here the last time, and has been spending a considerable amount of time decamped in the area, doing as much as he could to prepare for the inevitable expedition into the dangerous depths of the facility. As the others arrive, the doctor emerges from a tent with armfuls of satchels, packages full of medicine and curatives. "Good to see so many here. I am hopeful that this time, our excursion will be even more fruitful than the last."

He glances Utaward for a moment, and shakes his head. "We don't mention any of this, of what we do here, to the Mage's Tower. At least, not until we understand more of what we're dealing with. According to our sources, this place /was/ managed by the Mage's Tower in the past. That is to say, the chimeras created here were almost assuredly done at their behest. Or, whatever experiments they were performing here, they emerged as a result. Whatever the case, the less that they know of our investigations the better-- until we've full compiled enough information to safely disseminate."

"With that said," he sets his package on the ground, "Everyone, please take a pack. I've prepared an abundance of supplies for our adventure today."

Once the gathered party has done so, Prophylaxis nods and turns towards the entrance to the facility. "Come, then," he says, and takes the first steps into the dark.

    Fuka shakes her head as Uta lore dumps, fond of the girl, not exactly sure what's going on with the exposition but more than willing to trust Uta knows what she's talking about. In lore, that's usually a safe bet. It makes her glad though that she told Uta about this and that the odd spriggan agreed to join the return expedition.

    "I wouldn't mind some more fruit." Fuka replies to Proph cryptically, taking up one of the supply packages and heading towards the facility. Once inside she moves to take up a position near the front of the group, once again casting some low-key light magic to cause the hilt of her greatsword to cast off a light. Enough to help the group navigate, but hopefully not so much as to be noticeable at a distance or around corners so as to not draw attention.

"I shall take Chimeras very seriously," Uta replies to Kaydon with confidence. "By... fleeing them," she confirms to Fuka, her posture betraying that her confidence was dialed down a few notches. "Which, uhm, is not very reassuring given the circumastances."

Miyako's wish gets Uta to reflect briefly. "Wasn't the original camera pretty much... exposing chemicals to light, and fixing them? Silver salts, if I remember correctly. If I have recreated a phonograph, perhaps a skilled alchemist could recreate the photographic process. Granted, one would have to start with the long exposure variety, which... at this point we could substitute with the original Camera Obscura where pictures were simply traced artistically, but it's a step in the direction of instant snapshot." She mimes placing a box in front of her face, closes one eye, and presses down a finger. "Flash," she exclaims, and, out of the front bottom of the imaginary box, she yanks something equally imaginary, flat and thin, and shakes it violently. "Enchanted Polaroid."

"Mum's the word," Uta confirms with a nod to Prophylaxis. "Will not notify the Tower of Mages. I'll wait for notifications on when it is safe to Li Gan."

After picking up her pack of curatives, she begins to examine its contents. "Hmmm. Let's see what we have. there.. oh. Oooh. Ooooooooh, dang that's good stuff. Oh, man, that's even better." And then, just as she's been nerding out about Lore, she begins to nerd out about Pharmaceutical details, as she, herself, joins the group heading inside. "Fruit would be good, yes," Uta chimes in to Fuka, unaware of the context.

"Fruit is great for a snack, especially on the go. Plenty of natural sugar and energy," Shiruba agrees with the conversation. But then her attention goes entirely on the matter at hand as they enter the dangerous facility. Even talk of food isn't going to distract her for very long right now.

Gwen says "The Tower does get up to a lot doesn't it?" She wonders what other things the Tower has done that the Adventurers do not know about it? Well they might find somehing as she's searching around attempting to keep alert for anything.

"Fresh fruit is generally enjoyable!"

She's clearly love some herself but she won't push on it they have a job to do. She also makes note to not talk to the Tower about this...

Past the entrance, still looking like the mess it was once before, and into the depths of the facility. Claw marks on walls and the ground grow more common with every tunnel they take. Having multiple people, especially ones who are quick on their feet - like Gwen and Fukaziroh - helps a lot to get a quick scout any time they get into a fork in the road. And Shiruba is keeping keen notes on the network of paths.

And there are a lot of forks. And not much in the way of signs on where to go. It's clear that this place was as much a science facility - based on the rooms they spot as they move through - as well as a maze intentionally made to make infiltration more difficult.

It isn't long before their spells of light start running into trouble however. Deeper into the labs, there seem to be strange 'suppressions' of magic going on. Places where things start to get a bit... weird.

Their spells of light begin to dim. Physical enhancements don't take quite as much effect as they usually do. It's a strange sensation to most of the Adventurers here. But with that, a series of dark tunnels leading deeper in the facility. Notably rather wide tunnels. Golden eyes moving at the ends of them from some of them.

And then, Fukaziroh spots it. A sign hidden behind a lot of dirt and grime. 'Dive Workshop'.

    "First we need an alchemist," Miyako muses on Uta's comment. "You wouldn't happen to know one, would you?" She's at least half joking. Unfortunately there's no time to go looking for a lab, as it's time to be going delving.

    "This place is just weird," she mulls, half to herself, as the party comes across yet another magic-dull area. "I think we need to look into counter-measures for this, if they can manage it down here...."

    But then they come to a door, and Fuka points out the fading sign. "Who's the best with lockpicks?"

The light struggles to do it's thing. Hard to tell if it's a defense, or just an aspect of how mucked up this place got that provoked the choice to abandon it. Shiruba dismisses the small glimmer of light she was using as a torch, but that's okay. Hunters like her prowl at night, they're use to contending with the Dark, natural or otherwise. And by the way he turns his head occasionally to look in other directions like there was something lurking just out of view Yojimbo is probably listening with those big bunbun ears more than seeing anyways.

It would help if they had some idea were to go. But at least Shiruba can document where they've been, so they can get back out as speedily as possible once they find their objective. Fortunately others succeed in fighting something of potential. "Try not to make too much ruckus getting it open. We don't want to do anything that will draw attention."

"Depends on your definition of lockpick." Kaydon replies, as he taps his gunblade on his shoulder a couple of times to emphasize his point. He does take a bit of time to look at the sign though, "What do you think they were diving into besides water?"

It is impossible from the way he says it to tell if its a serious question or not.

The magical suppression doesn't affect him as much as it would any of the pure casters, but he has enough enchanted gear now to still take note of it. He wonders if there's some kind of pattern to where the suppression fields are, maybe they could figure out a way around them, or where they're being controlled from.

    Merek looks to the people in the party, and seems pensive with Miyako's comment, "I... Really don't think we're going to be spending excessive time here, not sure what the counter measure would do except to draw attention from the Tower of Mages." Then he looks to Kaydon, "The whole reason we're here. The Dive Machine. Cosmosphere Diving, entering people's souls with a machine. And with hope, that might be a way to get memories back."

    It's a little disconcerting, having her active lighting spell flicker as its power is suppressed. Fuka's got plenty of non-light power, but if they lose the ability to see they're going to be in a lot of trouble. Hopefully it's just a suppression effect, and not something like a boss monster that renders everyone blind before the battle starts from a horrible ambush. "Alchemy is something I've neglected somewhat." Fuka observes to Miyako and Uta as they wander along. "I wonder if I could do something with enchantment and alchemy though. Create a camera. That'd be pretty awesome wouldn't it?" the little Sylph grins, flipping one hand through her hair and striking a glamour pose.

    She finds something, raising a hand to illuminate the dust and grime-covered sign. "It's a workshop." she claims. "But it looks like it might be a dive. That's what this says. Dive Workshop." she offers. Then frowns at the door. "Nope, not good with locks. Kicking down doors, sure! But that's not exactly subtle. If we need to, I could try earth magic on the wall maybe?" she offers.

So it seems we've made it to our destination without getting ambushed. Schneider hopes sincerely that our luck will hold out, but he is not counting on it, and remains alert and poised in case enemies show up. His skill at bypassing doors is entirely based on Fire, which probably is bad right at this point, and he will let people with more pertinent skills make the attempt. He -can- help with the light level, either with Light or Fire if either help, so that will the the help he provides, and he hopes for the best.

At the mention of the Mage's Tower he reminds everyone, "It seems likely that this was their facility, so...."

"Anti-magic fields..." Prophylaxis mutters as the familiar and yet unfamiliar sensation of being cut off from the majority of his combat arts settles in. "Like the ones that Harrifenas was using...? Schneider, does any of this 'feel' familiar to you?"

If so, that either implies connection at some point in their shared history... Or just convergent technological evolution. "If we could tear some of those out of the walls, they'd be worth studying..."

But that's a tertiary goal at best. It's what's behind this door labeled 'Dive Workshop' that really matters.

Unfortunately, Prophylaxis can't crack locks.

"They were investigating Cosmospheres, Kaydon," Prophylaxis explains. "That is, the realm of the mind and the soul, of memory. Adventurers have Cosmospheres, and it seems that Landers may have them as well. They are worlds within ourselves that contain our 'selves,' if that makes sense. Either way, the machine likely stored in this room has what we need. As for a subtle means of ingress..."

The doctor shrugs. "I suppose I could try to whip up some acid. That may do the trick."

Thing do not go so badly, but as they are looking about for a moment. "Should we even be mucking about with people's souls?" The idea of merek into such things is very worrying to her and it shows on her face. She does not say anything as she looks over the door.

"Unless we want to force it I can't help here..."

"I know several," Uta offers to Miyako. "One of them is standing right next to you and asking doc about fruit," she says, stating the obvious since Fuka already admitted to being trained in Alchemy. "That was a terrible faux pas on Fuka's part, by the way: you just don't mention the A-word to those in our profession," the last part obviously a joke.

"How in the world do they do this?", Uta wonders in reaction to the enhancements dimming, looking around and tapping her lips. "I wish there was something we could easily inspect. I mean, I -could- Loremaster the dimming of our magic as an event, but with each attempt, I'm at risk of developing cephalgia and pharyngitis. I'd rather save the big guns for when it's worth it."

She attempts to clean the grime around the si, to see if "Speaking of dimming... I wonder...", she says, and after materializing a clean syringe needle from her inventory, she attempts to give herself a small prick on a fingertip, to see if there is any alteration in the effects of the Red Light. Slower, activating at a shallower level, anything different from usual. And as she does so, she comments, "I wonder if there's anything else behind that grime. If I don't end up bleeding, I'm trying to clean some of that grime, to see if we're missing extra writings, or a lever to a secret passage, or... I dunno, a doormat with a hidden key?"

"...Worlds? Within ourselves? Landers have it?", Uta boggles at Prophylaxis. "Where did you learn all that?"

"Not at all. I though we were inside a video game." Kaydon replies to Proph, "Are you talking about, you know, that like the little voice in your head that reminds you it's not a good idea to run around murking dudes who don't deserve it?"

Kaydon has always had generally a passing knowledge of what's going on. It's not so much that he doesn't care, just that he's kind of a dumbass and trusts people like Proph to figure that stuff out.

The doctor focuses, which in part involves shifting around to find the right pixel that isn't covered by overlapping antimagic fields. After a moment, he gestures and conjures a partially opened globe of earth, glowing with lines of magma. He takes a moment to deposit a series of potions into the vessel before closing it and compressing it. A moment later, it decocts a dangerous looking liquid into a glass vial.

"Because I've been there," he says to Uta. "At least, to my own Cosmosphere. And if some Landers used to be Adventurers, then it stands to reason that they likely have Cosmospheres as well. Though perhaps of a different form than our own."

He walks over and carefully pours the contents of the vial onto the door. As he steps back and covers his eyes and nose, it begins to sizzle and bubble, eating a hole through to allow passage. "Careful not to get any on your skin as you pass," Prophylaxis cautions, "I seem to have made it slightly more powerful than I'd intended."

Shiruba snorts softly over her shoulder. "Since when did you ever listen to that voice?", she snarks at Kaydon, trying to keep some lightness to the otherwise grim and serious mode so people don't get too caught up in it and it hinders their performance. But for the most part she's just standing on overwatch while the more capable people work on getting the lab door open.

"No," he says to Kaydon again. "I mean quite literally that we each have 'assigned' to us an inner world that contains our memories, our minds, and our personalities. I suspect that it is what is damaged when we return from the dead. There are also powers that can forcefully enter and damage the Cosmosphere, which I was nearly subject to myself."

    "Just a request," Miyako interjects, as she watches the acid melt through the door. While she does so she's extracting an oddly complicated set of goggles from her inventory and slipping them on, leaving the lenses above her forehead for now. "When we get in there, don't -touch- anything right away. These only work at full function once a day, and I don't want the readings contaminated."

Schneider hrms to Proph, but it's been too long since the events he's referencing, Schneider is lucky to remember what he had for breakfast, which is why he always needs a refresher brief before missions. So he shakes his head to indicate that it's not familiar with that. But he will stand well back when Proph hurls something probably worse than fire at the door. He grumbles, "If we were just going to wreck the door, I could have helped that /that/."

As the acid begins to melt away the metalic door halting progress into the Dive Workshop, there's the sound sound of hissing. The metal door is thick, but not immensely so. It does take a few layers of strategic application - before they have melted the hinges enough that the strongest in the party can pull it off of its place...

Opening the chamber into what looks like a laboratory of sorts with three enormous dive machines. They look like enormous cockpits that one lays down inside of. Each of them has multiple connectors with blue gems on their tips. But more notably, each of them has a dull red crystal sitting in the 'top' of the device.

The chamber itself is closed off. But worryingly... the door is far smaller than these machines. And to make matters even worse, the machines themselves are too large to just 'carry' out of here. Even with a group as large as theirs!

Gwen looks over to Kaydon for a moment then heeds Proph's warning as she will be careful once they start moving. "Thanks for the warning." She'll eye Shiruba for a moment as well.

"Ah the voice we need to worry about is the one that goes I like that ship of my Morri's... and we need to ignore it."

Some more humor on Gwen's part as she beholds the machine.

"Maybe we can make a new way out...?"

Shiruba makes note that they should probably block off the doorway once they're done so the Chimeras don't get inside and ruin everything after they leave. But for now, they have a way in. After stepping through she takes a wary look around and, not seeing any enemies, turns her attention to the machines. Does a quick mental measurement in her head. Lets out a sigh. "I was afraid of this. The devices aren't a portable model."

She considers... but refrains from doing what's on her mind because someone asked for no touching to start with.

    "That voice that goes I like that ship of Morri's..." Fuka grins, speaking in a voice that would probably be sinister if it weren't actually her. "...Is probably mine. How terrible you would ignore me, Gwen!" the littler Sylph teases. She helps with forcing the door, then steps aside to let the eggheads and analysts have their turn at the devices. Fuka is a damn good Enchanter, but the devices here are well beyond her own expertise. And she was warned not to touch anything. And here Fuka is, behaving.

    "So. Are those dive crystals? I guess we're going to need to find dive crystals and bring them here to do the whole cosmic pool diving, right?" Fuka asks no one in particular. "Hey Merek, weren't you looking for diving machines? Or was that for the ocean?"

Schneider looks over the dive machine thoughtfully, laying a hand on the outer body and invoking the identification skill he learned from Haru. He closes his eyes, then sighs. "There are relics integrated into the machines, if we took them apart, we'd have to learn a lot more about relics to put it back together again."

    Merek looks forward, and walks towards the machine and offers a little nod to the party. He considers for a moment, trying to discern if anything there can be remade by him. He doesn't find anything like that, but he does notice the dim crystals, and reaches up to one. Slowly and carefully he reaches gloved hands to pull it out of place, unslotting it. "These are Dive Crystals. They are out of charge, they can't be used for diving anymore unless they're recharged, or replaced." It is useful to be a Moonlight Alchemist.

"Okay so." Kaydon clearly has had his thoughts sparked by this revelation, "Hypothetically." Best to start it off with that, to be safe, "You could go into your own memories which are inside of us, but not physically inside of us? So could someone, lets say, find a memory of a guy who was a jerk in the 7th grade and go into it and punch him in the head?"

Once the lab door is open, he wanders in. He's definitely never been invited on any of the stuff to see these machines before, so he mostly just looks confused. BUT he knows better than to go around touching things, "Look I get that I'm just here to carry stuff and maybe fight a monster or two, but what the hell are we supposed to do with all this? It just looks like a mess of nothing."

"One... one can enter one's own Cosmosphere?", Uta frowns in deeper confusion as she skitters back and avoid getting acid on herself. After she recovers from the shock (and recovers from a sudden episode of spontaneous jaw dropping), she resumes, "I mean, Landers having a Cosmosphere is consistent with the rest of my investigations. Even if rarer, they can enter Strange Moods. There is no medical examination capable of distinguishing a Lander from an Adventurer, at an intrinsic level, if we exclude, well, obvious game effects like killing them and seeing if they respawn, for instance, which is of course unethical. We Adventurers even birth Landers when we procreate! The more I look into the matter, the more similar we turn out to be."

"Massive application of Fireball and/or Fire in a different geometrical configuration?", Uta asks Schneider, distractedly.

Once in, Uta considers the machines. "Hm." She considers the walls of the room. "HM."

And then she turns to her Sylph friend.

The small one.

"Fuka, you have learned Construction, right? Are any of these walls load-bearing? Do you think we could theoretically... knock one down, or melt it, and... well, not have everything collapse on us like a temple at the end of an adventure movie after the protagonist has collected the long-sought treasure?"

    Merek does add along to Fuka, "Ya, I... Well, let's say I don't really even remember my youth much anymore. When we learned what losing memories was, I found out that... All the times that I got killed."

    Miyako casts a brief, suspicious glance at Fuka. "So -you're- the one writing the Spriggan Polycule ship-fics?" she asks, half teasing, before she walks over to examine the furthermost of the three machines. She slips the goggles down over her eyes and starts peering closesly at parts of the machine, adjusting the various lenses as she does so.

    "Well isn't that interesting," she muses. "Wish you hadn't broken the door."

Schneider says to Uta, "I don't think I have enough Fire to solve this problem." Inherent in that statement is the assumption that if Fire can't solve your problems, you're not using enough of it. So maaaaaybe it's true that with enough fire, you could clear the monsters out of here, making this place safer to operate in. But as he says, Schneider doesn't have /that much/ Fire. It is disappointing.

"There may be others around here, but running off to search for them is not something to do on a whim," Shiruba replies. They have one, so they know they can be found still, but one isn't going to much good in the long run. Still, that's a problem for farther down the line. She's considering the matter when others mention making a new passage to get their prize out of the chamber. ".. Wait, hold on." She puts away the notes she had been making and turns her attention upward. "Hard to gauge how far down we've gone, but a passage to the surface could be possible. If we're careful to not disrupt the bedrock too much. Or the foundational solidity of the structure itself." She turns her attention to Fuka. "And if someone has a means and knowhow to organize the making of such a passage."

These are indeed Dive Machines, but that's as much as Prophylaxis can say about them. They are big, they are machines, and they are called 'dive machines.' But outside of that, the only thing he can say is...

They are simply /much/ too big to be brought outside.

"...I think it may be feasible to mark where this is located relative to the outside and dig down to reach it. But that's a whole different can of worms." The doctor shakes his head. "Sorry, I'm not sure I can be of much help at this juncture, except to answer questions."

"You may be able to," the doctor says to Kaydon, "But it'd be best if you would treat Cosmospheres with more care. They are, evidently, everything that makes us 'who we are.' Every good and bad memory builds who you are as a person, and tampering with them at all could lead to catastrophic results. My only interest in these machines is to determine how to repair damaged memories and protect undamaged ones among Adventurers and Landers. Outside of that, Cosmospheres are best left untouched."

To Uta: "Not willingly. And not without outside help. Like I said, I only visited my own Cosmosphere because someone else was invading it."

    Fuka frowns in thought, considering Uta's question. "I'm sure some of the walls are." she says. "And it might be possible to open up a wall and pull some of this out. But this place has weird physics, not to mention weird magics. I'd have to wonder if the dive devices *need* to be down here in order to properly work." she offers. It's something she might examine, using her knowledge of magical theory and enchanting, but right now she's got something else to consider.

    Pulling up an interface, Fuka considers the air before her as she examines it with the far-away look of someone reading their in-game menu interface. Moving her hand, she experiments with 'deleting' a wall, seeing what sort of construction results from the operation. Then she restores, trying a different deletion, and then a few options such as bracing. "Yeah, pretty sure we could do it. Would take some earth magic or possibly some manual skill like construction." she agrees. "We *could* remove the machines, if that seems like a good idea. Not sure we'd want to be hauling them through the halls though, not with the chimeras out there. And sure, large-scale earth manipulation and maybe mining could let us open the full passageway out of here, including past the front entrance hole. But... yeah, we got a lot to worry about between here and there."

Gwen looks over to Uta and something hits her.

"A way to restore them might be possible..."

She looks over to uta then back to Fuka while she lets the people who know what they are doing more than her deal with the machines. She does seem very impressed at it all and she's looking the mahincery over. She looks to Mereke "Or maybe do something for you Merek."

She'll settle in to keep watch while others work.

    After a moment, Fuka dismisses her interface, instead turning to study the dive machines with her frown beginning to deepen. She IS a reknowned enchanter. She also has other advantages, at least in this place at this time. "Y'know..." she muses, then falls silent. She stretches out a hand, begins to wave it. Rhythmically, not like spellcasting... more like she was conducting an orchestra.

    She remains silent, which might worry people who know her. Then she begins to hum lightly. A fragment of a song... a fragment of a Song. And then she shakes her head. "I wouldn't want to run one of these machines here." she finally declares. "The aura of this place, the suppression of light, the... disharmony. No, I think it'd be a good idea to get out of here for now, and come back prepared to remove the devices from the facility entirely. Whether that means a full raid party or preparing to tunnel in from above, I'm not sure, but I'm kinda sorta sure we don't want to run everything down here. Especially not with the chimeras in the area!"

    Merek looks then to Uta, and to Fuka. He does try to discern the song, but instead he offers words, "... You know, we might not get the ability to do this for a while, and every moment we wait the necessity of this device will be more important. Do you all think that if we put our work together, we can do it today?" he asks. "If not, then let's plan it now what day we're doing this."

After a moment of consideration, Prophylaxis nods. "I agree. Fuka has an excellent point. We know that 'resonance' plays an important role in the mediation of moods, strange or otherwise. If this place's 'resonance' is somehow malevolent, which I think we can all agree it pretty much is, then diving into the Cosmosphere here is probably unwise. At minimum, I suspect that some level of Cosmosphere Exposure is necessary for the operation of these devices, and probably far more intrusive than that. We'll need to build a chamber that's appropriate for their use, with the right, er..."

He shrugs helplessly, "'Feng Shui', I suppose? I'd suggest using places blessed by the Goddesses, once we get to that point."

"Sooo.... it would be a rather elaborate project," Uta summarizes according to what Fuka and Shiruba hinted at. "Like digging a tunnel. A construction site and a multi-day effort with a team or something. Feasible, but not a one-mission thing,"

"I am not sure if we would be able to do it today, Merek." She looks around for confirmation. "But if those memories can be restored...", she begins, serious, in response to Gwen, "...maybe there's hope for you, Merek. And maybe..." this time she looks between Kaydon, and Prophylaxis. "...I wonder if it can... you know... fix... other issues of the mind."

That line of reasoning is dropped when Uta blinks at Fuka humming a song. Her jaw, instead of being dropped like the line of reasoning, lowers gradually.

"T-the Sublimation Song?", she gapes. "Also known as the 47th Song? The one Estelle heard on the Green Moon? The one blasted at the Sooty Chims? That... that one is a concerning song," Uta shudders. "Why are you humming it, Fuka? Is it... related to this place?", she asks, head sunk in her shoulders. More notches are docked from her confidence, now lowered like her jaw.

Miyako nods as she continues to examine her selected device, switching a set of lenses for a different one. "I wonder why they had them down here? Were they trying to dive on the Chimerae they created? Or was there something else going on?" She pauses to make a few notes on a bit of paper, then moves to another part of the device to examine it.

    Fuka isn't exactly sure what she was humming. She's not even sure why she was humming. Something to do with the interaction of her character skills with her intent, the facility, the harmonies perhaps. And the song itself... well, she's not sure if it has anything to do with the dive devices, or if it's something about the disharmony of the environment here. She looks at Uta, opens her mouth to answer... then shakes her head. She doesn't really understand enough to give a coherent answer that's in any way more enlightening than Uta's question.

    She shrugs, then turns to Merek, her expression softening at his question and the unspoken desperation behind it. "I... I'm not sure." she says, her voice quiet. She glances back at Uta, then returns attention to Merek. "I think we have the skills here to do it all now, if we're *very* careful. Normally I'd be cautious considering the risks, but ... I don't know, maybe we can try to extract one device here and now? Worst case, we have to abandon it and run, and then we come back for the two ones remaining here?"

Shiruba nods. "Getting a machine out where we have the time and safe environment to figure it out would be better than having to constantly risk our way down here just to do so."

"I'm in agreement with Shiruba. We need to clear this place out, secure it, and then make sure we extract this thing and transport it somewhere safe." He still doesn't really understand the importance of it so much as it is important, which is what's important.

    "... I don't think that 'clearing this place out' is really all that possible at the moment, I... Also don't really want to kill the Chimera, it's not really their fault for the way they are," Merek says, letting out a sigh while he looks around a bit, "You know, when I think about it, the more I'm beginning to dislike the Mage's Tower."

"Might be better to put them out of their misery then. Mercy killing." Kaydon responds, as he looks across at Merek, "They're dangerous and uncontrollable and pose a threat. I don't care if it's not their fault."

Schneider explains to Kaydon, "They're too strong to directly engage. Killing the monsters would be spectacular, but it's probably not possible in the short term. We're going to have to find some way to extract it intact." Which advanced power does that sort of manipulation? He tries to remember.

Shiruba looks up again, as does Yojimbo over her shoulder. "Fuka and I have an idea, but it's going to take everyone and we need to be very careful about how we do it." She walks a bit closer to put her hand up against a wall, trying to get a more reliable feel for the earth surrounding them beyond the structure.

    "What he said, it's not really that easy. We'd need an army for that," Merek admits. Then he takes a look to that device, "I'm... Probably not all that useful here, I will admit." For some reason he seems really distracted, while he motions to the door that they opened, "Figure it out. We do it today or we don't. The people's memories can't wait for us to keep thinking about our decisions. The Travelers, the Goddesses, all of them. It's our decision, we can't wait for them to make it for us, we can't wait for Fremy to get over her issues. If you need the Chimera handled while you work, I have a plan for that, if needed." He nods to Shiruba, "Then let's do it."

"The Tower of Mages? I'm... kinda cooperating with them. Sorta. Hmmmm." She taps her chin. "On the subject of monsters. I should get back to them on the subject of their monster manual and my Encyclopedia of Slimes."

"Wasn't the goal for this specific mission to extract the dive machines in the safest manner possible?", Uta asks. "Do we have anything pressuring us for time? If not, I suspect going the safe, slightly slower route is better for everyone involved, isn't it? We can deal with these chimeras once the devices have been removed from the battlefield." After some thought, she adds, "Which reminds me, has anyone inspected these chimeras? What do they inspect as? If they were a result of the attempts at creating Were Fangs... is there a possibility of they being... part-iman? Like, them being... 'part-people'?"

But then, Shiruba interjects her suggestion. "I'm listening," she says, leaning forward, using her staff to support her weight.

Gwen does not have song but she seems concerned about all ofd this and she looks over to Uta with cocnerne at this as she recall the green moon incident from some time back. "The bad touch song, right?" She frowns "There may not be anything that can be done." She pauses to Schneider for moment "Well if there is something that could be done how could I aid in that?" She looks to Fuka and then to Shiruba and hummm. "Well let me know what you need me to do then." Total trust in her sister is pretty clear from the look on Gwen's face.

    Somewhat daunted by the seriousness of what's at stake, Fuka abruptly shakes her head. Time to apply some Fuka to the situation. While others discuss the best way to abscond with their treasure, she makes her way over to Miyako. "This Spriggan polycule, tell me more!" she says with a playful grin. "I mean, you *know* I'm not writing about it because if I was, I'd totally do a self-insert! But inquiring minds want to hear more! Give me all the sordid dark details!"

    Merek thinks for a moment, before he moves from the door, and whatever his original plan was. Probably for the best no one ever knows. Then, he looks to one of the machines, while he offers a little sigh, and begins to hum, speaking quietly a few lyrics. Does it matter what Resonance that it has within the place? Does doing this do anything? It doesn't matter to him anymore, he's just singing to sing, "Rrha ki ra tie yor ini en nha. Wee ki ra parge yor ar ciel. Was yea ra chs mea yor en fwal."

    "Made by... Jared Gan?" Miyako scribbles the name down, then squints. "Last subject... Fremy Speeddraw. Yeah, let's -not- tell her about this." She continues taking notes, sketching the arrangement of crystals in the headpiece, before moving on to examine the setting of the dive crystal above it. "... okay, I need to preserve one of these dive crystals untouched, so I can scan it later when these have recharged," she says. "Anybody touches this, I *will* kill you. At least twice."

"Jered Gan," Prophylaxis grunts. "Of course. He's one of the leaders, if not /the/ leader of the Mage's Tower. I'm not surprised that he had a hand in this. But of course, I can't tell whether he didn't tell anyone because he has something to hide, or because he wanted us to find it on our own." Jered is... that kind of guy. He shakes his head slowly. "And Fremy... That would explain a lot."

"There are three of these machines. I propose that once we're able to secure a way out, one should go to each of the Alliances for safekeeping, use and study."

"If we can figure out how to recharge them that would be a big boon as well." Shiruba looks back to the wall a moment, then to the others. "Our best option would be to dig a new passage between here and the surface. Though that is the risk of collapsing parts of the complex. We also could try to do it from the outside, though with the ... odd way this interior operates it might not garuntee reaching the right room. Either way has it's risks... but it's probably our best options. We definitely can't carry one out the long way. Not just because it won't fit in the door, but because it'd be certain to draw attention from the chimeras while we're slowed down doing so."

    Merek lets out a small little sigh after his song, then he backs up a bit, "That's... No, whatever you saw about that Song when you looked to the Machine. It runs deep. Something is actively resisting the change I think, my voice along isn't powerful enough to affect anything. Maybe if we sung together, though I'm not sure if anyone else of you have Harmonics or even want to try with me." He nods then to Uta and Fuka. "Either way, something about this all seems... Way more dangerous than we thought."

    Fuka hums lightly. Not the Song, but just a wordless note of thoughtfulness, or something approximating thought. "The harmonics of this place suppress the devices." she says, more sure of herself now that Merek's attempt and his words back up her own feelings. "I don't know if more singers would help. We could certainly try, maybe with some skilled Bards, but I feel like we'll have a lot more success getting the devices out instead. This place is just... not suitable for them. Which makes me wonder just what changed, since obviously once it was!" she muses. "Well, we can figure all that out later. I think actually disrupting harmonics down here would be a terrible idea. Maybe get out, then come back and dig a path down so we have an escape route should we dig too deep and attract a ball dog or something?"

"I'll wager it was whatever they did to create the chimera," Miyako muses. "Creating a separate lab, with a separate purpose, would've required its own feng shui, its own energy flows and resonances. I agree, we should get them out of here."

Uta bites her lip and lowers her head in acknowledgement at Merek, Fukaziroh and Miyako. "I'd say we let it be for now, yes. Better to get out of a tub full of bees than try and convince the bees to leave you alone." Wait, what kind of metaphor was that?

"I'd like to look deeper into this Musical Feng Shui. Or should I say, listen deeper into it?" After a moment of confused frowning, Uta shakes her head and continues, "Like, the Chims in the caves of Ezzo would keep cycling between the three Strange Mood songs. On the Green Moon, if I remember correctly, they were specifically blasting the Chims with the Sublimation song. And I've heard there's a whole floor completely devoid of Song in the Tower..."

"I'd like to learn more about this Jered Gan and Freemy characters, Doctor. If... information can be shared. I understand there might be confidential topics going on there."

"And I'm afraid that learning how to recharge crystal is not my department. Not an Enchanter, here."

"Alright then." Shiruba swaps back to her survey tools. "If we're not going to dig out, we should get moving before the ferals come and pin us down here. I will revamp my maps on the way up to ensure we can locate the right spot from the surface, and we can set up an operation to dig down here to avoid them. Though we will probably still have to explore the rest of the site in hopes of finding more crystals, that can come later." She taps a quill against her chin, then waves it at the door. "Someone be sure to bar that off as we leave, to keep any of the creatures from wandering in here and deciding to wreck things."

    "I can do that!" Fuka replies cheerily to Shiruba. With her interface. "Just shuffle a bit of the stone up behind the door so it can't be opened. Make a note of that, if I'm not one of the ones that returns to recover the diving pools, the door's been blocked by a ridge of stone and that'll need to be cleared away."