"An interesting suggestion, young lady... I might be able to spare staff to use the one we possess to make a copy of it... It would slow down work on other things, though... No, no, I don't think you could make it worth our time and energy to... Hold on..."

He just pauses... like he can hear something the rest of you (not even Xan) can...

"I have just received orders from The Commodore," he says. "There is something you could do for us, since you mention it, if you don't mind showin' a bit of bravery under fire... Ah, what is your name, miss?" This is addressed to Xan, whom the automata seems to have decided is the leader of the party...

Beep Bop Boop, "I am known as Xan. Please let us know what you need. We have had to be brave before and faced several challenges before arriving here."

Renata had been quite disappointed to hear that the automata needed the Tome too, but also quite ready to leave and try elsewhere, but if the mustache man thought they could help with something and would be willing to spare the effort to make a copy, she was happy to help! Her cheer restored nearly as soon as it had been dashed, she stood by Xan, nodding along in agreement. If they didn't need to hear from her, she was just fine with that. Xan was a much better speaker anyways!

Following along with the one new automata doesn't seem to cause Big Eye any trouble. . . until there is a room full of them, and he gets distracted and starts following the wrong one.  This could have been more problematic if he didn't get distracted or at least lose track of which one often enough to effectively be bouncing randomly around the room for a while until he comes into view of the non automata he has been traveling with for a while, and stops with them as if nothing strange had happened at all.

"SER-GEANT!!!" the mustached automata bellows, and another automata comes rolling up-- the kind with two arms and a torso but just balancing on one wheel instead of legs, and instead of a head, it just has a rectangular glass plate in the middle of its body that shows a glowing drawing of a soldier's head.

"Show them the objective!" orders the mustached automata, and the soldier's head is replaced with another glowing image-- an image of downtown Anchorest, as it is now.

The image zooms in on a particular building-- a five-story metal tower. "This metal tower is headquarters of a mage called Isobel. We know little about her, except that she has the power to slow down wheeled or hovering automata. But you, Agent Xan, have two legs-- she should allow you and your team of operatives access to her building."

"Once there, we would like you to deliver this magic item. I-TEMMMM!"

Another robot on caterpillar treads rolls up, bearing a device-- a sort of bronze cornucopia horn (but empty). "The Commodore wishes to parley with the mage Isobel, and with this, he can do so. The Commodore asks that you deliver this magic speaking horn, and stay to bear official witness to the parley if needed. The Commodore assures you that it won't take long."

Xan listens to it all closely

Accepting the bronze cornucopia.

Beep Bop Boop, "Objective Isobel's tower for diplomatic matters. I think we should be able to do that."

"If there's nothing else, Ensign Cog will escort you back outside the perimeters of the base...?"

Xan looks to Renata questioningly.

Renata looked back to Xan and then to the mustached automata. Inclining her head, she grinned. "I just want to say thank you very much, for helping us like this. And, uh, nice moustache. Very stately." At that, she nodded to Xan, as if to say she was also ready to go.

Beep Bop Boop, "Yes, we are good to go. Thank you."

"Thank you, civilian! How sophisticated of you to notice! You are clearly a woman of discriminating taste. I do hope that we will be seeing you all again soon. Ensign Cog?"

A robot leads you to the front gate of the naval base, unlocks it for you, lets you all out, and then locks it again... and then it goes back to patrolling the perimeter.

Xan's face shows a smile as they are led out.

She turns to Renata after giving Ensign Cog a salute.
Beep Bop Boop, "Did I do well ?"

Offering Xan her own best approximation of a non-grinning smile, Renata gave her friend a gentle pat on the head. "Well? You did great, Xan! Thank you very much; I was honestly ready to turn back and look somewhere else, but you've done it! I think this is really gonna work this time! Thank you, Xan!"

Xan happily perks up.

Beep Bop Boop, "We just need to find the tower and deliver this communication device to the towers mistress."

Telirc stays silent for most of the exchange. However, the job seems very simple for such a valuable item. Telric was ever cautious for a bad trade.

"I do hate to cast a pall over such good fortune, but are we sure we can trust them to deliver on thier promise?" He pointed out, but only when the mechanical types other than Xan where out of earshot.

At least, what Telric thought was earshot. Hard to tell with machines...

Someone very much agreed with Telric's caution, she could feel, but he wasn't here right now. Renata was desperate to get this Tome, yes, but that just made her extra grateful to be given this chance to get one! Even taking the time to produce another one was a lot to ask for, so while this mission was probably a little more complicated than it seemed at the moment, it would absolutely be worth it in the end.

"I think... I..." Get a handle on that, Renata! "I think they'll deliver, Telric. They seemed unwilling at first, so this mission is also probably a big deal to them." Still... "I mean, I might be biased since this is so important to me, but... They've got to, right?"

In reply to Renata Medb (msg # 794):

It was hard to see Telric's mouth or nose, but his eyebrows and milky white eyes where quite visible. The raised eyebrow was all he had to say about Renata's hopes. However, the skeptical look could not be ignored. Finally, he did speak.

"Perhaps...but I find its better to be cautious than to just hope blindly. You can't live on hope, but it can get you killed."

While not particularly interested in the details of the conversation Big Eye still picks up on the occasional point, or familiar topic anyways. For Telric he offers his usual simple, effective, advice.

”Not if you kill them first.”

Xan walks along as happy as can be and far more naive and optimistic than the others.

In reply to Big Eye (msg # 796):

"Excellent point. I think what my friend is trying to say is that we should be wary for betrayal. And ready to act." Telric nods at his large ally.

"I... suppose so. It's just that, well, I don't want to hurt them over this. We need that Tome, but so do they. If they cross us, I'll be upset, but we shouldn't kill them."

In reply to Renata Medb (msg # 799):

"They have a book, which could be copied and shared to give water to people dying of thirst. Instead, they horde it here. It does not look like they are trustworthy to me...but, maybe I am wrong." Telric shrugged. Even when he was alive, people with power where always the same. They spread that...selfishness...to the things they created.

"We have a book too, Telric. Sure, is it in any condition to be copied? Not really. It's falling apart. But, even beyond that, we've been working ours to the bone, day after day, because we can't drink anything or water our crops or whatever else we need to do to survive. Taking a long enough break to copy that sort of thing and make sure the magic still works properly for the new Tome... That's a lot of work and a lot of time. If they're anything like the Vault, they might not even have the people to spare to work on it." Renata hadn't even really realized a Tome of Water Purification could be copied before now. Whatever means these automata had to go through that process must've been lost when the Vault... changed hands. If Vault 365 had ever even possessed such capabilities beforehand.

But Renata didn't even really know all that much about magic or Tome production in the first place, so casting doubt on whether the process was even possible seemed unwise. The others had probably heard about this sort of thing before too. It really wasn't that terrible of a lie to act like a sort of authority on the subject, right? Hopefully, this group might even let them see how the copying process worked! Then, maybe the Vault could try to make more, using the double, and give it out to others!

(Renata gets an xp...)

Renata tries to keep a sharp eye out as the party of adventurers heads for the tower in question... but you can't always spot everything in time...

It happened when the party was headed down a wide street leading to their destination... to the right was a crater-like sinkhole where a building had apparently caved in and collapsed, taking out an entire city block. Renata had wisely led the party to the left side of the street.

But then...

A huge hand (with arm attached) came up out of the hole, and slapped the street.

Then another.

A giant-- a three-times-normal-size ogre-- rose up out of the crater where it'd been napping (or just lying in wait?).

It roars at the party...

(Ahhhh! 25-foot-tall giant ogre-thing! Do something!)

In reply to The GM (msg # 802):

Telric stopped thinking rationally. Instead he dived between the creatures legs, and ran to the other side of it. Distracting the massive humanoid away from the rest of the group.

"Boy, am I a dummy..." he muttered to himself.

Ooc-17:50, Today: Telric Televenter rolled 7 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 3,1.  Defy Danger.

Using defy danger to keep the creature occupied and unable to attack...maybe.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:51, Sun 06 Aug 2023.