Whine, Fairy Dust, and lost memories or something - RPLOG
Participants
Date
15/10/2017
Followed up by Goblin Festival part 1
Log
There is a single man sitting in the RSX lobby on an unpadded metal chair, set in front of a plain plastic folding table. He is very tall, and thin, dressed in a suit with vertical pinstripes, exacerbating the perception of what might very well be a very troublesome health issue. His breast pocket contains a pack of cigarettes, his hands a rather thick file with the RSX logo stamped across it, he has a shotgun holstered, somewhat unconventionally, in the manner of a pistol. He taps his foot impatiently, glancing between a wristwatch and a wall clock.
Given his solitude, it is clear that this is Niles. He affixes his eyes to the door, waiting for someone to show up.
It was always a good idea to have friends in all places, or least those that would owe you a favor. Even though for now he had ties to Zephyr he had heard RSX was looking for a few to take up a misson. The last few had gone.....interesting enough, so what was taking one more shot. Stepping inside the lobby and looking around it some, comparing it to other places and only spotting one person which had to be Niles. "For once I am actually the first to show." Speaking some and stepping closer looking the man over some. "Here to assit in your endevor. Though mind if I bum one of those?" Pointing to the pack of cigarettes. "You know while we wait for the others?"
As an operative of RSX, Phosphorus was practically obliged to attend any significant mission involving it. And, as such, she slips out from the bunks and into the lobby, already armed and armored for the mission ahead. With enough arms to level a small country, she stands in front of the table, at parade rest. Obviously, they were waiting for the rest of the team. Not that there was much to say while they were doing it.
Anagram walks in the doors from the helipad, a kemomimi german shepherd striding up to Niles. He wears his usual pants and boots with no shirt, his tail flicking idly. "Anagram of Zephyr, reporting for mission duty." He then looks over to Escherr who arrived before him, giving a knowing nod in his direction.
Ebreus disembarks from the chopper from Fairhaven with Debbie and makes his way to the Lobby for the mission briefing... no doubt catching the attention of the majority of the lobby... or would if it were populated by anyone more than Niles, a huge silver and blood red fox with giant bat wings striding acrost the lobby clad in Power Armor, having two shotguns holstered in a maner similarly to Niles, and toting an array of other weapons.
Spying Niles and the other Agents he aproaches and with a quick headcount, "Seems we're the last to arrive. Ebreus, Promethean Negotiator reporting for the mission." he says after assesing that with the arrival of himself and his mate they have about as many as the Big Three seem to usually be willing to send.
Debbie, a small minkituse, trails closely behind the demonic fox, looking around nervously as she follows. Her small footsteps are amplified by her armor falling against the tile making her louder than she would have liked, but she tries her best to stay quiet and out of the way.
As for her armor, she wears modern heavy armor fitted with titatium plates that shine as if they're brand new without a scratch on them. She moves awkwardly in it, but is able to keep up with Ebreus. On her side she has a similarly new looking pistol sitting in its holster. On her back, she has a rather beat up looking backpack with a patch pinned on it depicting a leaping rabbit that says "Go Cruelty Free".
For now she lets Ebreus do most of the talking, staying back behind him and observing as she figures out how to behave here, but she pipes up after Ebreus introduces himself. "Debbie Carver, medic."
Niles nods slowly at the weasel, and removes a cigarette from the package in his pocket, "You can't smoke in the lobby, so don't let me catch you lighting up here."
Niles smiles at Phosphorus, "Good to see a another RSX agent join us." He whispers something to the panda, "Don't let the Zephyr agents pull any tricks."
He acknowledges the rest of the group more perfunctorilaly, at most nodding.
Once the four agents have arrived, he begins his briefing, "We have been in negotiations with a group of Goblins that call themselves "The Brass Orrery", despite not being particularly interested in orreries in general. This group lives in the industrial area south of here. The negotiations were in respect to an advanced servo, possession of which would advance our progress on the Nanite Power Armor upgrades, potentially producing something worthy of being called more than a curiosity." he says, "This has been complicated by a rival group calling themselves the 'Fae', also goblins. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue we'd get involved with, but their purpose, apparently, is to obtain this servo. We do not have a clear idea of why this is the case, but it is clear that the other tribe, being quite a bit larger, is a serious threat to the Brass Orrery."
He coughs heavily, "Excuse my cough. In any case, threatening the other Gang would put us in their line of fire, and while we are confident in our ability to repel them, we are not willing to put The Brass Orrery, being a very cooperative group of mutants in danger. If it is not possible to achieve resolution of the conflict peacefully, and it is not possible to eliminate or otherwise neutralize the other tribe, then you are to obtain the servo at all costs, but that is a choice of last resort. Both groups are well armed, the Brass Orrery with weapons of intermediate complexity, and the Fae with weapons of significantly simpler weaponry."
Niles spreads the contents of the file across the table, pointing to it as he continues, "This is our contact, the leader of the Brass Orrery, formerly Professor Heinrich, former head of the mechanical engineering department at Woodfield college. He is largely sane. Worth negotiating with, and generally still very skilled in his area of expertise. The rest of the group is? largely interested in the 'aesthetic' of steampunk" his scare quotes could frighten a spectral, drawing out the word aesthetic with such disdain that it is possible to imagine an entire philosophy department removing the term from usage, "So though they are very skilled at machining parts, their general intentions revolve creating items that fit this aesthetic. We do not know much about The Fae, given that they tend to avoid us when possible, so we suggest that you question Professor Heinrich about them, as they have been reported to be in negotiations before they broke down, so your first order of business is to reach Professor Heinrich and determine, with his input, the best course of action to resolve this issue"
He stands up, "Are there any questions before you get started?"
Escherr kept looking to each new arrival and giving nods of acknowldgment as they show, except Ebreus who made him chuckle a bit. "Negotiation? You sure you don't just intimidate and punch someone? Well I think stealth is off the board for ideas with the walking tower, not that its a bad thing, may actually not get hurt this time." Turning back to Niles and taking the offered smoke and keeping it in his lips for now, least till he can light it outside. As things were explained the weasle looked over some of the files at the table and who they were to meet.
"Everyone has a price or something they want, am sure we could find a soultion that makes both groups happy." The description of the group had him scratch at his stretched neck in thought, if anything he wanted to leave with a good impression. He knew the style from some books and while things may be only aesthetic it also means they worked and had the skill to function, if not make things interesting. "No radiation and slipping down sewers, I like this misson"
"I'm fairly sure we could pull off stealth, if this... team had a good level of cohesion. However, that is a big if." Phosphorus states, glancing to each agent in turn. She eventually just shakes her head and drums her fingers against the plating on the out side of her leg. "Servo motors are... used to be relatively common parts. It's a shame we have to try to 'extract' the piece from these things. I propose a two-pronged method. We have some of us negotiate... and some of us prepare to forcibly take the item if things go south."
Anagram looks to Niles and asks "Just to be sure, is Professor Heinrich also a goblin? and is there an identifying feature to distinguish the Brass Orrery group from the Fae group as to avoid problems?" He then watches Escherr go over the files, talking electronic copies himself using his data nanomagic to record what he sees. He then adds to Phosphorus's statement: "I have skills good for extraction if I go for the servo.
Ebreus nods as Niles explains the situation. From the onset it appears that the mission will be as he predicted and he smiles. Defend the friendly side, and grab the item for the project he's leading. He did enjoy participating in field missions to further his engineering projects.
He lightly shakes his head as Escherr makes his views on the idea of negotiating in this situation known. "Sounds like if all goes well I'll be in the lab integrating the servo into our prototype before dinner." He hums as he considers if there is anything to ask about, "How good an idea do we have of the Brass Orrerys territory and base of operations? If things go poorly knowing where to fortify would be best to keep our group from being overrun."
As Phosphorous makes their suggestion as to course of action he can only shake his head in disapointment, "As of right now the Servo is in the possesion of the Brass Orrey as far as we know. Whilst it is possible it may come to be the best course of action... in a worse case senario, to steal it I think planning from the outset to do so will weaken our cause."
Debbie can't help but giggle at the mention of the goblins' motive of looking more steam punk, but stifles her laughter and continues to listen to the others deferring to the more experienced for planning.
Niles shrugs at the weasel, "For now at least."
Niles shakes his head vigorously at the panda, "Absolutely not! We need their help to establish a safe area in Woodfield. Again, Heinrich is very reasonable, he's agreed to give it to us in exchange for this, and perhaps one or two followups to ensure that the hostilities do not resume. You are to pursue that course of action if and only if hostilities resume and the Fae cannot be neutralized or otherwise eliminated."
Looking to the dog Niles sighs and wipes his face, looking rather Picardesque "I could have sworn that I covered that in that remarkably long briefing poochy. Yes, they are both goblin gangs. The Brass Orrery maintains a steampunk aesthetic for uniforms, and general wear. Look for the useless brass trinkets."
"If that is it for the questions, you may find the building they have reclaimed due south of here, about five blocks. Look for the building that doesn't look like a bombed out shithole."
"Should not be to hard most things are indeed a bombed out shithole, plus I am only assuming will see plenty of brass on or around the building as well" Pulling out a lighter and walking to the door to start the trek and light his smoke as he leaves. The idea of trinkets also drives some inate desire in Escherr as well, least he may get a souvenir fropm this trip.
"It'll still probably look like a bombed out shithole, mind. Just less of one than any other." Phosphorus notes, somewhat bitterly. She emits a tad bit of a sigh, glancing at the door, then back at Niles and the others. "Got it. No smash and grab. I think that getting going would probably be the best idea, as we're only burning daylight, now."
Ebreus nods as Niles backs him up on not pissing off the Orrey unnecessarily, then sighs quietly to himself as he demonstrates one of the reasons he doesn't worth with RSX more often in spite of agreeing with some of their goals. Namely the anti-mutant bias.
He stretches lightly as he is directed to where to go to meet Heinrich, "Agreed Anagram. We should be moving if we're going to be getting it before dinnertime." he says and readies himself to leave with the party once everyone is ready.
Anagram hides his disdain for Niles's comment with quite a poker face. He just turns around and walks out behind Escherr, rolling his wrists and poping his knuckles to get ready for what comes next.
Debbie follows after the group, looking up at Ebreus and back to Niles as she senses his frustration, filing it away to talk about later. "Well I'm excited to see this place. Sounds delightfully over the top."
Niles chuckles at Debbie's observation as the group leaves the lobby, by the time they've left, his face has gone pale realizing who he just called poochy. "Fuck." He whispers to himself.
As the group approaches the building Niles indicated to them, it becomes clear that it is among a very small number in this section of the city that sees a great deal of spoof use, and is inhabited. The rooftop is covered in barbed wire, guards around the entrance sit at turrets fitted with gatling guns, long belts of ammo trailing into boxes besides them, the whole area smells of smoke, gunpowder, and oil. As the group approaches, it becomes clear that the guards are dressed? eccentrically to say the least. Victorian styles of clothing, fitted with trinkets made of shiny brass and glass. It all appears very? out of place, not at all suitable for real work.
A guard hails the group by waving to them, goggles pulled down over their eyes, also made of, you might have guessed, brass. This one is dressing down, it seems, wearing a reasonable looking vest over a button down shirt with rolled up sleeves, he has a rather complex and bulky looking revolver strapped to his waist, though its usefulness appears to be complicated by the fact that it too, is made of brass.
"What business do you have with Brass Orrery Phyle?"
Escherr the weasel moved forward some and gave a bit of a wave and a friendly smile, that showed off his teeth. "Your clan sent for help, we are here to honor that request and see if we can not help with your predicament."
As they walk out and make there way to to the Brass Orreys HQ he takes a look at his own armor... decidedly more cyberpunk than steampunk he watches for any sort of loose metal objects that he could use for aestetic alterations. As they reach the building and are hailed by one of the goblins he goes to speak as Escherr beats him to the introduction... shouldn't have put so much attention into the trinkets. "We were directed to speak with Professor Heinrich." he adds.
Debbie stands next to Ebreus and smiles at the goblin. Her stature making it easier to be eye to eye with the goblin. "Yeah, we want to help, like he said. This place of yours is incredible."
The guard nods and waves the group in, avoiding making any mention of the distasteful cyberpunk aesthetics of The Oversized Fox's armor.
After confirming that the group are in fact, agents, he leads them all inside, which appears to have been refitted as a foundry and machine shop. It is full of goblins bustling and working with the tools, a large boiler at the end is set near a chair, its door has enough grates that it casts a hellishly bright light outwards. There is a padded red chair set up in front of it, set up as though it was facing towards a fireplace.
As the group approaches, they might observe the bottles of wine, clearly recently emptied, the wine glass in the hand of a goblin, dressed in reasonably modern looking clothing, and his rosily drunk cheeks, glistening with a slight sweat sheen.
The guard leads us in front of the goblin, then bids the group farewell before he walks back to his post. The man in the chair looks at the group, a sort of bemused expression on his face, "You must be the agents RSX sent to help us with the Fae. I suppose you probably have some questions, so you should probably ask now, before I continue to drink my life away due to these insufferably impractical morons. I'm only on my second bottle for the day, and I'm told I usually get insufferably useless on my third."
Escherr moves about looking around the place and then to the leader of sorts. "Well don't let us stop you from getting to your third." Motioning some to the direction of the collection of wine bottles. "What can you tell us of the Fae? Are they as sophisticated and gentlmen oftaste such as yourselves? The name brings images of magic rather then technology." Using a bit of his silver tongue to placate the goblin, though it was not that far of a stretch, often enjoying the look of things over function.
Heinrich glares at the weasel for a moment, "Forget ass kissing kiddo."
He sighs, "Did you know, that there's a bunch of legends where goblins are lumped together with the other 'fae'? You know, pixies, fairies, gnomes, etc, all very naturalistic. We've organized ourselves around the opposite, creatures of industry and shit. Though go on, ask, 'why steampunk?' I love that question."
He chuckles as if he's thought of a dirty joke.
"Why Steampunk, then? Instead of trying to go an imitate modern industry, which, y'know, was more efficient. And less dangerous. And involved significantly less child labor than the victorian era did." Phosphorus asks, somewhat dryly. She raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms over her chest, looking up and down Heinrich with a raised eyebrow. "And had less gears that were liable to crush limbs."
The former professor sighs, "Well, you know, you have to play to the crowd you can find. Sadly, my crowd, ones who I could gather, were very fond of the depiction of goblins as mechanically adept creatures, best fitted to the age of steam." He chuckles, "Of course, I could help them with that, but all the things steam does are things that have been solved in engineering for quite some time. And I just don't like brass, so I hate the whole fucking thing."
Anagram stays with the group, standing tall and looking important. Once everyone is brought before the leader, he waits his 'turn' before moving next to the desk and speaking in his dominant voice, his green-blue eyes staring at the drunkard. "You look to be in a relatively good position here. Obedient workers... Fortified location... The kind of place I'd like for myself." He lets that point hang for a moment, then continues. "But anyway, We were told to get the servo device you have for RSX. And you needed to deal with the trouble the Fae were causing?"
Heinrich takes the servo out from beneath his chair and hands it to Anagram.
"I don't particularly want this right now, as it seems to have brought them down upon us. Fucking take it, if nothing else, they'll accept it as a peace offering. Even those morons aren't worthy of a grisly death. In any case, let me explain the fae's conflict with us to you."
"I don't really understand their motives myself. It might have had something to do with the strange 'runes', as the Fae call them when they mention it, that were written on it. One of them, some time in the past, decided it was where they were going to write something on it, and of course, they'd use a shitty constructed alphabet to do it, and thus they deemed it an artifact and dumped it in the trash. Or something. I don't particularly remember the night that I found it very well. So please, take the fucking thing, please, I don't care for it, not like I have the equipment to use it anyway, nice little piece of tech that it represents. Also, take care of those dipshits, if you don't mind, they always get so testy around october. They maintain that Halloween is the highest fucking holiday there is for us goblins, so they get extra raucous and try to poach the few men that we have. They'd poach me too if I hadn't already fatally offended their leader the first time I met her. Told her that her folklore was a pile of shit, even compared to the steaming dungheap that is steampunk."
Ebreus watches the goblins around him go about their steampunk busiess, guessing that they either don't care or are politely ignoring his countrary austatics because he is there to help. After checking he takes note of the functional things they've built... however few of them there may be. Once spying their contact his ears droop to see the professor drinking and to hear it is because of such horrible circomstances. It must really be hell for a Professor of Engineering to be stuck with anyone who values form over function for very long.
"That is correct Professor. RSX has contracted us to help with your fae problem." he says. He chuckles when it is brought up that goblins were considered fae in some stories. "Well you're at least one nusince down then, no longer having the Servo." he says as he steps forward to grab it and stow it in one of his packs. 'Hope you don't mind tech-based telepathy but may I ask, as one engineer to another, if there is anything I could do to help you with the steampunk-mornons problem?' he telepathically relays to Heinrich.
There's a glimmer of a smile on Heinrich's face, "No, no. They're worth a lot more to me alive than dead. As for the fae..."
Heinrich shrugs, "I don't have the foggiest idea of how to deal with the Fae or their leader. Their leader's name is Stiltskin, like fucking Rumplestiltskin. Some sort of fucking folklore hero over there. She's pretty though, and her way with words is generally thought to be impressive. Even moreso, she understands the politics of leadership in a manner that I don't. These goblins are here because they believe in the aesthetic." He pauses, "They're quite dedicated to that, but the Fae are about folklore and belief. She understands the algebras and calculi of belief very well. If any of you aren't shit negotiators, you ought to try to figure out how to appease their beliefs without giving that servo to them."
Debbie raises an eyebrow at the goblin. "I don't really get why they want the servo. It seems to fit your athestics more than their folklore." She gazes around the room at the different machines "Also, if its about the athestetic, why not come back with us and work on something more modern. You could just attach the ornimants just fine on modern things. You'd feel more productive and the rest of your clan has their whizbang."
Heinrich shakes his head, "Jesus christ, it's like you're RSX's recruiters right after they found me again. I like having the freedom to work on my own projects, without the guidence or wishes of RSX in mind. They're good clients though. They pay their consultants very well."
He taps his chin, "I think I don't really have more to tell you. The Fae have their building about 2 blocks south of here. You'll know it by how absurdly out of place it is."
"Should just trade a few wild nights" Looking around some "Get drunk first even, as you said least pretty" Moving some closer to the tall fox and fishing in the pouch to take the servo as it exchanges hands easily in this group and putting up a sleeved hand some to stop any protest. "None of you even looked at the thing. Here these runes." Reading over them some and tracing a bit with his fingers. "It is less about function really, its appeasing the mass which in the end a happy mob is better then perfectly working equipment and pssed off followers. Just like out groups keep us happy and send us out to do things because of it" Mentioning it to those questioning over why not upgrade things around here.
As the group travels south towards the Fae's stronghold, they notice that there's a certain flowery smell in the air that gets stronger as they approach the building.
The building has been covered by moss, which wouldn't be unusual for a hundred years of growth, but with this amount of time, it's ridiculous. Clearly someone wanted this to happen, there's a pair of Goblin girls guarding the entrance, and they wave to the group as they approach, recognizing that they aren't ferals, at the very least.
After finding out the purpose of the group, one of them leads you into the building. It was, at one point, almost ironically, a foundry. That time is long past now, and the crucibles are filled with flowers and other plants blooming their last days before the winter sets in. There doesn't appear to be any men at all in this group, their weapons are simpler, with a noticeable lack of weapons made of steel or iron. Probably something about folklore.
The guard leaves you at a large throne made of crudely shaped stone, with a bit of padding on it, something not even RSX bothered to afford. On said throne sat, with a thick black shock of hair, a distractingly, almost impossibly curvy Goblin Girl, dressed very skimpily. Unlike Heinrich, she seems quite happy. Not a wine bottle anywhere, though? there are a lot of little squares of paper around. Probably nothing though. Though? her pupils are also really dilated.
She giggles when she sees the group approaching, "Oh! I bet you're here to negotiate peace."
Escherr looked around the place and even touched a bit of the moss growing on the walls. "I know many that would pay for having nature back, hell for flowers just to have some color." Mostly just talking to himself about the situation before looking over to the queen and noticing while not wine it was another vice that controlled her. Remembering that they took to legend and lore seriously he even gave a bit of a bow to her. "Your highness we wish to discuss a few things with you."
"Yes. Peace. The best way to avoid... unnesesscary conflict." Phosphorus says, eying the room, the guards, and the goblin girl, with a bit of a squint. The panda was already planning a way out. She doesn't... enjoy areas where she's surrounded by potential enemies, with no easy escape route. That's the quickest way to set of alarms in her head, at least. "I'm... going to let someone else talk, about that, yes." She says, full well aware of her deficiencies in the negotiation department.
Anagram looked over the runes the Fey goblins put on the servo when it was out and visible, running it though his translation nanomagic. "Whoever wrote all over the servo must have been high. It looks like bad poetry to me." A few minutes later when everyone is gathered in front of the leader of the Fey, he chuckles to himself. This woman looks to be more in charge than the professor, if not for the drugs no doubt flowing through her bloodstream. "I am Anagram, leader of the Underworks." He aproaches the throne with great confidence, using his illusion nanomagic to conjure a rose from wisps of smoke and holds it out for the leader to smell.
Ebreus hums a questioning not and imidently turns his attention to Escherr, an expression of annoyance on his face. Having just been betrayed on his last mission he was, at least to his own consideration, justified in not fully trusting people just because they happen to have taken the same contract he has. He watches the Servo carefully and once Anagram decodes the servo he retreives it, puts it back in his pack, and locks it shut.
As they make their aproach to the Fae stronghold he bids his mate farewell when she ducks out on the excuse of needing to rest, her new armor still fateuging her. The steampunkers didn't mind his high-tech armor being from a third party so, hopefully, the naturalists don't either. Once they're let in without comment on his armor he relaxes slightly. As they aproach the queen he takes notes of the acid tabs and grins... if nothing else the queen has a manipulatable vice and Anagram probably knows just who to terrify to cut off their supply.
Just as he did when meeting Ixchel in person he stands in her presence. He didn't bow when meeting a god in person and he isn't going to now. "Greetings. I am Ebreus. I am a Promethean Negotiator. I've heard not all is well with your kingdoms foreign relations and came to provide aid."
Stiltskin, as Heinrich identified her, merely continues to grin at Escherr's formality "I bet Heinrich absolutely loved you."
She nods at the panda, "That's not a bad idea. Nice armament though. Goes well with your fur."
She frowns at the writing Anagram shows her, "What the fuck is this? I mean, it's kinda lyrical, but this seems like something someone would write on a piece of garbage..." Her eyes open wide for a moment, "Oh. That piece of garbage. Well, you did this for me, so what can I say? Thanks. That's all you're going to get."
She laughs quite hard at Ebreus' display, "You're hilarious, you know that. You're /really/ lucky you caught me in a good mood, otherwise I'd have to order you killed, which I gather, would lead to our demise. In any case, we've not even gotten to discussing the grievance we have with those brassers, so let's not start there. We aren't unreasonable, in any case."
Stiltskin, as Heinrich identified her, merely continues to grin at Escherr's formality "I bet Heinrich absolutely loved you."
She nods at the panda, "That's not a bad idea. Nice armament though. Goes well with your fur."
She frowns at the writing Anagram shows her, "That's rather nice of you to offer me, but we have a wonderful garden in here, filled with real flowers."
She laughs quite hard at Ebreus' display, "You're hilarious, you know that. You're /really/ lucky you caught me in a good mood, otherwise I'd have to order you killed, which I gather, would lead to our demise. In any case, we've not even gotten to discussing the grievance we have with those brassers, so let's not start there. We aren't unreasonable, in any case."
She frowns at the rose Anagram offers her, "That's rather nice of you to offer me, but we have a wonderful garden in here, filled with real flowers."
Escherr grins some to the comment "I can fit in to many places, variety is the spice of life and all that." Standing some and giving a bit of a stretch. "Lets get to brass tax though, yes the pun was meant for you." Smirking a bit and acting a bit charming. "I have a feeling that this is not about some relic with written gibberish on it, least not the relic itself. The letters refrence something but without the other piece it is useless. We can use it to further some research so that has to be off the table, but your well off and seem to be doing well enough by the looks of this lovely place, matches you after all. Perhaps is something else you require? It is not hard to percure most things. If one of the factions can not help you I have people I can talk to as well. Everyone has their price what will be yours?"
Anagram flicks his wrist as the ilusionary rose in his hand fades into mist. He's disapointed that someone into faries and nature doesn't appreciate magic, but hides his emotions well behind his coy smile. He steps back to let Escherr speak, as he seems to have more information on the subject at hand than Anagram does. As he waits, he observes his surroundings, noting their personel, supplies, fortifications, all being recorded with his data nanomagic for later use.
Ebreus nods, "You gather about accurately but let's talk about something less... dark wile were here." he says and telepathically asks Anagram, 'Happen to know their acid supplier? Cutting them off might be useful should negotiations not work.' He then resumes speaking verbally, "Alright, well Heinrich wasn't very informative as to why the Fae and Brass Orrers were in conflict. Care to elaborate upon that for us?"
Stiltskin looks at Escherr askew, "Everyone has a price huh? That's not really the point to our group. If we had a price, we'd just be another mercenary outfit. Our price is the fulfillment of our needs, the joy that we experience in life, and the knowledge of nature that comes from living with it."
She sees Anagram's disappointment, "Don't worry about it. We prefer real things here. I appreciate the thought."
She gets irritated, "Oh, that stick in the mud didn't actually tell you why I was angry at him. You know, we Goblin Girls have needs, and while some random feral on the street can scratch an itch, they can hardly satisfy the emotional needs, we really want romance."
She sighs, standing up to her full height, a bit too short to be taken seriously, "We are creatures imagined by mankind in a romantic way, we have carnal and emotional needs, and we can't satisfy all of them on our own. We need his men, those few he has, and what we want to do, is bring the two tribes together, to solve both problems. He hates me though, doesn't understand the emotional needs of actual human beings, let alone the over-hyped sex drive the nanites gave us."
She shakes her head and looks away from the group, "I was once his wife you know. He was a big-shot at the Woodfield college Engineering department, and I was an associate professor of folk-studies at the same place. When P-Day happened, he lost his manhood, but not me. It took him three years to find a way to get it back, and restore himself to something he'd call a man again. By that time, I'd moved on. I loved him through the whole time, but I couldn't take someone who was so afraid of intimacy as he was when he was a woman. I bet he didn't mention all this. Probably just complained about those tinkerers he has under his reign. He doesn't hate them for their shitty aesthetic, he hates them because he can't be intimate after all that."
Escherr gives a bit of a whistle to that revelation. "Well that makes things interesting, but also can be a good thing." Scratching at his chin and neck in thought as he often did and tapping lightly at a few of his muzzle piercings. "Nanites may have rewired somethings but for the most part we still have the same sense of self or "soul" if you want a word for it. If loved you once, it can be done again just have to remind him." Moving about and picking up a few of the industrial things not taken over by vegitation. "You would be suprised how oftenthat happens, I am rather prone to keeping such a thing on myself at all times as well, but if is fixed means has the same urges but less on that and more on the simularities. Both favored education and its importance. Maybe once again become teachers to your people each teaching something diffrent but really they can blend together well." Having gathered enough things he went about making a makeshift rose from old industrial gears and wire and placing it within the real ones. "Seems the one we really need to talk to is him, if you are willing. Care to be escorted to him to have a proper conference?Is much harder to turn down anything if have to look at the one you love."
Escherr also adds at the very end "He did say you were pretty if that helps."
Phosphorus barely manages to not roll her eyes, crossing her arms and instead narrowing her eyes a bit at the goblin "queen". She has a strong distaste for being dictated by instinct, and to know that this whole situation was because the goblin didn't find a proper lay, really scratched the panda the wrong way. She's professional, however, and remained silent. After all, negotation wasn't her department. She really only came along in case there was an emergency. It doesn't seem like there is one, so far, but only time will tell.
Anagram finds a question to ask of Stiltskin: "Why did you want the servo? The one with the writing on it. And do you know where more can be found?" he then uses his telepathy nanomagic to comunicate with the rest of the group: 'We have the servo we came for. Anything else?'
Ebreus hums as she tells her side of the story. As Escherr speaks he forms a response, something along the lines of bringing up what Heinrich said about their naturalistic woo but abandons his plan as Escherr goes on. He replies to Anagram while appearing to be focusing on the dialog, 'Our employers was the threat to the Brass Orrers reduced or eliminated. Let's play along with Stiltskin for now... she seems amicable to the goal.'
Ebreus says, "Maybe, but Heinrich did seem to loathe the inefficienies the Orrers built into everything for the sake of their steampunk aestetic. My associate does have a point though. If you'd be willing to meet him in person that would likely be the best way to end this conflict."
Stiltskin laughs at the end of Escherr's mention of Heinrich's compliment, "If I'm honest about it, I'm not sure he really knows who I am. maybe there is still that kernel of the man I knew in him."
Stiltskin responds to Anagram by shaking her head, "We don't really want it. As you've noticed, it is covered in a bunch of gibberish. What we wanted, was an excuse. And that servo was that excuse."
She looks dreamily upwards, "Mhmm, that sounds like him. He was always so happy being an engineer, thinking that way about the world. He complained about his students the same way back before P-Day. He hated the 'rule of cool' as it was, saw all that stuff as inefficient. Really, I think that he loathed the way that others could take joy in anything purely perceptual." She looks like she's thinking for a minute, "I'd like to meet with him, but today, well, not like this. He didn't mind drugs like this, but he won't like seeing his long lost wife like this."
She sits back down, looking a lot more sober, though her pupils are still massive, there are tears in the sides of her eyes, quivering with the motion of her body, "I don't want him to be miserable, I still love him, in a kind of way that makes me hate what he has become. He was so? nice before all this. So. I need you to get him to agree to meeting on neutral ground. Oh, and tell him that he's free to send messengers safely here." A guard motions for the group to follow her and then hands Escherr a sheet of small squares made out of fairly thick paper, the guard, after doing this, makes a zipper motion across her mouth and winks at the group before returning to her post.
By the time the group has made its way back to the Brass Orrery's headquarters, Heinrich is on his fourth bottle. When you mention his lost wife, he looks really happy, nods very vigorously, and incoherently demands that one of the members of his group tell the Fae that he accepts that proposal. He does, however, ask that RSX send some agents that way when they work out the details.
