Fallen Empire

[yendor]

"I haven't worn something like these in...let's just say a very, very long time, thank you." Slips them on with practiced ease, walks about breaking them in.

[albatross]

Talon falls in step with Malone. "Fakir tells me you are some thing of an investigator. That is good. Too many here allow magic to do their thinking for them. You and Tesla will be needed. What will you look for first? Do you require assistants?"

Talon looks straight ahead as he walks, eyes squinting to see any far off detail on the horizon.

[shiivster]

Aki simply dawdles longer and longer. the mass of marchers have long since passed her and she'll finally resume the 'marching speed' of before. she figures the animals need 'quiet time' to simply 'be themselves'. she'll see if one of the lizards will come closer to her.

*she's sure that no one will miss her if she's absent during the march. her friends comfort of mind and body are the important thing. she hopes she'll see some of this world's natural wildlife. maybe even learn something about the people of this world. as far as she can tell, this group is marching much like the leaf cutter ants in the jungle. she just hopes that the people are not as destructive.

[kurff]

Sister Caterina cocks her head to the side in thought, "The field's layers don't break exactly, they are a kinetic field with an effect that might be thought of similar to a magnetic field. The greater the force impacting the shield, the greater the deflection. A rail gun round would deflect near a right angle, a bullet perhaps half that, while an arrow would glance off. A strike from a power armor's fist bounces back the way it came. The more force exerted, the greater the repelling force, like two magnets with the same poles pushed together. A gentle slice collects only gentle deflection." She glances at Tesla. "Shall we try?"

She takes his hand and guides him through the strike she just demonstrated.

"Would a be a good thing to know." the field seemed similar to the dragon scale body armor developed by the one company. He was testing it for Torchwood and Harrier use before he went to the field work. this armor gave him an idea for a larger variant of a field.

If it could be applied as a larger area it may be good for offensive, force field columns and as a passive defense in siege or larger scale armor on ships and base structures.

[thorley]

Bellephoebe responds "Those all sound quite interesting, and potentially useful in the right circumstances. I epsecially like how they work through or on items or existing things as an enchantment. If your willing to teach, I'd like to learn them, I'll have to pass on Harp's spell I'm afraid given my complete lack of talent with insturments... hmm, well I suppose if I looked at it, it might be modifiable to work with other forms of music. If you could find a way to do it with electronic music, played through a recorder or speaker that could be quite the trap, not to mention the potential for creating enchanted tapes or CDs that would work like enchanted music boxes from fairy tales and such and... errr well, I'm getting ahead of myself, no time for that at the moment anyway.

What spells are you interested in, in return?"

[albatross]

Fakir thinks about it for a moment, "I think I know enough of the spells from Palladium and Rifts North America and England. Has your wandering brought you knowledge of spells from other places?"

[thorley]

Bellephoebe says "Oh, well if that's true, then you probably know anything I could teach you. I could still provide some scrolls though if you wanted them".

[albatross]

Shrugging, Fakir says, "What of information? Do you have intelligence information of any of the great powers? The dragons, or splugoreth, or of the plagues?"

[thorley]

"That depends on what dimensions your interested in, I know more than most about what's going on behind the scenes in my homeworld of RIFTS earth, and have done a bit of transdimensional wandering. I've spent a decent amount of time fighting against a specific Splugorth called Splynncryth, or more specifically minions working for him. The staff I'm carrying was specifically empowered to fight him".

Bellephoebe is more than willing to trade information as long as it isn't about The Federation Of Magic (which if pushed she will continue to deny existing, unless Fakir shows more direct knowlege of the specifics). It's a GM call what she might have learned in the time period she was wandering dimensions, given that between Merctown she was apparently wandering the dimensions, met Daryl, and presumably worked with him enough to trade spells and be willing to perform a rescue mission for him. What happened during that time is a gray area but she probably had some adventures and might have come accross something Fakir might be interested in that wouldn't violate her oaths of Secrecy to Dweamor.

[shiivster]

Aki drifts further afield of the group's massive trail of flattened grasses. the local wildlife seems to avoid her for now, but that's fine. she figures that as long as she keeps the 'smudge' of the makeshift army stays to the edge of her vision, she'll be fine.

*her wild sibs are enjoying the freedom of moving without the stench of many human's blocking their noses. they drift along and return to tell her about various smells and tastes of this lizard or that bird. the hawks dart and dive and roost on her shoulder to eat their kill or return to the army to eat.

she revels in the joy and freedom the grasslands seen to offer her this time. she isn't a scout. in fact she's just a tag along at this point. and she knows this, and she knows that she is one of the few that might bespeak any animals the army flushes. she figures that the ground has already spoken to the watchers far away that a large group is headed their way.

[albatross]

Fakir recounts what he knows about the Splugoreth. His knowledge mostly covers The Market on Atlantis. He knows how much money various dealers have on had, security measures the Splugoreth have in place. Hint and rumors about the politics, but little hard information. Mostly what a person would need to know to steal from the Market.

"My master felt freed slaves made loyal soldiers, so he often broke people out of the Market. A more cynical person might conclude there wasn't a better method to stealing soldiers."

[thorley]

"I suppose there is a lot of truth to that, to be honest I've never been to Atlantis, nor do I have any paticular desire to... still you seem to mostly know about their domestic policy and what the market is like here is what I know about their order of battle and raiding parties... "

Bellephoebe reports in detail on Splugorth troops, combat tactics, war machines, and counter measures used against them. Gathered from fighting raids against North America. Her holographic display can even provide visuals since it's been recharged.

[yendor]

Malone smiles, taking a moment to treasure the uncommon view of his bare feet in sandals. "the little things in life. Investigator of sorts, diplomat, all around charmer and skirt chaser. Assistants are always welcomed, they make for good decoys," chuckles. "As for leads, depends on the layout. If the castle is built towards keeping one person in, that's easy to find and follow."

[albatross]

Off in the distance, Aki spots a hawk, but it whirls away - perhaps unnerved by what it sees below.

She finds droppings in the grasses, perhaps horse or buffalo, but they are quite old and there is no established trail. Likely a wild animal.

[albatross]

Talon consider Malone's response, "We'll have to investigate the layout. Perhaps you and your assistants can create a map to share with the rest of us?"

"Decoys? What kind of decoys? Fakir's minions are quite a distraction, but their investigative powers are weak. My nuns are more observant, but also more subtle."