Butcher's Blood (part 16)
Mr Zoat
Dedicated ragequitter
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2016
- Messages
- 15,977
- Likes received
- 817,745
21st January 2013
12:23 GMT
"…drawing of the merchants." Razer looks at the picture the court artist was able to render. "I doubt that you will be able to find them based on this alone. We don't know what makes one member of their species stand out against the others."
"You'd be right, if I didn't recognise them."
The Free Lancers. They moved pretty quick-. No, wait, if they flew to Chughraghahh and used the portal there… Okay, that gets them closer, but they still-.
Then flew to Alstair and used their plant-based Dominion rip-off gate to fly to O and then flew here, then they could make it.
I should be charging them a percentage.
I've got no idea how they knew about this place. Sure, the Reach would happily fund them to pick up anything related to the emotional spectrum, but unless they tripped over it by pure chance… Don't know.
Ilana blinks at me. "Who are they?"
"Specialist… Traders, I've encountered before. They folded fairly quickly when I threatened them, but that just means that they're realistic. Have they been here before?"
Razer indicates the negative. "No. Apparently, this was their first visit."
"But they knew about the situation; they probably spoke to other traders."
So how secret was the fact that the miners were afflicted with insane rage? It wasn't a secret in the city, but..? No, no, they found that power ring deliberately. It would be difficult but not impossible for them to have acquired a system for detecting emotional spectrum energy. They'd already left by the time we arrived, so… Maybe the main focus of the Butcher's energy was detectable in a way that the residue wasn't?
I'll ask them when I catch up with them.
"Thank you for your assistance. My team will be leaving Volkreg to complete our investigation. I will return when that's done in order to enact a lasting peace. And, knowing me, probably some light industry. I can take you home now, or leave you here until I return."
Ilana and Razer look at each other for a moment, then turn back to me. Ilana makes a gesture of ending. "This has been… My horizons have expanded more than I thought possible."
"But we will need all hands in the fields now that there is once again sunlight with which to grow things."
"Understood. One moment."
I attach tethers to each of them and transition, appearing on the battlements of their home city. The small cluster of soldiers on the ramparts clutch their weapons for a moment, and then appear to recognise my companions.
"Thank you, once again, for your assistance."
I nod respectfully, and then transition back to Jade, already knowing what I'm going to see. Her armour's sensors detect me and she steps aside to see what drawing the locals have created. Not exactly display-worthy, but I pick out the Free Lancers from amongst the faces on display.
"The Free Lancers."
"They've travelled a long way. Any idea how?"
"It's possible due to the zeta relay on-."
"The one you built for Amalak. And then the gate near O, which you-."
"Yeah, no good deed goes unpunished." I huff quietly. "Rage absorbed, peace reigns, ash cloud gone. We're finished here, unless you can think of anything I've missed?"
"You haven't recruited anyone."
"We're too far from N.E.M.O. space, and I don't have time to teach someone. And I haven't encountered an outstanding candidate."
She nods. "Azmah or Turi?"
"We need to find out what the Free Lancers are doing, and if they're on Azmah then it's obvious what they're up to. Orion?"
Ping.
He's kneeling next to his astro-harness. His head is bowed, and his hands… I think he's praying. Odd. I didn't see any obvious buildings of worship in Super Town, and… I rather thought that their connection to the Source just… Rendered conventional worship meaningless. But he did just absorb quite a lot of red light, so I think I'll give it a minute or two.
Ping.
His eyes open and he stands, his muscles tense. Without looking at either of us he steps up onto the astro-harness.
Ping.
"Azmah."
I nod. "If you don't have an objection."
"The intensity of the rage is clearly enough to overwhelm mortal minds. Removing it wherever I find it is my duty to the Source. What concerns me is that Draan Del Daar knew that it was here and left the mortals to their plight."
"I'm not going to try and defend his behaviour. The only thing I can think of is that for most of his life this planet was uninhabited. It might genuinely have slipped his mind."
"There will be a reckoning either way."
"After he's made the ring. We need that."
Ping.
"I have not forgotten. Mother Box, open a Boom Tube to Azmah."
Ping.
BOOM!
Jade charges her maser. "So, this is a world where everyone's either being electrocuted to ash or fighting everyone else on the planet."
"Technically, they only fight everyone in their line of sight. And their government officials appear to be able to rise above it, though I think that's something to do with how they live in a Faraday cage. But I'm pretty sure that with sufficiently conductive dividers and an absence of the Butcher's Blood, we should be able to becalm them."
Orion flies through the portal, and Jade and I follow a moment later. Contacting the government-.
"YAAAGH!"
A hulking local man throws himself at Orion, axe in hand! Orion jinks around the swing and fires two astro-bolts to the back of the local's helmet. The man staggers but the lack of intelligent control doesn't stop him stomping around in a circle and swinging at Orion once more. This time Orion knocks his arm aside and counters, punching once, twice and then a third time into his face! On the third his helmet is torn off, and I take that as a opening to attach a shock construct to his head and stun him.
And here come the rest.
12:23 GMT
"…drawing of the merchants." Razer looks at the picture the court artist was able to render. "I doubt that you will be able to find them based on this alone. We don't know what makes one member of their species stand out against the others."
"You'd be right, if I didn't recognise them."
The Free Lancers. They moved pretty quick-. No, wait, if they flew to Chughraghahh and used the portal there… Okay, that gets them closer, but they still-.
Then flew to Alstair and used their plant-based Dominion rip-off gate to fly to O and then flew here, then they could make it.
I should be charging them a percentage.
I've got no idea how they knew about this place. Sure, the Reach would happily fund them to pick up anything related to the emotional spectrum, but unless they tripped over it by pure chance… Don't know.
Ilana blinks at me. "Who are they?"
"Specialist… Traders, I've encountered before. They folded fairly quickly when I threatened them, but that just means that they're realistic. Have they been here before?"
Razer indicates the negative. "No. Apparently, this was their first visit."
"But they knew about the situation; they probably spoke to other traders."
So how secret was the fact that the miners were afflicted with insane rage? It wasn't a secret in the city, but..? No, no, they found that power ring deliberately. It would be difficult but not impossible for them to have acquired a system for detecting emotional spectrum energy. They'd already left by the time we arrived, so… Maybe the main focus of the Butcher's energy was detectable in a way that the residue wasn't?
I'll ask them when I catch up with them.
"Thank you for your assistance. My team will be leaving Volkreg to complete our investigation. I will return when that's done in order to enact a lasting peace. And, knowing me, probably some light industry. I can take you home now, or leave you here until I return."
Ilana and Razer look at each other for a moment, then turn back to me. Ilana makes a gesture of ending. "This has been… My horizons have expanded more than I thought possible."
"But we will need all hands in the fields now that there is once again sunlight with which to grow things."
"Understood. One moment."
I attach tethers to each of them and transition, appearing on the battlements of their home city. The small cluster of soldiers on the ramparts clutch their weapons for a moment, and then appear to recognise my companions.
"Thank you, once again, for your assistance."
I nod respectfully, and then transition back to Jade, already knowing what I'm going to see. Her armour's sensors detect me and she steps aside to see what drawing the locals have created. Not exactly display-worthy, but I pick out the Free Lancers from amongst the faces on display.
"The Free Lancers."
"They've travelled a long way. Any idea how?"
"It's possible due to the zeta relay on-."
"The one you built for Amalak. And then the gate near O, which you-."
"Yeah, no good deed goes unpunished." I huff quietly. "Rage absorbed, peace reigns, ash cloud gone. We're finished here, unless you can think of anything I've missed?"
"You haven't recruited anyone."
"We're too far from N.E.M.O. space, and I don't have time to teach someone. And I haven't encountered an outstanding candidate."
She nods. "Azmah or Turi?"
"We need to find out what the Free Lancers are doing, and if they're on Azmah then it's obvious what they're up to. Orion?"
Ping.
He's kneeling next to his astro-harness. His head is bowed, and his hands… I think he's praying. Odd. I didn't see any obvious buildings of worship in Super Town, and… I rather thought that their connection to the Source just… Rendered conventional worship meaningless. But he did just absorb quite a lot of red light, so I think I'll give it a minute or two.
Ping.
His eyes open and he stands, his muscles tense. Without looking at either of us he steps up onto the astro-harness.
Ping.
"Azmah."
I nod. "If you don't have an objection."
"The intensity of the rage is clearly enough to overwhelm mortal minds. Removing it wherever I find it is my duty to the Source. What concerns me is that Draan Del Daar knew that it was here and left the mortals to their plight."
"I'm not going to try and defend his behaviour. The only thing I can think of is that for most of his life this planet was uninhabited. It might genuinely have slipped his mind."
"There will be a reckoning either way."
"After he's made the ring. We need that."
Ping.
"I have not forgotten. Mother Box, open a Boom Tube to Azmah."
Ping.
BOOM!
Jade charges her maser. "So, this is a world where everyone's either being electrocuted to ash or fighting everyone else on the planet."
"Technically, they only fight everyone in their line of sight. And their government officials appear to be able to rise above it, though I think that's something to do with how they live in a Faraday cage. But I'm pretty sure that with sufficiently conductive dividers and an absence of the Butcher's Blood, we should be able to becalm them."
Orion flies through the portal, and Jade and I follow a moment later. Contacting the government-.
"YAAAGH!"
A hulking local man throws himself at Orion, axe in hand! Orion jinks around the swing and fires two astro-bolts to the back of the local's helmet. The man staggers but the lack of intelligent control doesn't stop him stomping around in a circle and swinging at Orion once more. This time Orion knocks his arm aside and counters, punching once, twice and then a third time into his face! On the third his helmet is torn off, and I take that as a opening to attach a shock construct to his head and stun him.
And here come the rest.
Last edited: