IC: Vein of Truth, An adventure into the wilds Options

[Shadow]

"For crying out loud," Raven utters off com. "Down here would be down the cliff where the weird rocks are."

[Misfit Toy]

"Well excuuuuuse me." Although unseen, another smile creeped upon Belfast's face as he released the switch on his transciever. A knowing nod between him and Red Tom preceeded the leprechauns extinguishing of his pipe. As the Irishman dusted off his clothes, he threw a glance towards the nearby ork.

"Thanks for keeping an eye out while I was away, Sedryk. Wanna tag along with us as we head down the cliff to investigate these rocks?"

Once Bel got his answer, he turned and proceeded to do just that. Along the way he took a good, long hard look at the strange energies permeating this place, trying to unlock any secrets he could about it while carrying on idle chitchat with either Red Tom or Sedryk as the case may be.

[TinkerGnome]

Belfast requests the gnome form a gesalt with him, but notes an odd reluctance on the part of the gnome to do so. Bound as he is, though, the spirit mergest without an outward complaint.

The stones themselves look very much like witching stones on the physical plane, Belfast quickly realizes, though they are jumbled here instead of standing errect over top of a ley line. On the astral, they look even more so. They appear to be the source of much of the background count surrounding this area, though it is probably their presence so near a mana line without being in the proper orientation that causes the trouble.

How long they've been here is impossible to tell.

[Misfit Toy]

Leaning down to the study the rocks more carefully, Belfast rubs his chin a bit before standing back up and calling Red Tom to his side. A simple glance conveys the silent message that Bel wants the leprechaun to go to the top of the cliff to examine the area there and see if he can figure out why these stones fell. His attention then turns back to Raven and the others gathered nearby.

"These appear to be some kind of... hmm, how do I put this into laymen's terms... all right, imagine the flow of magic across the world as a great network of electrical power lines. Using that analogy, this area is sort of like a junction box and these stones are the transformers and fuses therein that help insure the power flows properly. Somehow, they've been disrupted and have left this area in a state of rather disconcerting flux that might be the cause for some of the problems I've been sensing here... and it doubtlessly has some connection to the spirits I ran into inside.

"I can try to repair them enough to eliminate a few of the problems, but that will probably take a few hours to do if I enlist the aid of some of the fey I've been able to persuade to help us. On the other hand, we can leave it as it is, but I have no way of knowing how bad things may get and my ability to protect you from the magical dangers we are definitely going to be encountering as a result of this misalignment will be hampered. So... what should we do? Spend a few hours trying to fix it while setting up camp, or ignore it and hope for the best? I think you know where my decision lies, but I'll leave it up to the rest of you since I have a rather biased opinion."

He stood fully erect and folded his arms. His eyes seemed to be somewhere else as he continued looking around while listening to the ensuing discussion, but despite the obvious distraction he did, indeed, seem to be still listening.

[Shadow]

"I sat clean it up, the less problems we have the better."

[crechebaby]

Brand scrambles her way down the cliff and stands by as Belfast examines the stones and then attempts to explain the situation. At the first given opportunity, she taps him on the shoulder.

"Package recieved... about the same time we approached the mine."

[Misfit Toy]

Lifting his brow at Brand, it takes the mage a moment to realize what she was talking about. "Oh, right."

He touches the comm unit plugged into his ear and tries to get in touch with the rigger. "Thor, Bel. If you have a moment, can you send one of your drones to get a good look at our previous camp? We just received word that someone or something just found one of the little surprises we left behind."

[JaronK]

Paris, hearing the communication to Belfast over the comm, aims his binoculars at the congregation near the stones. Seeing no immediate threat, and no way to help the situation, he resumes scanning the area for anything coming.

[Chance359]

Sedryk listens to Belfasts explaination, "I don't know alot about magic, but I know that keeping it flowing right along can only help. Will moving these stones help?"

[Misfit Toy]

"I can't be certain, of course, but I would say the probability is exceptionally high that it would."

[Shadow]

"Well in the mean time, while you figure out what to do Bel. Let's get the surface samples and survey done."

Raven scrambled back up the cliff, her head swam with all the magical mumbo jumbo that was getting tossed around. She went to work setting up the survey equipment as best she could, or simply following the directions of anyone who new better.

[Misfit Toy]

"Right. I'll get started on that. The rest of you, do what you can from outside the mine but don't venture in until we figure out what to do in regards to the current residents. That includes keeping those surveying drones outside as well. Now go do that voodoo that you all do so well, and I'll do the same..."

[TinkerGnome]

As Raven sets up the survey equipment with the help of a few team members, Belfast and a few other interested parties set about righting the stones. Whether or not they were moved intentionally from the proper position, it is clear that the cracked asphault road is located where the stones should be.

Using spirits judiciously, as well as an earth moving spell, Belfast makes good time on getting the stones litterally sliding uphill. Sedryk tries to help initially, but quickly realizes that the stones are impossibly heavy.

The stones are all at the top of the drop within an hour of starting and Red Tom causes the asphault to shred itself with a spell, revealing the area of ground below where the stones must go. Working as fast and accurately as possible, the team gets the stones into place.

By the time the sun sinks below the horizon, Raven has the drone system working, a half dozen small devices which fly or crawl over the area, recording data about the terrain. The system refuses to work without a satellite uplink, so that has been set up as well.

As the last of the stones falls into place, the effect is immediate on the astral plane. The noise, which had covered the entire hillside now seems confined to the area of the stones and a few meters to each side. With more adjusting, the noise could be eliminated, but it appears to be a long task that the team doesn't have time for right now.

[JaronK]

Paris rubs his legs quietly as the sun sets. He slowly pulls his camoflagued sleeping bag out of the rucksack and sets it up within his nest. After a bite of rations, he settles back down to continue his watch, now within the more comfortable bag.

[Number 6]

"Hmm, these things span world-wide eh? Is anyone gonna notice what we've done here?"

[FXcalibur]

"So you're saying this piece of road here is where these rocks should be?" Evans says to Bel. "I'm no magician, but could this be a case of 'man building over nature, angering mother nature' kind of thing I keep seeing in old fairy tales?"

"And you mentioned magical dangers. I've been around the business for a while, so I have a...general understanding of what's at stake. Is this going to be another case of keep-the-mage slash shaman-alive or is there any physical way we tackle them if the drek hits the fan?"

[Misfit Toy]

In response to Hellcow, Belfast gives one of those dismissive 'nah' expressions. "The virtual static it was creating was limited to the immediate area. Unless someone was specifically monitoring this area, it's unlikely anyone would have noticed the change. The stones were just placed here to help fix a localized problem. Now we just have to figure out what that localized problem is..."

Bel's dismissive expression mutates into one of curious thought at Evan's words. "It's entirely possible. I didn't see any reason to suspect that the disruption was malicious in nature. The original miners here probably disrupted it by mistake." He reached up to scratch his chin. "No, I'm not so much concerned for myself as I am for the rest of you. I'm fairly certain I can personally fend off the spirits inside if they turn aggressively hostile, it's the rest of you I'm concerned about. A few of the ones I saw looked pretty powerful, so most of the weapons I've seen you carrying around will be all but useless against them. Hopefully we can find a way to end this without having to come to blows wit them, though. If anything, I'd say this is more of a 'putting spirits to rest' job than 'blowing away the evil spirits.' At least that's my initial take on the situation until we learn more.

"But whatever it is that's causing my spirits to be... disagreeable... is still afoot. If we decide to pursue this matter further I have two workable options available. The first is that I can try and force one of the mine's fey folk to come before me and compel him to tell us what is going on, and the other is to shed myself of this mortal coil and travel to their homeworld across the ether to see if I can discover the truth there. I'm morally against the former, but if it will help the fey and other spirits of this area in the long run its a necessary evil. The latter will most likely be dangerous and it's something I'd have to do on my own since I have no means of bringing any of you along with me. It could also take only a few minutes or, in a worse case scenario, a few days or even weeks. Obviously we don't have that much time.

"In other words, thave gives us three major options." He holds up his index finger. "One, say 'fook this shite' and storm into the mine with guns blazing." Then comes his next finger. "Two, forcefully interrogate one of the local fey into answering our questions." And then another. "Three, project to the planes and hope it doesn't take more than an hour or two to find the answer. Naturally I'm against one and two, but three isn't much of an option either. So, hopefully, someone else has a better idea...

"Any suggestions?"

[FXcalibur]

Evans leans against a nearby tree and rubs his chin, staring into the ground.

"There's something bothering me though." He looks up. "I hope whatever we did here with the rocks rectified their moods, but if we didn't, it's going to be a safe bet going into the mines is going to get them angry and us under a lot of figurative firepower."

"Trouble is, I don't think they mentioned what was bothering them, did they? If it was this disruption of magical...what did you call it, current? Magical current, and that's fixed, then hopefully they won't mind us entering the mine." Evans sighs deeply. "However, what I'm concerned about is them minding any humans mining the area, or even setting foot in that mine. If they don't want humans here at all, then..."

He leaves his words hanging in the air. His hand leaves his chin and gestures loosely to Belfast.

"Seems you're the expert here. I happen to disagree with your first two options as well. I think finding out why those spirits were hostile to you would be the first step. If you ask me, I'd rather find out what's going on with them first. That probably means option two or three."

"Can I ask though, of your abilities on this 'ether'? If you have a way of monitering time and returning if the journey is too long, I'd suggest it. If not, then...Geez, mate, not much of a choice." Evans words slowly trail off as he looks at the ground again. It's obvious the last part of his sentence was more meant for himself than anybody else.

"I definately, definately, do not want to go in guns blazing. If you can't keep track of time, then...I don't know...two sounds better...and believe me, I don't like the idea of interrogation either."

"I am curious in something though, Bel. Could these spirits be guarding something? Again, you're the expert; do these spirits here have a characteristic of guarding ore depositis, or hate people digging into soil, or anything along those lines? Might be a clue."

[Shadow]

Raven leaned up against a piece of survey equipment. Her lean muscles were some what sore from the heavy lifting. She desperately wanted to shed he jacket. In the end though her mind won out over her body. It would take to long to get the armor back on incase of a fire fight.

"We don't have the time for Bel to do soul searching, and we don't have the firepower to go in blazing. If they can tell us what to do to make it better so we can get paid, then I say frag it. Make them tell us."

[Number 6]

Hellcow ponders Belfasts suggestions. He listens to the other raptly, and nods when Raven speaks.

"The only other option I can think of is, maybe they'd be willing to trade something for the information, and maybe the sample we need? But we don't know what they could want. If that's impractical, I agree, we have to know more before we go in. And we can't spare the hours."

The elf looks glum at what he's going to suggest.

"Sounds like snatch and interrogate is the only option. Belfast, will only you be able to question him?"

[Panzergeist]

Swift Eagle considers this development. "I would not like to take on peaceful free spirits. Perhaps we can bargain with them? Offer them some karma or something?"

[Chance359]

"Belfast, do you think that the spirits would be willing to give us the drilling sample that we need? Perhaps we could negotiate karma or whatever Swift Eagle was talking about, get the sample we need and tell the Johnson about it."

"Not to add to our troubles, but we still have the other group we ran into earlier. If they set off they traps we left back at the beach, we can only assume that they will continue to follow us."

"I suggest that Bel finds someplace to hunker down and do his thing while the rest of us make sure that he won't be interupted."

[Beast of Revolut...]

Thor ponders the group's options. "I could take my spider drone down the mines. Belfast, how easy would it be for them to spot a drone from astral space? Perhaps those militiamen know something useful? Should we try to capture one of them?"

Thinking of the militiamen, Thor decides to check the original landing site and see if any of the traps his teammates set have been tripped. He orders the blimp drone to rise to an altitude of 200 meters, and head south to the site of the skirmishes with the two rednecks and the bear. "Im sending the blimp south to check the original landing sites for signs of a counterattack, or detonation of the booby traps. I won't have you guys covered for a few minutes, so keep me apprised of the situation. "

It then occurs to him that he can still do a little surveying from the surface. "Could you set up a couple of the flying survey drones for me? I'll start some surface scanning until we decide hat to do underground."

[tisoz]

All the talk about spirits is a little over Skeeter's head. Spirits confuse him. He understands what he can see and touch, but then when they disappear, he has to woder if his senses betrayed him.

When he hears Thor suggest capturing a militiaman, whatever one of them are, but they sound like men, Skeeter volunteers to help. He'd volunteer to help with the mining equipment but some of it looks a little hard to figure out.

[Misfit Toy]