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Full Version: Umbrae Europae [IC] (part 3) - Mist of Nycthemeron
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Jack_Spade
[ Spoiler ]


Rex had kept quiet with his eyes open to the astral in regular intervals, otherwise following the shared feed through the AR.
<<That looked like a nasty fall. It's not yet too close to the mist, do you think I should send a Kami to pick it up?
I could even have the spirit fly the drone closer to the mist. That would shorten the walk and save some energy.>>
Haywire
#48[\b]

"Well, a Levitation could help, but I'll try to pull it out myself first...

[ Spoiler ]
Jack_Spade
[ Spoiler ]


<<Wait, let me help you a bit with your concentration.>>
With a touch of his nose, Rex imparted a spark of magic to enhance Waywalker's piloting performance - but not before he called up a small Kami.

Since he knew where the drone was, it was quite easy to tell the spirit to use his concealment on himself and the drone and carry it as close to the mist and the village as the Kami dared. When this was done he was dismissed.
Jack_Spade
A bit sarcastic Waywalker answered: <<Thanks for the boost, but that only helps me to see that I'm a bad pilot with a walker drone.>>

Rex had to admit that strengthening Waywalker's hand-eye-coordination would have been better. Unfortunately he didn't know how to cast this spell.
So he did the only other thing he could do for his friend:
<<You are not a bad pilot. You are just new to this stuff. Every step you take, you learn something. Take a moment to look around, plan your next step consciously and then the next. Let it flow from there. Just a bit of concentration and don't get overconfident - in this stage it's when you get familiar with your gear when you start to make mistakes.>>
Rex figured, that Waywalker would also benefit from a better understanding of his control hardware, so he used the little divination spell that was so useful for his focus on his Control Rig.

[ Spoiler ]





Haywire
#49

"Well, thank you for your kind words. I'm sorry if I snapped, I'm a bit tense. Let's make this work."

[ Spoiler ]
Romain Pelisse
Giving an other try at it, Waywalker finally manages to dig the drone leg out of the narrow space it got itself stuck in. Immediately, the rigger makes the walker runs to beneath a nearby tree, while using it sensor to assert if the mishap somehow triggered the intention of a nearby drone...

[ Spoiler ]
Haywire
#50

"Let's see if we're lucky..."

[ Spoiler ]
Romain Pelisse
Scanning the surrounding, helped by its agents, Waywalker is rapidely reassured. None of the drone of the network monitoring the Mist has noticied the Nestor unit. At least, it is for now safe from that....

[ Spoiler ]


Romain Pelisse
[ Spoiler ]


Checking the numerous telemetry coming from the drone's sensor array, Waywalker realizes there is two (meta)human, with no electronics moving in the woods he found shelter, just dozen meters away from the Nestor. Even if the night has yet to fall, the density of woods, added the shade cast by the huge wall of Mist, now only a few kilometer away from his current position, makes it impossible for the rigger to know more about the duo.

He awaits for an instant, if he can figure out where those two are ahead, but they appear to be right now, hiding behind trees, try to be immobile...
Haywire
#51

"Rex, there is a little complication. I detected two humanoids figures hiding from our drone. I cannot decipher their intentions, and I'm sending a Rotodrone hurried to defend Nestor, just in case. Maybe you want to check them in the astral?"
After sendig the message he leaved Nestor's dog brain instruction to defend himself and not engage hostiles and jumped in one Rotodrone, hurrying.

[ Spoiler ]
Jack_Spade
<<I'm on it, but to maintain contact with you, I'll send a Kami to check it out.>>

Rex concentrated and called on the Daughter of the Morning Mists, who - if nothing else - should at least be able to get into proximity of this mystery mist.

[ Spoiler ]


The call is answered promptly and on Rex' request the whisp like creature makes its way towards the place Waywalker has shown him, while also moving with the utmost care not to be detected.
Romain Pelisse
Rex's Kami manifests nearby Waywalker's drone position, as a patch of fog - the perfect disguise to blend in, and somehow oozes toward the two hidden figures. Soon after, the spirit informs his summoner that two metahumans, an ork and human, are apparently hiding behind some trees, indeed a few meters away from the now standing still, and also hidden, Nestor unit.

"Both are males, oh my liege, who yields the power of Mana, and both are quite tense. None appears to be suspicious of my presence, a few meters away from them. Also, none of them are awakened. The both wears simple clothes. One appears to have a sort of fire-stick in his hands, the other hold one of those pistols, you metahumans appears to be so found of. The ork one also carries a large bag, that he is holding against his chest. I can feel in his aura he cares about the content of thus bag, but he is also, like his companion, very worried to be spot..."

[ Spoiler ]

Jack_Spade
[ Spoiler ]


<<Looks like there are two other looters around. They carry something in a bag with them and are worried to be detected. On the off chance that they are after the same thing as we are, do you think we should apprehend them and interrogate them? The Kami could wrestle one to the ground and move him up into the air, so the other will think twice about shooting at her. He should be responsive to a few questions then.>>
Rex forwarded to Waywalker the information he just received.
Haywire
#52

"I think that is a good idea - the Rotodrone should be there in a matter of minutes to give her some help if things go south."

[ Spoiler ]
Jack_Spade
Through his mental connection, Rex told the Kami:
'Sneak up on the one with the bag, grapple him and carry him into the air as soon as I tell you to. We want to question them.'


[ Spoiler ]

Romain Pelisse
[ Spoiler ]


Suddenly, a arm made of manifest bolt in the direction of the ork with the bag, grab him with an incredible strength, and yanks him into the sky! The poor fellow, now flying just above the tree line, around ten meters away from the ground floor, can not resist the urge to scream, before calling his partner in crime for help:

"Marc!!! Aide moi !!!"

The partner in crime hesitates for a split second before bolting in the opposite direction of the patch of Mist, and yelling:

"C'est ta faute, mec, je t'avais ce coin était hanté ! T'avais qu'à m'écouter!"

(Apparently, Marc has indeed decided to keep up with a long tradition of the french military, started in '39 with the (in)famous "Alliance de revers" with Poland, where France, as all, stayed firmly behind its border, while Germany was invading Poland... )

In the panic of being grabbed and throw in the sky, the ork left his bag fall all the ground. It is no difficulty for Nestor or even Rex's Kami to see that the content is mostly herbs, rocks, crystal... Rex would have to get closer to evaluate the merchandise, but there is most likely only a few dram worth of reagents here.
Haywire
#53

Looking at the scene through the feed from the Nestor, Waywalker jumped in the anthropomorfic drone and ordered the Rotodrone to return at the base.
Waiting a moment to re-assess himslelf in the new drone Waywalker spoke through the drone in English:
"We do not want to harm you. Have you been in the Mist?"
Jack_Spade
<<You might want to use your translator soft - I don't think those guys speak English.>>
Rex sent to Waywalker.
<<It seems as if they are collecting alchemically potent herbs and such - which is curious since neither of them looked awakened. Which implies that they are the helpers of a mage or alchemist that is close by. We should hurry.>>
Romain Pelisse
Still being dangle over the tree line, the ork is pretty surprised to be suddenly addressed by a somewhat robotic voice coming from below him:

"Hein? Quoi? Qu'est ce que... ?"

Stop in mid sentence, he then goes:

"Pleeaase.... Lette Me Goo !!!!"

Rex order his spirit to slowly put the ork back on the ground, but not let his grip go.

[ Spoiler ]


Catching his breath, the ork takes a moment before talking again:

"Who are you ? What do you want ? Please let, me go! You can take my stuff if you want, but let me go!!!"
Jack_Spade
[ Spoiler ]


Rex asked the Kami to submit his answers for him:
"It is very dangerous to go into these wilds. We aren't interested in you or what you have collected though. But would you be so kind and tell for whom exactly you work and who else is out here?"
Haywire
#54

"As I said before, we mean no harm on you. Please answer the questions asked."
Romain Pelisse
Sitting on the ground, a bit looking like a punished ork kid, and still entangled by the Kami's misty arms, the prisoner looks a bit pathetic, and it takes a few instants for him to grasp the situation. But soon, he replies to the runners:

"Euh... I .. I... Err, I guess "we" ? We don't work for anybody! Marc and I were just here to collect some stuff that local druids appreciate. They generally don't buy all we bring them, but most of it. We did not mean any harm... And we are sure not here to pick up a beef with... whoever you are!"

He pauses and realizes that his buddy, Marc, is long gone now, and decides thus to drop the "we":

"As far as 'who else' is out there, I'm not sure what to tell you. Nearby the Mist it is for sure "inhabited" by ... things. I guess, the Korrigans are, you know, "checking things out", but I've run into any of them.... Well, I did catch a glimpse of a Pixie, once... I think... There is plenty of drone from the High Council too, but those are mostly hovering nearby the border. Now, we are too far away and too small to be noticed by them."


The ork scratches his head, before going on:

"My buddies who have a bit of Talent, always tell me to stick to the treeline and try to be as discreet as possible to not ... How do they say ? Trigger the anger of the local spirit. Some of them tell me that there is even other spirit, sent by the druids also patrolling the area, but those are ordered to monitor the mist, more than people like Marc and me..."

He stops, waits for a second and then say:

"So..... I am good, right ? I can go, now ?"

Jack_Spade
"Yeah, move along and don't forget your stuff." Rex sent through is Kami and allowed the orc to get up again.
Haywire
#55

The robotic voice of Nestor spoke through the speakers: "You are good to go, and remeber you did not see anything today."
Not waiting for the guy to hurry up, Waywalker continued the drone's march to the Mist.
Jack_Spade
Through the mental connection, Rex told the Kami: "Thank you for your help. Please accompany the drone to the village as far as you safely can - maybe even carry it for swifter travel. When you feel it is no longer safe for you, set it down carefully and come back to me."
Romain Pelisse
The minute the arms made of mist of Rex's Kami releases him, the orc grabs his stuff, leaving half of it behind him, and starts running back to civilization. The Kami, still manifested, then wrap the tiny body of the Nestor's unit, with tentacles of fog, before pulling it gently from the ground and carrying it, far more quickly than the poor drone can move toward the large wall of Mist towering a few kilometers ahead of them.

It is a strange sensation for Waywalker, who is jumped into the drone, to feel the weird caress of a dense fog lifting him from the ground, and make him sort of fly , just above the ground. However, the trip is short, as the few kilometers separating him from the Mist boundaries are quickly crossed, thanks to the magical power of the spirit.

The Kami is clearly uncomfortable getting close to the magical fog, and finally stops, and abandon the drone, only a few hundreds meters in. As Waylwalker feels the ground again under the drone's feet, the spirit disappear almost immediately, leaving alone, surrounded by an almost opaque, greyish fog. Turning his head around, the Nestor unit, using regular camera, can barely make it passed a couple of meters.

Switching to the other sensors available in the drone, Waywalker has barely much more luck. He also realizes, that the drone is only a few hundreds meters in, and only around thirty kilometers away from van where his RCC unit his, but the noise has already ramp up quite a lot.

[ Spoiler ]


On the bright side, the ambient noise does not appears to hinder the ability of the drone to keep a bearing. Waywalker knows that their target, the long forgotten village, is straight ahead. Sadly, after only a few meters, he has to stop right there. A huge wall is standing in front of him. By the look of it, it is pretty modern, but has not been maintained for decades. Waywalker recalls that, during his matrix research of the Mist, some of the old infrastructure built to contain the Mist when it first appears, has been long overrun since then. And now, he is left to face a two-meter high fence...
Haywire
#56

Waywalker, almost in a Pavlovian reflex scratched his head, only to realize he was still jumped in the drone.
"We got a wall, two meters high. I do not think it should be too difficult to climb, but in case you could levitate Nestor?"
Then he proceeded to try to climb the wall with the drone.

[ Spoiler ]
Romain Pelisse
With his Kami refusing to go further, Rex knows already that the magical background of the drone surrounding is going to be ... well, let's face it, it's going to be a bitch. However, the current physical form of Rex is too far away to be able to read the astral space surrounding the drone...

[ Spoiler ]
Jack_Spade
<<Sorry, no can do. I'd have to head in there myself which kind of defeats the purpose of sending a drone. What I can do is have the Kami airdrop any helpful gear you need to get over the wall.>>
Rex replied.
Romain Pelisse
[ Spoiler ]


As, for once, Rex can not come up with a handy spell or Kami to help him, Waywalker decides to get closer to the wall and try, with the bare hands of the drone, to find an opening. Moving along the wall for a little, the rigger is at first not successful. Also, closer to the wall, there is a lot more mist and the visibility is almost reduce to zero. Even the thermographic sensor of the drone are barely able to make out the rough shape of the wall and the numerous rocks, or piece of concrete, laying in front of it.

A couple of times, Waywalker fails to walk properly over the insidious ground, and almost trip over - again, with the drone. But he is now more careful than earlier, and the eeriness of the place is certainly making him progress with cautious. Suddenly, just as the task of touching and searching the wall for a crack becomes almost automatic, the drone's right hand finds an opening. Putting the drone arm into it, Wawywalker is happy to pass it all the way through. The hole - or maybe the crack, is big enough for him to climb on it and go through. He had to deviate for over two hundreds meter, but the drone is still in the general vicinity of the village the runners are targeting.

[ Spoiler ]

Haywire
#57

"No problem chummer, I think I should go old school."
He started to metodically examine the fence looking for a gap, and soon smiled.
Waywalker, jumped in the drone, found a hole in the old wall. "Give me enough time and a way through will appear."

[ Spoiler ]
Romain Pelisse
Waywalker climbs inside the breach on the wall, with far less issues than he expected in fact. Focusing on the sensor on the drone's hands and legs, he pretty forgo of his sight - the mist making the drone almost blind, and maneuvers the walker successfully behind the wall. He then carefully lands on the patch of lands. The mist on the other side seems even more dense, dampening any sight but also covering the drone body with thousands and thousands of drops of water. Waywalker cannot refrains to cold shiver, as he use the GPS to give the drone the proper bearing.

It takes a little while for the rigger to put the drone on the right path. On top of being utterly blinded now by the Mist, the noise has increased to such an extend that he even mess up with internal compass of the drone, and put quite a lag on the connection to the walker. Nevertheless, the rigger finally gets it right, and the little drone starts moving toward the position of the village.

However, as Waywalker focuses again on his surroundings, he suddenly hears a strange noise behind him. Maybe a foot step ? Or something else ? He is not sure, but it does fells like something might be there, a few meters behind him...

[ Spoiler ]
Haywire
#58

"Ok, the easier part is done, now let's see what we got..."
Waywalker could almost feel the cold droplets of water on the drone's body despite the lack of skin sensors. The rigger was upset for the lag in the connection, so he recalibrated the RCC to counter the static; and suddenly he heard a noise.
"Rex, I heard something here in the mist, maybe it's nothing, but I know that there is nothing like too much paranoia. Do you have a mean to perceive what is going on around Nestor? By the way, better be prepared. I'm turning all my sensors up, but do not know if I should hope to find something or not..."

[ Spoiler ]
Jack_Spade
<<It's frustrating, but I can't do anything without seeing the place with my own eyes. The Kami can drop stuff from above the mist cover. Grenades for example - unfortunately I don't have any.

But I am looking at your feeds and will tell you if I notice anything in them.>>



[ Spoiler ]
Romain Pelisse
[ Spoiler ]


Using the feeds from the drone turned out to be useless. Rex can not see anything more than a white, dense fog. He often catches glimpses of movement in it, like if ... something is there, a few meters away from the Nestor, but it can never discern any details, neither assert what the potential threat could be.

A few dozen kilometer from the van, Waywalker - or rather the drone, he is jumped into, has to face the situation alone. The rigger stops and focused all his attention on the drone sensor array, try desperately to spot what may be lurking around him. However, the readings are so garbled that he can not determine anything. The Nestor's camera just record a white mess, his auditive sensor are mostly jammed by the interference created by the Mist, and even the thermographic sensors appears to have a hard time to differentiate between the fog and the rest of its surrounding.

Waywalker state of mind shift quickly from annoyed and frustrated to really worried, or even scarred. He is no beginner at this. He tossed all he could against this, and it *should* work. He should be able to have at least *some* readings that make sense. Whatever is happening around him is not ... normal. It's magic, but not the usual "throw a fireball" or a cast a "healing spell" kind. Something very, very strange is happening.

The Nestor stands still for a few more instant. And both Rex and Waywalker, still have the feeling that *something* is moving or hiding behind the drone, but they are not able to determine what it is. The only thing they know is that, at least for now, the presence does not appears to be have (yet) decide to make itself more visible.... Only a few hundreds meters away from the drone, directly in front of it, the first house, or rather ruins, of the village Moréac.

To Waywalker, nothing has never seems farther away.

Jack_Spade
Rex suddenly felt the urge to eat popcorn - which was weird since he was in the form of a dog and hadn't eaten popcorn as far as he could remember. A memory maybe? But he ignored this thought to concentrate again on the screen and to encourage Waywalker:
<<Ignore those movements for the moment. There is nothing we can realistically do about it for now. Let's look at the positive side: It's highly unlikely that someone got here and beat us to the punch.>>
Romain Pelisse
The little drone bravely moves forward, slowly to ensure it does not trip again, and, despite the looming presence, finally arrives at the entrance of the village. At least, according to his GPS tracking system. The Mist is still too dense here for it to distinguish anything. However, as it gets closer, a large patch of dark, shadowy inside the fog betrays the presence of one of the first house.

But, suddenly, everything changes. As Waywalker step into the place, the fog suddenly lift, and his AR display, short of the camera and the audio sensors of the drones suddenly disappears. The change is so brutal, that Waywalker can not prevent the drone to trip and fall to its knees. As he stands back again, he is utterly surprise of what he is discovering. First of all, despite being hours away from dusk, it is definitely - as impossible as it may sound, night here.

Then, there is the gigantic mushrooms that seems to have populate most of the streets, giving a weird, fantastical look to the place. In between the giant mushrooms looking sort of tree, ruins of the French village remains, looking entirely out of place here. Behind the village limits, there is not longer any trace of the Mist. A large, improbable forest of gigantic trees, that no one ever seen grow in Brittany, spread to the infinite. Quickly, Waywalker realizes he's not in Kansas anymore. Well, if Kansas were to be Brittany, France.

He also then realizes that the connection, despite the lost of all his AR feeds, have become spotless... To the point that he seems to have merged entirely with the little drone body, and can't jack out anymore!

In the meantime, Rex, still sitting in the van, he also puzzled by the sudden disappearance of any AR feeds from the drone. The device does not even registered anymore. Over the matrix connection, he sends message to his partner, but his Persona ... appears to be simply gone from the matrix. Checking Waywalker in the meat space he sees that his partner seems to be still asleep, like he is looks when he is usually jacked in.

Before the dog shaped mage can do anything more, a blip on the sensor array of the van get his attention. Apparently, a vehicle is approaching their own. The traffic in the region is pretty much null and the vehicle appears to be moving at slow pace, and being also covered with some signature masking, making it hard to spot...

[ Spoiler ]
Haywire
#58

"Oh, boy, this is strange. I heard that a rigger becomes the drone, but I never intended this so literally..."
Waywalker was puzzled by the realization he could not jack out, and doubly so by the complete lack of communication. "What is this place?"
"Well, we're in the dance hall, so we shall dance..."
Waywalker hoped to find quickly the book and to never return here.
Jack_Spade
'Just great. Now I have to deal with the military or that catholic order and I have no idea what happened to Waywalker. But as long as his vitals don't show any problems I don't dare to jack him out.'
<<Hang in their buddy. I'll try and sort this out>>

First of all, he needed to hide their presence. This was such a common occurrence by now, he probably should start investing into learning the necessary spell.

So he did what he usually did at times like this: Power up and hope for the best. He dismissed the Daughter of the Morning Mist and called once again for the Shogun...

[ Spoiler ]


In his mountain lion form, Rex waited inside the car, watching the feeds of the sensors outside the car, hoping that they would drive past them thanks to the powerful veil of the Shogun.
Romain Pelisse
As Waywalker new "body" moves forward, he sees the last remnants of the Mist disappear around him. Getting nervous that his only way out of here might have disappear, he looks behind him to check that the patch of fog he emerges has not disappeared. He sighs of relief as he see that the forest behind him is still haunted by the Mist. He now just hope that getting back into this patch of Mist will indeed brought him back to Brittany, and more importantly, in his meat body.

Talking about body, Waywalker suddenly realized that the little drone he is now inhabiting has somehow also changed. Watching his small hands, he realizes they are now made of ... wood ? Looking at his body, he finds out he now look-like a sort of animated Pinocchio - minus the ever-growing nose. Well, at least, he hopes so. Shacking his (tiny) head, he decides to focus on the task at hands, and resume his progress toward the ruins of the village.

As he walks next to the first house, or rather what is left of it, the large mushroom is the courtyard, suddenly moves ! He actually turns toward Waywalker who then realizes that the trunk of the mushroom features a pair of eyes and even a large opening shaped into a mouth.

"Hhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......... What are you, little wood thing ?" says the weird critter, while bowing in his direction. The giant mushroom, at least one meter bigger than Waywalker, plucks itself out of the ground, and starts striding toward the rigger...

[ Spoiler ]
Romain Pelisse
[ Spoiler ]


Forgoing try to assert what kind of vehicle is coming closer, Rex changes forms and immediately asks his Kami to conceal the van. Now he just have to wait and see...

[ Spoiler ]


... but soon the vehicle, still up a couple of kilometers on the road, stops. Like Rex and his partner, the newcomers leaves the roads and appears to hide whatever they are driving into a nearby patch of woods. And suddenly, but not completely unexpectedly, their signal disappears from Rex's sensors array.

[ Spoiler ]
Jack_Spade
[ Spoiler ]


Rex concentrated on reacquiring the sensor feed. He was very reluctant to leave Waywalker's body defenseless behind, but neither did he want to be ambushed by someone sneaking up on them. 'If I don't find them again, I'll have to get out and take position outside the car to intercept them.'
Haywire
#59

"And now this drone is made of wood? Is this a fucking fairy tale?"
Waywalker was laughing to himself like a crazy man, but soon regained his composure.
"Ok, now I focus. In, book, out. Inhale, exhale... yes, like the drone needs to breathe."
Then he saw the giant mushroom in the courtyard, moving towards him.
He spoke respectfully, however mantaining the distance from the fungus: "I am not from here. I hope not to have done offence to you, as I do not mean it. My name is Waywalker, and I am looking for a thing inside this village."

[ Spoiler ]
Romain Pelisse
Slightly arching backward, the giant mushroom critter appears surprised by Waywalker's eloquence - and also a bit disappointed to not be able to simply gobbled down the little thing. As he opens its mouth to speak again, the rigger has a perfect view of his large set of sharp teeth. Despite being a "plant" of a sort, it is clear that the creature is completely able to have a carnivorous diet...

"Hum... I reckon some of you weird little, thing does come thru from time to time... Well, I won't eat as long as you behave. I can't speak from my brother and sisters, but if you do not create any disturbance, I don't see why I should not allow you to pass. Run along little boy, I have some meditation to do..."

Then, the creature goes back to the hole in the ground he left behind, resuming... well, whatever he was doing before Waywalker ... interrupted it ?

Going further into the village, the rigger keeps as much possible away from the other mushrooms being and tries to get the center of the village, where the building used as a Kommandentur by the German Army during WWII is supposed to be...

[ Spoiler ]


In the meantime, back on Earth...

Using the sensor array of Waywalker's vehicle, Rex managed to get again the position of the incoming vehicle, despite its sudden disappearance. The vehicle turns out to be as large as a van, but the reading is fuzzy at best. Something - maybe a spirit using his own Concealment power, is clearly masking it. The vehicle is now parks only a kilometer away from Rex's position. The sensor also reports smaller, barely visible "red dot" moving away from it. Right now, it's unclear if the occupants are just disembarking or going into Rex's position.
Jack_Spade
Rex waited until he could be sure if they were closing in on him. Depending on that he would either stay inside to not rise any suspicion if they didn't head for him. But at the first sign of confrontation he was prepared to leave the van and start his own stalking and maybe culling of the invaders.
Haywire
#60

Waywalker couldn't believe his luck. "A few honey words open up a million doors..."
While thinking about this mushroom creature, the rigger tried to be the sneakiest he could.

[ Spoiler ]
Romain Pelisse
Rex awaits in the van, hoping for the vehicle he observes from afar, has not spotted his presence. Fortunately, only a few seconds after the crew disembark, all of the "red dots" are clearly aiming toward the Mist, not his hiding position. He sights of relief, before realizing that the group, made of at least five different heat signature, is clearly going toward their target. Rex has no idea what happened to his partner, but he is sure that Waywalker won't be able to defeat such a party, when he come backs (if he comes back)...

In the meantime, in an other Realm...

Waywalker is now moving through the ruins of the village far more carefully, attempting as much as possible, to stick to the shadows, to not attract the attention of other "mushroom people"... or other "things". Soon, he reaches his destination: the old public building is still more/less standing, despite all the madness that has happens here. Actually, it is in far superior state than most of the ruins of the village, which puzzles Waywalker.

There is no indication the building has been maintained, it is just somehow more resistant to the passing of times than the other ones. And passing of time have been very harsh to those other houses. It almost feels like centuries of passed since they got lost into the Mist.

As the small drone-turn-wood gets closer, Waywalker suddenly noticed some movement nearby his target, and hides. Two elven figures have indeed appears, right around the corner of the building. Those two characters looks like more like elf from a video-game, than the ones Waywalker ran into during his life. They both carry chain mail armor and pike, and sports a large sword, hanging from their belt. To finish the costume, they both have finely decorated helmets and large cape. Waywalker can clearly see that the "mushrooms" people are looking at the elfs like they would with intruders, but at the same time, they don't appear eager to start a fight. Stoic, the elfs ignores them but are clearly on their guard, ready to retaliate if attacked.

Obviously, the duo are moving toward the entrance of the building, just a hole, as the actual doors have disappear from decades know.
Jack_Spade
Having seen that, Rex knew what he had to do: Delay and sabotage the other team. And that would be easiest if he attacked their transport, forcing them to return if they didn't want to be stranded.
To that effect, he sneaked out of the car and through the dense vegetation to find the vehicle. He expected it to be manned by a rigger. Taking that one out would be his first task.
Silently he moved closer until he could see the van.

[ Spoiler ]
Haywire
#61

Waywalker reached his target with not too much difficulty.
There was a complication: two elves, like elves of the fairy tales, making their entrance in the building.
Waywalker decided to assess the situation before moving.

[ Spoiler ]
Romain Pelisse
Hiding behind the remnants of garden wall, Waywalker opts to observe carefully the newcomers before moving any closer for his target. Sadly for him, the two soldiers appears to simply stop in front of the mansion, and appears to be waiting for something. The soldiers are clearly on guard, paying attention to their surrounding, but more focusing to potential immediate threats - like the giant mushrooms. Waywalker is close enough to hear them do a brief exchange - apparently in Sperethiel.

Seeing that the main entrance is now compromise, the rigger maneuvers a bit around the house, to try to find an other entrance, as an alternative to facing the two elfs. He quickly realizes that most of the windows are still being covered by battered, but mostly intact, closed shutters, leaving very few options to goes in. However, he does spot one window, on the first floor that have a half broken shutter. The drone body is most likely small enough to slips into this, but remains to see if he can climb up there (without getting spotted by the guards). Looking a bit further, he also spots a hole in the ground, nearby the West wall, which seems to lead to the building's basement. It is a bit more exposed to the guards attention, but requires definitely less acrobatics.

Of course, Waywalker has not yet did a full tour of the building. Maybe if he goes even further behind it, he may be able to find other entry points. But this will requires him to be discreet and it will take more time - knowing that he has no idea what the guards are there and apparently waiting for, makes him a bit nervous about delaying any action plan...

In the meantime on Earth, still shaped as a large feline, Rex gets closer to the vehicle and finally gets to see its brand and make. It's rather standard Dogde Stallion, with no obvious apparent modification. There is nobody inside that the mage can see. Apparently the group left the van to its own device. Heading a bit more North, Rex starts running, but still very stealthy to catch up on the newcomers.

Luckily, he quickly found the remains of a farmhouse, on which he can easily climb on, to gain some much high ground - the vegetation has not been catered for for decades, so the feline shape of Rex has quite limited sight in front of him (while being also very much hidden by the foliage). Once on top of the small building, he finally has eyes on the group from the van.

The first is a notified is that the group appears to following a drone, that Rex recognized has being a Telestrian Shamus drone, which is know for its impressive large sensor array and also its ability to gather forensics evidence on magically active crime scene! The walker has been treated with a set of three arms equips of scissors, blades and small chainsaw, all busy cutting through the dense vegetation. The drone is thus opening a road going directly toward Waywalker last position - at the entrance of the village, far more quickly than the little drone have been able to go. Rex has still time, but the group is definitely having a fast pace.

Behind the large, scientific drone, a group of mercenary, wearing full body armor and sporting what appears to be assault rifle - most likely AK-97, are progressing in circle around one one central figure. Before focusing on the person walking in the front of the circle, Rex does a quick body count. The mercenary people are five including one, scary looking troll who is closing the march. In the center, the person walking has a far less impressive stature, he is wearing civilian clothes, that Rex quickly recognized from being out of the Mortimer of London series. It is very hard, at this distance to gather much more on the individual, but it does seems to be either an human or elf male. Given his body size it is unlikely that he belongs to the ork, troll and dwarf metatype - or any of their variation, that are often common in Europe.
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