World Tree MUSH

    Seele strides straight down a ramp to confront Svarog, the girl and the large robot with them. As the group roll up, Svarog's voice can be made out.

    It's deep, clearly synthesized with a reverb on the bass note. "My mission is the protection of the Underworld. The trust of the minority sample is redundant to my calculations." he speaks as if he's teaching a life class to the girl. "Human behaviour will always deviate from rational calculation, Clara..." His glowing single red optic turns slightly, looking toward the group as they finally close up. "As evidenced by their presence here."

    Seele is quick on the draw, "Svarog! We haven't settled our final score." she challenges, hands on her hips as she squares up to the 9'tall robot.

    "Seele, subordinate to Wildfire... Your resistance is futile. The result of my calculations are unequivocal: Remaining in the Underworld is the optimal stragegy for survival."

    Seele is clearly not buying it. "This again. Calculation results, survival strategies. I don't have time for a thesis paper. Withdraw your forces before I lose my temper!" With that she summons her scythe with a flourish and looks ready to fight.

    This doesn't faze the roboman, "Observe, Clara. Even under such conditions, humans are incapable of avoiding division and conflict." The girl finally speaks up. "But... Mr. Svarog..."

    "Human failure to accept the logical course of action is a significant threat to survival of the Underworld. Recalculating. Complete. Result unequivocal: Suppression of Wildfire and their allies through armed force is the optimal course of action."

    He then suddenly seems to 'tense'.

    "Clara, we must leave. External variables have triggered a calculation reset. Furnace Core requires protection."

    Clara doesn't seem under duress, though March brings up that she's going to be taken away by Svarog. "... Mills, don't hit them too hard." she meekly squeaks at the large rotund robot before she scampers away in Svarog's wake.

    And there goes Seele.
    Has Rebecca mentioned her arms are killing her?
    Because they are.
    So the shorty solo sighs heavily as Seele goes right on ahead and triggers another fight.
    "You know. We could have used a little break after that LAST bigass robot." Rebecca points out. "But noooo you had to go and aggro another boss." She grouses as she draws a pair of assault rifles from her big old duffel bag of guns as Svarog and the girl make their escape.
    "Soooooooo... I don't think I can judo flip this one." She points out.

    Bi De is, like Rebecca, criticizing Seele. Partly because after being underground for so long, he's REALLY not in good shape to be fighting! "It occurs to this Bi De that perhaps you would have less need to fight as often, if you would refrain from starting fights." Just an observation there, and one of the few times he's perfectly in sync with Rebecca's thoughts. The chicken sidles to the side, curious to see if Seele is actually going to take on this robot.

    Talia is about to protest when Seele goes down to confront the two, but she gives up on that quickly before she jumps down and lands gracefully like a gymnast.

    Her smile is polite and bright, "Hello there!" She greets, bowing her head. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to discuss this peacefully, would you?"

    Seems not. The repurposed load lifter bot.

    "I don't suppose you can't dig inside of it like the last one, can you?" She asks Bi De as she activates her lightsaber, holding it in a defensive stance.

    Being a ranged fighter, it's natural that Jessica... squeaks and scampers backward! She hurriedly backsteps several times, drawing a pistol doubtfully. She'll try using Rebecca's this time, though it's less familiar. It's also not going to be as effective, given it isn't originium-based, but it's still a firearm and in her hands, that's nothing to sneeze at.

    "Um... we come in peace?"

    Talia is about to protest when Seele goes down to confront the two, but she gives up on that quickly before she jumps down and lands gracefully like a gymnast.

    Her smile is polite and bright, "Hello there!" She greets, bowing her head. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to discuss this peacefully, would you?"

    Seems not. The repurposed load lifter bot is not looking friendly, especially as the girl and robot man disappear.

    "I don't suppose you can't dig inside of it like the last one, can you?" She asks Bi De as she activates her lightsaber, holding it in a defensive stance.

    Seele frowns, "I was getting tired of the minions. COME AT ME!" she snarls, "I'll free you from your chains!" she says and then with a metallic chiming sound, she rolls her scythe around behind her, holds it like one might a really awkward rifle, then surges forwards like a skipping video recording. "Dissapear amongst the sea of butterflies! ILLUSIONS OF THE PAST!"

    Seele becomes the Storm that is approaching, and with a burst of a LOT of energy, she cuts the Grizzly's exposed joints, causing it to topple over and writhe around impotently on the ground.

    March seems impressed. "... why couldn't you have done that to the last one? And how many more of those does Svarog have?"

    "It takes a lot of buildup to pull that off, I can't just fire off that move every single fight, I'd fall over from exhaustion... and, he has a lot, which is why Wildfire's never been able to oppose him, we don't have the firepower."

    Stelle frowns softly, "That girl in red..."

    "That's Clara, she's like, best pals with Svarog, always following along behind him... I'm just used to seeing them together... anyway, lets find the Chief, whatever has Svarog spooked gives us an opening."

    No sooner than Seele cuts at the joints, Becca pops her neck.
    In for a penny, in for a pound, or so they say, and when the mecha topples over the solo makes a break for it, lunging to leap on top of it while it's toppled and writhing, she aims her assault rifles for the belly and unloads them.
    "Wahoo!" She cheers. "Yeah! Yeah!! YEAH!!! EAT IT!" She crows as she dumps the full mags into the thing before she leaps off to return to her prior position and let someone else have a go as though this were a turn based game of some kind.
    "Yeah well. I have *plenty* of firepower." She says smugly. Pause.
    Usually.
    She's actually starting to run a little low after everything else.
    "We should probably mosey."

    Nobody enjoys a back-to-back boss fight, and this is no exception. Seele unceremoniously kills it dead, and Talia nods in approval. "Nice moves." She says to Seele, before stowing her saber. With Seele having done her limit break and skipped a boss for the party, Talia's in no hurry to linger here. "I agree with Rebecca, let's get out of here and find the chief."

    Jessica breathes a sigh of relief as she is able to holster the pistol without the need to use it. "We've been running pretty hard ever since we ended up here," the catgirl points out. "What was this all about anyway? Um... if they were a little spooked isn't that something we might need to worry about? The enemy of my enemy isn't always my friend."

    Feathers ruffle a bit as Bi De watches the storm of... scything? Whatever. It's not the weirdest weapon he's seen used. The chicken clucks lightly as he listens to everyone else discuss this, then suddenly hops up to Talia's shoulder. The first time he's really 'ridden' on anyone here, but the way he does so, it seems it's something he's done before. "Would you mind?" he asks, prepared to jump down again.

    A deep, gravelly male voice pipes up as the group start talking about finding the Chief. "You won't need to look far." he says, as he leads a small group of Wildfire and Mining Team members out of a side passage. "Good work Seele. We were attacked on both sides by robots, who knows where they all came from. We thought we were in it for the long haul." he chuckles softly.

    Seele seems surprised. "Chief! Are you injured, is everyone okay?" she asks, clearly worried.

    "We're fine, Seele, don't fret. We're used to it by now anyway. We managed to send the Vagrants packing, and with Svarog running back to his lair, the Robots have become less organized, so we're managed to clear them out too. The mine should be quiet, at least for a while." he explains, placing a hand comfortingly on the younger woman's shoulder. He then turns to look at the outsiders. "And uh... who're your friends?" he asks, eyeing everyone up and down with a quiet curiosity.

    "Ah, them! They're outsiders that Sampo brough down from who-knows-where. They need a favour from Wildfire so it was faster to bring them with me... they'd better explain what they need though, went right over my head."

    Looks like they found the chief. Or at least the chief found the group after that robot is dealt with.
    "Oh great. Sup hombre." Becca greets, raising an arm with a slight wince. She'll definitely need to see a Ripperdoc after her last stunt.
    "Yeah we're the outsiders. It's all Sampo's fault." She confirms before edging a bit closer to the group to whisper kinda loudly.
    "... What're we here for again?"

    As they return to Chief's place, Talia folds her arms. "We're from out of town." She says, summing it up with as little jargon as needed. "I think we've dealt with both the machines and the vagrants. But the question is, what were Savog and Clara here for?" She glances to Seele, as if she has an idea.

    What they need. Jessica lifts a finger... and then remembers that the only reason she's here is she practically landed on top of the others, then nearly got thrown into jail, and had to flee underground, and... "... actually I'm just along for the ride until I can get home," she admits, finally deciding that's the best way to describe it without sounding like an insane series of weirder and more violent fights like it would sound like if she narrated without context.

    "It is a long story," Bi De allows as he ruffles up and then strokes his wattles. "For the moment, we are keeping low after having a bit of a misunderstanding with those on the surface, but in the immediate space we were helping the civilians as it seemed the right thing to do."

    Stelle tilts her head, puts her hands on her hips and says. "You're the Chief? You're a difficult man to find."

    This seems to lighten the mood a bit. The chief even laughing. "That's quite the tone to take on a first meeting. I won't forget you in a hurry." He looks around at the rest. Likely including them in that statement also. "You went through all this trouble to find Wildfire... so, what do you need?"

    The others either don't remember, or don't know, so March, Stelle and Dan Heng fill everyone in on the story to this point: Stellaron, world-ending threat. Cocolia, evil tyrant, false charges. Bronya, got kidnapped with the rest of the group, fish out of water, not having a good time of it.

    This all seems to tickle Seele, and she pipes up after the trio are done. "I didn't know you'd put on a show for the Overworld too. Impressive."

    Oleg chuckles. "Wildfire can barely handle the Underworld, and now we have outsiders looking for our help..." he shakes his head. "This 'Stellaron' you speak of... I've never heard of it before now, but with things like that, there's one name that comes to mind who might know something."

    "You mean Cocolia? We already tried that." remarks March.

    "The current supreme guardian is a liar, who uses sweet words to get what she wants. She never cared about our survival---."

    And this topic riles up Bronya, "Stop right there! I... I won't let you insult the madam guardian." Her brow knits, and fists clench.

    Oleg's tone shifts slightly. "Miss Overworld, my words might be painful, but they're true. Every single one. Just go to our settlements, you'll see and hear exactly what our suffering is like." he explains. This brings Bronya up short, and she grits her teeth to bite back more vitriol... she's not in her world anymore, she's alone down here.

    "I've not gotten close to voicing the full extent of our grievences, but I'll respect your request... and leave it there for now." he shakes his head, and turns back to the others. "Back on topic... the name that came to mind was Svarog."

    'Put on a show for the overworld'.
    This makes Rebecca scowl.
    She mutters something bad about THE POLICE and sighs.
    Then Bronya gets mad.
    Oh right. Bronya is still here isn't she
    "I'LL INSULT HER THEN." Becca snaps. "We didn't do SHIT and you tried to arrest us because of her. That sounds like a big fat lie in my book-- saying INNOCENT PEOPLE did BAD SHIT THEY DIDN'T DO!"
    Oh dear she's waving a pistol around.
    But that's not the important thing here. The important thing is "--the supreme guardian is a lying sack of--" ...

    Jessica winces at Rebecca's railing about the situation, and lifts a finger, "Ah... while my companion here is very um, uncouth about how she says it, she's pretty much right. I don't think we'd... that is, um..." She pokes her fingers together lightly. "I don't think I'd want to talk to her again without being armed," she finishes, in a surprisingly forceful statement from the normally timid catgirl.

    Talia makes a face. "It wasn't exactly a pleasure for us." She says, giving Bronya a cold gaze. But when Rebecca pulls a pistol Talia's quick to grab her and try and wrestle the gun out of the solo's grip! "Wait WAIT NO!" This may be going on for a while, if only to prevent Becca's itchy trigger finger from killing someone.

    Bi De shrugs his wings, "Ah... this one does dislike putting it that way, but we do not feel it is necessary to kindly select words when speaking of this matter, no matter your thoughts on it. I was there, and can attest to the truth of Rebecca's statement. Unless you would like to call me one who speaks falsehoods?"

    There is a certain... vibe in the mellow voice of the rooster that is not often heard. While he is often one who speaks for peace, and moderation, he is still a martial artist at heart. The subtle challenge of 'do you really want to go there?' is definitely in his tone.

    "I AM FULLY INTENT ON VISITING THAT SKANK ARMED!" Becca chimes in uncouthly while Talia wrassles her down.

    Stelle and group are about to say something, when Rebecca starts waving a gun around, and Talia starts wrestling with the foul-mouthed little merc. Oleg speaks up authoritatively then. "You will remain civil while in the Underground. Otherwise you'll be answering to me directly. Am I clear, Outsider?" he says with a level gaze at Rebecca. "You have grievence with Cocolia. Fine. You want our help getting to this 'Stellaron'? Fine. These two things are currently mutually exclusive, so drop it. Now."

    Stelle frowns as well. "Cool it." she says in that deep, almost monotone voice of hers, before she speaks to Oleg. "Isn't Svarog a sworn enemy of Wildfire? Why would he help us." Dan adds in. "Why would a mere robot in the Underworld know about this?"

    "Sworn enemy? Not how I see it... the young man is closer, Svarog is a cold, unfeeling machine. All he sees is calculations, dead reasoning. Numbers. Logic. Wildfire isn't a concern to him. He was there during the war."

    Dan helpfully brings up a holo screen. 700 years ago, the Antimatter Legion invaded. That's when the Freeze happened. Because of the Stellaron.

    "If you're looking to pick up a thread... he's your best shot."

    Ultimately in the end, Becca gets wrassled to the ground and her gun taken away.
    "WHAT GIVES, GIVE THAT BACK!" She pouts massively. She needed that to emphasize how serious she was.
    "I'M BEING CIVIL! THIS IS ME BING CIVIL! YOU CAN'T SILENCE THE TRUUUUUUUTH!"
    Yeah she's just gonna huff and puff a bit more before looking more like a sad kitten than Jessica on a bad day, once she's told to cool it.
    HUFF!

    Jessica has all sorts of expressions pass over her face, but in the end she just sighs, "Well, this isn't my world so I guess I'll just follow where the rest go. If that means talking to this thing... I hope you're right about logic, because if he has feelings they're probably pretty hurt right now."

    It's not HER grudge but yeah, that's a good point. What's a cat going to do?

    Talia withholds the gun for now like it's a toy. "You can't go around waving this around!" She chides the solo like a big sister, trying to keep the gun out of reach. Eventually she looks Becca dead in the eyes before asking, "Will you behave if you get this back?"

    She also examines the pistol, making a face. Projectile weapons. So uncivilized.

    "So, we need to either convince him to talk to us... or beat him down and take his databanks to sift through them." remarks Stelle rather pragmatically.

    "We've tried repeatedly to negotiate with Svarog, but he rejects every effort we make. He believes Wildfire to be a threat, albiet one he doesn't need to squash... still, you're not Wildfire. You're not even Underworlders... so maybe..." remarks Oleg in response. "But we have time to talk this over tomorrow, go into the details. It's late, you must be exhausted. I'll make arrangements back in town, go rest up." He then turns his attention to Bronya. "As for our Silvermane girl here... do you have time? I'd like to talk with you in private."

    Heading back into town, the group are directed to a girl in a black beret outside of... the Goethe Grand Hotel?! Must be a hold over from when the two halves weren't split. She directs the group to rooms, and requests they fill in visitor forms for how the service has been, after they've had a chance to rest.

    The rooms are rather mundane, almost spartana really, but the bed's comfortable enough, and there's no drafts or leaks.

    Jessica chimes in, "I'm mostly about shooting things, but I bet we could get Talia and Bi De to talk to him! If nothing else, maybe the talking chicken would give him pause to collect data?" Also he's one of the calmest and most reasonable in the group, along with Talia herself.

    "I might be able to negotiate with him." Talia suggests, glancing at Bi De. "What say we go pay him a visit? First thing to do is find him, of course."