ic And Carrion Beasts (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

Dalekos frowned briefly, but then shrugged, "As you say, my lady. I will prepare my watercraft and follow you to the field, I think we will find it a more prudent use of our time than remaining here..." He swam away with Thaelia, talking strategy as they went, keeping her close to the entrance hatch of the facility. "With my men having found the spoor, I recommend we strike the Deep One camp with photonic weapons to blind them, then enter ourselves with bladed weapons to make the kill." He produced a helmet from inside his craft and offered it to Thaelia. "For protection against their songs. I would not have a princess of the blood fall victim to their power under my watch." 

 

While Dalekos was distracted, Heroditus' father took him aside and away from the entrance hatch and its small crew of guards. "What of their methods, boy?" he asked his son quietly. He looked to have aged, ever so slightly, in the few moments since they had last spoke. "What did you see?" 

[Dr Archeville]

"The experiments here, father, they," he quickly looked to Dalekos, to make sure his attention was elsewhere, "they seemed to be working out a way to turn Deep Ones -- adults and children -- back into Atlanteans.  Something called 'Project: Rebirth.'  A noble goal, certainly, but... but..."  Another glance back, "from the notes I've found, I have a suspicion that Laertes was using the children here -- his own children! -- as a part of the process.  And another thing: Dalekos said one of the marks they'd left was the Lemurian word for 'victory,' but it wasn't, it was their word for 'justice.'  I think that's why the Deep Ones struck: not just another raid, but a retaliation."

 

Another quick glance back, "what did you find?  What's in that chamber?  And if this is a medical experiment, why did they not call mother in?  Were they concerned she'd figure it all out?"

Edited August 16, 2019 by Dr Archeville

[Brown Dynamite]

Thaelia wasn't sure if she could easily be swayed by any of the Deep One's dark magicks.  But, it would be rude to refuse the offering.  After all, the rest of her armor was merely decorative compared to her own durability.  "I thank you, general.  Your enthusiasm will no doubt stir the hearts of your men.  Your plan seems sound.  If I may make one suggestion..."

 

Then came the subject of going in for the kill.  Obviously, the Deep Ones lacked any qualities worth commendation.  However, Thaelia felt her honor was paramount.   She may have been more believing in a just kill than her contemporaries.  But, there was no justice in felling the weak.  And there was no doubt in her mind, villain or not she had never actually met a Deep One she felt was so dangerous that she had no choice but to kill.  While Atlantean society could agree with her views on honor, the masses weren't standing from the same position of power.

 

"There is no need to dirty your blades with a dishonorable kill.  Fight of course,  but above all rescue the children."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Quite," agreed Dalekos, with a look in his eye that suggested he didn't agree after all. "We shall see if the savages will accept the mercy of Atlantis." He made a little gesture to the hatch outside. "Shall we depart, then?" he invited the princess. He didn't spare a backwards glance for the two civilians, evidently confident that they could do little harm where they were. Most of the garrison he'd brought seemed to be preparing to go with him, leaving only a skeleton crew with Artificer and his father. 

 

Heroditus's father put his hand on his son's shoulder, then said softly, "I saw...the doings of the great, son." He swallowed, a sign of just how deeply unsettled this usually forthright man was, then said, "I tell you that machine was built for no medicine, but for something - worse. Your mother would never have stood it, but _I_ can take on that weight, for the sake of our family. Please - do not put that burden on such young shoulders. Let us do what we came here to do, then you can speak out once you are away on the Surface." 

[Dr Archeville]

"What did we come here to do, father?"  The teen's voice was a bit louder than he'd intended, but he was reasonably certain none of the soldiers (or were they guards?) had overheard him.  "It would seem my simply coming here has already place some burden on me -- let me continue to help buoy the load.  If I am to carry the Stylianos name, carry it to the future, I should start now.  Which means making sure that what we do now is the right thing, for the right reasons."

 

Atlanteans tended to be reserved, conservative (almost to the point of rigidity), and proud.  They generally prefer order and predictability, and value stability.  They consider loyalty and reliability the highest of virtues, while casting a distrustful eye on anyone or anything not like themselves.  The result is a society with fairly extensive social codes of conduct and unwritten rules for social interaction, extending even to their language and social strata.  And as with almost all cultures, its adolescent members often run contrary to that.  In these regards, Xyles was a Good Atlantean, and Heroditus a Typical Atlantean Teen.

 

"And what good will it do to wait until I'm on the Surface to question things?  Who would hear me?"

 

Edited August 22, 2019 by Dr Archeville

[Brown Dynamite]

Glamazon smiled. It seemed as if everything would go smoothly.  Smacking her fist together to release a palpable tremor, she readied herself as she moved for the hatch.  Everything would go smoothly and the children would be returned soon.  That was what she believed to the bottom of her heart.  Or at least to the end of her fists.

 

While it wasn't quite what she expected upon receiving the call.  It did feel good to be there for her people.  Without any unwanted expectation that she would be eyeing the throne.  As the burden of divinity carried a heavier weight than a far younger Thaelia was are of.  Her status always had to be minded, but she never kept her thoughts to herself.  It was a volatile combination.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Build the pattern for me," signed Xyles. "Say you find everything you need - proof of these experiments, proof of their deadly result, and then what? We accuse General Dalekos before an iudex. You tell your side, he tells his, and brings the might of the Atlantean army with him. The case drags on - and meanwhile, what happens to your family?" His brows furrowed, his hands trembling for just a moment before he signed, "The patron-client relationship is key to our family's success and if we lose what we have, we lose everything. I know this is a hard thing, but I must be pater familias and think of your mother and your sister, and you." He spoke aloud, putting his hand on his son's shoulder. "I believe what you say, boy. But if you say it Above, the echoes will not swamp us Below. Now," he asked, though it wasn't quite a real question, in that way fathers have with sons, "will you help me with my work here?" 

[Dr Archeville]

Heroditus looked away, unable or unwilling to look his father in the eye.  He knew his father spoke truly, which made the situation that much worse.  He closed his eyes, took a deep, calming breath -- trying to ignore that bitter tang of blood and gore and alchemical reagents which still lingered -- then looked his father in the eye.

 

"Of course, pater," he replied with all the formality he could.  He saluted Xyles as he had Dalekos earlier, "I am, as always, a Stylianos.  'We find that which was lost, mend that which was broken, and strive ever to restore Atlantis and her people to their former glory.'"  He'd recited the family motto countless times, but now the words felt like a sea urchin on his tongue.

 

Some costs are too high, father.  And some acts must not be allowed to happen, even if they are 'for the greater good.'  I will find a way to stop this, before Atlantis is pulled into further corruption.

[Avenger Assembled]

Xyles's work turned out to be helpful enough for his son's efforts to gather more information about what had happened at this secret facility - though not pleasant for it. The machine that he'd been assigned to work on had clearly been a particular source of ire for the Deep Ones - smashed and broken, with what were distinct traces of blood and alchemical reagents rubbed all over it. There were more arcane signs here that showed the presence of Deep Ones too, proclaiming all manners of victory for their dread gods, and justice for the thieves of spawn. 

 

The machine was a large metallic frame that looked like several bedframes strapped together and connected by thin tubes engraved with alchemical symbols of transformation in markings so fine Artificer had to peer closely to make them out, the tubes themselves now hanging free from whatever central reservoir they'd once held, drops of fluid leaking out occasionally. It did indeed look like the machine could be repaired, with time. 

[Dr Archeville]

Heroditus swam slowly around the machine, taking it all in.  The damage caused by Deep One claws and teeth would be easy enough to repair -- the device seemed to be made of standard materials, brass and bronze and silver, easy enough to procure.  The tubes were either of woven kelp or eel skin; again, not too difficult to replace.  And the runes and sigils were fairly straightforward, for the most part, and would not be too difficult to re-engrave.  Time-consuming, yes, but all doable by those with adequate skill & resources.  The extracts and mutagens, though, that would be another matter entirely.

 

"Father, these reagents," he indicated one of the severed tubes and its contents diffusing into the water around them, "they would have had to be prepared in a dry environment.  I saw no such facilities near the air cells above.  So there is either a separate air-filled section of this facility, or parts of this were crafted elsewhere and assembled here."

 

And if it's the latter, there would be notes and records of this experiment there, too.

 

"And these smears, here, and here," he indicated some particularly large patches, "are those something that spilled from this device, or something the Deep Ones brought with them?  If it's something they brought with them, is it some general purpose disruptor," he reached for a small probe and moved closer to get a sample, "or something they made specifically to counter this?  How much did they know before they attacked?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Don't worry yourself with what the Deep Ones knew," Helena reassured Artificer, "they have neither the wit nor the will to understand what we do here. Their liberation is nothing more than their- don't touch that!" she broke in with great firmness, swimming up to interpose herself between boy and chemical. "It is a powerful mutagen - and the property of the military." 

 

"Is that so?" asked Heroditus's father, taking a position at his son's side. "Perhaps the military might have informed my son and I that we were swimming in so foul a brew!"  While soldier and civilian argued, Heroditus had time to watch the chemicals from where the reservoir had once been leak and curl in drops that seemed to hang like oil in the water for several long seconds before they dissipated. What normal substance could react so? He did have time to remove several small components of the device itself, seemingly innocous brass and metal, albeit engraved with arcane markings he didn't immediately recognize save for their fell nature. Had someone tried to do Lemurian sorcery here _before_ the Deep Ones came? 

 

 

[Dr Archeville]

Once again, Heroditus silently chided himself for not having a better grasp of Lemurian.  He had made some studies of their language and culture -- incidental to studying Atlantean devices they had stolen and twisted, and working out how to un-twist them -- but he had little mind for such "soft sciences."

 

Could this be based on the very Lemurian sorcery that is used to twist Atlanteans into Deep Ones?  He slipped the components into his pockets.  Studying the original method of transformation would be the way to design the most effective way to reverse the transformation, though doing so would carry risks.  But I'd always heard it was a potent artifact, the Serpent Scepter, that worked that foul change.  Did they study that?  Or some similar, lesser artifact?  And if so, is it here, or back at one of the other stations?

 

He swam to his father's side, giving the strange substance a wide berth, and addressed Helena.  "My father's concern is prudent, ma'am, I'm sure you would not want any of us to be affected by these substances.  Though I'm sure he's overly concerned for my safety, ma'am, since my adolescent form is still undergoing changes of its own.  But we are Stlyiani, ma'am, so working with such substances is a hazard we are accustomed to.  And now that we are better aware of the dangers present, we can take the proper precautions.  But, ma'am, I must ask, before we proceed: are there any other hazardous substances we should look out for?"

[Avenger Assembled]

There was nothing after that. 

 

Oh, there were some things. 

 

General Dalekos and Princess Thaelia returned after a few hours with the children they'd rescued. Their Deep One captors had left them behind, unconscious, and as bait for some sort of gigantic squid creature that Thaelia and Dalekos had worked together to destroy before it could gobble up their forces. The children were still unconscious but Dalekos's healer was sure they'd make a full recovery. 

 

Xyles Stylanos, with his son, was able to identify the mechanical defects in the damaged medical equipment and make a few suggestions about repair. Though replacing whatever missing chemicals were gone would evidently take some time, (not to mention the Atlantean cost of the murdered scientists) on the engineering side of things repairs would be just a matter of weeks at most. 

 

When it was done, Dalekos congratulated father and son on their service to the Kingdom and swore them both to secrecy; the faint taste of Deep One blood in their water from the ax he'd carried into battle. The children would be taken back to the capitol, where the best healers in the Kingdom would work to help them heal from the tragedies of the last few days. That was it...wasn't it? 

[Dr Archeville]

On the ride back to their home, Xyles was mostly quiet, though Dalekos and him did exchange a few words regarding some routine maintenance of city defenses.  Heroditus was almost completely quiet, lost in his own thoughts.  Why would they have taken our children, just to feed them to a great sea beast, in retaliation for us taking their children and working to change them into Atlanteans?  Wouldn't they have tried to change them into Deep Ones?  Unless they viewed being turned into an Atlantean as a fate comparable to death, and sought similar for them.  Or... if they were unable to change the Atlantean children.  Some of what we saw was of Lemurian origin -- if Dalekos' scientists had been using a captured Lemurian relic, could it have been one taken from that tribe of Deep Ones?  Did they attack not just to retrieve their kin, but the instrument of their foul reproduction?

 

Soon they were back in their home courtyard, being greeted by his mother and twin sister.  The former gushed with relief and practically smothered both husband and son, while the latter teased Heroditus about going after Deep Ones without her, and boasting how she would have been able to beat twice as many as he.  Dalekos smirked, noting her growing confidence, and recalling the reports he'd heard of her sorcerous prowess.

 

Later that night, he considered telling his mirror sibling about what he'd seen, his concerns and fears.  But he knew she was hot-headed and prone to rash action, and might lash out... assuming she didn't go the other extreme, thinking he was being paranoid and seeing problems to solve where there weren't any.  So he kept it to himself, for now.  Perhaps he could find allies on the surface -- at the very least, he should be able to talk things over with Princess Thaelia and Prince Telemachus.