Day 83 :: action [OPEN]

[bastionpc]

Who: Nathaniel (NPC) and whoever else is interested in getting information
Open: Open
When: Day 83
Where: near the monument
What: Nathaniel translates some important papers, and questions can be asked.
Format: action
Warnings: none

[After the search party had gone looking for Marie and returned with some papers, Nathaniel had taken all of the papers and worked on translating them for everyone to understand. However, it took some time, for reasons which he is about to explain.

To begin with, he sets out the wallet which had been found a while back.]

Okay, this wallet here belonged to a Mancer by the name of Dav. I've never met the guy personally, but apparently he worked right out of the Mancer HQ, or so his papers say. This guy had some pretty high security clearance, so he was probably working on some secret stuff, which would explain why I never saw the guy.

[Next he lays out the papers that were found during the search for Marie.]

Now these here, these are project notes. I haven't been able to translate them all, they're written in some kind of code, but what I've been able to get from them is that there was this long-term project going on that was nearing completion. There's also some mentions of a guy named Venn in these notes. I do know who Venn is, though I haven't met the guy personally. He's a top Mancer, though, so chances are he was working on this project here.

Now, these notes on their own aren't really enough to tell me what was going on. You've got about half of the project notes here, and the other half is probably at the Mancer headquarters. But here's the interesting thing: when you look at these-

[And he lays out the blueprints that were recovered from the farm.]

- there's some similarities between them. These blueprints here, they're for building a fuel convertor that turns corn into biofuel, and going by the dates in the corner, these blueprints were drawn up and mailed about a week before the Calamity happened, and about three days before the most recent of the the notes you found at Dav's place were written.

I'm not sure how a biofuel convertor relates to all of this, though. To be honest, we haven't used fuels in ages. Cores are the main source of power for Caelondia, and what we can't power with Cores we power with steam. Fuels aren't that great for the environment, so we stopped using them some time ago.

So there you have it. If you've got any insight into all of this, we might be able to figure this mess out, but we'll probably need more information before we'll get any real answers out of this.

Comments

[bastionpc]

[Wow that sure is a lot of talking. Well then.]

Well, as far as fuel goes, I don't think we were running into a Core shortage. The mines weren't my area, but from what I know there was still a lot of room for expansion and more tunnels, and the Gasfella always found enough Cores to go around. Core usage was highly regulated anyway, to make sure they weren't squandered on stupid things. Core shortages are only a problem now because the mines aren't operating anymore.

As for destroying the blueprints, I'd rather if we didn't. I've got the feeling that this has something to do with the Calamity, but if we destroy our only clues then we might not find out what happened. Besides, if Rin is right and it was merely another form of energy research, we're going to need this. Since the Gasfella aren't listening to us humans anymore, mining for Cores is impossible.

[nightchan]

[She perks up at something Nathaniel says.]

How did you get them to work for you in the beginning? Maybe it's still possible we can get them to cooperate with us again. [A contract or a deal of some sort...]

[silvervine]

[ I don't think they're very bright. Maybe you can trick them?

Kuro had been along the edges of the conversation, but winds his way around to agree with Night. A quick leap, and he's on his flustered mistress so he can get a better look at everyone. ]

[nightchan]

[She pulls at a lock of hair in thought.]

But with what? [A frown.] Besides, even if we did trick them at first they would probably catch on sooner or later. Striking up a deal or contract where both parties gain something in return seems like the best idea... [If it was possible at all.]

[your_minutes]

≪Could it be possible that alternative fuel sources were being developed in response to a disagreement with the Gasfella?≫

[notduchess]

A highly efficient but rare fuel source, which seems to attract monsters?

[ Duke shifts weight and looks about. ]

I don't know if its relevant at all, but in my world, we had something like that, called Blastia Cores. The problem was that using them sort of poisoned our world, and the humans didn't listen to the beings who knew it would. [ Because the knight's sibling would never forgive if Duke referred to them as 'monsters'... ]

If we could talk to the Gasfella, that would be wonderful. Knowing why they turned, or why they go after the cores as well? If it is an alternative energy source, is it because they knew that something was wrong with core power, or maybe that using cores wouldn't last, or that something would happen to the supply?

I don't really know, but....

[ that's what the knight thought. ]

[hellpyre]

[At least Duke was giving it some consideration, but Rin's irritation was already there and it wasn't getting any better. She could tell when she was close to breaking in to aggressive and unproductive arguing.

They were trying to have a discussion that frankly didn't need that, so with a huff of air through her nose she turned on her heel and stalked off, intending to busy herself with something else.]

[superdrowningskills]

[Having kept silent and listening until this point, Alucard finally decides it's time to say his piece. Machines are beyond his current understanding, but there is one thing he knows perhaps better than anyone else...]

I am inclined to agree. If they once worked alongside humans, the Gasfella must have some reason to have turned. Despite how many of the lower level creatures may seem, I have known but a handful of monsters that truly lack the ability to reason. [Despite how it might sound, he doesn't think the creatures inferior - simply less powerful.]

...However, this brings me to a somewhat troubling conclusion. It is likely that there is some other force that is leading them now - a powerful force that does not seem to wish us to interfere with its machinations.

[windgod]

[Most of this talk was well over Ippo's head, talk of other worlds and talking to monsters...he was just an average 19 year old...well, as average as a championship winning boxer could be; but still, he was just a normal human in comparison. However, he could appreciate certain facts, like having an alternate power source in case something happened with the cores]

Umm...excuse me, if I may? I'd like to think we could work something out with these gas fellas...but for right now, shouldn't we focus on what we know for sure? Right now as I understand it, cores are in pretty short supply...so if that's the case, we can't exactly rely on them for everything...even the cores have their limits I'm sure.

[Ippo sighed and took a more pensive look as he placed a hand to his chin. He'd never had to think so hard about these sorts of things before...the only energy he had to worry about before this was the energy he could pack into his punches]

If we can piece this together and find a way to make a consistent source of power, then we wouldn't have to put so much pressure on the cores, right? Well...that's what I think anyways...

[Ippo's...just gonna sink back for now with his piece said...he doesn't have much else to add with all this monster talk]

[bastionpc]

Well I gotta admit, building something like this is beyond my abilities. I'm only an apprentice, I was still over a year away from getting an official Mancer title when the Calamity happened.

[With some help, though, he might be able to manage it. He's more skilled than he admits to.]

But as for the Gasfellas, they always worked at the mines. It's really difficult and dangerous for humans to mine Cores, so we had an agreement with them: they get us cores, we get them food and other stuff they needed. And since they were always provided for, they never had a reason to attack us.

Gasfellas- and the whole Windbag family by extension- aren't stupid by any means, but they're not on the same level as humans either. They can talk to each other and understand us to some extent, but they can't run complex machines or build anything more complicated than a simple tool. If they're not provided for, they'll straight-up kill people to get what they need. Part of the reason we had a working agreement with them was so that we wouldn't have to fight them.

[clockworknazi]

[ Having kept largely silent on the whole thing, just listening to the debates and making his quiet opinions to Stein, Kroenen finally clears his throat load enough to stem the flow of conversation and draw attention his way. He waits, stiff-backed, hands clasped tightly behind him. When he gets enough eyes, the German speaks up. ]

I am reasonably certain ze Professor und myself can establish what zese blueprints are for and wezzer or not ze fuel vill be useful. Furzermore, I believe ve can build somesing capable of using ze biofuel, if someone here ist not more capable or up to ze challenge?

[ A moment of silence, expressionless mask swiveling slowly left and right to survey the gathering. ]

So far as ze "Vindbags" go, zat is not of interest to me. If you vant to play nice vit ze savages, zat ist your prerogative. I vill not condone sending any large group out, but zat ist not my decision. However, I vill remind those present, in case you have forgotten, how many vere lost ze last time ve vent out in force? Sehr gut.

[bastionpc]

[Surprisingly, Nathaniel agrees with Kroenen there.]

He's right. If we do go to the Mancer headquarters, it should be in a small group. I'll have to go too, you'll need a Mancer to get past the false doors and trap hallways.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves here. We can't get anywhere near the Mancer headquarters yet, the Bastion doesn't have enough power to send us that far. It needs at least two more Cores before it can get us anywhere near there. And in the meantime, we can prepare tools and supplies for the trip in.