Magnifying glass [military, PETAL]

[supernal 22146]

Although 31AO  was not the first year in which Cadmium had been exposed to demonic acts of violence, nor the first year in which he had personally suffered through such an event or the aftermath of its fallout, 31AO was the first year such an attack occurred meanwhile he personally occupied a seat of power in Empire's military.

Power was responsibility. The leader who failed to internalize this truth, to realize that the benefits of leadership afforded them came at the cost of the same, found themselves either stripped of their title or else engaged in an endless war against the people over which they presumed to lord. It was how powerful emperors found themselves stabbed or poisoned or shot by the hands, or at least the ministrations, of someone they considered dear. It was the backbone of coups and rebellions and even small, petty jealousies which didn't kill you but which still managed to hurt.

Cadmium realized this. When he heard of the attack, the nature of the demon, its ability to co-opt proximity resources, the fact of its physical transformation when checked at Treedell, interested the major. He realized this as an opportunity to do well for the people while doing good for himself. Carbon was the favored son and a major as well but showed no intention of rising above this rank despite Neon's continued 'hints'. It was an opportunity for Cadmium to 'destroy his rival' and 'seize the crown'. War on yet another front . . . but at least that war was private and with loved ones.

At his request PETAL anthropologists started in Blairville and branched out in concentric circles. The eastern vanguard reported back a site of interest. Cadmium organized first a task force for the planning and then a strike force for the operations, and spearheaded both. He now stepped out from his fortified yurt and walked the short distance east from the semi-permanent encampment to the western side of the Blaurg mountain range.

And here waited for Marigold and Emile.

OOC thread

OOC note: It's possible to fail this which means the thread will end without resulting in promotion for characters. Also note that while I will be taking cues from character ability I'll also be leveraging RNG for success / fail and narrative damage to characters. Let me know if there's any questions!

[danzilla3 5018]

Andre Gareau had often regaled his children with tales of demons.

Emile could still remember those nights; sitting at his fathers feet as the patriarch told stories of terrifying monstrosities, evil creatures bent on death and destruction. His mother would often shoot his father a warning glare if his tales became too graphic; fearing they would give her babies nightmares. But far from being horrified, Emile was enthralled. He wanted to be a brave warrior like his father; defending the innocent from the malevolent forces that would seek to do them harm. It was a feeling that still informed his actions in the present.

Many years had passed since then. Emile had chosen to uphold his families tradition by joining the military of Lagrimosa and training as a Longshot. During his time in the service, he had fought men, monsters, and even aliens. But this would be the first time he had ever faced demons.

The Longshot made plenty of noise as he approached so as not to startle his superior officer. He would salute as he addressed the Major.

"Sergeant Emile Gareau, reporting for duty sir!"

 

[Djinn&Juice 1481]

Lagrimosa had offered him much in his short time here, but such harrowing mountains were not among the things he had quite expected. Marigold had gone through a renaissance that changed nearly every facet of his life. An experimental A.I though he had become, piloting a well made facsimile of himself; Still his conscience remained, the estranged scientist being forced to accept an otherwise impossible statistic. An energy of bonds coursed through him now and granted him the senses his mortal coil had grown accustomed to. Cadmium getting a persistence in finer details from him before he had finalized his arrival to The Bluarg Mountains. He was still getting accustomed to the mantle of Disciple, and felt the best way to apply his skills to Mike and Gaia as a whole...would be to assist Lagrimosa in it's affairs. A still wild and unknown landscape to him. He had made his home here and yet there was still much to see. He couldn't deny a level of excitement, an eagerness to finally step out of the miasma of madness he had been shouldering for far too long.

Marigold was an easy man to spot from a distance. His paled features adorned in adventuring gear, pushing his pip hat up as he saw the party already gathering. His burgundy vest and slacks matching with a coffee brown undershirt. His mechanical canine moving from behind him and guarding his left side as he eventually arrived. The doctor giving A bow to the commanding figure "Dr. Marigold Ravenspire, forgive the lateness! I am very honored to be here" He said with enthusiasm. A white glow seen underlying his clothes, his joints, and even showed up in the violet of his eyes as he turned from Cadmium to Emile. His canine sitting at his side with a curious cock of it's angular head. "This is Xerxes, the oldest friend of mine" Marigold said with a chuckle, Xerxes barking at the mention of his name and swaying his segmented tail. Marigold taking a moment as he looked up at the mountains themselves in absolutely awe "One of the tallest mountain ranges in the world no less!" He crooned

"I have done a fair amount of research upon learning of our target location. Oh Thaddeus was a pioneer! There is such potential for growth in a place so steeped in rich history" He had always wanted to explore this mountain range and he didn't want to waste such a chance. A new chapter was beginning in his life and he had been instilled with a motivation he though died a long time ago. He also wanted to learn all he could about the Ourea and there were few places better. "Who knows what wisdom Old Father still has to give hmm?"

[supernal 22146]

Man was unarguably an animal well adapted to its own caginess, but man was an animal nonetheless, and in the realms of predatory stealth there were many other animals which outclassed the biped, even those trained to stalk through branch and undergrowth. Cadmium had cut his teeth in the military hunting and being hunted by the peerless Suujali - Emile's cacophonous entrance was more distraction than it needed to be.

But, given what he little he knew about the sergeant's reserved demeanor and service record, he could take it almost as a compliment.

Cadmium saluted back.

"At ease soldier. It's good having you on the vanguard. I've been told they don't make a sentinel better than you unless they're welding it together in a factory."

Then a second presence insinuated itself into the conversation. Cadmium turned towards Marigold but did not salute, instead offered a perfunctory bow which went no further than his chin in respect to Marigold's clerical station. The major held up a hand, not to interrupt the doctor but to dismiss his apology.

"Negligible tardiness, I assure you. Is it customary for a priest to be out of his habit?" Cadmium didn't motion at the doctor but swept the man in his vertical gaze. The question was innocent, the major himself not a true believer in the Word so much as the Spirit; the nuances of ecclesiastical hierarchy were beyond his interest.

"I ask only because the mission was planned to include the abilities of an apprentice clergy member to move earth."

Now he pointed, motioning slightly up and along the path which they were meant to walk, which terminated prematurely in a cavern mouth blocked by a layered cascade of boulders.

Edited September 16, 2020 by supernal

[danzilla3 5018]

"At ease soldier. It's good having you on the vanguard. I've been told they don't make a sentinel better than you unless they're welding it together in a factory."

Emile's lips twitched upwards, "Thank you, sir."

The Longshot wasn't great at making small talk, and so it was something of a relief when Doctor Marigold joined the group. Emile had heard of the doctor awhile back; part of rumors about Michael Commager putting together some type of Gaianist paramilitary group. He wasn't sure how much of the gossip to believe; some claims like Commager recruiting the serial killer known as The Apostate from prison seemed too outlandish to be true. Regardless, Marigold seemed affable enough.

Listening to Cadmium explain the need for someone with experience with geomancy, he waited until his superior was finished speaking before chiming in.

"Sir, if the doctor is unable to move the boulder with magic, I might be able to climb up the cliff face and find another way to dislodge the boulder."

[Djinn&Juice 1481]

Marigold gave an embarrassed chuckle "Let us say I have only just come into my vestiges as it were. A one Michael Commager....saved me from utter darkness" He said, taking the rosary around his neck in hand. It's thorn depictions remind him of the men that had only recently come into his life and changed it for the better. Li a light in his life as strong as the newly found Gaia was. He was in a strange position as he was an aggregate of both science and faith now. The Bond Energy coursing through him proof that both could coexist. His underlying goal in this mission being to prove that and test how far he could take it. His mechanical canine, xerxes trailing off to keep a perimeter check for any threats. Marigold eager to respond to Cadmium' concerns 

"I have been blessed with such capabilities, they are still new to me, but it is nothing I haven't researched greatly. Allow me" 

Marigold giving a nod toward Emile with a fresh smile as he felt a well of courage he hadn't known. An otherwise timid and analytical creature strengthened by A goddess who had given him A chance none ever had. The doctor stepping toward the blockage that impeded the start of their journey. He rested upon his knees before the boulder and retreated into his mind palace. An internal state of mind he had started to call 'The Beach'. It was not a place one could see directly, but upon looking at him now...there was a faint white glow that encapsulated him. The Beach dwelling within his very core and acting as the sanctum of his worship where Bond Energy thrived. Though he were machine, he felt no less human. 
 

Spoiler

He placed his hands against the stone and that aura surrounding him pooled into his palms before branching out across the boulder; causing it to fold into itself in brilliant geometric patterns each merging into the stone beside it until a threshold opened up to them and allowing to move through the mountains. Marigold coming out of his state and mind and looking almost surprised at his work. A smile blooming across his features as he eventually stood up and dusted off his knees. 

"The results were better than I anticipated!

[supernal 22146]

Cadmium strongly considered Emile's proposition. He dislodged a rod of metal from the sleek, metallic raiment which often marked a member of his particular family. He weighted it in his hand and was about to stretch that hand out in offering when the good doctor reminded Cadmium that the military was not alone, that the formal arms of Empire were not the only sapient agents gathered at the mouth of the temple.

"I haven't had occasion to meet Michael myself but it's impossible to run in the circles that we do and not at least be aware of the name. I hear it told that he has a tendency to keep unsavory company . . . if that's the worst of his sins, he's doing better than I am."

The conservative laugh Cadmium meticulously placed into the shared space between the three of them made it unquestionably clear that he was having a laugh at no one's expense but his own. He fell silent and remained so as Marigold laid his hand on the earth and caused it to come apart in a fluctuating blossom of geometry. Cadmium made no effort to hide the fact of his being impressed.

"Fascinating doctor, fascinating. Most of the priests I've met are quite utilitarian. Twizzen is more the type I was expecting, honestly. Split the thing in half, push it aside, 'let us on' in his boomy, echo-y sort of way. You made it into a show!"

And then, quite suddenly though not dangerously, Cadmium lobbed the metal rod at Emile to be caught. When held in hand one end of it lit up from the pressure of one's grip.

"Be so kind as to lead the way, soldier."

Entryways are north, northwest, and south
As I'm GM'ing, I'll be participating but won't be leading, naturally

Edited September 23, 2020 by supernal

[danzilla3 5018]

 Marigold's display of geomancy was quite impressive; although the best thing about it in Emile's opinion was that he wouldn't have to free climb up and try to remove the boulder himself. Offering a nod of appreciation, he almost didn't catch the rod Cadmium threw in his direction. His reflexes were sharp however, and he not only caught the tool, he flipped it around in his hand so that the end emitting light was pointing forward. No harm in showing off a little every now and then.

"Yes, sir."

Slinging his rifle over his shoulder, the Longshot drew his sidearm and held it in one hand as he crossed the arm holding the flashlight under it. He didn't know if there was anything in the cavern that might be hostile, but he would clear every room they came across just as he had been trained. Protocol was protocol because it worked. Sometimes rules might need to be bent in the field, but generally speaking it was a good idea to follow them.

Once inside the cave he quickly looked left, then right, checking his corners before sweeping the rest of the room. In under a minute the space was clear, and he allowed himself to lower his weapon for now. From what he could see, they seemed to be in some kind of antechamber, with one door to the north, and another to the south. There looked to be some kind of platform on the southern wall, but he didn't know what it was.

"All clear," he called to his comrades.

 

[supernal 22146]

Cadmium paced the room. He knew the average length of his own stride and so was able to estimate with reasonable accuracy the square footage of the room. He reached a hand into the satchel hung from his hip and pulled out a handful of ball bearings. This he split into three parts and walked to the mouth of each opening, dropped a smaller handful of ball bearings before walking to the next to do the same.

If the others thought to ask he would explain to them that he did this as a crude sensor system and as a way of marking their path, should their brief foray turn into a maze. If they didn't then Cadmium was content to offer nothing. When there was nothing more to do the major looked first to the others, then to each of their options.

"What do you think?"

Both were a little hesitant to take the lead but Emile was a little snappier on the draw, as went with his chosen field. He pointed the way north, Cadmium nodded, and they went. Once passed through the short threshold the hallway's roof fell away and its walls flayed out and they were again in the breath of nature, around and before them the steps and pillars and towers of a scattered, open air temple.

Down a few steps and up another and the three enter a partially enclosed chamber. A path lies further north and also one to the east. Cadmium paused here, brow furrowed in naked display of his curiosity. Though he stopped, he offered no way forward. Instead, he said again: "What do you think?

"And, to have it said, perhaps it is merely my upbringing or the different places our chosen paths have taken us, I make no secret of having learned most of my manners out in the Wastelands with the Border Patrol. Not ones for black tie galas, to say the least. But I find it odd that neither of you have even asked what we're looking for. Or do you already know?"

[Vesper 707]

This section of cavern was huge, uninhabited, and most importantly hidden from the prying eyes of those who might take violent offense to its strange would-be tenants. The young woman named Pettifor had nearly cried with relief upon discovering the location; it was only until she had descended by rope through the water-worn gap in the limestone roof and paced the partially submerged, but spacious stone chamber that she allowed herself a moment to sit against the smooth floor, grab her knees to her chest, and both tearfully mourn and hope, in equal parts, for the distant world from which she had been suddenly, mysteriously exiled. She moved a hand into the folds of her ornately embroidered purple robes and retrieved a small, innocuous looking corked test-tube. She may not have known the reason for her exile, but fate had provided her with a purpose in this new world, clearly evident within the small glass container: three smooth golden spider eggs, each an inch in diameter, sharply gleaming through the dank gloom of the cave. After weeks of searching, this cavern would be the place in which she set about the task of resettling and repopulating the last of her civilization’s most sacred animals, the silk-spinning Matriarchs. As long as the Matriarchs lived, her world was not truly lost.

By Pettifor’s count, two months had passed now, and already the three Matriarchs had successfully hatched from their golden eggs and grown into adolescents, nearly nine-foot span in length. Fully matured in a year’s time, they would grow to be twice that size. She spent most of her days ascending through the opening of the cavern roof and foraging in the neighboring forests and valleys for the Matriarchs’ food: a purely herbivorous diet. At night, she sang these intelligent creatures songs of her own childhood and regaled them with the tales of the Weaver and the Matriarchs of old. There were many. After all, it was the spider – not the human – that the Goddess-Weaver had crafted in her own image. For what human artisan could outmatch the craftsmanship of Matriarch-made tapestry? All Ergogians (the name of her world’s people) were brought up knowing this. The hubris of a human artisan who sought to challenge the ability of a Matriarch, or even the Goddess herself, was a staple subject in many an Ergogian fable and play.

Pettifor had at first believed herself dreadfully inadequate to the task of nurturing these special creatures, and for good reason. High ranking House Priests were entrusted with the care of the sacred weaving animals, with their own secret, ancient expertise passed down through countless responsible generations. Pettifor had been trained as a Fabricker, a sort of artisan/mage hybrid who could literally weave magic. It was itself a respected position, and she had had the privilege to work Matriarchal silk in a University atelier, but the idea that she, utterly untrained in such matters, should be the one to raise baby Matriarchs was a terrible farce.

But now fate clearly demanded this of her and at the moment she had no other compass point.

She had been surprisingly successful. Thank the goddess, these Matriarchs were not picky about the alien vegetation she gathered. They did not want for food and they seemed content enough, though Pettifor reasoned this was partly due to their ignorance of the present situation. Would they ever know that they did not belong to this world? Would it ever matter? After all, they had spent the entirety of their short childhoods here. It was all they knew.

It was on this evening, like past evenings, that Pettifor descended from the opening in the roof, her long blonde hair and purple silks billowing about her in the cold cave air, a bundle of food strapped to her back. The excited skittering of the Matriarchs welcomed her back into their strange, shared home. Tonight, they would no doubt wish to hear her tell another fabulous tale, of the intrigues of Moths or of the ingenious, titanic machines wrought by clever Silkworms. She unfastened the makeshift sling hoisted around her shoulder. The foraged bounty fell to the stone floor and she knelt down to spread it into three equal portions.

Two Matriarchs soon descended to the floor to meet her and the food she brought, each held aloft by a thick golden, glowing strand of silk. One of them, an overeager Matriarch that she had affectionately named Dolly, reached out with one of her eight spidery legs to tap at Pettifor’s knee: a show of gratefulness. Pettifor hardly noticed. Her attention was focused on the dark of the cavern above her – for the third Matriarch that was now conspicuously absent.

She waved a long leafy plant to the gloom around her in an attempt to catch the eight hungry eyes of the missing Matriarch. Holly and Dolly were accounted for. Molly was missing from the cave. But where?

There were two possibilities, two possible exits which Pettifor quickly reduced to one. If Molly had exited through the top of the cavern, she would have noticed the golden silk threads strewn about rocks and trees before her recent descent into the cavern. Pettifor expressly forbade the Matriarchs from leaving the cave, lest they be spotted by predators or the dangerous denizens of this new world.

This meant that Molly had entered the actual cave system, the serpentine labyrinth to which this room was but one chamber of many. Pettifor had expressly forbade this as well. There were no doubt grave dangers hidden throughout the tortuous subterranean system, and Pettifor did not have the means to map it out or explore it – she barely had the means to take care of all their basic needs. Perhaps when the Matriarchs were older and could fend for themselves…

Pettifor now wondered if adolescent Matriarchs might chafe at rules in the same way as human teenagers. She hurried to the section of the room that led into the greater cavern system. As she feared, wisps of phosphorescent golden webbing trailed out of the cave, into the gloomy unknown.

Damn. She didn’t even have an independent source of light – she would have to follow the glowing trail of silk and hope it led to Molly. And now, a very large – albeit harmless – and very curious spider was on the loose. Pettifor hurried into the faintly-lit darkness after it.

[danzilla3 5018]

On 9/28/2020 at 8:05 PM, supernal said:

"And, to have it said, perhaps it is merely my upbringing or the different places our chosen paths have taken us, I make no secret of having learned most of my manners out in the Wastelands with the Border Patrol. Not ones for black tie galas, to say the least. But I find it odd that neither of you have even asked what we're looking for. Or do you already know?"

"I'm used to getting information on a need-to-know basis," Emile explained, "I assumed you would tell me what I needed to know, sir."

Longshot's were often given only what information was needed for them to locate and eliminate their targets. Places of work and residence, restaurants and shops they frequented, routes commonly traveled. Often they were given little personal information other than what was directly pertinent. There was a good reason for this. A certain amount of dehumanization was required to take a persons life. Knowing that a brutal arms dealer also had a wife and kid he truly cared about waiting for him back home might make an operative hesitate when the time came to pull the trigger. 

Back to the matter at hand, the longshot gestured ahead, "I say we continue north."

[supernal 22146]

"You're a sergeant now." Cadmium dismissed Emile's one-breath response with a reply even more laconic.

Whatever rationale Emile had scaffolding his perspective, Cadmium was privy to none of it. None of it had been uttered into the space between them, shared that Cadmium may be enlightened and may offer some of his own insight.

The fact of the matter being that solving a problem by way of murder tended to be the least effective of a given solution. Emile had resigned himself to the role of hammer and so, to him, the surrounding world was one made of nails.

"If you want to become an officer, you're going to have to do some of your own thinking. Forever waiting to be pointed at something relegates you to the role of weapon rather than tool. The functions of one are more limited. Don't go getting yourself replaced with a golem."

Emile still hadn't asked about their mission, so Cadmium didn't offer.

The two men were only a few years apart. Cadmium's higher rank at a younger age could without question be traced back to the fact that he belonged to a military family, had enlisted at a young age, was latched onto the goal of high rank as a matter of generational success and survival. Becoming all at once aware of this, finding himself in the role of lecturer to a captive audience not just because of rank but because of circumstance, Cadmium pressed his lips into a thin seal of silence.

When Emile motioned north, Cadmium accepted, and on they went.

They trek a few hours, north the only way forward, until the path hairpinned and bent southward, and they were now walking back the way they came but through another path and another chamber of the half-exposed, half-submerged temple.

Cadmium checked their advanced in what could have been a barracks or a hostel, rows of bunk beds on each side of the long hall reached down.

"Let's make a light camp here, then we'll keep looking."

  

Edited October 8, 2020 by supernal

[Vesper 707]

Pettifor followed the golden trail of silk left behind by her wayward Matriarch. It was not always an easy task; sometimes the silk was laid so thinly that it took several minutes of strained squinting – moments when she had thought she lost her quarry – to locate the faintest ember of light in the darkness of the caverns. And yet other times, thick golden ropes of silk emblazoned unmistakable paths towards the right direction. Did her clever Matriarch think this an elaborate game of hide-and-seek?

It was while traversing underneath the radiant illumination of one of these bold displays of Matriarchal web-weaving that Pettifor noticed a series of scenes painted upon the walls of the surrounding corridor. She knew nothing of this new world, but the art style struck her as rough and ancient.

The subject material was macabre and vaguely chronological: humans carrying tributes with them into a mountain/laying these animals and objects at the feet of oversized horned monsters/the monsters feasting and howling (or were they laughing?). She shuddered at the idea that she perhaps traveled within the very same mountain as these depicted monsters.

She lost track of time as she continued to travel, her pace slowing or quickening depending on the amount of light available. Occasionally she dawdled when she found images upon the walls to study. She had begun to lament the sorry state of her empty stomach when her ears suddenly perked up to noise up ahead, the unmistakable sounds of two men talking.

She had had no dealings with the people of this world and preferred not to risk bringing attention to herself or the Matriarchs. Though their campfire glowed invitingly in the distance, Pettifor resolved to travel in the opposite direction and not involve them, unknown variables, in her search. That was her plan at least, until she noticed the familiar golden, glowing eyes of her missing spider, hovering high in the darkness by a faint golden thread, curiously eavesdropping on the conversation of the men.

In Pettifor’s world, it would be an unspeakable crime to strike down a Matriarch. But these men did not know this – and they carried swords, as well as other dangerous looking items. She could not risk the life of the Matriarch on the presumption that these men would respond appropriately to its company. If there were any moment for Pettifor to risk contacting the people of this world, this was it.

She decided to pull back the deep purple hood cloaking her face in an effort to appear less suspicious. In doing so, she brushed her hand across her forehead and felt a month’s worth of dirt and dust caked upon it. Her blonde hair, normally neatly braided into intricate patterns, was in a similar unkempt state. Goddess, she felt exhausted and knew she probably looked it. She suddenly caught herself hoping that this world also had baths and hot water, and something in the humor of that inconsequential thought gave her the energy and courage to move in the direction of the occupied encampment.

“Goddess be with you,” she called out with her hands held up, carefully making herself known. “My name is Pettifor.” She could think of no other greeting than that – the standard Ergogian one. She hoped that even if the men could not understand her language, they might at least understand the diplomacy carried by her tone. Above them all, the Matriarch turned its attention to Pettifor at the sound of her voice and made a faint, excited chitter.

 

[danzilla3 5018]

As they made their way through the dark and dusty halls of the cavern, Emile couldn't help but think about what Cadmium had told him. The idea that he had placed himself in the roll of tool instead of soldier was one he found highly disturbing. Soldiers made decisions, saved lives, and had the capacity to decide whether the orders they were given were in conflict with the values they swore to uphold. A tool merely did what was asked of it; never stopping to wonder if those orders were just. Perhaps the role of an unthinking, unfeeling instrument of others was an easier path.

But he had not set out to follow the easy path.

Emile had joined the Lagrimosan military because he believed in their mission of protecting the innocent people of the continent. Until now he had thought that simply following the orders of his superiors would make him a good soldier. But as his rank and the responsibility it carried rose, would that be enough? Would he spend his entire life looking to others for direction? 

Once camp had been set up he asked, "Sir... what is it we're looking for down here?"

On 10/7/2020 at 10:38 PM, Witch said:

“Goddess be with you,” she called out with her hands held up, carefully making herself known. “My name is Pettifor.” She could think of no other greeting than that – the standard Ergogian one. She hoped that even if the men could not understand her language, they might at least understand the diplomacy carried by her tone. Above them all, the Matriarch turned its attention to Pettifor at the sound of her voice and made a faint, excited chitter.

The first syllable of, "Goddess," had barely hit the air before Emile had drawn his sidearm and leveled it at the stranger. A strong reaction, but an understandable one given that there wasn't supposed to be anyone else in here. When he saw that their visitor was an disheveled looking woman, he lowered the gun slightly.

"Please identify yourself."

[supernal 22146]

It was impossible for him to know what thoughts churned inside of the Longshot's mind. Impossible for him but not for everyone, Cadmium mused. There were creatures even now flourishing across the planet which read minds as easily as a hunter tracked a spoor. He knew, even, that Carbon had been taken through a radical experiment to save his life, and that now such a capability was increasingly within his older brother's reach.

But to Cadmium the humanoid mind remained a black box.

Despite this it took only Emile's single question to give Cadmium the insight he wanted. It came after the rolls were laid flat so they had somewhere to sit, and after the metal sphere nested in the middle of a wire cage had grown red-hot and provided cooking heat without flame or smoke, and after they had started eating such that Cadmium thought the question might not come at all, that the question finally came.

Cadmium nodded, a smile's specter haunting the corners of his lips.

"The demon attack in Treedell. One of ours managed to get a sizable bio-sample of the ringleader. The thought is that with a proper catalyst, that sample might become the key to dismantling this self-styled 'king of plagues'. Our gift to the king will be the key which turns his empire to dust. They do so like wallowing in the dirt, don't they?"

He hadn't said the words explicitly but provided the context so that Emile could seize onto the fact they were here in search of said catalyst.

The next few seconds were harried. Emile's response was quick and only marginally inappropriate. The grim and dreary reality was that the Wilds were savage and any flickering shadow might be a demon, or a poltergeist, or a Suujali, materialized to end your life at the worst possible moment. The Longshot was right to draw a bead on the woman and prioritize the major's life and his own over that of an unnamed stranger.

But here was where constantly strained nerves got you: "She did identify herself." Cadmium kept an eye on the woman as he placed his hand on Emile's arm and lowered the weapon further still. "My friend hands are very fast you see, but so are my ears. My name's Cadmium. This is Emile. We are soldiers of Empire and are here on a matter of national defense. Keep your hands in plain sight, please, and have a seat."

The syntax was polite but the tone and circumstances were inauspicious; Cadmium did not ask, he declared. Words like 'national defense' didn't often lend themselves to situations where strangers could come and go at their leisure. Pettifor found herself in the middle of a gentle interrogation.

Cadmium motioned to their small spread of rations.

"Eat and drink if you like. Also, this is just a small thing. We had to move a boulder to get in here. How did you?"