Prepare for the #LodanRespawn2024 Existing characters may choose to be displace from/have memories of different timelines, thereby allowing returning members the option to retcon their whole character. These changes are the result of the "Unnatural Fog" plot device that is running between now and the Respawn. The plot is simple: no matter where your character is, that place is shrouded in a thick fog that suspends time, but not thoughts or memories, so even if they're repeating the same day over and over again, they continue to remember, so each time feels like a new day. For those retconning OCs; this is where new versions of themselves have the opportunity to replace the old versions. Official lore and tree updates will be announced asap
OPEN TO Alistair Malak "Hrm...maybe..." Amon muttered to himself, making a few notes on a pad. After an initial surge in customers following his return, business stabilized back to its sporadic pace. The Twins were in the back and upstairs, taking care of some cleaning and organizing the tools needed to finish the projects in the warehouse. In the meantime, Amon was making a few extra notes while manning the counter. It was pretty much his usual, uneventful day...
...And with the exception of a possible visit from Edel, it would hopefully stay that way...
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Post by Alistair Malak on Sept 22, 2015 15:32:02 GMT
Alistair despised coming to the workshop. It always seemed so disorganized, with people running too and fro and wild experiments going on. The place needed some Order, just as the rest of the city needed it. Alistair turned away from the chaos with a shake of his head and moved towards the counter. Hopefully the Guild Leader was there, because Alistair wasn't keen to play the 'Where in the shop is Amon' game today.
Previously he'd spoken to the man about the construction of an EIRAL based warehouse and workshop. Of course, at the time he hadn't had the space, but with the rubble of the old barracks now cleared away, he had the perfect spot. It was time to break ground.
"Amon!" Alistair exclaimed jovially, as if the two of them were old friends. "Glad to see you back from your vacation, I hope it was enjoyable." Alistair hadn't been a Spy for so long without learning to play a part.
"Sonofa..." Amon thought, putting away his notes. Even if he didn't know of Alistair's true intentions, there was something about the guy that put him on edge.
"I wouldn't call it a vacation," he replied. "I started working on some things, but I ended up working on a majority of your order of machines."
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Post by Alistair Malak on Sept 25, 2015 18:52:12 GMT
"There is indeed," he said cheerfully as he sauntered up to the counter and leaned against the structure with his right hand on top. His posture showed nothing but complete relaxation. Put people at ease, act friendly, then they won't see the blade coming. He'd learned that lesson at the tip of a blade himself. "We've finished clearing the remnants of the old Barracks. It is a travesty that these so called Rebels blew up such a historical landmark, but progress must continue. So, we are now clear to proceed with the construction of the warehouse. I've brought along half the payment and I'd like to break ground as quickly as possible." Yes, and then the EIRAL wouldn't be so reliant on an outside party. Not that he didn't have a use for Amon and his toys, the man was a genius, and it was in everyone's best interest that he keep purchasing equipment.
"...I see..." Amon replied. In truth, he had nearly forgotten about that particular deal. "Well, I'm sorry to hear about that...hopefully you can catch them soon...doesn't feel as safe with them running about, but I'm sure you'll get them," Amon continued, going along with Alistair's flow as he retrieved the necessary paperwork and started drafting the receipts. It left a bad taste in his mouth, but if he was to continue working for the man, he had to act the part.
"What were you planning on using the warehouse as again? Because if you need it to be more secure, I can get Mulven Renehan to help fortify the place up...add more resiliency and inherent security..."
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Post by Alistair Malak on Sept 26, 2015 4:15:34 GMT
"Whatever you have to do, my friend. I need it as secure as one can make it, though is anything really secure from these darned Anders these days." He shrugged, but got right back to business, "I want it to cover the entire property between the railway and the main headquarters building. It should be connected with varying levels of security to get inside. Lets go as state of the art as we can get. Fully powered and with a full workshop." This new building would surely drain a good portion of the EIRAL coffers, but they could be easily refilled. Anything was possible with a war looming.
"...Workshop...?" Amon thought with a pause. This could be bad...for a number of reasons.
"I have to agree with you there," Amon replied with a small smile, trying to keep up an agreeable appearance while trying not to gag at his own words.
"Well then, with the size you are asking for, I think we can speed up the process if I create a number of steambots to assist in building the warehouse; as a bonus, I'll even include them in your package, so that they can double as extra security. I'll see if I can employ some more robots to further act as security. Even with the extra man-power, I will get in contact with Mulven to make sure the place is even more resilient than your last building. As for a workshop..." Amon paused and looked up.
"...You're not trying to get rid of me, are you? And here I thought we had a great relationship," he joked, giving the devil a wry smile.
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Post by Alistair Malak on Sept 26, 2015 15:15:05 GMT
Alistair took in the man's words as to the need for steambots and such, "Of course, whatever you think will be best in getting this thing constructed. You can even use some of my people if you think you need more manpower."
When it got to the part about trying to get rid of him Alistair just gave a laugh. Of course he wanted to get rid of the man. If Amon could still even be considered a man. That, however, wouldn't be great from a business prospective.
"No, no. Of course not. There are just some projects best kept to the EIRAL. Our regular orders will continue unabated. No one makes high quality weapons like Mingo's, and I doubt any of my people will ever understand mechanics the way you and your people do," he said jovially. No sense spooking the man.
Yup, that almost confirmed it. But what happened? Is it simply as Alistair said, and that EIRAL wanted to more self-sufficient? Or did he catch on?
...Maybe more of the former than the latter, as they would've tried to arrest him at this point. Plus, there was no way Alistair would've figured it out, what with his head so far up his own a-
"Understandable," Amon acquiesced with a sigh. There will be ways around this little setback...plus there is a chance that EIRAL may take a hit technology-wise.
"Well now, I just need you to sign here, here, and here," he said, presenting the documents to Alistair. "And I will take half of the payment now. It may take some time to schedule the remaining human builders as well as get the supplies. In the interim, I can start building more steambots to help out. If you need help with anything in the workshop when it is built, I will gladly lend a hand and help you guys out."
"With that business out of the way, is there anything else I can help you with today? More messengers? Steambots? Clockwork Dolls?"
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Post by Alistair Malak on Sept 26, 2015 19:20:54 GMT
Alistair nodded, dotting his T and crossing the I's before handing over the certified bankers check drafted from the Bank of Lodan. "Once the workshop is up and running I would like your people to work along side my own. We have very few soldiers at the moment with technical or mechanical inclinations," he said, though it was more for placation. There were things he wanted to keep inside the guild.
"There is something else I would like to discuss. During the attack by the Anders, something was used to disrupt the power to the entire HQ. I want to know how something like that might work, and how to protect against it in the future. We've always dealt with the Anders natural ability to break technology, but nothing on that scale."
Amon had just finished putting the papers together when he stopped in his tracks. "So the ore was much more powerful than anticipated..." he thought. "I knew that any tech near the stuff suffers from a breakdown, but I didn't think it would be that powerful...unless it was used in the right spot..."
However, that was the least of his worries.
"...It could be that they hit the right location," Amon started slowly. "...If you had a central power station, and it was hit, then everything connected to that would go bust as well...although..."
Amon paused again, absently drumming his human fingers, lost in thought. He'd need to make some rearrangements with Danny Ravensdale, and it was a huge gamble, but it could work.
"As for protection against magic, I do have one method, and it could also explain what happened during the attack," he continued. "It's a special type of ore I've come across for use in my clockwork dolls; when refined properly, it can help to shield technology from the adverse affects of magic. In it's unrefined form however, it can destroy tech. During one of my shipments, I noticed a small amount missing. I didn't think anything of it at the time: the stuff decays after a while, becoming nothing but a regular rock. From what it sounds like, they somehow were able to slow down its decay long enough to use its more adverse affects. Sad to hear that those creatures would rather destroy progress rather than contribute to it," he concluded with a sigh.
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Post by Alistair Malak on Sept 27, 2015 2:15:50 GMT
Alistair heard what Amon was saying, but he didn't really pay attention. He had zero interest in the man's incompetence with keeping a shipment from being pilfered. If that's actually what happened. Either way, Alistair didn't really care about the why, he cared about preventing it from happening again. And if these rebels had more of the stuff, it was only a matter of time. "That's all good and well," he said in a friendly manner, "but I'm more concerned with preventing a re-occurrence. Seeing as how you use the stuff in your own work, I would hope you can come up with a solution."
It took every ounce of willpower to stop Amon from delivering Alistair a metal punch to the throat.
"I guarantee you, I have," he responded with a similar tone, making a few more notes. "I can start making the necessary shielding for you, but due to how difficult it is to obtain and refine the stuff, I recommend that, for now, you pick which technological assets of the utmost importance and start from there. All I'll need are the general shape and dimensions. Free of charge, for the inconvenience," he finished with a small, apologetic smile.
His ego took a hit, but if it would divert suspicion, so be it.
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
Post by Alistair Malak on Sept 27, 2015 16:34:49 GMT
Alistair nodded, but the free of charge business made him suspicions. Why would a man like Amon give anything away for free. He had the EIRAL against a wall. If they didn't get some protection, all their machinery was useless. He could have charged anything, but instead.... Alistair would have to keep a closer eye on the man in the future, but for now they had a building to construct and a protective element to install. He would take the free gift and test it thoroughly.
"Very good, I'll see to it that the details of our Lobby are delivered to you. Its the most vulnerable point as it has the most outside visitors." Plus the power plant for the whole facility was right underneath it. It made sense.
"Excellent. I'm still testing it out, and this type of shielding is in its experimental stages, so I would greatly appreciate it if you could provide me with any notes if you choose to do your own testing with the stuff," Amon replied. "And I will do the same for you...mutual benefits, if you will. Who knows: there could be other uses for this too."
He highly doubted that Alistair would actually share anything, but there were ways around that...
"Anything else I could help you with?"
"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible! And when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people!" - Taryn, Nerf This
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