War on Empyria [NSFW, Anthro, all species allowed.]

@Jinx  
“Eudora, mercenary commander, i work for the mechanists because until i saw your metal monsters i was pretty confident in their chances. and honestly, a world without magic is a lot more predictable to me too.”

@Cerebrate  
Hm. So you thought of defecting to us?
 
a tendril casually started to prod and press in various places on the girl, namely above the waistline for now

@Jinx  
she seemed fairly responsive.
 
“vulpine kin are all notoriously disloyal, or so the stereotype goes. and it exists for a reason, we value our own lives, and those of possible offspring. we are not loyal to an idea, not to a king, and not to a nation.”

@Cerebrate  
another tendril came down, helping the other, then a third one
 
Hmm. And are you loyal to one who controls whether you live and die?
 
as she said her next sentance her tendrils poked at both lower holes
 
Or even the one eho controls if you have offspring?

@Cerebrate  
tbe cat nearly falls over in suprise holy shit…8…I…I am honored. Thank you ma’am

@Jinx  
“i see what you’re saying and even without the possibilities implied the answer is yes and no, it is not real loyalty so much as it is the knowledge there’s no actual escaping if i do cross you.”
 
she had said this with a straight face, but grimm’s tentacles could feel the tremble that had gone through her.

@NyantaStarhunt  
Tempera: “comes mostly from the leader types amoung out people being countable on a single hand. anyways we’re nearing the mountains.”

@Cerebrate  
instead of being invasive the tentacles softly wrapped around her, though definetly putting pressure on her soft spots
 
Im glad to hear that. I may get a taste of your flesh, though you may not have to take the trip your friend did if you behave.

@Jinx  
“you know exactly how to talk to a vulpine, mylady, i am all yours.”

@Cerebrate  
grimm lifted her up and scooted her around to rest between her front legs, away from hearing the tiger. Instead it was soft, warm breaths from the large “nostrils” in her chest
 
You should rest. Ill keep you warm and safe.
 
the tendrils would lightly and rythmicly massage her now
 
Ill wake you when im ready to taste you.

@Cerebrate  
he meows and hokds on tight this is one hell of a ride

@Cerebrate  
“Eeeeh, well… Back in our House’s capital, those brutalist bunkers made in ‘Central’ seem a bit totemic, even their purpose is half-symbolic; statement on Teslatic permanence, or somesuch. Even the bedrock it’s built on’s an odd mix of gabbro and peridotite; anyone who tries digging through that’s not going to get very far. Too many diamonds and ultra-hard crystals laced in-between… Here we are-”
 
He says, ushering his entourage of war to the floor they’re seeking, they proceed through another large door, likely going into the observatory. “…Hold fire with the Killer-Seniors. Use Juniors if you got’em, but watch for load-bearing points in this building. Rely on the snakebites, scorchlamps, and your machine’s bulk if you have to.”

@Jinx  
Eudora clearly enjoyed the treatment, mumbling something as she slumps over.
 
Cerus: “the tiger is clearly a survivor himself, according to eudora’s description their kind are as loyal as a flag is to the direction of the wind. if they think betrying you will end badly for them, then they will be loyal.”
 
 
@NyantaStarhunt  
“would you believe me if i said the only reason us birdfolk joined the snakes are that we were bribed with these armors to go fast? because it’s technically true, i mean he also set up that weather machine of his but still. i dunno what you’ll find out, and where that finding takes you, but we got your back.”
 
(the irony being that i am as of yet undecided on what the “truth” here will be myself…)
 
 
@Coriolanus  
Soldier: “glad to hear teslagrad obeys the laws of practical and pretty design.”
 
they bring out their namesakes, the tesla blasters.

@Cerebrate  
“Erhm… perhaps be a bit careful with those. I see metal all over the place… alot of this probably doesn’t react well to lightning.” As they enter, they’re surrounded on all sides by contraptions in a large circular chamber, likely a turntable for the telescope…
 
[ 🎶 ​]  
Looking high above, what they see appears like something out of a factory, a ceiling-full of jet-black, glimmering machinery composed of whirling wheels, linkages, axles, and thin, ropelike chains fed into holed, monolithic slabs. Looking closely, it all appears as if it’s built out of finely-polished, wrought iron.
 
Look at it from ‘just the right skewed perspective’ (anyone with latent magic talent, likely very few present) and it seems almost like a vast mechanical computer, perhaps running a vast mind… To those few, if any aware of this, it may feel sensible to not remain in this place for long…
 
 
To their sides, they all see the observatory also serves a wunderkammer (likely much smaller though than the one far back down below behind locked doors), with strange antiquities held within caged viewboxes;
 
a rare nitro-express hunting rifle with a telescopic gunsight mounted above the barrel, but bolted unto its side, a small, black, angular polygon, connected by copper wires to some sort of repurposed orthodontal headgear hanging beside on a hook,
 
a chemist’s station, with the first ever sample of Expurgate solution ever concocted, quickly recovered by Koldo,
 
a rubber-sealed glass viewcase, holding a suit of knightly armor seemingly worn by a sleeping shark interred within,
 
a small caged bauble, about the size and consistency of a used teabag, its colors shifting iridescently depending on the angle. It has a few featherlike appendages that sometimes sway, yet appear hard and brittle like crystal. It doesn’t seem to do anything, yet it clearly monitors the surroundings and sometimes shifts a bit or redirects its feathers…
 
Reaching a desk near where the dome opens to outside, revealing the skies and meatscape below, Indra exits the opened front of his armor, rifling through the furniture’s drawers for the key… At his foot, he also picks up and pockets a tiny jet-black shape likely shaken loose from the machineries above. Meanwhile, his small army in tow stand guard throughout the room, especially near their commander, as well as by and outside the door to the room.

@Coriolanus  
Soldier: “the horror cabinet of the days before they figured out what they were doing… we should have brought an airship, evacuating a coppermind would be an incredible win for teslania.”
 
Stilter: “moving these from their place of belonging is always a risk, and we ARE in a hurry, if we succeed today we may soon be able to come back for them.”
 
“hey… think this here crystal is a prototype or otherwise miniature of the one we’re here for?”
 
“maybe… i’m more concerned about the armored shark though, relative of yours, sir?”

@Cerebrate  
“…That crystalline bauble’s not what we’re here for, but likely one of two things, though I’m not keen to find out which here and now. That man in the glass, I don’t know him… but I’ve got the suspicion that if we took that cuirass off we’d just find a couple small beating organs and alot of clinking metal-enginery; I think it’s a ‘moravecian’–a machine-man…”
 
Turning back to pour a large drawer’s contents unto the floor, he grabs a set of large keys in the pile, then reenters his armor.
 
“We’ll come back here one day for sure, though likely with quite a few aerial saws for cutting through wood, stone, metal… may as well take the entire observatory with us. For now, let’s all head downstairs, get what we’re after, then get the hell out of this blasted city.”

@Cerebrate  
he smiles and nods
 
Thank you friend
 
(I am cinvived that the tree folk are willing to change but its ultimately up to you

@Cerebrate  
Well, i think she will be a fine addition to the ranks. The tiger, we shall see.

@NyantaStarhunt  
(willing to change is not how i would characterize a tree, not many of those that are willing to adapt…)
 
 
@Coriolanus  
the soldiers sound off their affirmatives as they make their way downstairs again, a squad taking position at the door ready to cook whatever meat sacks may break it down.
 
 
@Jinx  
“we shall, if you decide to let him back up at all that is.”

@Cerebrate  
(Hm alright heh

@NyantaStarhunt  
(but wether or not they change and wether or not they care are two different questions, if the leafheads always meant well they won’t need to change. not a lot anyways.)

@Cerebrate  
(And this is good for nyanta in a sense. No matter what he dosnt want the forest to burn

@NyantaStarhunt  
(the forest burning is what happens when things go wrong, i didn’t make it clear but the technicians are not ACTUALLY arsonists, they just want the big one to keel over.)

@Cerebrate  
(My bad then heh.

@Cerebrate  
I think he will survive. He hasnt stopped moving yet.