Chapter 1 - Leaving Dunova

Oh, now you are having regrets, eh? Shoulda thought about that before attacking defenseless adventurers!" Jezlyn fires off a shot at the retreating knight. Seeing her shot miss completely she says (a little too loudly), "You're lucky I am kind enough to have given you a warning shot!"

Velisse was ready to catch her breath, but seeing that the burly newcomer who had so expertly defended her with his hammer decided to make one final swing, Velisse follow through as well with a mighty chop from her sword.

The knight, suffering under the punishment of so many simultaneous attacks, crashes to the ground deactivated. With only one remaining, in an effort to keep the enemy from learning secrets, the remaining knight overloads its reactor and explodes. Thankfully, it's far enough away from any of the adventurers to deal any damage and instead leaves a smoking ring of soot and mechanical parts on the cracked stone below.

Not long after, Leon hurries down to the platform the party are on with a few of the larger crew members in tow. He has a pistol, while the rest have armed themselves with whatever heavy objects they can find. They're relieved to see they've arrived when the danger's just passed.

Even still, they spread out a bit to make sure things are safe while Leon addresses the group. "What was that all about, gave me one hell of a jump running off like that."

By the time Leon arrives, Pinion is already marveling at the wreckage left behind by the fallen knights. "Ah, that's a question that might be better answered by the new arrival." He says in response, pointing to the warrior woman without looking up from the scrap heap. "oh, what wonderfully balanced gears!"

"Thank you for your assistance, friends! I'm Velisse D'Artois of Kirin. These may not be the last of their defenses, if you are here like me to investigate further." The tall warrior woman strapped her sword behind her back as she greeted the newcomers, unaware of the circumstances of their arrival.

Jezlyn nods at the new woman while she sits down on her haunches and inspect the mechanical debris. Everyone nearby can hear her knees pop and she lets out a grunt. Her knees aren't what they used to be. "What are you investigating exactly?" Jezlyn asks casually as she pokes around.

Ail places his hammer back on his back as the danger passes. He stands by watching the conversation in silence while picking back up the firewood he had to drop when the scuffle started.

"The Elonians are looking for something, that makes it my business."

Pinion says; "So succinct, yet uninformative. Perhaps we can work together? It will increase our chances of success, and survival."

"Sure, why not?" Leon shakes his head, and shrugs. "It seems to be the reason everyone's here."

He doesn't look entirely happy about any of it, but then the group have come to know that he never really seems to look happy about anything. He looks as though he's about to go on, when Huxley descends the slope to the platform, although with considerably more difficulty than the others. She gives the group a thankful smile that they're all alright before giving her report.

"The head engineer reckons the ship's going to be airborne again." Her smile falters a little, showing she's already given the good news. "But it'll take a while, and even then it'll only be able to do short journeys."

The crew members exchange wary glances, and concerned looks at the downed automatons. Neither Leon nor Huxley seem as perturbed by their existence, but still don't look entirely comfortable with the revelation. Leon strokes his moustache as he thinks about where to go from there, before following up.

"How long is a while."

"Well, that depends." She purses her lips and looks at the sky above the clearing, already starting to move past midday. "A couple of hours and we can hop to a nearby village, more and we might make it back to Dunova."

Leon nods. "So, there you have it. You've got your time to investigate the ruins, it'll be up to you how long you keep us here."

"If I knew I wouldn't be having to chop my way through these rustbuckets," Velisse was about to give the armoured shells a little kick, and then realised her tone might've come across as snappish to Pierre. Her attention perked up more when she heard talk of their airship. Having access to transport would go a long way in helping her accomplish what she needed to. She stuck out her gauntleted hand to offer an assenting handshake, "Call me Velisse. You have my sword for whatever lies ahead here.

And I don't think I caught any of your names yet."

Strong Ail comes over with his hands full of firewood. "In the circus I went with Strong Ail, the world's strongest orc," he says with a smile and akwardly tries to shake Velisse's hand without dropping any of the gathered firewood. "You may call me Ail."

Pinion stands up from the piles of parts that were formerly foes. "You can call me Pinion. I fix things, and ideally try to make them better if I can."

Jezlyn snorts at all of these awkwardly formal introductions. "You may call me anything you'd like, but my name's Jezlyn. I should be retired, sitting in a nice rocking chair and sipping tea next to a fire, but instead I am traipsing through enemy territory and blasting automatons. Not such a bad life now that I hear myself say it," she grins.

"Jezelyn, you drink tea all the time. Although I guess the wreck of the airship doesn't quite count as a cozy fire . . ..

Jezlyn nods. "The tea is what makes everything worth it. No tea, no adventure. Speaking of, I should check the ship's galley to make sure the tea supply survived intact..."