Quote from BlameItOnWinter >>

"10..." Deep Winter's voice falters, and he turns his head to look at the older soldier. With a wave of his hand, the light of the flames returns to its neutral color. "Prove your intentions you say?" His gaze flicks to Lyra, "you are incorrect in assuming that you remain the only ones aware of the Nalkir."

The pipe and chair disappear in a flurry of snowflakes as he stands, clearing his throat, he addresses Leftenant again. "You wish to prove your intentions? I will alert my fellow ACI in Neressa of this development. They will send a team here. Remain, and protect this place until they can arrive."

"You may have misheard me, my wintry arcane demolitionist friend.  I said nothing about our being the only ones aware of the Nalkir.  I stated merely that we are the only ones aware of the 'apotheosis' the Nalkir seem to intend.  Though perhaps we are not alone in that either?"

Lyra pauses, eyebrows raised, on the verge of gagging the mad priest .  Frankly, she had been ready to ask Kalamin or LT to simply knock Meksa unconscious with a physical blow.  Yet now, when asked to gag him, she is not so sure.  She looks to Ilya, then back at Deep Winter.

"Curious that you wish him silenced.  He is our prisoner, bound and blindfolded.  Does he pose an immediate threat to you with his words?  Just now, you blithely turned your nose up at my offer, which included passing him over to you.  What would the purpose of gagging him be?"

Lyra taps a finger on her darkened lips.  "And if you had wished us destroyed earlier, why begin a countdown?  Why not an immediate detonation?"

Deep Winter raises an eyebrow upon receiving the designation wintry arcane demolitionist. "You are indeed not," he states, answering Lyra's first question.

"The cultist poses no physical threat. Diminished I may have been these past weeks, I was unfortunately aware enough to hear his inane ramblings."

(Lyra Passive Insight: 14) Though the construct is clearly a marvel of the arcane, it's becoming increasingly clear to you that deception is not among the skills he was graced with. As you prod him over the supposed defense mechanism, you can see something akin to worry in his facial features. "I needed time to reestablish control over the site."

"Some mechanisms appear to be...temporarily nonfunctional."

"Let us be honest with each other."  Lyra speaks confidently with her Silver Tongue, despite not being completely certain of her conclusion.  "We have deceived you not one iota, hence deception does not become you.  Tell us true, then.  You lack the leverage you pretend to hold over the situation, do you not?  There is no detonation forthcoming.  We have sincerely professed our opposition to the Nalkir.  To what ends do you seek to manipulate us?"

She blows an echoing chord from her harmonica.  Evoking the sense of ancient power, long lost.

...On the sand, half sunk, a shattered visage lies,
Whose frown, and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed...

OoC: Moving forward.

Three seconds pass, and then the construct lets out a sigh. You can see a struggle playing out on his translucent face - he almost certainly believes you, and wants to trust you. But something is holding him back. "There are orders. Protocols. I'm not like you, I cannot bend my rules so easily as one made of flesh and blood might."

"There is no detonation forthcoming. But if you attempt to leave before the reinforcements from Neressa arrive, I will have to do everything I can in order to stop you." He shrugs, plopping back down as a chair appears underneath him. "I'm sorry, that's just the way it is."

The veteran stood there, perhaps a little shocked. He knew they weren’t out of it yet, but at least it did seem hopeful. And his hope was the next best thing.

“Access what you must. While we hadn’t made it there, to Neressa personally, reports from Vinande indicate there’s not much left. There wasn’t anything left ‘alive’ in Ladrastir as we passed through to here.”

“I myself am weary of knowing the truth about Neressa.” The old soldier’s voice trails off as he chokes up a bit trying not to think about the place at which he found a bit of peace.

Lyra bows to the construct.  "Thank you for making your position clear.  Speaking for myself, I believe you.  I assume that while you must attempt to prevent us from departing this... facility... that we may at least leave this chamber in which we now stand without your attempts at 'prevention'?"

She turns to her companions, trying to gauge their intentions.  Lyra herself is inclined to have the party take their chances with whatever Deep Winter's countermeasures are and depart.  Since as LT speculates, it seems unlikely any reinforcements will be arriving from Neressa in the near future, making it a long wait indeed.  But she keeps her thoughts to herself for now, waiting to see how the others react, playing a questioning chord on her dark harmonica.

... And both paths that morning equal lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back...

Deep Winter cocks his head towards the old soldier. "The Ward site in Neressa at least stands. We'll learn more once the team arrives. It seems I've missed some things, what became of Ladrastir? And what reason do you have to fear Neressa's fate?"

The construct nods to Lyra. "You may. Though I would ask you deliver that miscreant to a containment cell."

Lyra does not immediately answer Deep Winter's queries, trying first to gauge which approach her companions are inclined to choose.

"Perhaps we should begin with your first assertion, Mr. Winter.  From whence comes your certainty that the Ward site in Neressa 'at least' stands?  Do you possess a means of communication with them from this remote location?  If so, perhaps we too might have the opportunity to converse with them."

Deep Winter to Major Tom...
Deep Winter to Major Tom...
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on...