"531 doesn't exist anymore. They used to be near the foundry I work at, but they were relocated and split up into 310, 500, and 530. At least, that's what the story was."
"You are correct Brother Shaughnessy. We chose to use crawlers with Local 531's insignia because many of that former local's drivers have not submitted their application for their crawler's local livery reassignment. Unfortunately we were unable to do so for your caravan."
"We will see what we can gain for you in the upper town, lord."
"Alright then, contact the caravan if the situation changes or when you feel confident we can safely approach."
"Scout team out."
* * * * * *
"They're alive! They say the door's blocked. They can't get out. Me an' the Beast might have something to say about that though. Mr Elder, if you can show us to the bunker, I'll see about getting that door clear."
"That. I pray that they did not wield the doors shut."
"I might be able to help, too. If I get something cold enough, it becomes quite brittle."
"Then the great spirit has blessed us with the help of a shaman." He glanced towards the rail station.
"Come, I will lead your people to our the mesa."
As the group walked towards the rail station, Seif asked
"How did you offend him?"
"Up until recently, our village paid tribute to the Baron of the South Pass. About a fortnight ago our village was approached by a Bedouin woman, a servant of Warlord Muro. The woman carried a message. She said that the Baron was dead and that our village was now a protectorate of Slaughter Town. She carried the Baron's head as proof.
The woman told us the eve of our spring powwow the Warlord would demand tribute and that his demands would be presented two days prior to his collection of the goods. We were told our elder's lives would be forfeit if we refused. Reluctantly we agreed and she left the village as she came, on foot.
Two days ago, an other of the Warlord's servants arrived to the village with the Warlord's tribute request. We told the servant that would comply with all their requests but one. He responded by saying that they would force us to comply and that they will watch our village and eradicate our tribe if they suspect that would seek a way to go against their wishes.
When our lookouts spotted their raiders approaching we pulled a wagon with the tribute outside our gates as our warriors prepared to to defend our village. The arrived, took the goods then demanded we pay the final request and when we refused, they attacked.
They kept me alive as a warning to the Galexias people."
"Then what did he take from here?"
"Beyond that which we can readily give, they took many of my people's daughters, including my own."
He hesitated for a second,
"They wanted to take the girls as brides and they also heard that one of the unmarried girls who was coming to age was blessed by the great spirit with the abilities of an aether shaman."
Brian: 1d20=13
Deezy: 1d20+7=17
Sahid: 1d20+3=22
Seif: 1d20+11=28
[sblock=Brian] You think he means Aether witch. They are like water witches but deal in aether.[/sblock]
[sblock=Deezy] Aether shaman? Maybe he mains an aether witch. Aether witches are like water witches, but they don't need to use special equipment to find aether. They can sense it.[/sblock]
[sblock=Sahid and Seif] Different cultures call them different things, but he's talking about an aether witch. They can naturally sense the flow of aether and can detect its concentrations. You heard have heard stories that suggests that some aether witches have the ability to control the flows of aether even to the point of raising or lowering it's concentration through the use of elaborate rituals. You also heard rumors that some even can do it naturally.[/sblock]
The Elder lead the group to the side of the rail station towards the location of a long ramp, then proceeded up it's slope and opened a small gate.
"The walker will need to step onto the turn table so that it can be loaded onto the rail car's bed." After they stepped onto the platform, the elder began to manipulate series of levers and cranks that causing the the platform to slowly spin around until it was parallel to the track. Once parallel, the platform then slowly was pushed onto position behind the rail car, allowing Deezy to pilot the beast onto the rail car's flat bed.
The elder then around the landing platform and entered into the rail cars cabin and began to operate the machine. With a lurch, the funicular began it's slow ascent towards the first in a series of landings. Once at the landing, the elder secured the rail car in place then walked onto the landing station and manipulated a series of levers causing a platform to slide into place before the rail car.
"Get onto the platform so I can transfer you to the roadway that leads to the second station."
The Elder then moved the platform to it's original position and lead the group onto a short road that turned into the second funicular's landing platform. Unlike the first rail which traveled along the side of the mesa's slope until it reached a small platform, the second railway lead straight into the mesa where it entered into a tunnel that lead towards the plateau's summit. Once at the summit, the elder locked the rail car into place then lowered and secured the rail car's cargo ramp.
CHAPTER VII: INTO THE BUNKER OF DEATH
Like the lower village, the village at the mesa's summit appeared to be the scene of a massacre, with the dead bodies of both the villager's and its attackers strewn about. The elder lead the group along several streets on a path that seemed to to have been the focus of much of the fighting towards what appears to be a small building that was located towards the center of the mesa. The entrance of the building lied at the bottom of a short ramp and appears to be a thick metallic airlock. The entrance is blocked by several destroyed vehicles, several of which are currently on fire.