1330 AE Sandswept Isles, Rata Primus
Keep your head down and gather what information you can. Keep your head down and gather what information you can.
The words tumbled through Eoxxa’s mind as she went about repairing golems throughout the complex. Fortunately, she had been assigned near the main lab areas. Still a horrifying experience, but it was far enough away from where the Awakened had infested the city.
She thought back to when she was younger and when her mother, Vixx, took her undercover into Rata Sum. That city was beautiful and colourful, the people busily moving about with many willing to answer questions from a young progeny. She’d even read the documentation that was recorded regarding the discovery of Rata Novus, and oh how she would love to explore that region. But Rata Primus was not either of those things.
Rata Primus was dark, foreboding, hot and nerve wracking. She worried for her own safety and for the safety of her golem. It felt wrong to reprogram his colour markings, but in order to fit in he would have to look like an Inquest golem. She’d even programmed him to tell falsehoods. Eoxxa’s golem was her recording device as she worked repairing damaged golems.
Many of them, she implanted a recurring virus that would shut the golem down when ordered to take hostile actions. Other times she would program them to merely patrol an area without stopping. She was able to come up with all sorts of reasons for these malfunctions; sand, humidity, oxidation of the circuitry. and various other things that come with having a city at the edge of an island chain.
Her one blessing was she had a contact in the Olmakhan village. There, she could smuggle information who would then pass it on. At least those charr would be relieved to know someone was working from the inside to tear the system down. At least, that’s the brave face she put on for them. Inside, she was terrified. These Inquest weren’t anything like the ones in Dry Top. Eoxxa didn’t even know if Sheriff Wennemein would be able to talk these ones down. They were organized and they were ruthless.
So for the time being, Eoxxa kept her head down and focused on personal goals. There was a Mark Y golem that seemed to be discarded to the north of the city, maybe she could repair it and reprogram it. Then she’d have a second ally to work in this city.
“Golemancer Biffa,” a voice called out. Eoxxa paid no mind as she began to carefully remove a circuit board from a discarded golem. “Golemancer Biffa!” the voice called out again, this time with a little more authority, and again Eoxxa continued to work. “BIFFA!” the voice shouted out and a rough hand grabbed Eoxxa’s shoulder.
“What! What? WHAT!?” Eoxxa cried out as she suddenly remembered her code name for this operation.
“I called you three times,” the asura said with a scowl. “What could be so important that you ignore a simple request?” The asura was an older fellow, an extremely stern look in his eyes and one who appeared to have little to no patience.
“My apologies, I was pulling the usable circuit boards out of these malfunctioned golems and cleaning them so they might be used in other golems,” Eoxxa explained somewhat nervously.
The older asura perked an eyebrow and thought for a moment, watching Eoxxa carefully. “That is… actually capital thinking, Biffa. However, the reason I need to speak with you is because we are reassigning you to the inner labs. Several of the systems require maintenance and our usual technicians are… not available.”
Eoxxa took a deep breath. ‘Not available’ sometimes meant they had fallen victim to whatever it was that was happening in the labs. “I’ll go there right away, sir. I’ll clean up here and gather my things.”
“Very good, Biffa,” the asura said kurtly, then turned on a heel and went about his business.
Eoxxa took a deep breath and then looked to her golem. “I don’t think I want to be here anymore,” she whispered quietly.
((This is the second part of an event I’d like to do. This is the prelude to said event. The search and rescue of Golemancer Eoxxa as she is thrust into the undercover operation deep in Inquest territory. I’ll have more information coming in a future post, so for now, this is merely the beginning announcement of an event I’d like to begin. Let me know if you’re interested in participating or in helping out in any manner.))