So many questions, all of them so so deeply concerned for the poor little mechanic that seemed to have never expected such a reaction. He looked genuinely surprised, but it quickly shifted into annoyance. The long, bat like ears on his head folded back, as if to muffle all the voiced inquiries. "Well, yeah its been loud - I'm working! No fire, no injuries," he waved a paw, dismissively, don't worry yourselves with that. It's just this damn machine." He turned back towards the building, a bitter scowl pulling at his face. "I'm surprised you don't know it. It was all the rage and excitement back in the day, before we were so RUDELY invaded. And the machine was BROKEN."
Two hands came up to rub at his face as he groaned softly. Without any further care for what the gembound had to say, he turned away to trudge back into the building, leaving the door open behind him. The smoke was still trickling out, but the ventilation had helped the room start to clear. The mechanic continue to pout and lament as he walked, a very sudden shift from the exhausted annoyance of only seconds before. "How long, you ask? Oh, Cassiopeia is decrepit. I cannot even fathom the number of years! My masters are all but gone, aren't they? I had thought they might come by, but I work alone! Time has long passed since the rebels put me to sleep, but I cannot give up my work, it is what I was made for!" He stopped and stood up tall, his arms gesturing grandly to...something.
It was a machine, for sure, and quite a large one. Taking up the entire back wall of the building was a tangled collection of metallic pipes and valves and wires leading out from a large central pillar. A thick arm jutted out from the pillar, where it seemed like many of the wires and pipes seemed to lead, ending in a large container resting on supports. The bottom of this container looked like it opened up, but was currently shut tight.
The mechanic sighed as he stared at the machine, running a hand and grasping onto his spiky, electrified mane. "What do I even do about it? The power is gone!"
@Adi @Amesemi @Wilder @Howler @Archimedes
With a hand sliding over his face in exhaustion, the mechanic looked towards Archimedes, as if seeing him for the first time, his eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn't comment on the exceedingly short stature of this gembound, and it wasn't clear what he felt about the rat. "They simply called me Mr. Mechanic. They gave me no other name, nor have I needed anything else. And this," gesturing grandly at the machine again, "is the Hound-O-Mancer 3000!" He said it with such genuine awe and reverence, as if the other gembound should similarly feel as inspired.
"Oh, it was the greatest and hottest thing in valkhound creation! The process, industrialized!! Automated! The first build, of course, but they had little time to do any further work before the rebellion." He sighed, looking to Wilder now, a scowl once again curling his face. "Well, why don't I show you." He spat the last words, and also literally spat on the ground before turning towards the machine and crawling up the sides of the metal.
The gembound would watch an incredibly agile and well-designed climber as he, with a practiced ease, bolted up the side of the chamber in front of them and ran along the arm towards the central pillar. One hand reached back to snatch a screwdriver out of his toolbelt as he stopped in front of the metal panels. At a lightning speed, he whipped the screws right off of the metal and peeled open the panel. Immediately, smoke began to belch out of the chamber, but Mr. Mechanic seemed not to mind as he reached inside and pulled out a chunk of Oilstone.
It was ragged and chipped, and looked like it had broken off of something. He scowled as he held it up. "We had a nice reservoir in here, but those damn rebels broke it! Shattered it into pieces! And no matter what I do it won't start up again! FUCK!" In a sudden rage, he chucked the oilstone at the ground, where it landed with a loud clatter.
The mechanic sighed. "So. Yeah. If you can find me a better reservoir, however IMPOSSIBLE that will be, then I'll be forever in your debt or whatever."
The Gembound have been tasked with finding a new power source for the machine.
As soon as Wilder's wish went through, everything in the room still for a moment. All the gembound in the room would feel a sudden energy surging through the air as the caves trembled. The floor and walls shook for a brief moment before a sudden radiant light burst from inside of the machine. The Mechanic squealed with surprise and stumbled back, catching himself before he fell. The gembound would see inside the panel where he had stepped away from - within was no longer a dark chamber filled with oilstone shards, but rather a pillar of very familiar, glowing turquoise stone, shimmering with rainbow and crawling with branches of swirling pink and gold. This piece of the Spire, now infused with magnolet, cast a brilliant light on the walls and chased away the last of the smoke, which no longer poured out from the machine.
...And then the machine began to awaken. With its new power source, a buzzing sound began to vibrate through its many wires and pipes, crackles of magic popped outside of its casing. The whole building trembled as it roared to life.
Mr. Mechanic stared at it with wonder, jaw open. Wh....what! How did you..." A paw reached forward towards inside the panel, as if to touch the crystal, but a snap of magic made him flinch back. His eyes widened and his expression quickly morphed into a wide, delighted smile. "Well this is new!! Oh, I can work with this! Thank you, stranger, thank you! I'll have to change some of the settings, I wonder if anything got loose during that, oh might have to move some of the wires in 8-7-B around, they're configured for Oilstone, OH!" He turned back to the gembound. "Crystals! Get me some crystals! We need to toss one in to see if it works! Don't care what it is, just get me some!"
Without waiting for their response, the mechanic turned towards another section of the machine, threw open a tiny access door, and disappeared into the pipes.
...Nevermind! The gembound have now been tasked with finding crystals for the mechanic. He did not specify whether they should carry life or can simply be inanimate rocks.
@Adi @Amesemi @Wilder @Howler @Archimedes
The Mechanic was completely out of sight for a little while, faint clanging and thunking noises echoing from inside the machine, but eventually he came tumbling out of a different hatch, closer to the ground. He was slightly more grubby then he was before (although he was already covered with so much dirt and grim it wasn't really noticeable) and clutching more Oilstone shards in his arms, which he quickly discarded to the side. He looked down to Archimedes as he shut the hatch door. "Ah, well, I can offer my...gratitude? Uh, a chance to see this beautiful machine in action?" He shrugged and sighed. "If you don't want to help its fine I can go out and try to find something..."
But it was just then that Wilder returned with a crystal and he grinned wide, hopping down to meet her and taking the stone, holding it up to the light. "Perfect!" He bounded up to the central pillar and deposited the stone into a small chute and there was the click! click! bang! gaduum! of the crystal tumbling down. The light in the machine flared for a moment and a whirring sound began to start up. The entire thing shook violently for a second, and then chugged along with...whatever it was doing.
The Mechanic huffed, looking pleased. "Well, come back in a cycle if you want to see the kiddo that pops out. Thanks all for your help." Not that he turned to look at them again, staring up at his machine with joy and fondness, seemingly uninterested in the gembound any further.
The quest Factory Settings is now complete! Gembound may now exit or stick around further to speak with Mr. Mechanic if they wish.
@Adi @Amesemi @Archimedes @Wilder @Howler