Character Dig Site

Okul glanced over at al-Faddil and said, "and another grows hungry for a portion of the treasure." Glancing between him and Vince, he said, "al-Faddil, and Acquati, yes?" He glanced around conspiratorially and said, "our winged employer seems rather distracted, don't you think?"

Amu nodded, still somewhat puzzled, and now convinced Cain was not human, but otherwise satisfied for now. "I suppose anyone who starts out with powers wouldn't last long enough to have kids," he said. "Makes sense. Nice to meet you, Cain, I'm gonna go see about the rest of this colorful bunch of folk. Starting to remind me of the craziest dream I had once..."

He shook his head at the odd memories of that time, then made his way over to Adam, Nick, Jackson, and Marion. Looking at the first three, whose antics he'd noticed earlier but not paid much attention to, he asked, "you guys seem a little..." he was about to say "young," before realizing at least two of them were older than he was. He scuffed his foot absentmindedly as he thought of a better, and hopefully non-condescending, phrase. "...eager."

Amu is fifteen himself, albeit with certain caveats.

edited 15th Oct '12 3:38:04 PM by KillerClowns

Vince blinked, unable to fathom why a man competent enough to understand just what these 'Transcendents' were capable of- they sounded like mythical demons to him, or perhaps merfolk -would bother trusting one. He felt tempted to perhaps nudge the topic, since there was so little to suggest that he had anything in common with the gullible humans of old.

But, then, the Arab man apparently called al-Faddil approached, sparing him the trouble of introductions. He nodded in response when asked about his name, watching the scene.

Wait.

He turned to al-Faddil. "...Did you just say the kids were flying?"

Off where the youths actually stood, Mori could do little more than watch in bewilderment. Noticing that he was not alone, he turned to Amu and added, "They claim to have come here, of all places, to test these... flight... shoes... contraptions." He shook his head.

"I did?" al-Faddil shrugged. "They were, though, it's true. Not the best place for it I think, and they don't really seem accomplished." A heavy frown. "Honestly that's one of the worst ways they could have done it."

He shook his head. "I'm sure our host will be exactly as generous as she thinks she can get away with. But her compensation really isn't of interest to me."

"Books," said Marion dryly to Kaidza. "Your translating skills extends to books you bring along." She thumped her tail on the sand. "Do you have any idea how complicated language is? Semantics, pragmatics, syntax, and all that? It's way too easy to misconstrue the meaning of a word that way. Not to mention that it's inefficient. Fine for an academic setting, but not mid-dig."

She turned to Krajn. "For the love of Kaln, please tell me your translating skills extend to something more efficient than pigment-stained parchments." She probably has advanced technology. Because all aliens do, right? "Something like take a picture of the text, feed it through a computer, and get the most likely possible meanings of the text based on the symbols used." At least they have medical experience. It'll probably be unlikely, but we need a medic of some kind.

Marion looked down to Rina. Great. More kids. "Thank you so much for clarifying what sorts of 'things' you can do," she hissed. "That helps so much in determining the best place I can put you, since, with such highly specific and informative list, where can I go wrong?"

I'm surrounded by idiots.

Maybe I shouldn't have come over here so quickly. Adam thought, seeing Marion's irritation, "I-I'm so sorry, miss. I didn't...we didn't mean to..."

He held his head down, his cheeks pink in embarrassment. Nick put a hand on the red head's shoulder. "Don't worry, buddy. We'll show her how capable we are soon enough."

Jackson turned to the man in the suit, "Don't worry about me, sir. I've been flying these things for two years. I'll be sure to be very careful."

From the way Marion spoke to everyone, Jackson figured she was probably under a lot of stress. After all, things like these were not cheap, nor where they a place to fool around. Best not to bother her too much.

edited 15th Oct '12 12:06:49 PM by Masterofchaos

Apologies for taking so long.

Gnaiih-hupadgh-n’ghft was a tad surprised at the particular variety of people who were arriving, though he internally groaned at the amount of children that were here.

He cleared his throat to speak, "It's been a long time since I've last been in Egypt, but I can still translate a majority of the symbols. For the most part at least, I would require some mental refreshers on the meanings behind some, but I can remember most of it."

He shifted his position a bit, walking on burning sand without shoes, which would never fit him, was a tad of a pain.

Apologies about taking so long, will attempt to ketchup.

Delth almost switched off his listening consciousness as the Dragon-woman described the effects that would occur if he turned off the sun; the imagination of everyone on the Earth freezing to death, struggling to breath as they fail to move in their condition, like comforting music to his ears. "Yes, linguists," he muttered, still in his daydream as she continued. He overheard others calling her 'Marion', making a mental note of it.

Moving away from the realm of his mind and into the matter at hand, he noticed Marion seemed stressed at the situation. The influx of so many people coming in to work was getting to him as well, so it was probably a good idea to go do something before either of them blew a gasket. He distracted himself with the idea of the ones who arrived to test inventions, he was curious to see them at work even if it wasn't the safest thing to do.

edited 15th Oct '12 1:57:06 PM by darthnazgul

Okul looked over at al-Faddil and said, "yes. 'As generous as she thinks she can get away with'. Which is the problem. I notice a large number of powerful, ill-tempered sentient creatures around. No doubt, they shall offer their services as 'security'. In the manner of an implicit threat." At least, if I had that sort of power or a proper army, Okul thought to himself, that's what I'd be doing right now. "No doubt they will be taking far more of the treasures in this place than they deserve." He frowned, and then, as though the idea had just occurred to him, he said, "but let that thought be for now. Perhaps we should scout ahead. Make sure there's no unpleasant surprises. I should hate to see overeager children get themselves hurt, after all." And, though I'm not going to say it out loud, I suspect any of us with any sense will be pocketing a few trinkets... as long as we don't get greedy, it should be a nice little bit of padding nobody will miss.

Amu looked down at the boots thoughtfully. "Firing a bow from one of those can't be too much harder than firing one from a camel. A hundred pairs of those and brave warriors willing to train in their use, and even the Yoth would tremble. No walls could stop us..." he shook his head. "Ain't happening, I suppose. Still, the things seem to be working pretty well." He sniffed the air. "Don't smell like magic. Least, not any magic I know of, but then, I ain't heard of people being born with magic either. 'Cept maybe if a woman cut a deal with a Transcedent to gift her child with the stuff, but I can't see that sorta thing ending in anything good."

"Listen," said Marion to Jackson, "I'll let you stay, since you're here already, but I'm holding you responsible for any damages that occur because of your inventions. All right?" She leaned in a little closer to him. "And don't even think about trying to fight it in court. I have reaaaally good lawyers."

She turned to Mr. Incomprehensible (Minco, maybe?). "Good. Someone who can actually read the language is what we need." She poked a thumb over at Kaidza. "I'd talk to her, look over the texts she claims she's got. That should help your brushing up." Randomly knowing how to read hieroglyphics like that is unlikely. Maybe he's really, really old. Probably a skewed sense of time, too, since he didn't think translation needed an extra mention at first. He might still think the ancient Egyptian empire is still around or something.

Delth looked surprisingly dreamy at the mention of the destruction of the sun. Note to self: keep him as far away from from the Enyarkedralen as physically possible, and research ways to increase that distance. An omnicide-happy group alone was enough on Earth; Marion didn't need to hand them someone who could help them fulfill their goal.

She looked up at the sun, vaguely estimating the time. In spite of her watch, she still looked up at the sun to guess the time out of habit when outside. A few more minutes, to let any stragglers come in. Then I'm heading over to the tomb.

At the edge of the dig site, a dusty white jeep drew near. Inside were two young men, both in their mid-to-early twenties.

The man behind the wheel was bald and somewhat pale. He had on an olive-green long-sleeved button up shirt, loose ventilated pants and some thoughtful trekking boots.

The man in the passenger seat had lengthy dark brown hair that reached almost to his shoulders, and tanner than his companion, though it was still clear that he was unused to the hot desert sun. He also wore a button up shirt, rolled to his elbows, though his was a light beige, and over it he wore a black waistcoat, a touch unsuitable for the environment. He had on a pair of sunglasses, and was idly tipping them up and down as he checked a map.

As they got closer, the bald man slowed the jeep and the dark-haired man withdrew his attention from the map— which he hadn't really been reading anyway. He raised his sunglasses and took a look at the scene ahead, then glanced at the bald man, asking, "This is it?"

"You tell me-" replied the bald man, "You've got the map."

The dark-haired man frowned, and looked back down at the map. Then at the bald man. Then at the map. "Yeah- but, I wasn't reading it; I was just kinda looking at it. You know."

The bald man gave him a look, then turned off the jeep. "This is it."
He opened the door, grabbed a large sling bag from one of the back seats and climbed out, slinging it over his shoulder. He took a moment to shield his eyes from the bright sunlight, then squinted at the dig site. The dark haired man followed suit, grabbing the ad for the dig off the dashboard as he exited.

Standing next to the bald man, he said— with a glance back to the jeep, "No parking space huh?" Then he looked at the bald man again and shook his head. "Man, this'd better be worth it."

The bald man gave him another look, saying, "It's a little late to be worried about that."

"I know, I know. I'm just saying..." he held up a finger at the bald man, "If we flew out to Egypt for a scam, or a joke, I swear that I will spill your guts, Rune." He was joking of course, and both men knew that. The dark-haired man wasn't really worried about playing into some convoluted sham, and if they were, it wasn't as though he couldn't afford it.

"I'll bear that in mind." said Rune, the bald man.

The dark-haired man nodded towards the dig site. "Shall we then?" Without another word, the two proceeded on foot towards the strange location.



As they neared, the dark-haired man began to take notice of some very bizarre things about the place. Well— not the place itself, but the people inhabiting it. He squinted at a particularly odd set of people, dressed in old school eastern armor.

"What the... hell...?" he said, looking at Rune in confusion. "What's with those guys? What- are they supposed to be samurais?" Rune ignored him, and they kept walking. Shortly thereafter, the dark-haired man spied another group of people— he assumed— dressed in... some sort of space suits?

"And those dudes," he said, gesturing, "What the flying f-"

"Don't ask questions." said Rune, interrupting him.

"Don't ask questions? Why? Look at-"

"You read the ad too. The bottom, it says there." Rune gestured at the ad in the other man's hand.

The dark-haired man looked at the bottom of the ad, wincing as he read it. "Oh no... oh no no..."

"What, what is it?" asked Rune.

"This-" the other man began, shaking his hand at the scene ahead. "This is one of those- ah... those role-play things. Yeah. You know- where people dress up in their fantasy outfits and- aw crap, it totally is!" Rune looked like he was about to say something, but the dark-haired man cut him off, pointing at the bottom of the ad. "Look man, read it again. 'Cross Universal Flux.' Right. And of course you're not supposed to ask questions about it because that's the whole point."

"No... no that's not the whole picture. You're missing the rest of it..."

The dark-haired man sighed and turned away. "It's all right man. I mean, sure it's kind of a silly thing to fall for, but I guess these people are mad serious about keeping in character." He shook his head and laughed in disbelief. "I wasn't aware that they even had these in Egypt. I want to know just what exactly some of these people supposed to be. Like that four-armed guy over there. Wait... that's..."

The dark-haired man took off his sunglasses entirely. His eyes were almost the same dark brown as his hair. The 'person' he was staring at unsettled him, and it took him a moment to realize why. The arms. The strange octopus head. The way everything moved on the creature. It struck him suddenly. There was no strung-together costume. This person— this creature was, as far as he could tell, real.

He swore under his breath and bit his lip, suddenly feeling very nervous. Rune noticed as well, though his expression remained stern, determined... except... perhaps, a small twitch at the side of his mouth. A tiny glimmer of a smile?

"Jesus Rune!" hissed the dark-haired man. "Did you poison the water supply? What- was my cousin not enough?"

Rune shook his shiny bald head, in what was certainly slight amusement. "No. I had no hand in this. It's like the ad said." he paused. "At least... I can only assume." The dark-haired man stared at him as though he had just stabbed a child- but before he could speak, Rune continued. "Listen to me. Remember that allegory I told you? How I do things?"

"The... a- something about a cave? But-"

"Right! There's a cave in a mountain. The largest mountain in the world- stretches for miles around. There is a dark cave at it's base, leading to- who knows. There are people who want to take all the safety measures, eating away the whole mountain to see what is inside with the light of day."

"Actually- I don't think there are people who do that-"

"Shut up, the meaning is what counts. So there are these people who will spend ages doing things the safe way, so nothing, absolutely nothing is harmed. Then there are the people who want to grab their harnesses and lanterns, and explore the cave as it is, some precaution, but it does not take ages. Still too slow. Then there are people like me. People who dive right in, follow the cave to its end with nothing but a torch, even if it takes them to the center of the planet. People may be hurt, and often you find you can't go back- but that is how you discover things! Yes?"

"But I don't-"

Rune placed his hands on the dark-haired man's shoulders and looked him in the eye with encouragement. "That is us now. This," He gestured at the dig site and all the oddities pertained to it, "is the cave. And we're going for it! Not blindfolded, but not waiting around for someone to hand us a map and instructions on how to do this the 'right' way. You understand now?"

The dark-haired man shook his head, but said, "Yeah, I guess." and slipped his sunglasses back on.

"Good. No more questions, or we might get kicked out. Speaking of which, we should find the one heading this thing." Rune looked over the ad once more, and looked for a name. "Ahh... here it is. MARION?"

Rune had a light Norwegian accent.

Small edit, forgot to mention Rune's bag.

edited 16th Oct '12 8:33:14 PM by Ryuhza

Kaidza rolled her eyes and threw her hands up. Marion was surrounded by people now, and there's no point in trying to explain in-depth without dissolving into a shouting match—which wasn't the point anyway. Either way, they did come here with more than a rudimentary knowledge of hieroglyphs, along with computers and translators that were a lot more better than what Google Translate could hope to achieve. They all knew they were coming to Egypt, so they spruced up on their knowledge—they would need to, anyhow.

She came back with some equipment in a bag along with her canteen of water tied to her belt. She put on a pair of UV-protection sunglasses. The sun was already up, and she rather not become sun-blind because she was too stubborn to put on some protection. She came back to find an irate Marion and her colorful camaraderie.

There were some kids who flew over here on some weird rocket boots. Why rocket boots, she wondered. Rocket packs were so much better, and were easier to balance on too. There were some weird aliens too, and those guys in camels who spoke to Cain briefly. Didn't they know that camels suck at walking around in all this sand? Especially sand dunes, since camels have an instinctive fear of slopes. People around here.

She turned around and jumped. Cain was there. He does that kind of thing. He was wearing sunglasses now to compliment his keffiyeh. He made a grand gesture at the group of people mobbing poor Marion, and said, "Well, what do you think of this menagerie?"

Kaidza shrugged. "It's okay, I suppose?"

He nodded, and said, "You better tell her that I'm willing to sponsor a good amount of money in this venture. It might put her in a better humour."

She scowled and said, "I'm not your damn secretary, Stellark. Do it yourself."

He turned, and lowered his sunglasses, and gave a look that said a lot of things, the least of them was, Don't make yourself my enemy, Kaidza. He smiled, showing teeth. It still freaked Kaidza out how his canines were fangs.

sorry if this is too short—the library is closing right now.

edited 15th Oct '12 11:56:36 PM by Tehpillowstar

And why didn't I see this coming? Prisha thought to himself. Even in his head he was sarcastic. While Rina was negotiating though decided to look around these ruins to see if there's anything useful to do here. The tomb seems like a good place to investigate. Though it is a little suspicious.

"Well... if you want it specifically..." Rina replied to Marion with uncertainty. Thinking back to the add. "We can make good security with our powers... oh yeah! My friend here is quite sciency too!.."

"... if you have any artifacts we can analyze..." But As Rina looked, the excavation has only started and nothing was found yet. Neither of them had heard of Egypt where they come from either, so that's not even getting to knowing ancient Egyptian. But it does look similar to another nation they know. Seeing the tomb around though, Rina's adventurous spirit has risen, "How about we investigate the tomb?"

Marion mentally sighed. Why more security? "He's 'science-y'? Really?" she asked flatly. "There's a lot of different kinds of 'science-y'. I myself am sometimes a little 'science-y', but that's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for specifics." She turned to Prisha. "So perhaps you could spread some more light on the subject?"

Someone yelled out her name, and she looked up to se- Why the hell was he wearing a waistcoat? That was terrible for this environment. Marion shook her head and reevaluated the duo. Bald guy wearing some proper clothes. Dark-haired guy dressed slightly formally, but at least he was wearing sunglasses. She waved to them. "Hey!" she yelled out. "I'm over here!" I really hope you're capable.

Aaaaand then she spotted two more people in the camp. One of them was yet another teenager, but he carried himself with experience, and she felt some magic in him. Aside from a few color differences, he was wearing the same kind of clothes — an awful lot of black — as his incredibly pale-skinned companion. They didn't look particularly happy; since the teen had magic, they might've not come here like everyone else, hadn't heard of Egypt, and didn't know Egypt was mostly desert. She tapped one of them on the shoulder. "Looking for Marion, the sponsor of the dig? I'm her."

Prisha only glared back. He was reluctant to answer. But he just decided to walk off saying, "We'll just investigate the tomb."

He wasn't entirely sure about the tomb. But they went all this way into the desert and they might as well make it worth it. Looking around there wasn't really much to check out yet other than the tomb and he'd rather not do simple labor work like digging. That kind of thing is usually reserved for Ian. Great! The one time he would have been useful. Besides, investigating the tomb would be the most likely way to get payment in this case.

"Uhh..." Rina looked around bewilderingly then turned back to Marion and smiled to excuse herself. "Sorry, he's never much of a people person."

"Hey Prisha! Wait up!" Rina ran after him.

edited 16th Oct '12 8:18:45 PM by PsychoFreaX

Kalogeros spun around as he felt a tap on his shoulder and, upon laying his eyes on the sponsor, immediately stumbled back. Noticing the movement, Herakleios turned to see what had caused Kalogeros’ reaction and as he did so, his eyes widened. He raised his hand and chanted, “Vos Mos Exuro.” A rune appeared above him palm from which a fireball emerged.

Running into a chimera was generally bad news, let alone one that talked. He was shocked that he’d failed to notice it until it was this close. From the corner of his eye, he glanced at Kalogeros to see how he was doing, seeing as this was his first time in a situation like this.

“Holy Shit,” Kalogeros said, “It’s a talking chimera.” He walked up to Marion and stretched out his hand.

“Kalogeros, No!” Herakleios ordered.

Kalogeros rubbed his hand on one of Marion’s wings and said, “It’s real,” and turning to Herakleios, he gleefully continued, “We got hired by a talking chimera.”

Actually both of them have magic, but I guess I can handwave it as Kalogeros having a low mana pool.

edited 16th Oct '12 7:34:16 PM by Elfhunter

It's something. I also have a soc project to get back to...

They were as old as his grandchildren. As old as his grandchildren, and vastly more incompetent. For the time being, Vince shook his head and chose to let them be. He's dealt with such things before. He had reasonable confidence in being able to deal with them if they got any ideas.

More voices followed, these sounding even younger than the previous three. He sighed, and dared to ascend out to see what awaited them now.

"Everyone in my homeland is born with at least some magic. I can only water my crops, however. Why? Is magic a problem where you came from?"

He couldn't see why, or how. Mori had heard Rikos speak of problems in Daneivis to the south with the effects of new Spirits and magic... he couldn't quite remember the explanation, but it caused them to go mad when used too much, like archers building calluses. Rikos probably also explained this term that Marion used, this... 'flux' or whatever it was, but it was no use trying to remember. Those explanations always lost him.

edited 16th Oct '12 9:33:45 PM by CrystalGlacia

Rina found Prisha leading back to the tent. So she snarked, "Wow the tomb sure looks like our tent."

"Remind me when I said we were headed for the tomb right away," Prisha frowned. "There are good and bad times to begin. We just have to wait."

Marion was slightly surprised. They obviously weren't from any Earth that she knew of, but they called her a chimera? Even if theirs didn't talk. Talk about your coincidences.

"Yes," she said flatly, "you got hired by a talking chimera." She almost did some fake clapping, but decided that it wasn't good to get too sarcastic right now. Especially if their chimeras were anything like Earth's dragons; it might provoke a negative reaction. A potentially fatal one, if the younger one got his fireball off quickly enough. Because of this, she avoided any sudden movements — like jerking her wing away. It made her scales crawl to have a stranger touch it like that, but best not to get on anyone's bad side too quickly.

"So," Marion continued, "what are you getting hired for? And who am I hiring?" I really hope they're not too jumpy about me. The younger one seems a bit more street-smart than the older one, so... I don't know. Is one of them a leader, or are they equals? Need to look at the dynamic a bit more.

Sorry for taking so long, Biomedical Research homework and work got in the way

Gnaiih-hupadgh-n’ghft turned toward Kaidza, "Well, if you've got the technology, then shall we start working on translating the Hieroglyphics we currently have? I was hoping to get some translated soon, as I wish to write down some notes," He looked out into the desert, "I have wanted to know what has happened since my last visit to Egypt, it's dreadful not knowing how Xerxes has been doing."

He's referring the Xerxes I the Great, who ruled when Egypt was conquered by Persia

If Kaidza was surprised at how old Gnaiih-hupadgh-n’ghft was, much less his appearance, she didn't show it. Then again, she was Haruka's grandniece (Despite Kaidza clearly appearing older than the teenaged-looking Haruka). Immortality didn't surprise her anymore. Nor did strange-looking humanoid figures after she witnessed Stellark 'executing' a bunch of people who displeased him. There was body horror and tentacles involved. She didn't want to talk about it.

"Yeah, but I don't have it with me right now. Why don't we go to the tents and I can fetch the stuff." Kaidza didn't mention how she had to tell Marion that they were going to pitch in the funding of this dig site. If Cain wants to tell her he's willing to throw three million dollars away, then he can do it himself, she thought. "I can tell you about the history of Egypt on the way, if you'd like."

Cain watched her go with the strange humanoid figure. He sighed. Sometimes, Kaidza and Haruka can be the most contrary people imaginable. He turned towards Marion and walked to her.

"When you're not particularly busy, I would like to speak to you about the finances and funding of this dig site. I'm willing to sponsor a large sum of money for this venture," Cain said softly, but not too softly to not be heard. His expression was unreadable. He turned around and walked back towards the tents, not even waiting for an answer. If Marion was interested, she would go and talk to him.

I didn't mention this, but all my characters and Red Shirts are wearing long sleeves and thick-soled boots, to protect themselves from sunburn and the hot sands. They are prepared for the desert weather.

Gnaiih-hupadgh-n’ghft began to walk with Kaidza, "Actually, I know quite a bit about the history of Egypt, it's just been a while, as I left during Xerxes reign. I hope he's alright, everything looks so different," His speech began to slowly trail off as he walked.

He snapped back into attention and turned back to Kaidza, "My apologies, I'm a little lost in memory."

A little not - Gnaiih-hupadgh-n’ghft's sense of time is skewed due to an in-story detail, I'd rather let him explain though

The dark-haired man looked for the source of the voice, who he assumed was the sponsor, Marion, responding to Rune. When he espied the voice's owner, his mouth slowly fell agape. It was— well, she he supposed, looked like someone had pasted a dragon onto a human body. Perhaps it was not quite as astounding as Mr. four armed octopus head, but seeing her with the awareness that this was all real... it hit him like a punch to the pectorals.

"That's the sponsor?" He asked in disbelief, though he did try keeping his voice down. He glanced at Rune and asked again, "You honestly didn't put something in the water? The food?"

Rune glared at him. "I told you, I'm not responsible for any of these people, outlandish though they may be. I couldn't create that sort of compound without my... eh, my machine... anyway. The machine that was confiscated by... oh, that's right. I still don't know." he glared at the dark-haired man, then stuffed the ad into his hands. "Once again, you're answer is there." He pointed to a specific sentence, "You may experience people and things that do not or cannot exist within the world you know. Now, keep it under control or you could ruin a groundbreaking opportunity for both of us, and possibly, the world. Come on, lets go introduce ourselves."

With that, Rune put on a formal smile and began to walk toward Marion, leaving the dark-haired man staring at the ad with a confused frown, before he folded it up, stuck it in his waistcoat pocket and caught up with Rune.

As the two approached, it was the dark-haired man who began speaking, intercepting Rune as he began to open his mouth. "'scuse us, gen'lmen." he murmured to the two darkly dressed men near the sponsor as he approached the dragon-lady herself.

"Marion, I assume? I'm Mr. Weller, this is Mr. Prestegard. We saw your ad a couple of days ago, and we find ourselves interested in your endeavors here. We're prepared to offer your our services in analyzing and documenting what is found within the site, as well as providing additional research assets and funding, if the site does yield something, or things, of interest." Unlike Rune, Weller had a very noncharacteristic American accent. He spoke to Marion quickly and formally.

"And I'm a semiprofessional Egyptologist." added Rune. It had been a hobby when he was twelve.

“Oh, right,” Kalogeros answered, letting go of Marion’s wing, “I’m Kalogeros, and this is Herakleios. We’re here on behalf of Neo Aima to extend our services for this undertaking.” He said that last part with a bow and, looking at Herakleios, asked, “That’s all, right?” He straightened up before the latter could answer. “I can provide you with machines for digging, restoring damaged artifacts, transporting workers and objects and a bunch of other things. If you need something I haven’t invented yet, just give me a few hours and I’ll be done.”

Herakleios looked from Kalogeros to Marion, wondering what to do. If this really was a trap, there was no sense in sending a chimera to do the talking. Besides, it would have been safer to take down Kalogeros and make a run for it than to maintain character after he’d cast the fireball. So it would seem this place was actually safe. He closed his palm and dispelled the fireball. “Security,” Herakleios answered, “and we can sell you healing potions too.”

Al-Faddil smirked faintly. "Perhaps. But their ability to actually do so remains in doubt." A shrug. "Besides, the ones with the armor suits have UN markings. That means there are certain things to be expected from them."

He gestured with his blade, which shimmered briefly. "This area is picked fairly clean. Also nothing but faint traces of magic." He glanced up and one the smaller suits had approached quite close. "Going to be coming with?" The suit nodded.

"Documentation is good," said Marion to Weller. "As is analyzing." Of course they'll only offer funding after we find something. Ah, well, you can't have everything. She turned to Prestegard. "And someone specializing in Egyptology, even semiprofessionally, will also be useful. Everyone else here is more general." I wonder if he could be the head of the actual digging. Maybe. Need to examine him a bit more.

She turned back to Kalogeros and Herakleios. Greek-ish names. Could be related to their society, but probably a coincidence. "You'll need to see what we have lying around," she said to Kalogeros. "We might not have everything you need, but then again, we might." She briefly flared her wings. "I don't know. But healing potions?" She looked Herakleios. "Those'll be useful. Save on medical supplies. How effective are they? Say, can they cure large wounds and poison? And how much would they cost?" They probably won't take dollars, but I think I still have some of that stuff for bribes back at my tent. Maybe. And, otherwise, I can promise them a percentage of whatever we find. And, if we don't find anything, maybe we'll barter.