Philip
** **
A burning regret that had eased itself in the back of Kuo's mind throughout the week violently brings itself forth come the explanation of Alois' technological immortality. Though it was moreso in self-defense, the ruthless 'killing' of the AI fueled the bandit's own counter-fatal motives towards those knights. He raised his smoldering paw, moving to grab the non-chalant robot before biting his lip down harshly in a moment of self-control.... After all, if the knights didn't all die, then Aazkue wouldn't've...

Kuouo walked forward, visibly frustrated with embers trailing every step he took.

```fix
"Let's get going."```

He sternly demanded, moving closer towards the Ground Gate before violently turning around with his digit fiercely pointed at Alois.

```fix
"And you, don't ya fucking dare get caught off guard again."```
Thelma
Alois stood upright, firm, and proper in stance, even his very way of balancing while standing refined to a tee. With an ever-persistent smile, the nonhuman guide of artificial origins stared with his pearl-and-ruby eyes, glossed, and seen now with the clarity of his revealed true nature, would be seen to have a most extrinsic gaze; despite their demonstration of intelligence and subtle emotion, they each lacked the familiarity of human life, giving quite reasonable explanation for the unease one experienced when staring him straight in the eyes. Similarly, blood did not flow through his veins, and neither did it rosy his false flesh — such was the reason for his use of powder, that he might establish some sort of outer layer for his lustered, wooden skin.

Indeed, Alois was more akin to a puppet than he was an android or a human, a fact supported by his utter lack of interior biological or mechanical mechanisms. He was hollow, through-and-through, constructed of no more than wood and whatwith decorative materials construed his fake eyes and fake teeth. It was no surprise why such a strange entity would perish so easily, falling dead after so much as a single attack pierced through his body. *How terribly inefficient,* One might be provoked to believe. *A guide for a hostile environment who could not so much as fend for himself? One could hardly call him a guide, at all.*

But Alois was never developed to last in the first place.
It was expected of him to die.

The grin that pulled the puppet's lips taut faded, slowly, as he rested and folded his hands clutched close to his lower abdomen. While clearly still at-attention to the group's questions and concerns, he still spared a portion of his focus for himself, peering down with his rubied eyes to stare at the subtle layer of dyed polish that glazed each of his false fingernails, giving as close to a reminiscent exhale as he could muster with his hollowed chest's complete lack of lungs. 
_ _

Then, as they concluded the last of their greetings, questions, and statements, Alois would lift his eyes again to meet the gazes of each of the mercenaries. He, again, swiftly grounded himself in reality, and so his smile of genuineness departed, soon replaced with an expression born of his familiar, former, and distant nature — a smile put on only for the sake of courtesy. 

 ```cs
 a pleasure."```

Alois smiled, granting the subtlest of curtsies to the two who returned his greeting — Abstral and Sachiko — his grin still temporarily present on his face. He rose from the subtle gesture of courtesy, rested his left hand at his side, raised his right to lay atop his breast, shifted his gaze from the two, and then allowed his grin to depart, detaching from the brief interaction as though it never happened.

His eyes could only linger on Kuouo's figure for so long, after he made such a statement as that. Though Alois was prone to responding to every statement sent his way — for such was what he was designed to do — the *Incommodious* Statement would be denied any acknowledgment beyond a simple, slightly displeased glare.

```cs
 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘯."```

The guide responded simply to Rook, before swiftly and confidently walking forward, toward the *Vektet's* Sealed entry, his strides each reflecting a sort of practiced panache that truly tied together the elegant, if not a little antiquated, outfit and appeal of his appearance. A concerning aloofness had surfaced within the moment, as though it were provoked from within him, and so he would give no answer further than such.


—


_ _

Leading the group to be stood just at the base of the tremendous superstructure, the sealed gate stood tall before them, and, with a mere motioning of Alois' hand, **Began to open.** The whirr and rumble of machinery sparking to life reverberated through the paved ground beneath the group, a most imposing, and slightly chilling presence blasting forth from the now-opened Ground Gate of the *Vektet.* Their adventure, their expedition, and the great discoveries to follow, was about to manifest before them.


_ _

```cs
 in she did not make it clear to you..."

 Translator that Ms. Kirch had each of you place in is known as the R.A.S.W.L.T System, simplified as the 'Raswalt System'. It is a database and real-time translator for the spoken and written language within the Vektet, and will service both you and Odysseus Corporation as you unearth the unique cultures within the superstructure."

 The satchel each of you were granted — known as the V.A.R.E.T, a Vektet-class Anomalistic Realm Exploration Tether — will facilitate your smooth entry into the Second Floor. Please assure that each of the devices are active, as we begin the transportation process.```

Of course, Kirch had already tended to such matters. Each V.A.R.E.T was active, the small interface on their side blinking with a synchronized blue light.

Now, once Alois had confirmed everything was well in-order, he took a step further, and entered the darkness of the *Ground Gate,* With the mercenaries surely to follow. Once all of them had stepped forward, into the blackness of the cavity at the base of the superstructure, they would note that they **Found themselves stood atop a large, circular slab of stone, engraved with faintly-blue-glowing runic carvings,** Which soon **Sparked into an effulgent glow, overtaking each of their bodies and intertwining them with an arcane nature.**

The teleportation process was soon to begin, their V.A.R.E.Ts beeping in synchronization, as they were whisked away, to a place *`entirely foreign...`*
Carla
The Rook stops and stares at the goat, admittedly really really confused by this information. 

"So his name is Gaige?" He asks, nodding his head curtly in understanding, before continuing on. "Yes. I do not know what he looks like. I heard that he is strong. That is all I was told." He nods, double-triple confirming his own thought process, before shaking his head at what followed. "No. I am told he is a bad person and that he must be brought to justice. I do not know why. What is Sith?"

Waiting for the rest of the group to move forward & away from the table, The Rook listens to their helpful guide Alois say that he would just have to find a place to do it.

So, like any sane person would, The Rook sits down on the floor, sticks his head under the table, swiftly removes his helmet and places both pieces of technology in the correct spot, and quickly slides his helmet back on – almost un-reactable in a way. It seems he *Really* Does not want someone to look at his head from *Any* Direction.

Uuuunfortunately, as The Rook stands back up, he bonks his head on the table, yet... His face magically phases through, causing a purple glowing spot to emanate from the bottom where the contact was made, yet, unlike the glass at the Lifeline, nothing seems to come of it. It just stays there, glowing as The Rook rubs the outside of his helmet. "Ow."

*R.A.S.W.L.T... V.A.R.E.T...* All words that The Rook tries to understand, yet simply discards immediately as *The group is whisked to the Second Floor*, and The Rook is locked in.