Dread Pirate Captain Blackheart's Story

Fresh from looking at the academy she'd found she'd need something to pay for her training. It was different back home. Left to her own devices here without being a Mada to call for resources the locals talked about an adventurers guild they thought she was from. Seeking out umbralkind as she explored was just something comfortable when the newness of the bright world of Origin was too much. Pyroclast infested umbralkind with a cancerous combustion the more she struck them. Her mother's engram design not her own and she'd had problems confining one or two of the blazes. Umbralkind of size she wasn't sure she could take on she just wrote in her ingress so Myrkul knew of them eventually. Actually she was getting tired reaching out this far to Myrkul's Vein on the regular. Looking in a nearby river she could see the veins under her rose and spike choker turning black. She'd need to hold off for a while. The Guild she'd heard off probably would offer somewhere nice to sleep if she signed up.

Entering through the doors the heavily armored redhead nearly six foot said little moving aside for them. Full brigandine dress with faint silvery-purple metal weaving through some deep rose colored substance. It shed fading ash even while she stood there. An inch thick gauntlet of moving cables was on one arm up to the shoulder a clear sheathed weapon to those with the eye. The thick metal gauntlet followed a very muscular arm than the looser brigandine on the other. She eyed them returning any inspection in turn, molten red eyes with a cobalt core, inspecting their shadows for unwanted guests.

Uncle Jinhai said to her once, 'This is your purpose.' It seemed like the smaller ones were so soft in comparison. Just plant material for armor. Unsuited to learn power from her Mother or Myrkul she found it rather empty but practical. Comfortable now, yeah, but empty. Mother got her a weapon and training with it as a matter of continued survival. The Black Storm was not kind. This plane didn't spawn umbralkind out of the walls when you weren't looking.

"Come one, come all! I've got weaponry to conquer the entire planet! Buy now, before your competition grabs it up and ousts you!" The ex-pirate smiled a wolf's grin and kicked his feet up, leaning further back in his lawn chair as he did. A long sip of a Pina Colada wet his whistle, and the man couldn't help but daydream about his unfathomable success. Omnia giggled in his ear "You'd think these people have never seen an undead robot before."

"Can't blame 'em, this ass-backwards planet is practically stuck in time." He took another long sip from the straw in his coconut cup, before his favorite servitor poured him another drink. His ship was behind him, casting a long shadow, which he lounged in from the comfort of his lawn chair. So far he'd made a killing selling literally any weaponry he could get his hands on, most of which he'd appropriated from his bounties. Business was so profitable, it allowed him to purchase a large factory, which was now pumping out more and more for him to bring here and sell.

"It's like printing money! These people are so desperate to kill each other," he Captain barked a laugh, unable to contain himself. Not to mention the dead bodies they leave behind make great servitors. Ahh such is the circle of life Bezalel immediately ruined the Captain's mirth and a frown spread across his face. The demon was right, of course, it just wasn't how he wanted to start his day.

Blackheart tried to distract himself by climbing his ship, The Bleeding Heart, but as he hung from an ion cannon he couldn't help but feel a little empty inside. I really am no better than those Terran arms dealers I so readily condemned. I can't even be bothered to care about the lives I'm destroying here. What's wrong with me...? The howl of wind answered his question, and he had to put a hand on his tricorn, lest it be taken by the sudden gale.

As Rivian looked around and saw the others taking action and what was going on, he got a bad feeling about this. Rather, he knew what the bad feeling was and what was already going wrong. If this kept up, they would die before nightfall. Unfortunately, Rivian was not the best with...people...but he had to take charge.

As Rivian charged forward, he kicked a lizard coming out from behind back into a wall while he used the motion to cut through another one with his sword. He then unleashed a large scale lightning bolt from his hand pointed behind him, and hit a lizard approaching Blackheart from the left.

Rivian looked nervous, completely out of his element, and a bit awkward, but he also had a confidence and determination in his eyes.

"Blackheart, regroup with us and then cover our backs! You, if you are coming with us in that armor then watch the sides and for anything that slipped through the defenses. Minsu, the firing is a good idea in theory but since the lizards can form from any ooze puddle under us that will only keep us locked down! I will charge ahead, I need you to cover me with something cool and flashy so they get distracted! I will take the front, but we have to keep moving and do not let ourselves get locked down in a single area!"

After he had said that, he raced forward and cut another two lizards through while lightning appeared around his leg and shot off an arc that fried three more. The lizards were not particularly durable, as far as monsters went, but the fact they kept getting spawned all around, and sometimes under, them made them difficult. And sometimes, a larger darker skinned version came around that was tougher.

This was not going to be easy, that was for sure.

Lillith, slightly caught off guard allowed old habits to take control. Giving Rivian a quick salute and a "Roger!" she got to work. First off her feet gained claws that dug into the ground planting her feet as she slammed the shield into the face of a lizard thing that got too close she stabbed her arm blade into it and launching it overhead with a yell and sending it at another one as it released a torrent of flames. They collided with enough force to break the necks. Getting back in line with the rest of the group giving much the same treatment to anything else that came in from the sides Lillith set a rhythm for herself and stuck to it for the time being.

Something cool and flashy? Well she certainly had something which packed a Big Bang. And with added flashy effects. And she was speaking of custom made flash grenades. Nice, nice and very loud. She dug into her pouch and dug said grenade from it and pulled the pin. “Close your eyes and cover your ears! Flashbang out!” She yelled to warn her teamates as she tossed it into the air.

Unlike normal flash bangs, this flash would be like peering into the sun. Safe to say it was very bad on the eyes, meanwhile the bang was still deafening loud. She put on a pair of flash resistant shades and stuffed her ear with some noise canceling earbuds before taking aim and blasting apart another Lizardman.

This would certainly be one flashy and cool thing to distract those lizards.

Rivian took control of the situation, calling out orders, and quickly snapping Blackheart out of his trance. He had orders to regroup and cover the other's from behind. Tch, I can practically smell the core Blackheart, don't bother. The demon's words were tempting.... but I can't risk losing everyone on the first floor

"Will do" The Captain snapped his fingers, and began slowly moving backwards to his companions. The Servitor abominations responded to his orders even before Blackheart's middle finger hit his hand and produced the noise, rather the motion was merely for show. The Undead moved into a Crane formation around the living party members, the ones with hardlight shields the furthest back. The rest let out an unrelenting spray of their various weaponry, at lizard and ooze alike.

Minsu yelled out a warning and the neuralink immediately reacted, the femtite swarm reacted at the speed of thought and created impromptu blinders and ear-plugs. A lizard thing took advantage of the the man's blindness and lept for his throat. Unfortunately for it, the aiming software still worked and Blackheart's arm jerked up and thanked the creature's audacity with two hollow points to its head.

With the formation established, they could finally start making some more progress and head forward towards the source of this ooze, the core of the first floor. Rivian continued to slice through lizard after lizard while releasing huge amounts of electrical energy. At the same time, he also kept monitoring the others...but, as he was attacked by the larger, tougher, blacking looking lizard, Minsu threw the flashbang. If he covered his ears and closed his eyes, he would be open to a direct attack. As a result, Rivian had to take the blast as it got right into his eyes and ears.

However, at the same time, not only did Rivian prevent himself from taking any damage, but his Adaptability power caused him to adapt and recover far quicker. In exchange, the lizards who generally lived in darkness and silence, and had increased hearing ability, ended up being affected far worse. Rivian kind of expected a particle laser or something like that, but this was just as good, or maybe even better. Rivian was now able to move even faster, cut through them even more, and decimate them as if they were wet tissue paper.

Of course, the lizards began to get more and more intense, as minute after minute passed, but the cavern began to widen more and more which meant they were getting closer to a large chamber of sorts.

However, it also meant there was more room for the giant lizards to fill in and surround them, which meant increased danger and difficulty for them.

Rivian ended up stepping into another one of those ooze puddles, and even though he pulled his leg right out, from the ooze a lizard began to grow on his leg till he kicked the still spawning lizard away and got annoyed. Suddenly, a large amount of electricity surrounded him with his anger.

"I! Freaking! Hate! Slithery reptiles!"

A huge wave of electricity shot out and zapped all of the lizards around him. Incidentally, these lizards had legs and did not actually slither, but it seemed that the way they moved and felt was enough for Rivian to consider it as such.

The further they went, the more resistance they encounter. Minsu's shotgun continued to crack loudly, sending shell after shell of slugs at the horrid lizzardman. And the more bigger the cave got, the more enemies that appeared and the more targets for her weapon. Shredding through multiple opponents at once she continued to open fire until she was calm now. Seemingly finally gotten over a whole 'commando' incident.

Of course, Rivian seemed to get tired of the massive number of enemies and unleashed a massive blast of electricity. That helped but there was still hordes of enemies still coming at them. Minsu took aim and blasted more lizard creatures with her shotgun before going in to reload her weapon.

At this rate, they would be halfway through at the end of the day.

Okay, let's see here. Thirteen servitors left, going through ammunition at a steady rate, Power-Swords batteries should be a little over three quarters full still. Plenty of back-ups, should be fine, but I might actually be losing money on this job if this keeps up. Those two servitors won't be cheap to replace, and it doesn't seem like there will be many chances to haul corpses out of here... One of the Servitors in the rear, dashed forward pulling its Hard-Light shield up and blocking a lizard about to connect with the Captain's head.

"Oh? Gotta keep my head out of the clouds." The man's shadow twitched, moving of its own accord to engulf the lizard, squeezing it into a black paste, dripping to the ground before falling to the ground with a resounding 'splat' as the shadow re-formed into a silhouette of the Captain.

Not bothering to watch his step, more than a few lizards tried to grow from the black gunk stuck to his boots, fortunately for the ex-Pirate the femtite swarm responded in kind and dismantled them faster than they could form. I wonder what Omnia is up to right now? The dungeon was ultimately, bigger than Blackheart would've expected. Rivian's back is to you, we could end him right now, and drag his body to the surface. We're still not that deep in, and the mechanic has some interesting toys. Cut your losses, we can still come out ahead. Even the biomass girl would fetch a heft penny if we outfitted her with cybernetics. The demon's provocations didn't even warrant a response.

Even though Rivian had just taken them all out with that huge surge, which was not something he could just use frequently, and they continued to charge forward, the monsters would just keep spawning after and began to grow. It was no wonder a Dungeon could be called both the Ultimate Training Ground and the Ultimate Risk. If it was not for the fact that rare treasures and unique magic items were formed from the magical energies inside dungeons, and rewards that could be worth quite a lot of money, no one would ever want to accept these conditions.

Also, although it went unsaid, Rivian's declaration was probably just another reason why people kept mistaking him as a girl.

"Well then, I suppose this is why you have me right?"

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice spoke up around all of them as a huge Sparrow like creature appeared out from behind Rivian wrapped in lightning as large hailstones twice the size of cannonballs appeared around and began to bash into several of the creatures, while the ones it flew near became ash from overwhelming lightning attacks.

"Stormsparrow!"

"I can't take a nap at all, can I? Well, I suppose as your Spirit Guardian, it is my job to protect you".

As they covnersed like that, Stormsparrow opened up the path in front of them, a path that seemed to be widening and increasing in size. But, there was also another reason why one might be inclined to head in that direction. And that was...

"Tha-thump!"

A sound similar to a heartbeat.

"Come on guys! It looks like this next room is the end of this first level!"

As Rivian said that, this might cause some of them to remember that this was only the first level of the Dungeon, and that there was a lot more to go. Each level could be different and unique in its own setup. Some might be more combat based, others more puzzle based. Some might be both, or operate on a completely different set of rules they could not imagine. The point was, this was only the beginning of an epic adventure.

Lillith gazed at the devistation, looking at all the dead lizards. So much food and not enough time to eat it all. "I wish there was time for me to stay here... Oh well time to get the good bits and go!" She raised her hands towards the nearest one the appendage sharpening at the end. she then used what bit of magical energy she had regained to control it as she flung it out as a barbed tendril. Spearing it through the many bodies in a chain before retracting the tentril back through tearing out bits of innards and flesh. Ending up with a lump of soft tissues the size of your average microwave which she scooped up in a sack of biomass that she shifted onto her back to consume on the go. Breaking the contents down and "burning" them to generate more energy in preparation for the next floor or whatever may lie in wait ahead.

"Pardon, I realize that this might not be the best time to ask but I'm rather concerned about the matter in question. IF we manage to get to the bottom of this place, how are we supposed to get back to the surface? I might be able to create semi stable portals but I'm not sure that it's safe for anyone used to having a solid body to go through them! How do you all plan to get out once we go deeper?" She with a sense of urgency while a pink glow started to seep through the cracks between the armored plates of her created carapace.

With the next floor in sight, Minsu breathed a deep sigh. "Sometimes I wish things were easy..." She spoke as she reloaded her weapon. Preparing to move out once again. This was certainly a problem, some of her effectiveness was reduced thanks to this peculiar dungeon, of course the teamwork here was good enough to be considered a team. For now she was going with the flow now.

Suddenly, a large electrical sparrow appeared, in a burst of lightning and hail. Oh look Bezalel, it's like you but not a total psychopath. Blackheart had hoped the comment would take the demon aback, but it just gurgled out a sickening laugh, like something chuckling very deeply in its throat. Yes, I wonder how intimately that thing is tied to the boy, would it stick around if we made him a servitor? Musings for another time I surmise, the core is near. Pulsating, deliciously...

The Black Hound was always saying something creepy, but it's last statement was extra unnerving. The Captain decided to distract himself with Lilith's performance, letting out a low piercing whistle to show his appreciation of her unique abilities. "Very nice Lilith!" Now that is some top tier flesh. Imagine the wonders we could make with that. I'm more focused on could Rivian breathe fire if he absorbed a lizard, and if so why doesn't he? "So can you breathe fire now, Lilith, or are you just restoring lost biomass?"

What with Stormsparrow's appearance, Bezalel suddenly being willing to work, Rivian in the lead, Servitors working in a tight formation, and Minsu's hail of gunfire Blackheart found he didn't even need to shoot anything. Which means its time to gather a bit of data on my team "And what exactly are you absorbing? Organic energy, perhaps something a bit more magical? I dabble a bit in magic myself, if we work together we might be able to get a stable rift to the surface, one safe for people who aren't shapeshifters. Rivian might be fine going through without that hassle, though, he's more or less a biomass."

Captain's shadow darted forward, impaling a lizard just below the gullet, before swelling and separating the creature's head from its body. The next one I have to block gets to eat you The action barely registered to Blackheart, and he kept talking without pause. "Though, I'd rather clear out or disable each dungeon floor as we go down, and simply walk back up. Gives me more time to fully loot this place. Minsu agrees, right? More loot means more prestige which means, getting the leg up on the Russian, eh?

Lillith glanced at Blackheart. Sparing a passing look at the dead body he just made and tearing a bit of flesh from it's neck with a tendril. "I suppose I COULD study the bilogy of these lizard things to duplicate their fire breath but why should I? there's a possibility it relies on a chemical reaction or something of the sort and I already know a few fire spells. they may just be spraying a flammible fluid for all I know. As for what I'm doing, Right now I'm essentially have the nanites in my makeup burning the material I've consumed to refill my magic reserves and recover lost energy. I could also add it to my own mass to become larger but for now getting my magic back is more important."

As she said this she got an Idea in her head. She produced a tendril from her back and dipped it in one of the black goop puddles. Scooping a bit up and returning it to herself. then waited for something to try to spawn so she could get an easy meal to go. "I'm actually here because I'm interested in taking material samples from here, tissue. wall and floor fragments and anything else I can manage, there are materials here that I've never seen in my 3 or so centuries of remembered existance."

It was something small, but possibly noticable to that voice inside of Blackheart and Blackheart himself, but ever time that demon spoke, Stormsparrow seemed to look back as if he was noticing his pressence. It was unknown if there was any shielding for that which would keep Stormsparrow from directly noticing and sensing Blackheart's demon, but at the very least he could sense something whenever it spoke...

"Unfortunately, each floor resets after awhile, so that wont work. If this Dungeon follows the mysterious theme others follow, there should be safe rooms to take breaks inside of and rest, but after we clear one floor we have to keep going. Taking out the core just lets us find the way down quicker...well, supposedly the whole dungeon goes to sleep for awhile when it gets cleared, but its only for awhile" Rivian told them as they kept moving throughout the hall, heading closer and closer towards the sound until...

"Okay...that is...unexpected..."

They came into a large chamber with a giant black heart in the center, beating and beating as it seems connected to all the walls and floors, and producing the black goo that was spawning the monsters. It was clearly the core of this floor, and even though it just looked like a giant organ on the wall...something about it felt powerful and ominous.

Of course, the fact that the passage behind them suddenly sealed up was its own issue...and in fact, when Rivian realized what this meant...he turned around to warn Lilith, whose sample of Black Goo was already producing monsters that would start small but quickly grow to full size in mere seconds.

And from a center pit of black goo in front of the heart, the surface was moving rapidly. Although nothing was in view, Rivian could definently imagine what was going to be coming out of that pit.

"...well, they did say it would be challanging...perhaps that was an understatement though...

"Darling," the synthesized voice of Omnia woke Blackheart from his slumber. "My scanners are detecting a large energy signature emanating from The Slumwalks. It might be worth checking out ~" Her sentence ended in a giggle, her avatar raising a gloved hand to her mouth to stifle the would-be giggle. The Captain pulled himself out of his bed on the ship, a bottle of rum falling to the ground and shattering as he did. A nanite swarm cleaned the mess almost as soon as it was made, and the Captain hurriedly threw on his clothes.

The Captain's Frigate, The Bleeding Heart, was docked at port; and generally too large to efficiently maneuver Wing City, so he was instead on a smaller cruiser, escorted by four servitors of varying sizes. The mechanical monstrosities were currently on auto-pilot, being controlled by Omnia, and Blackheart was enjoying exchanging witty banter with her as she pretended to be four different people. "Well boys, let's get to it then. George, how's the wife been?"

The cruiser touched down, and the Way Gate stood before the Captain, two servitors on either side of him. "What are your orders sir?" Their synthesized voices barked in unison. Something about the Gate seemed off, and the ex-Pirate's shadow writhed and coalesced into a dog. "Fufufufu," The Quasi-real shadow dog seemed to laugh. "It might be trapped." Blackheart glared down at it, and with a swift kick to the dog's would-be ribs, the shadow dispersed into it's proper form.

With a casual shove, the Captain shoved a servitor through the portal and watched it violently shudder and explode. "Omnia, there's something shielding this gate, send me another five servitors" Omnia chirped back, via a neural uplink. "Yes, my love ♥"

Blackheart concentrated on the Gate, his shadow writhing and pulsing as he did. A tiny voice in his head, the demon Bezalel, shared an idea. What if we re-create this Way, and pass through that one instead? "You can do that?" The Captain responded in shock, seemingly talking to himself. I am older than the ground you walk on child, I can do many things. With a bit of power, and a little guidance from Bezalel, Blackheart opened a Quasi-real shadow of a Way, and the remaining three servitors took a defensive formation in front of the Captain, and stepped through the Way.

"Yeeellllooo, anyone home? I come, more or less in peace."

The psychoportation network was a passive system and the walls did fracture to the will of the umbralkind. Without a core gate the network hadn't an Id to defend itself with. The main difficulty as it stood was breaking in without being noticed. The tunnels were rarely unoccupied for long or too distant that others would not notice a change in topology. There was a distinct impression of passing two sets of four large swirling grey eyes. None too approving either. The perimeter had several sixteen-many Jinhai organized to carve out and shape extradimensional space for the new psi-forge. They kept the tunnels of the nearby sewers from listing in spacetime while the interior was fabricated to fill the void.

The outer layer was the first built and no void in it but that one stood on dead soil with empty pale trees of carbon structures. Though each looked like one that ought to be quite live with leaves that did breathe they served merely in whole as an apparatus of the interchange. Everything here, as good as a non-euclidean outer layer could define 'here', was an exercise in extra dimensional interfaces. This one designed more aggressive than the last. If one looked up at their tips the sky they joined with those of the opposing floor on the opposing side of the space. There was no sun in the distance but any piercing light from some hundred meters away where a captain looked back at himself in the distance of an insulating monosurface. Only the face was the subtle kind of mirror inversion one's mind would easily notice. Somewhere along that range one would see oneself though not always exact. At his current location he'd the shadows brought with him but shortly away from the quasi-real Way gate they appeared to die entirely within the muted glow.

The 'trees' were branches of a sensory construct that sampled the proxy space surrounding the inner layer. A simple creature easier to writ robust looking for curious abnormalities. None more curious than the captain and his umbralkind. A rustling complain creaked progressively from tilting leaves near him. Haze rising from the soil from the environment. That luminescent fog curls inexorably closer eager to excise a shadowy cancer ignorant of the humankind it was bound to.

At least until someone halted the protective layer's objection to the shadow creature given the offer of the Humankind it lived in. Several small pyramids shot from the ground nearby then raced about the area to take positions. Sybil phased in from the interior with several loud stumps from all directions. Turrets seen creeping forward in the proxy layer as a very tall humanoid figure walked closer. Some pointing toward him from a floor position behind a copse of trees that would otherwise put it out of view if not for the ceiling overlap.

She wore no boots but did wear a heavy blue brigandine apron of some fluidic metal. Auburn hair framing an expressionless burnished face with ratios of beauty arranged to specification by the calculations of an exacting overmind. The sides of her hips at each side of her apron had no evidence of clothing on her faintly bronzed skin though the faint glow marks of hot metal spatters badly losing a war of regeneration on her surface said it little mattered. As she closed the distance trees more small pyramids appeared from foliage and moved entire trees as much as the cooled metal fell away from her too then vanished.

Faint silvery patterns shone on her face as the silvery eyes of the first predator glare, "I do not make peace; I make war against all Aetherkind. What do you want, Humankind? While you are permitted in the fringe the Living Emperor does not take kindly to unknown persons drilling into his forges. Especially not one bound to Umbralkind. If you're looking for the humankind once here we built them a suitable space nearer to the surface."

The shadow might recognize the patterns as true names of strong shadows, demons, undead, and angels alike. The names of their immortal beings now nothing more than a marker. Souls broken and dismantled the hollow names could rise no more.

The man's shadow flared and moved around him, ignorant of prevailing light conditions.Nice place they got here, might make some good servitors out of these... things. Blackheart waved a hand in front of his angular face, as if to dismiss the notion. The demon was always thinking errant thoughts in the Captain's head. "Omnia, are you getting all this?" Static emanated from one of the servitors speakers, a garbled voice coming through. "Yeah, *crackle* it just litt-*crackle* static filled." The servitors were Necromantic abominations, outfitted with cybernetics, and made from many corpses sewed together.

"That's a shame, we'll have to export your personality next time, I think you'd love it in here. A spectacle of Magitech at its finest." The man stepped forward to examine his surroundings more thoroughly, boot-heels crunching slightly on the soil. The light dimming near his way was interesting to note, but he wasn't perfectly sure what to make of it, nor particularly concerned. A different servitor from before chirped out of it's speaker in Omnia's synthesized voice. "Ye-*crackle* taking samples *crackle* can for study." The Captain approached a nearby tree, and ran a black gloved hand over the bark, ignoring the fog that rose from it.

Someone's noticed our presence. They seem... whats the mortal word here... peeved. Ehehehehe... Bezalel's laughter resounded through Blackheart's head and he was slightly disoriented until Omnia's words brought him back to reality. "Oh em gee ~ *crackle* do you se-*crackle*-is? Well wo-*crackle* the trip. Going *crackle* make many advances." A woman phased in, the servitors stood in staggered line, making full use of their recording equipment to capture as much of the spectacle as possible for Omnia back on the Frigate.

A low whistle pierced the lips of the Captain as he admired the Giantess approaching him. The demon sounded in his head, Oh... Oh my... Her tattoos are quite tacky. Though, there's a few good ones on there, ones that deserved their quaint little fate. The demon's host could make out two or three true names of angels but didn't understand what the demon was getting at with 'tacky.' Is she wearing summoning sigils? His idle thought left as quickly as it came, and he re-adjusted his tricorn to look up at the newcomer, and her curious machinery.

The woman's speech pattern was interestingly unfriendly, however it became downright offensive. "Whoa! Wait, wait, wait. I am NOT bound to this FILTH! It's bound to ME!" For emphasis, he slammed a fist against his chest, creating a jingling noise as his concealed weaponry jangled together. "And I'll have you know, that in Wing City, it's traditional to greet your neighbors when they move in! The welcoming committee knocked," he waved an idle hand to the servitors in reference, "and it seemed like the door was open. So I came in, to say hello. Give a little to get a little here Miss! I doubt you bothered to note your presence with the proper authorities, cause i don't know if you know this, but 'The Living Emperor' isn't the proper authority in Wing City. So how about we start over? Hi, I'm Ex-Pirate King Captain Blackheart. You appear to have newly arrived on this... planet?"

Omnia chirped in, her voice coming from each servitor simultaneously creating a choir of a feminine voice. "The second squad of servitors have nearly landed and are ready to join you Captain ♥" To which the Captain responded, "No, no, no. Things aren't going to escalate here. Keep them on standby."

With that he stopped to remove his tricorn, the trinkets tied to it rattling as he shook it out and pretended to dust it off. "Therefore, it seems to me, making enemies would be against the wishes of this 'Living Emperor'? These creations of mine are loaded with explosives, just putting that out there. I doubt either of us wants to deal with that kind of, kaboom." His arms splayed wide, in an 'exploding' motion. "Is this Emperor your God? My God is the almighty currency." With that, Blackheart snapped his fingers and the Servitors produced HardLight shields, assuming a defensive posture around their master. "Perhaps we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement here. You seem to have scientific advancements and slash or organics I could use, and I think your little abode here is lacking a certain something." Bezalel giggled manically, a voice that could be heard audibly. "Kekekekekek, making a deal with the devil, are we?"

The Captain listened intently as the biomass girl explained why she was collecting bio-matter. Her words made sense, but were very intriguing, especially given his morbid hobby. "Speaking of which, Lilith, I was wondering if you'd be interested in helping with my research after this. Rivian informed the group of the fact that the dungeon fell asleep shortly. Is leaving here going to be an issue? No matter, whatever I find in here will be worth the struggle...

As the group neared the end of the first floor, the door sealed behind them and a large black heart sat in the center, beating. Blackheart fought not to laugh, and failed, letting out a peal of wild giggling. "Look, it's me!" Suddenly a voice inside his head took precedence, the ugly voice of the Umbral within.Oh, ugly host of mine. Why's Bird-Brain giving you these dirty looks?

The man's eyes snapped over to the bird, Stormsparrow. It did appear to give him a curious look whenever Bezalel spoke, something that was slightly unnerving to him. Okay... That's new, are the two beasts similar in nature? A Storm sparrow, and a Shadow Hound...? Captain Integra didn't have long to ponder the thought, before the Umbral Demon was redirecting his attention again. Blackheart, the black heart is about to produce something, ready yourself.

"Servitors, defensive positions! Prepare to fire on the big bad about to pop out of the center of the room!" His scream echoed throughout the sealed chamber, and with a flourish, the Captain sent the femtite swarm that sat on his coat into the air; a cloud of silvery flakes that floated above and around the group, and was perfectly commanded to dismantle and consume anything that would attack their small party.

The Necromantic monstrosities brandished their armaments with their free hands, using their HardLight shields to protect the flanks of the party, while aiming their weaponry towards whatever was about to emerge from the room's center. Finally, their Captain dropped the spent magazines in his gun, slamming new ones into them in less than a second via his quick feed belt, and following his aiming software to discern where the creature may erupt from it's Core.

Remember, if I die in here, you're down a host and back at square one. The Captain's shadow spread out slightly in all directions, ignorant of light conditions and forming a small circle at his feet. "Yes, yes, yes... We're not quite done yet." Bezalel's voice came out aloud from the shadow beneath Blackheart's feet, in a deep resounding voice.

The gathered dust material was a quasimatter under active control of the demiplane. It reacted badly to containment by exomatter the patterns destabilizing to a luminous sludge and vapor. Luminous fog however actively evaded the prodding glove of a humankind dust of point-patterns circling instead by irritation of umbralkind in vicinity. The bark itself a psionic mirror playing back the tainted patterns of umbralkind it sensed in vicinity in voluminous detail.

Her eyes narrowed as shapes ambled through the trees, "We do not often react with hostility but your creature is bound loosely enough for us to consider you tainted. It will go no further even with your badly rekindled suicidal servants. Your impostor gate must be excised, however. I can see to your sudden egress internally when necessary."

Silver eyes considered him for a moment, "I am Sybil, forgemaster mada of Myrkul's Vein. Jinhai has rekindled enough of the city government they leave us alone and do not seek entrance. Much our limited first batch after breaking the bulwark by a shadow dragon. Then by demons. Then the shadow dragon, again. Then by humankind's internal strife. We do not care to involve ourselves in civil affairs or give out cookies to neighbors. The government's loss of servitors has dropped an order of magnitude since the facilities were constructed and lower infrastructures rebuilt. Myrkul's Vein serves Humankind as a whole not just the Living Emperor."

She looked at the shadow creature walking around as the gate behind them shuddered. Jinhai busily chewed away the vicinity of planar fabric it attached to from outside. Ground searing back together the gate's space warping away in a painful direction. The creeping fog did much the same to animate shadows. A caustic muted light of defensive construction that slowly disjoined eddies of shadow as its parts replicated into all available space. A hunter-seeker artifice that upon an encounter with shadowstuff disjoined and ground it down to vent the resultant digested aether away from the pocket dimension.

Dead eyed glowing celestials and a few slack-faced devils wandered closer to the murky location between trees. They moved fluidly but without their own agency. Just an apparatus for Sybil to control, now.

She raised a hand to halt them, "I'd be happy to give you the knowledge to learn how to excise this umbralkind's free will if you have the means to execute it. Aetherkind can also be made into mindless servitors for Humankind. As they all should be. Seeing as the umbralkind is tethered down it can't very well escape the procedure. Hollow eyes of an aetheric lobotomy would suit it quite well in submission to a humankind."

She gestures to a celestial's face nearby as porcelain in movement as color, "We do not serve deities or demons. Adolefactus dethrones and dismantles their diadem once contained. Nor do we care for money. We have our own resources. Amassing yours implies a preference between you."