Vibran's 2nd Artifact

We don't talk about the first artifact ok? Everyone gets a do-over in life why should I be excluded from that? Shit happens, we learn things, and life goes on ok?

Vibran was glad he was a Path of the Prudent but couldn’t help but dwell on certain drawbacks of the Path. Currently, he sat perched along a shallow hillside overlooking a fresh dig site under the control of Haswell Corp. The dig site wasn't very big, spanning about 50 meters across, thanks to the barebones crew assigned to the project. There was 5 laborer, an overseer, some kind of specialist, and a squad of mercenaries hired for guard duty. The dig itself looked rather unimpressive aside from the singular shrine half-buried in volcanic stone at the center. This was the main attraction, well probably more like the kiddie ride at the back of the amusement park based on how poorly staffed the group was.

Even though Vibran had learned about this potential gem of an opportunity over a week ago, he found himself here on this hill, watching, for the 5th day in a row. He had the guard's movement patterns down to a science, knew when the workers broke for lunch better than they did, and had mapped out the ideal route for entry more times than he could count. But he couldn’t bring himself to execute his plan yet, and the only thing he could find to blame was the yellow flash. Ever since he had learned how to use chain vision to gauge the outcome of a plan it had always come up green, but not this time. This time it was yellow. The first time he saw the amber hue coat his vision instead of the familiar emerald his heart sank. He had packed up all his gear and was sure the plan was foolproof, merely checking his odds as a final precaution, but the second that doubt was cast on his mind seeing green once more was the only thank that would fix him. So we watched, and waited, and gathered, checking each day to see if his plan was any better off than the day before.

As Vibran stared at the motley crew of workers moving a chunk of obsidian like a colony of insects securing a hefty crumb for the nest, he dreaded doing this final check. He made a deal with himself that no matter the color of his eyes on the 5th day he would go no matter what. He knew yellow situations couldn't be avoided forever but he had at least hoped that he was better than a yellow on THIS. Vibran closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He could feel the bank of chain energy welled up in his core and shifted some of it up toward his face. He hated the feeling of moving chain energy through the heart and lungs because it made him feel like he was fighting for his life. Finally, enough energy had reached his eyes and he shot them open.

Yellow.

Vibran sighed a deep sigh and rolled back onto the hill proper. Guess there was nothing more to be done but get ready.

*

Timing was everything to a Prudent. To be prepared for any outcome requires knowing your options, and to truly know what options are at your disposal you must understand time.

The time it took to go into town and by some strong synthum was negligible. The time it took to deliver the brews to the foreman was even less substantial. But the time it took for them to hand out the booze after the work day had concluded and the time it took for said booze to get them shitfaced was key.

Vibran now found himself sneaking past the makeshift camp the group had hastily constructed, taking a longer route to the parked striders thanks to a guard needing to piss. Vibran had planned for a piss route but wasn't too happy taking it because it shut off a couple of optimal routes he would have preferred to take. The guard stood by the bushes they all primarily relieved themselves at with a smokestack in their mouth, putting all focus into avoiding a total collapse of the legs. Poor guy was so focused that he didn't even notice he was standing in a puddle of his own urine.

Finally, Vibran found himself at the striders. There were two of them gently bobbing next to one another, corporate issue, and a few models out of date. It only took a few extra moments of fiddling before Vibran was done with them and continued along the route.

Being forced to walk the piss route left him dangerously close to the camp on the way to the shrine. Each step edged him closer to the bundle of intoxicated workers blissfully unaware of his presence. From a distance it looked like all of them had fallen asleep next to one another but as Vibran drew closer he found this wasn't the case. The foreman, a female Gel-Naga was polishing off the remainder of a bottle as she loudly mocked one of the human worker's that was throwing up the contents of his stomach.

“What’s a matter Brundy, can't handle the strong stuff?”

Brundy didn't respond as another wave of nausea demanded his attention but between retches a gurgled “fuck you” could be heard.

The Gel-Naga chuckled and continued drinking giving Vibran just enough time to slip past the two.

Finally, he arrived at the half-sunken shrine. Upon closer inspection, Peters noticed that the shrine was far older than he had previously thought. It was definitely made of dolostone, the shimmering swirls of white contrasted heavily with the thick brownish-green foliage that had taken up home around it. There were 4 thin pillars holding up a simple cap to the structure providing shade to a singular empty pedestal. The top of the pedestal was the only thing visible thanks to the flood of hardened rock that now resided within its basin. Vibran activated chain vision to see if there was any residual chain energy around the structure and was met with a surprise. Not only were there symbols of chain energy floating off of the structure like maw jellies coasting through the vacuum of space, but a pistol had found its way to the back of his head.

“Who are you?” the voice asked.

Vibran cursed to himself and raised his hands. There was one individual he had neglected to check up on assuming they were also fast asleep, the specialist. Vibran peeked over his shoulder before attempting to turn and face his new captor, but the later action was impeded with a solid fist to the back of the head.

The specialist didnt expect Vibran to go flying from such a mediocre punch yet here he was traveling head first through the pillars of the shrine disappearing out of sight. Before she could yell to signal the guards a chain strand shot through the darkness and attached to her head. She was pulled forward only to be knocked in the other direction by a punch to the diaphragm. The shock of the action coupled with the exodus of air from her lungs caused her to drop her pistol and begin gasping. Vibran was quick and slid behind the woman, wrapping another chain around her neck and dragging her into the darkness.

“I've got a question instead, Why are you here?” Vibran whispered.

The specialist flailed clearly still more panicked about the loss of air over the strange man pulling her into the unlit section of the dig site. It took her a few moments to calm down but with a demeanor of corporate ruthlessness, she managed to straighten her suit coat and glare into Vibran's eyes in a way that made him fear for his bank account. Finally, Vibran loosened the chains enough for her to speak.

“Cultural heritage preservation work,” was all she was willing to add to the captive conversation. Vibran didn't have time to dance around the topic for the amount of time she was prepared to. He had to do something risky.

“Fine, can you see those chain glyphs?” The woman looked surprised for half a second before returning to her icy gaze and shaking her head. There was enough hesitation in her movements to give Vibran the confidence to push harder.

Vibran raised a fist and made a clear show of moving chain energy into it. Enough to provoke suspicion from the trained eye. Enough to be detrimental if it landed unguarded. The specialist clearly knew his raised hand was a bad thing for her and the steeled facade began to fade. Once the energy was moved, Vibran paused for half a second before lunging forward. Thankfully the Specialist tipped her hand and activated her chain vision to see how much energy she needed to block it. Vibran pulled his hand back and pointed at the mysterious woman.

“Ha, I knew it!” Vibran said as he dragged her over to the shrine. He pointed at a place between two draconic creatures where he had seen the glyphs. “You MUST be able to read Path Speak. What are these symbols and how come your guys didn't clear out the stones in the basin?”

The Specialist looked more annoyed about the fake punch than taken aback by the questions. Regardless, she took her sweet time answering them.

“ The rocks couldn't be taken out no matter how hard we tried, we assumed they had always been a part of the shrine. As for Path Speak yes I do know what the symbols mean but why in the name of The Nine would I tell you?”

“...Well as someone studying the chains like myself I assume you want to figure out what the deal with this shrine is, right? I've seen you look at it from every angle for days give me a shot at it.”

The Specialist stared at the shrine as if the answer would finally come to her at that very moment but as the hope faded from her eyes, she turned toward Vibran.

“Fine but get this chain off my neck it's starting to leave a mark.” Vibran released the chain, keeping one behind her leg in case she made a break for it. “The paths indicated by the three symbols are Nomad, Deceiver, and Vengeance.”

Vibran leaned back and took in the full scope of the shrine with this new piece of information in mind. The Deceiver part was easy, most likely some form of a hidden compartment. It was odd to see the Nomad glyph present due to how infrequently they settled down in an area but it wasn't impossible for one to leave a structure like this behind. By far the strangest piece of the puzzle was the Vengence glyph, the shrine was so small and looked more like a place of offering than somewhere to seek help with revenge. Vibran returned his attention to the shrine focusing on the one detail that seemed the most out of place. The draconic creatures mounted on either side of the Path Speak were up on their hind legs spewing wicked flames in either direction of the shrine.

“What's the deal with these creatures?” Vibran asked.

“I asked the locals about them, seems like they are mythological creatures that would attack travelers in the surrounding area, most likely shift hoppers.”

Vibran did one more lap around the shrine before reaching his final verdict. “Seems like it was a defense post of some sorts, offer up something and get revenge against the creatures disturbing your travels, but what kind of offering.”

“I've tried everything I can think of but nothing adds up with the story.”

“Well, maybe you're just not in the right headspace.”

Vibran pulled out some rotosage, already rolled into an immaculate smokable spiral, and lit it. After taking a long drag he placed the herb on the pedestal. A moment's pause later and the shrine flashed, the stagnant rocks below began to heat up and bubble. Slowly the molten liquid drained from the center of the shrine revealing a small room. The Specialist was speechless yet again.

“Scorched earth from a foreign land. It’s a road marker between Nomads designating dangerous paths ahead,” Vibran said with a smile. “I thought you were supposed to be the specialist here?”

The Specialist’s face was about as read as the molten lava when Vibran hopped down into the unearthed grotto. The space was cramped thanks to the walls being coated in the dissipating lava. Slowly, the walls cleared a massive connected mural surrounding Vibran. From what he could tell, it showed a pack of the draconic creatures emerging from a portal and attacking everything in sight. After most of the surrounding village was destroyed, a man approached the village from far away. The man carried a small dagger with a vibrant liquid covering the tip. When he pointed the dagger at the creatures the liquid jumped off the blade and sucked the fire out of the creatures leaving them hollow statues. The ones that didn't turn fled for the portal they had come through. As the last bit of the mural was uncovered by the lava it revealed the man making the shrine for the villagers and placing the dagger inside, the same dagger that was now sucking up the lava from the surrounding walls and glowing white-hot.

Vibran was so enraptured by the story that he almost didn't hear the guards yelling at him to put his hands up. He turned to look and saw that they were at an angle where they could only see him so he used a chain to yank the blade into his pack before raising his hands. Shortly after, the Specialist and two guards hopped into the room leaving them arm's length from everyone else.

“Aw come on I thought we were starting to understand each other,” Vibran said.

“Oh I understand you quite well looter, now where did you put the artifact?”

“Sorry, ma’am but I think you're a few dates short of that kinda understanding.”

As the words came out of his mouth Vibran activated a detonator switch with a chain and a series of explosives went off around the shrine. Rocks and debris fell into the tiny room distracting the guards for long enough. Vibran caught them with two swift punches sending them flat on their backs. He could hear the chaos of the outside world was his cue to get going. One chain strand was enough to pull himself out and look at his handiwork. Half of the guards were now face down in the dirt with the others slowly regaining their senses. He couldn't see the Specialist down in the hole but it didn't matter he was home free.

Every route had reached its destination in his mind and there was nothing left to do but make a break for it. He was about ready to pat himself on the back for being the best Prudent in the galaxy when he felt something hot at his back. He looked over his shoulder to find that the dagger he had just made off with was now burning a hole through his bag thanks to some fire chains being directed his way by the Specialist. He didn't have enough time to react before the blade melted through his pack and fell to the floor sending half of the pack's contents with it. Vibran redacted the previous compliment he had given himself and instead made a note to ALWAYS include an escape plan in his routes.

“My job’s on the line here you little shit,” The Specialist said as she shot a chain strand at the dagger.

“Why do you gotta make that my problem?” Vibran said as he used a chain strand of his own to deflect hers.

Vibran tried to fight off panic in his mind as he gauged how much chain energy was left in his core. He was at less than half and need to make all of it count. He made his first move by using chain vision to see what was in the surrounding area. The shrine had attracted a wide variety of options for him to use but he did not have enough time or energy to excuse all of them. The best odds he could see for himself was a 50/50 and yet again Vibran reminded himself the chains were never wrong.

The area was coated in a bed of splinter chains all of which ran across the ground. Hanging from one of the trees above was a thumper chain and by pulling that into the ground he was able to send the splinter chains straight up covering everyone on the site. Now if anyone used any more chain energy the chain reaction would kill them all. Peters bolted for his ship hoping that this lady cared more about her life than her career. He could hear the striders sputter to life then immediately die signaling that his choice modifications had worked. Bullets flew by his head as he snagged the knife and continued booking it for the craft parked on the other side of the hill. Thankfully the woman was willing to fight another day and Vibran was able to survive his first yellow encounter.