--- Kamiko ---
Entering the warehouse wasn't hard, the group just walked up to the door and tried to open it, sadly the hole thing was rusted shut but that meant a bit of force and the whole thing fell backwards... and kept falling because it turned out inside of the warehouse was a big hole in the floor to a basement level.
It was a ways down with a bunch of dirt and debris around a central room that had been made of much better materials.
"Are we going down there?" asked Kamiko.
Meg glanced at the compass that was still spinning in her hands before answering, "I don't see why not,"
Enjoy more content from empire
So the group stepped in and instantly a bunch of turrets dropped from the ceiling to extremely mixed success. A couple of them opened only half way before getting stuck, another large bunch opened... all the way, the turrets completely leaving their housing and crashing into the floor below and breaking apart on impact.
One single turret managed to open properly and wind up to fire... and then the muzzle fell off.
"What... are those things?" asked Bower. "Are they some sort of gun like Hunter uses?"
"That's correct," sated Hunter. "These are known as automated turrets and were clearly designed to protect this facility from intruders. It makes me wonder what they had here that required protecting. It is clearly from before society got remade and it has lasted quite well considering the passage of time. Though I imagine the mist bubble helps keep things stable.
This will likely be good practice for more dangerous exploration,"
"You think it will get harder?" asked Kamiko.
"I would imagine so. This place has lasted a long time so it was probably built to last. These areas don't seem to quite meat that standard and while I could be wrong, and we've arrived around the time this whole place is beginning to fall apart I find that unlikely. Especially when you can see that room down in the whole that seems mostly intact,"
With that Hunter jumped down into the hole, her scales more than tough enough to ensure that the junk broke instead of her. As Bower saw this though he took a step back and sat down, "I think I'll just rest my old bones up here. If you lot want to go adventuring feel free but these old knees aren't built for those kinds of falls,"
Meg just shrugged at him and jumped in after Hunter. Kamiko glanced at Bower for a few moments and considered sticking by the old man but after a moment of thought realised that she'd rather be separated from Bower then Hunter and Meg. Sure Bower could take care of himself... but could he take care of himself and her if shit hit the fan? Because Meg and Hunter could.
"Well seeing this right here? It pretty much confirms that this place is artificial and it's powered by something. This is clearly a sub generator... and I would put good money on the piece of time drake that flew here ending up right in the middle of the central power source," grumbled Meg.
"And that's... bad?" asked Kamiko.
"Horrifically bad, because it means we need to get it OUT of there really quickly because the drake is gonna be trying to suck in as much energy as it can from a literal magic generator and I don't know if we can get it out without breaking it... and I don't know if we can break it without blowing everything, including us, up," said Meg.
"That... does seem bad. Can't you... I dunno use your weakness powers to get around it?" asked Kamiko.
"I can definitely try... but it just might not be possible. If I knew more about how these things work I might be able to work out the best way to destroy them... and I do get a sense of degrees with my powers but not the outcomes. I can usually figure it out but... there's so much power even in this side one. Even if I was to take the path that deals the least amount of damage?
It's still a massive bomb and the main reactor will be bigger... and it'll probably take down the mists," explained Meg.
"Why only probably? This is powering the mists right?" asked Kamiko.
"What are they teaching you at those normal schools? It should be obvious no? The mists are powered by a magic generator, hence they are magic. They may now be a self-sustaining magical phenomenon without the need for additional power. Which... makes me wonder where all the power here is going?
Because even if the mist needs some of that power it's certainly not going to need as much as it once did after thousands of years," grumbled Meg.
"I can think of two obvious answers. The first being the creation of more robots..." stated Hunter trailing off.
"And the second?" asked Meg knowing it was what Hunter wanted.
"Containment," stated Hunter.
"Oh..." stated Meg. "Oh that's not good at all. I mean, maybe not the worst thing ever? But certainly not good. I think I'm going to need to take a real good look around... maybe this entire place. If I see some weaknesses in a seal of some kind?
This might just be really fucking bad. The empire that built this place was strong and they had stronger demons on call. If they had to seal something instead of taking it out themselves..."
"Indeed. A problem," agreed Hunter.