Callen shrugs, “That depends on a lot of things, the first being if we can get past this door.” He says.
“But, I know my way around the upper levels and how to get to the places you seek…but I may have to change my route since I usually venture there alone.” He explains.
“You’ve been here before?”
“Several times.” Callen says, hefting his bag, “I come here to scavenge stuff to sell on black markets; food and equipment aren’t cheap and this stuff is in high demand. The trick is finding the right buyers.”
“Ah a fellow business man, I see.”
Vaughn is watching the interaction closely. “You’re probably right. Our maps are outdated, but this seemed like the most direct route to the storehouses, with a rest in a factory along the way. We’ll see what our engineers can do, but it would be most helpful if you could take a look at our maps.”
He sniffs, but says nothing.
“Let’s see what you’ve got.” Callen says to Aron, referring to the maps.
He gestures to someone behind him, and a spindly man steps forward. “These are maps of the city before it took to the skies, from Sulgenti spies during the wars. We only have a first few floors, because a lot was built after … he started.” He draws out several worn pages.
Callen looks over the maps.
“Well, it’s mostly accurate.” He says after a while, “But, some spots had been changed around, probably from edits while in service as a fortress and/or damages from when it fell.” He tells Aron.
Bren looks over to Vaita after inspecting the door.
“Did you see it? The flames weren’t simultaneous. They were staggered, in a pattern. It’s a possibility it might just be to catch people off guard, but, do you suppose there might be an order to these levers?”
She looks nervous. “Maybe … but in order to test it …”
Callen keeps looking over the maps to see if any routes he knew that could manage this large of a group were pictured.
There are, but it would be a roundabout.
Callen growls in annoyance, “I know one path that a group as large as ours could use but the problem is that it’s rather roundabout.” He says, tracing the path on the map with his finger.
“Longer routes are dangerous, though. More possibilities of encountering monsters, traps or less than honorable scavengers.” He warns Aron.
“I see. We’ll see if our team can crack this door, otherwise we’ll just have to risk it.”
Callen nods, “Make sure everyone is ready when we do.”
“I recommend keeping everyone on guard, we don’t want any surprises while your team works on the door.” He suggests.
“What if we tried blocking the holes the fire came out of?” Kanei suggests
Callen seems a little concerned by that idea.
“I’ve got some metal rivers in my sack that could be used.” He continued “We could mess about with the door freely and not become cooked in the process.”
“If I may speak freely?” Callen asks.
“Just spitballing, Go ahead.”