spellbinders | itp: good decisions

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itp: good decisions

Who: Various enterprising folk!
Where: The former Uvi lair, and the island above Aimintas
When: Day 64-66, or thereabouts
Open/Closed: ota! there is a coven-house meeting afterward for anyone who can't make it up to see on their own.

[Hopefully you waited for the rain of spiky . . . Elto bones . . . to die down before heading out, but there's a mysterious underwater explosion to be investigated, and a possible link to Palai magic and the barrier, too.

Time to find out what happened?]

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[Well, that's one way of putting it. A very Dirk way and he has to admit, it's very familiar, even if none of them had underwater planets. It's the same basic idea of lingering death and decay.]

Goodness gracious, looks like the Uvi found themselves in a real pickle. What happened here...?

[Despite how flippant it sounds, the first thing he does is flit closer to look for survivors.]

[after a few moments, there's a sense of life and an echo of "noise" in the water; but it's coming from below them as Jake continues to search, not from the wrecked mass of seaweed. undirected telepathy is dicey at this distant, but the explorers may catch the barest echo of a couple of words--]

--where are they--

[visibility is very bad in the roiling mess that's left of the Uvi stronghold, and the telepathy is uncertain enough at this distance (Geir's not trying to talk to them) that it's hard to tell whose voice it is, or whether it's in their ears or their minds. in their super creepy murder surroundings, it might be possible to leap to an equally creepy explanation.]

[the mental carry of the reply doesn't help that impression, distorted by mood and distance into a low, angry, drawn-out mutter]

--death--

[THANKS VERN.]

[Dirk glances at Jake. Wordlessly (ALTHOUGH THAT ISN'T AN ISSUE WITH TELEPATHY) he draws out his sword and moves towards Jake, establishing their standard defence formation.]

[That's troubling. But Jake has his guns out, getting into formation easily. Even if it's been a bit since they fought together, he doesn't have to think about it at all.]

[the looming sense of presence gets closer. after another few moments, an ominous dark shape rises up from the murky waters below them, still hard to make out but unmistakeable; a huge monster of some sort, debris and agitated currents swirling around it. there's a sudden red tint to the disturbed silt-laden water as it rears back and opens enormous slitted eyes out of a nightmare to look up at them--]

[--and a very irritated (familiar??) voice issues telepathically from its closed mouth]

You’re going to need a bath when we get back. A bath, in cleaner water, without so many bits of bone and gods know what other dead things, and -- anyway, are we there yet?

[Ah.]

Oh. Hey.

[He relaxes out of punchstance and puts his sword away.]

[Oh, it's the funny dragon.] But isn't any water a good enough bath?

[Geir doesn't try to open his mouth; whether or not he could talk underwater is debatable, but in the meantime, he's got Vern in there, looking at the scene through his eyes and telepathic images. he sends him a picture of Dirk and Jake now, in fact, as soon as he can swim close enough to see them properly -- success!]

This water's all full of dirt and guts. This is where the Uvi were, right? What happened to your metal guardsman, Dirk?

[if Dirk tried to explain his sentry drone in the limited time they've been able to chat about such things, probably that's the best he could get across. Geir will keep trying, sometime when they're not dealing with war or what looks like the aftermath of one.]

It's sort of telling of the state of the water that I'd literally rather be in a dragon's mouth than swimming in it. No offense, Geir.

[there's a slight pause as he absorbs the image of the environment around Jake and Dirk, an unseen frown crossing his face]

Wasn't there a seaweed bed -- city? -- here before?

It definitely isn't shower water.

[Says the boy who takes two hour showers.]

This is where the Uvi lived, yeah. It looks like my sentry robot got taken out in the explosion along with a lot of the Uvi. Maybe even all of them.

I really hope they weren't all wiped out.

[Like, if they were, he'll get over it, but it's a bit depressing at the same time.]

Should we look for survivors?

...we can. I can't smell much except death in the water.

[Geir is dubious that they'll find anyone in the murk, even if they look. he's sort of sympathetic to the impulse to worry about the Uvi, but... he has to be practical. which reminds him--!]

You guys came up here alone!

Oh yeah, we wanted to know why you were zooming off into the explosive death water before the death rain had stopped, but I guess now we're, uh, all here. If there are no more explosions then we might as well take a look around though, yes.

[sighhh]

We wanted to scout the area before any potential evidence got cold. Not that it apparently makes a difference.

[Because everything is dead? But hey! Jake is with him and Dirk thinks that makes him responsible.]

The soul radar isn't picking up anything but us four up here.

Edited (dirk, count yourself) 2017-09-14 04:17 (UTC)

Besides, when else were we supposed to?

{They have such limited interaction and socialization and this makes perfect sense.]

But... really? We're the only ones...?

Jay told us you'd gone...

[brutally pragmatic:]

Oh, well. As long as your guts and bones don't end up floating around in the water too. Freyja's tits, what happened?

[he Does Not Like It. Uvi survivors or not, whatever happened here was incredibly dangerous, and they didn't even have the slightest warning.]

If you're not picking up any of them...the explosion likely started here, then, or around here. There's a few of those magic spike-rounds in the water here too; did they cause it?

Jay's what we call in ancient human society 'a goddamned tattle-tale.'

[Thanks, Dirk.]

Probably.

[He swims closer to one of the weird things, and for a moment it looks like he's going to grab one. But he stops, his head canting slightly towards Jake.

He realizes he can't risk making Jake see him dead again.]

They don't conduct electricity through the water. We can try hitting them with something and see how they react.

I could shoot one? But, um, if they're explosive, we wouldn't want to start a chain reaction.

[Not that he's. Ever done that. Maybe.]

I touched one when they first started falling before. They zap, like the barrier up there does.

[he sounds THOROUGHLY AGGRIEVED, but his second statement belies any sympathy points he might have earned:]

The next two I touched did the same thing.

[it occurred to him eventually to stop touching them.]

Edited 2017-09-16 14:12 (UTC)

[an irritated, wordless grumble at the reminder]

No...explosion risks. Let's not blow ourselves up too, thanks. But let's at least gather what's here -- are you heading back now that you've had a look, or checking the island as well?

We might as well. There might actually be an end to that damn mystery.

[Jake seems a bit put out that he doesn't get to shoot anything but doesn't fight it.]

Anywhere with an adventure always has a mystery to solve! And this one might help the Palai in the long run.

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rootandbranch - 2017-09-18 12:45 (UTC) - Expand

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rootbound - 2017-09-24 04:21 (UTC) - Expand

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