mapping party redux

[rebells]

Who: mapping party! (late signups for mapping party can go here)
Where: the near western side of the island
When: Day 85
Open/Closed: semi-open! feel free to mingle/run into mapping party at any of the locations. if you would like to be in mapping party, signups are above!

[So maybe you were invited along on this expedition by Jay or a friend. Maybe you heard a telepathic message a couple days ago looking for people with scouting and mapping skills and answered the call. Maybe you just happened to be in the area. Whatever the reason, there's a small group of people and dragons assembling on the beach near the huts, and Jay appears to be in the center of it, checking that everyone he's expecting is accounted for.

They'll be going by air to map the near western coastline and circling back around to camp, touching down every so often to look for landmarks and other potentially useful areas on the way. You're welcome to come along, if you can bargain yourself space on dragonback.]

Comments

[imsorey]

[he does his best not to give Geir anything else to be amused about and peers back into the shelf area]

Not that I can see, but I haven't really looked yet. Maybe it's a secret path that leads into a labyrinth of underground ruins.

[he sounds hopeful despite it being a half-teasing comment. there are no ruins here except abandoned houses and that's a tragedy]

[rootandbranch]

Ruins of what? What else would even be ruined here?

[Geir doesn't have any associations whatsoever with the term -- his world doesn't have a rich archaeological history, or at least, not one that he's ever heard about. he's probably nearly as old as most human structures anyway, even if he's never seen them...]

[imsorey]

[Geir is actually a ruin]

Oh. Hmm...

Ruins like...the remnants of an ancient civilization that lived here long before we ever did. There's lots of them back home. You can learn a lot about the people who lived in ancient times by going through the remains of their temples, homes--any kind of building, really. They're called ruins because they're usually, well, ruined. The ones back home are thousands of years old. Everything we've found here so far doesn't look near as old, but it seems like there should be something older if Qri's been here for a long time.

[rootandbranch]

[Geir tilts his head, fascinated by the concept. he kind of is a ruin.]

I thought your world has spirits. Why don't you just ask them what everything used to be like?

[imsorey]

Trust me, we tried! Not all of them are thousands of years old; my friend Mikleo is around the same age as me. The ones that are old enough to remember those times ether didn't pay much attention to how things were developing, forgot about it, or just plain refuse to talk about it. There's not much we can do about that.

[rootandbranch]

They forgot? What kind of old geezers are they?

[he snickers.]

I don't think that there's anything like that at home. Or at least, I guess if there are, I wasn't paying much attention. Uh-oh...

[imsorey]

That would put you under the "forgetful" category too!

[shaking his head, amused but trying not to laugh]

It's more likely that there weren't any, though. From the sounds of it, they aren't too common--at least not to the extent that they are on Glenwood. Older buildings could have been demolished to make way for newer ones, and that's all there is to it.

[rootandbranch]

That, or just demolished, period. Did a lot of people die suddenly in your world's past, to just leave all those buildings standing there empty?

[Geir's tone is innocently curious, but that's sure a depressing thought.]

[imsorey]

[that's a very depressing thought but Glenwood is equally full of terrible things so it's honestly not out of the realm of possibility, and Sorey doesn't seem put out by the thought.]

There isn't any record of that happening, but I won't say it's impossible. We don't have many in-depth records of what happened hundreds or thousands of years ago to begin with, and there have been plenty of wars and natural disasters in the past. Quite a few of the temples and shrines are underground or inside of mountains, so it's more likely that people simply forgot about them or the entrances became closed off.

[rootandbranch]

Wow... I wonder if Midgard will be like that in a few thousand years?

[Geir withdraws his head from the waterfall for a second to think about that, get a drink, and also because the water crashing on his nose is becoming kind of annoying. he looks back at Sorey through the falling water, eye distorted by the flowing curtain.]

Is there anything else back there?

[imsorey]

Not that I can see. No ruins here.

[he is a little disappointed but he can't help that]

There's still plenty of island to explore though. I'm sure something else will come up.

[rootandbranch]

Yeah, it's been fun so far! Which way do you want to explore next time we make one of these trips?

[Geir extends his claw into the cave, offering to pick Sorey up and let him ride out from behind the waterfall on it if he wants to.]

[imsorey]

[he takes the invitation with a small nod and climbs into his claws, careful not to jab himself on any sharp ends on accident]

We haven't looked too far north yet, and it might be easier than going up the mountain, so I'd like to try that way next. It's worth taking a look if there are some decent supplies within walking distance, or even just something interesting.

[rootandbranch]

I think Vern and I will try a liiiittle further north tomorrow on our own... we're going to try to find a cave.

[he navigates Sorey out from behind the waterfall carefully, though Sorey might still get a little bit splashed.]

I'm tired of sleeping on beaches...!

[imsorey]

[the mental image of Geir trying to make a sand cave on the beach is enough to make him smile]

A cave would be able to provide more protection than a beach, for someone as big as you. If you can't find one then we might be able to help you make one. You should be able to have a nice place to sleep just like the rest of us.

[rootandbranch]

Normally I could make one! But my teeth don't work in this stupid place.

[Geir is aggrieved, now that he's reminded of it. it's the one thing about the Hub he really doesn't like -- if you're used to the feeling that you could destroy almost anything by biting it, the idea that there are things that won't just melt when you bite them is extremely annoying. it's like having a swiss army knife for the entire world hidden in your back pocket and suddenly losing it.]

I should have been able to melt and crack the rock if we find anything to see in the mountains, too, but I won't be able to.

[he puts Sorey down on the bank carefully and looks around the little waterfall clearing one more time. is everything they can find here found...?]

[imsorey]

Wait, you can normally melt rock? Is that safe?

[he only means it in the sense of "wouldn't that melt most caves you sleep in?" but he doesn't think to complete the thought; when he catches Geir looking around he follows suit, looking for anything that might seem useful, interesting, or out of place.]

[rootandbranch]

Of course it isn't safe! And it only melts if I bite it. It's a lot easier to pry stuff open afterwards...

[...nothing else seems to be forthcoming, unless there's a rare minnow or something somewhere. probably not worth it.]

[imsorey]

[staring up at Geir's mouth with interest. dragon's don't exactly need to chew their food, so the poison probably wouldn't impede eating...]

Cool. It sounds like it could be really useful as long as you're careful in how you use it. Are you able to get along fine without it?

[rootandbranch]

I can get along fine, but I don't like it. I should be able to destroy anything.

[Geir's tone is disgruntled, though it's probably not obvious from outside whether it's about not being able to destroy things, or just having a familiar capability removed. in all honesty, it's both, though perhaps not in the way someone hearing it said might imagine. there's something about the power to destroy everything around you that's very comforting -- if everything else is finite while you're infinite, then any upsetting situation is one you can ultimately escape from.

even though Geir would have no intention of destroying anything in particular even with his venom, without it, he's trapped.]

[imsorey]

Can it really destroy anything? There are some pretty sturdy materials out there, not to mention things created with magic.

[this is important scientific information, even if it isn't currently relevant without the skill]

[rootandbranch]

. . . it should be able to. It didn't work on the barrier in Aimintas. I was really surprised!

[Geir's disgruntlement is clear, also. he really didn't like that that didn't work, for a lot of the same reasons that he doesn't like not having access to his venom at the moment. maybe everything should just be more destructible!!]

[imsorey]

[having seen plenty of destruction at the hands of (malevolence) dragons firsthand, Sorey isn't exactly in a hurry to have a repeat experience. but despite his grumblings it doesn't seem like Geir is ready to go on a rampage any time soon, and it would be useful to know what kinds of things he can destroy if they ever need to bust out of alien jail. which might happen at some point.]

So it doesn't work here, and likely most low-frequency worlds where we can't use our abilities from home. And it might not work on other kinds of magic from other worlds. But in theory it should work on anything else. Let's test it out! On the next world we go to, can you see if it works on any of their magical items? If it's safe.

[rootandbranch]

Sure, no problem! The worst that can happen is it'll explode.

[he considers that for a minute; speaking of things that explode...]

--we have a bunch of Elto bones stashed away, too. Maybe it's better to leave those here...

[imsorey]

[those. those definitely explode.]

Bringing one of those to test with shouldn't be too bad. We can avoid trying anything with a lot of them. ...Should we keep all of those together if they have a chance of exploding in high quantities?