1601/Hunt for Sovereign

Hunt for Sovereign
Date of Scene:	18 February 2015
Location:	Terra Majora
Synopsis:	Psyber seeks an artifact in an ancient battlefield.
Cast of Characters:	2, 40, 92, 168, 253, 347, 622, 626
Tinyplot:	New Blood

---

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    The place that Bloodstone's maps lead everyone is of an unassuming name: Glittering Glades. Those who are curious can get the history from Nathan or Psyber, as either one probably knows at least a little of this. Their pretty name is, like many things in this world, a misnomer. The 'glades' are more like marshes, with copses of rotten-looking trees pocking a landscape of shallow, sludgy pools and brief spurts of relatively pleasant-looking grasses. Relatively. Even today, the occasional glimmer of metal can be seen, or the glimpse of white from a skeleton.

    This was the site of the battle that lurched the entire Windward Empire into becoming a world power. It is, ironically, also the place where they have some of the weakest presence, and the site of an incredible failure. The clash here was already partially corrupted, the land warped but fixable. The battle that decided ownership had been vicious and bloody, with sorcerers eventually calling upon some of the most twisted magics available. The Empire had won that day, utterly devastating its enemy and starting the string of military superiority that had lead to hundreds of years of peace and stability... but it was still a stinking marshland of unusable land, festering and riddled with mutated creatures of raw corruption.

    Most of these creatures are small, but often hunt in packs. They cluster around small rocky formations or mounds, and they are swift even in the day. It's easy to see why the Empire hasn't gotten far in reclaiming this land, even with airships at their disposal.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Welcome to Terra Majora, home of political strife, God-powered jagoffs, and Elliana Fairchild's team. Luckily, we shouldn't be running into that third one today, because she doesn't know we're here," Psyber notes to everyone who is catching a ride in the back of a smooth-flying air transport. Psyber is dressed in his usual attire and leaning against a wall of the vehicle, one hand gripping an overhead rail for steadiness.

    "Stay in pairs at least, cover eachother's backs, and if someone asks us why we're here, tell them to talk to Nathan," Psyber notes. He continues a moment later: "We're heading onto an old battlefield where there's some nasty business still hanging around. If it's that corrupted, what we're looking for shouldn't be impossible to find. You'll feel it before you see it, I hope."

    He switches to a more casual demeanor, "I'm Psyber, for the new people. The man, the myth, the legend. If you want to take photos, please do so now before the aircraft lands. I appreciate you all coming out to help tonight."

    Weirdly, he's yet to go into too much detail on what it is.

    "We're looking for an object called Sovereign. Reports say it's going to be holy-alligned, I believe."

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor once again grumbles at the air-drop. Airplanes. Nnnn. She is likewise holding on to a rail, looking nervously out the windows, and over at the others. Simon and Krya are new and she waves at the pair. "I'm Eleanor, I'm one of Psyber's science advisors."

    A glance over at Psyber. "Are we talking the Holy we'd know, or is it the sort of convoluted good things are bad this place has?"

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Boop. Done." Kyra announces cheerfully as she lowers her phone, having just taken a picture of Psyber. There's a cheeky grin on her face before she slips the fancypants Galianda smartphone back into the front pocket of her hoodie. Both of her hands then moved to rest inside the pockets, her back slouching slightly as the air transport conveys them to this corrupted marshland.

    Completely new to the situation in Terra Majora, Kyra tried to glean what she could from older files about the world, somewhat disbelieving in the idea that the Union wanted 'new people' to come deal with the problems there. Maybe it was a seeking new perspectives thing? Either way, she's not going to turn down the opportunity for an adventure.

    "Huh, I knew this was an investigation mission but I didn't realize it was an investigation mission in a really hostile area. I should have brought more explosives." Indeed, the small backpack she had with her on the Syndicate job with the ReGenesis Corporation is absent. Only her very, very shiny golden rifle remains slung on her back.

    "Kyra." she introduces herself to Eleanor. "White mage, chemist, student...eventual doctor."

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    Nathan immediately assumes a cautious posture about a place called Glittering Glades. He's not sure /why/, but something about the name makes him instantly suspicious, as if through trained pavlovian response to certain naming conventions. What is it, precisely, that makes these reactions so strong? It is a mystery to everyone, except people with basic pattern recognition skill. Let's get back on subject: Nathan Hall, with all his traditional stoicism and abject lack of emotion to his face, speaks up in a monotone over the soft whir of the transport.

    "If we are able to find Sovereign, remain cautious. Previous Amethyne artifacts have been known to cause damaging incidents through somehow provoking unbound local gods. There is no assurance at this time that the same cannot happen here; be cautious when you find it." Then he answers Eleanor's query. "Holy in the traditional sense should suffice as a definition. Fragmented power originating third-hand from the ostensibly benevolent creator deity. The closest we can assume, anyway."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Fortunately Homura is both free of coursework this week but also more or less recovered from taking a severe beating. She would still have spent the entire time with her nose in a book. Writing, apparently-- not an actual theory book, looks more like a personal diary. Well, given the size, more like a grimoire by now, with all the bookmarks and obvious extra inserts.
    She is, incidently, wearing black formal pants with a white shirt. Her jacket is off to the side somewhere. Her hair's in a sidetail, she has her glasses on, and the usual red ribbon keeping the sidetail tied.

    "I'm not good at locating holy things. But if the entire battlefield's corrupt, I could probably look for the least corrupt part and we can start there. Or the most corrupt. That's how powerful artifacts usually get found, right?"

    Holy places or absolutely awful places.

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
They're heading to an unpleasant location, it seems. Though Simon is not quite aware of that. The scholar is more concerned about this flight than anything else. He has been on planes before, of course, but you don't STAND AROUND on those. Simon's attire if typical for him, a charcoal-grey suit, if cleaner than it would have been if he were still ekking out a living on his own world. Of note, however, are that he is not wearing his eye glasses, and the Crown is nowhere to be seen. He does pull out a cellphone though, and hold it up. "Hey, can you smile real quick? I'll show this to Marcy when I get back." Then he takes a photo, and puts the phone back away again in his pocket.

"Simon," he responds to Eleanor's greeting. His other hand is hanging onto one of the railings, but now that his hand is free of phone he uses it to gesture while he speaks. "Aside from being 'holy', what do we know about this Sovereign thing? Like, is it in an abandoned temple, or stolen by hobgobs, or just sitting in a museum, or what?" He pauses, and then asks, "'Sovereign' isn't a crown is it?" It's a valid question, given the name of the thing.

Oh, but then Nathan answers that for the most part. 'Assume dangrous'. Got it.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    There are no museums here, it is easy to see. Just... roaming packs of giant ratlike things, which skitter in and out of view when the chopper comes in for a landing. One or two may venture closer, and they DO look dangerous, but any one of the Elites here can take down a couple with ease. These things make bringing any significant force into the area, but they aren't the sort of thing that threatens Elites of this level.

    There are other things, however.

    The glades are large, but the vague horror of the area is strongest in a few places. One of the larger shallow ponds, some distance away, is one that seems especially foreboding. A dark thicket of treelike growths is another, with the feeling of being watched. Finally, in the distance, several large bestial creatures are lounging atop a tumble of rocks, surveying the land as if they own it.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber responds to Simon: "Not a crown." A beat later, "If my research is correct, the Glittering Glades was the last reported sighting of it. It vanishes from history after making an appearance here. Spooky, huh?" He says cheerily, grinning widely. For a detective like him, he's in the last leg of a good investigation. And, if an external source was right, it could be the starting leg of another.

    "Good to finally meet at least two of you in the flesh, by the way." He does pose for a picture, smiling for both Kyra and Simon so they can get nice pictures to remember him by. Very photogenic half-angel.

    When the chopper touches down, Psyber hops out with a handgun drawn, "Homura has a sound theory. Light draws dark. Head towards the most corrupt places and check em out. They might be trying to patch over the Light artifact."

    He takes a potshot or two at a rodent, just to establish dominance early. Kyra gets a look, "You got enough medical supplies? Consider me low priority, no matter how bad you see me get hurt."

    "So. Any one got a preference? I like the ponds, feels nice and corrupt."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "I don't have a preference. We might want to check all of it out, regardless," Homura notes as they disembark the transport and touch ground. Extending her hand, producing her Soul Gem, she squirms a bit at the state of the area. But at least, there are spots that are worse and that can be pointed at-- though she'd really rather not keep her senses open to it that long.

    "But. That way," she points towards the pond, "And that way," towards the overgrowth. "There's also the matter of... hn. I don't know. We're not alone, though. Those don't look too friendly, in the distance. We might have to shoo them off sooner or later."

    She has, by the way, put her book away. Gone into thin air, back into her convenient hammerspace with everything else. Her jacket's been slung over one shoulder. "What do you want it for, anyway? Don't you already have an angelic holy blade a tier above most things?"

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra grins and takes the moment to unzip the front zipper of her hoodie. Of course, underneath are pockets, a pair of bandoliers, and at least three different (additional) guns in their holsters. "I'm pretty good for medical supplies, especially with this." She jerks a thumb to the rifle on her back, "Failing that, if I run out, I do have magic."

    Part of her really, really hopes she wouldn't have to resort to magic. Something still didn't feel right.

    Of all the firearms on her, Kyra selects what looks to be the most ordinary of the bunch: a black, normal-looking semiautomatic handgun. It had the most ammo and these vicious mutated rat creatures didn't look like the kind of thing Kyra wanted to waste fancy ammunition on. "Something also feels dark and forboding about that weird-looking stand of trees out there." Noting one of the same spots that Homura just pointed out, she pauses then offers in a low voice, "I kind of have strong feelings about splitting up but if we're all going to be in visual range of each other it shouldn't be so bad, right?"

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
Once they've landed, and Simon has begun to step off the helicopter he takes a look at the rodent-like creatures and goes, "Eesh." He's rethinking this, honestly. He has no weapons, no real fighting skills... He can use what's on hand for survival, but that's about it. It's even more of a reminder that he needs to become stronger. But he didn't come along to provide combat support. He came because ancient artifacts and antiques were his specialty. "Soooo... Swamps, am I right? Heh heh. Hehhhh..." His rather weak attempt at humor sounds lame even to his ears. After all... LOOK at this place. Look at those THINGS running around. He has seen weird beasts before, especially after the War, but it's not really the wild life that's bothering him. "Eh... That's good I guess," he replies to Psyber distractedly.

"Usually heading towards danger isn't my thing, but it's what you have to do sometimes I guess. That pond is definitely pretty nasty looking. I mean... It's like a puddle of gross dark stuff, just sitting there. If I was a bad dude and wanted to hide something good inside of gross, that might be the place to do it. But those rocks with the beastiomorph things on them are also pretty awful. Not as much, but that stuff is leaking out of SOMEWHERE. Those trees are just kind of oogie, but I think there's real unpleasantness going on there too."

All this time Simon has been describing these places and gesturing, he's been doing so in response to things he can see and that he is assuming everyone else can see. But that might not actually be the case. The writhing corruption and twisting rot that pours out of these locations is really obvious to his Wizard Eyes. They 'feel' bad too, but mostly he's gauging them based on sight. "Anyway, I'm not keen on those trees, but I think something might be under those rocks. I agree with Kyra about splitting up, but as long as we don't go too far, I think we could be okay. If someone is willing to go along with me over there, I could check out if there's anything over where the Wild Things are. Maybe they're smart or something and we can negotiate." Always the optimist.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor huffs and puffs a little bit in relief as the VTOL lands, and alights from the chopper, looking so much more relieved. Right. "Ah, well, I'm not really an expert on what is or isnt't holy. Ah, religion is really your thing, sir. But."
    She glances out at the critters in the darkness. "Perhaps if we lit this place up a little bit more we'd have a better chance." A little bit of fire starts to crackle and crisp at the hand with Utopia on it, and she bites her lip. "Point me in the right direction, and I'll illuminate."

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    "As you said, we should split into pairs." Nathan says. "I shall investigate the ponds as well. Ancient holy artifacts are known to come to rest in small bodies of water, so it is a likely location." There is a firm nod there from him, but no more expression as he gets out just behind Psyber. He'll be linking up with Psyber and following along. "It is also the only location I may be of particularly substantial use investigating."

    Stepping firmly onto squelching marshlands, Nathan shakes his head at Homura. "Fragments of Amethyne-aligned power are, in a sense, precision tools best suited for this specific world. It is best to have an arsenal of what we need." He peers off towards the direction Psyber favored, and will start heading there to investigate if Psyber's gonna come along. Kyra and Simon do get some acknowledgement. "Splitting up may be less sensible in certain scenarios, but we may have a more limited timespan. No firm foothold has been established here. I can only assume that is because disruption attracts escalating response. A slow, deliberate investigation of one at a time may see us run out of time."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber elaborates for Homura, "Sovereign is a very special object. Once we find it, I'll let people in on its true purpose." He notes evasively, looking towards the girl, "Till then, trust me. It's... gonna be a major find, if it exists still. Could be destroyed, then I'll be SOL."

    He looks towards Simon's appraisal and thinks, "Three corruption points. I dislike that idea. But we'll do what we can." He pauses, looking towards Simon, "Keen ability, by the way. That seems pretty useful for the future." It's an off-hand compliment.

    "Nathan, you're with me." Psyber says rather distinctly, "Uh... Kyra, you wanna go with Homura to check out the thicket while Eleanor and Simon go to the third option? Or you can swap that around however you want."

    Splitting up is Risky, Kyra has that much right. But it's fastest and easiest to figure out what the deal is. He gives Kyra a nod to her comment about the medical supplies, "Alright, good. Nice to know you're prepared in case this gets messy."

    "Use your radio if you get in to trouble, backup won't be too far off."

    He adds before heading towards the pond. Nathan's right about artifacts and bodies of water, he hopes.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "I agree, Hall, spending more time than needed in this place seems like a bad idea. This place is...sick, I guess?" Kyra pauses for a moment before quickly shooting a rat creature as it makes a lunge from over a rock.

    "Go with Homura? I guess I could do that." Kyra looks to Homura whom strikes her as vaguely familiar. Wasn't she the secretary of Elliot Ness at one point? When Elliot Ness was on that one mission undercover as Federal Agent in Divided Equestria? ...yeah, Kyra's not going to bring any of that up. "Hello Homura, nice to meet you. Want to go check out the thicket?"

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor smiles over at Simon, and bows her head a little bit. "And since i am dreadfully poor with magic, I accept that. Lead on, Mr. Petrikov." That said, Eleanor reaches into the medic's bag at her hip, and pulls out... her handy dandy wrench. Fire in one hand, and a blunt object in another. A good start to things.

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
Useful ability? Did he do something amazing by accident or something? Scratching his head he just replies with, "Thanks?" He can't actually tell whether the things he sees are real or not. Sometimes he keeps quiet specifically because of that. But in this case, he made the assumption, and it turned out to be correct. ...He'll figure it out later. Nathan's reasoning makes total sense. Simon agrees with it. "Like I said, sometimes you have to do what you have to do. I'm just glad I didn't bring Marcy with us. This is no place for a little girl." The assignment of teams seems fine. The spark of fire Eleanor produces catches Simon's eye, and he nods approvingly. Many animals are instinctively afraid of fire - or rather, of unrecognized phenomena in general.

When she says she's terrible at magic, Simon just assumes the sparks are accomplished by some other method. He's more comfortable with the products of science anyway, so that's fine with him. "Well, I barely know anything about magic personally. I'm trying to change that, but so far the only time I've been able to use was when I-Ohhhhhh." He realizes what ability Psyber was talking about now. "Riiiiight. Uhh, I guess I kind of do have a little bit of magic, but I can't exactly use it at will. It's just... Always on. Showing my weird visions and crazy, crazy, crazy, just in my face, all the time." He sighs and looks down at his hands as he and Eleanor towards the rocks. "All the time," he says quietly.

Before they get close enough to be attacked (hopefully) he drags his gaze back up and puts on his determined face. "Right, so, should we try to scare those things off or talk with them? Corrupting influences can have some weird effects on native life. You'd be surprised what can wind up capable of intelligent discourse."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "I see. Fair enough. You're the one who'd know," Homura answers Psyber, and then puts her Soul Gem away-- well, back into ring form, rather. No use having the vulnerable egg-like gem glowing in her hand obviously here.

    "Sure, Hyral." The tone isn't condescending or anything-- it's just typical Japanese habit to refer to people by surname unless you're overly familiar with them. Homura oscillates a lot between that and not doing it depending on how much of a hurry she's in to shout names.

    Having a White Mage for company is never bad news.

    As they head for the thicket, she makes small talk. "One wonders how long it would take to fix this place. And whether or not the spells used still exist." Admittedly, she can't help but occasionally wander over where the sheen of age-old metal can be seen. It's the hoarding magpie in her.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    THE POND:

    And so the group splits up! The pond attracts the attention of some heavy hitters, Psyber and Nathan, and approaching it is a little disconcerting. The earth under the grasses gets moist, squishing underfoot and releasing a disturbing smell. It's like... rotting flesh. Even the corrupted ratthings are avoiding this pond, and very soon there are not even footprints leading toward it.
    The pond itself is still and silent right now. The water looks crystal clear, but after a few inches it reveals a murky darkness, with a subtle sway to it. Both Nathan and Psyber are likely to be observant enough to realize that there /is/ a slight breeze, rustling the grasses nearby, but the surface of the pond is utterly still. Not even a ripple.

    THICKET:

    The ratthing shrieks and the sound of many of them skittering away is heard. That should keep them busy for now. As Kyra and Homura approach, the thicket wavers. Almost like it wasn't really there. There's a definite gloom about it, but it looks more like the darkness itself is pulsing within. In fact... Homura will be familiar with this sort of weirdness, and she might be able to see the brief tendril of darkness that curls outward, brushing over a root before retreating again.

    MOUND:

    The creatures on that rocky mound perk up and lift their heads at seeing two approaching. Their movements are oddly stiff and jerky, whipping heads about to display... no eyes. Just pits in the head. Every movement is a slight creak, and the creatures are all dark and glossy in some manner. It only becomes clear a moment later why, as one of them lazily rises, tearing bits of dirt and clumps of earth free from the rock with fibrous roots that retreat into its underside. They look like giant cats, but they're entirely animated plant material.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    AT THE POND:

    "So. Stay away from the edge of that water, Nate," Psyber says in a serious tone, looking around, "This is a really disgusting mess," He adds with a cough.

    He looks around, scowling and making a truly grossed out face as the rotting flesh smell starts to permeate. Rather than choose to try to go INTO the water, Psyber testingly tries to kick the surface of the water witha boot and see what happens. It could be an illusion.

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    "Hmmm." How articulate, Nathan Hall. When he eventually finds the edge of the pond, squelching through the dirt and suppressing his smell reaction, hestops right when Psyber tells him to. "Unusual surface behavior. Noted lack of reaction to natural external force."

    He stays distant. "I will keep away, until you determine it is safe to investigate more directly. I have ideas of how it may be more educationally examined, after we know for sure that it will not try to murder me."

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor grumbles at the plant-monster-dog-things as she gets close, trying to get a better look before deciding against it. Ugh. "Well. At least we know what they are now." She looks over at Simon, and then over at the plant monster things. Talking first, hmmm?
    She holds up her hand to cast more light at herself and Simon. "Ahoy there. We're hoping to poke around your mound of dirt there for a bit, if that's quite alright with you."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Only one way to find out." Kyra offers at first to Homura's open-ended questions about the corruption in this world. "Someone'll have to take the time to sit down and study this place specifically. Hell, I'd take a look if we were going to stick around long. As of fixing it.."

    She grins, "I bet it could happen." The grin slowly disappears as they near the thicket and it seems to waver like a mirage caused by heat exposure. She hesitates for a few steps before catching up again with the girl. "Hey Homura...does this place look funny to you?" Warily, she stows the normal handgun and pulls her rifle into her hands. The rifle, though not at all lethal to anything (the quite opposite was true, in fact), it does give a longer reach good for poking things.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    THE POND:

    It's eerily still, yep. And Psyber's foot reaches out to tap with a boot in a light kick, to reveal... what? What exactly is it? It isn't solid like glass, but it really isn't water at all. It's more like some sort of clear ooze. The impact is enough to send a tiny ripple along the surface, making the murky darkness below stir...
    And then geysers of black, murky mud erupt all around the pond, from a distance of about ten feet from the edge. They rapidly interlink in the 'splatter' into a complex lattice, a web. A NET that is crashing inward, trying to join at the top before its 'prey' can escape.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Is it.. focusing in places?

    The tendril is, unfortunately, gone before Homura can get a lock on it. What IS that? A single entity? The area itself? But what's the point, can this place really get worse than it is that something needs to actively reach out with tentacles?

    She looks towards Kyra and shrugs. "Looks? It's creepy, I guess. Wouldn't plan a picnic or vacation here. It... FEELS wrong, though. And I think I just saw something reaching for that tree," she points towards the root that she thinks she saw the tendril near.

    "White Mages have holy spells, don't they? What if you tried... undoing that thing's work. On that tree, specifically. Try luring it out."

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
Ah! Big cats of some kind! Not... His preferred animal to negotiate with, but you never know. He raises a hand, and his eyebrows, and plants a big smile on his face as he calls out. "Uhh, hey there! Sorry for intruding, but we were kind of hoping to..." Then he notices they have empty sockets instead of eyes, and his lips, turned into a broad smile, part a bit, as he sucks in a breath through his sharp, triangular teeth. Then they get up, moving in weird ways, connected to some manner of vegetation. Simon's eyebrows and the corners of his mouth both come down, though he continues showing his teeth as he lets the air slowly hiss out between them, all while his raised hand slowwwwwllly lowers until its about parallel with his head. "Hsssssssssssss..."

He lifts and lowers his fingers in a small good-bye wave, and then backs up to let Eleanor go in front of him. She attempts to negotiate now, and Simon says, "IIII'm not sure they're going to be listening to reason, but maybe someone more intimidating will get them to do so." Pause. "And if that fails, dessicated bodies tend to burn good." He pauses, darts his eyes from side to side a few times, and says, "...Or so I'm told!"

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "SHIT. Nate, Countermagic. And get back!" Psyber says firmly, trying to hop back as a lattice closes in around him and (potentially?) Nathan. The half-angel immediately draws his gun and empties a clip into the surface of the pond.

    They're bullets, in the end, so they may not be effective against a gelatinous monster. But at the same time, it's custom ammunition that a hunter uses: engraved and blessed silver with various runes and etchings. It's not certain if he can kill the monster before it attempts to eat him.

    He's hoping between himself and Nathan, he can get something going.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    THICKET:

    Prodding the thicket with a gun is weird. The darkness is tangible, but not thick. It's not solid, nor even really liquid or the like. It just feels like a very, very thick fog, enough to resist the barrel of the rifle with a ghostly tug.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    THE ROCKS:

    The panther-like beast - Planthers? - stare at the two as if assessing, taking a small sniff of the air with wooden nostrils that don't flex at all. It's like they are mimicking animals, without being them. They all give off the same very dark, aching feeling of /wrongness/ as anything else, but...
    Are they intelligent? Maybe not. Maybe they are. Either way the entire group of five or six begin to climb down, wandering further toward the lake to sit and watch the spectacle and leaving the mound unguarded. Weird.

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    Nathan stands at the border of this series of geysers, looking very much like a guy who didn't just see a giant pond-sized monster try to spurt its giant horrible trap around his best friend. It's a very stoic look, but a very worried noise. He runs through several basic facts: This area is Twisted, and Nathan Hall has yet to encounter a creature made out of pure magic on Terra Majora besides gods, mostly beasts affected by magic, or at very worst plants affected by it. Therefore, it stands to reason that this is a mutated, Twisted beast, of some especially vast scale.

    "Countermagic will be ineffective until I can identify a valid target. Stand by." He says, in a perfectly tranquil monotone. "I have an idea." A beast as large as a pond has two core facts worth investigation. First is the location of its core anatomical features, and second is the resonant frequency of their major movements. The first will give Psyber a good target, and the second will give Nathan something he can use himself. A massive mutant jellyfish? Some kind of titanic worm masquerading as a lake? If it's got a heart, eye-spotss, or similar structures, he can locate them with a swift use of his SCAN ability in tandem with the use of his SONIC SPANNER to determine active movements and similar frequencies. He'll follow up with his own more direct assistance to Psyber shortly.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Yeah, we do-huh, look at that, it's like it's not even there." Kyra straightens and lets the rifle dangle in front of her by the strap. "So, let's see, high level holy magic would do a lot. But something smaller might work too, like Banish. I'm going to try that. Stand back."

    Kyra opens her right hand and murmurs a few words, power gathering through her. The only really audiable phrase happens to be 'Banish' and when directed upon the tree-well.

    Something goes wrong. Horribly, terribly wrong. It isn't holy magic that comes out of her but something else entirely, wild and unpredictable. It is fortunate it is centered on an inanimate object and not a person this time because the wild magic aims to destroy its pattern entirely and polymorph it into something completely different.

    Unfortunately, that something completely different happens to be an ochu, a writhing, carnivorous plant-monster native to Kyra's and a number of other similar worlds. The good news is it is rooted to its spot, much like the tree was. The bad news is...it's still pretty hostile and its vines have reach.

    Kyra reacts accordingly and puts distance between her and the ochu as its vines start whipping out at the two of them. "Shit! That was not supposed to happen."

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor blinks... as the shamblecats ingore both her and Simon completely. A look over to Simon, and she shrugs, and... gets on the radio. <<Psyber, Nathan, you've got earth elementals coming your direction. Cat like things. They didn't attack us.>>

    And then she's hopping over to the mound itself, smiling at Simon. "See? You were right! Just chat a bit first after all. Let's see what we're dealign with then." The Sister pulls out a proper flashlight, poking at the rocks with her wrench to see what's inside.

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
Simons watches the planther things wander off, apparently aware of them, but not caring in particular. The blue-skinned man looks towards Eleanor, exchanging a glance, and then just shrugs before starting to head towards the rocky mound too. "Yeah, I guess so! Hey, whatever made those panther things into plant-cat things might still be in here. They were flowing with some kind of bad stuff, so let's like, uhh... Be careful what we breathe or come in contact with, yeah?" He looks around for a stick or something, but doesn't have one on-hand so roots around in his backpack instead. He can't make Eleanor do all the work, after all!

What does he withdraw from his backpack? Why a gold-painted prop statue of a falcon of course! ...Why is he carrying this around! ...Because he liked that movie!

He starts using it as a combination bludgeon and pry bar, not caring about the damage to the piece of movie history apparently. "Heh. I guess maybe I'm not useless after all. Do missions like this usually work out when we try dialoguing with terrible monster things first?"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Homura stands back as instructed.

    Unfortunately Kyra does not manage to do what she was supposed to at all. Or maybe she does and this is actually what happened because of it? It's pretty unclear. But what is now clear is that the tree is not going to be a simple point and click job anymore.

    "I hope that was actually supposed to happen."

    Well, no use milling about and wasting time.

    Which is why Homura stays by Kyra's side and does absolutely nothing! This is pretty typical and you get used to her not doing anything ever after a while. Unless you're sensitive to time shenanigans, anyway. In which case you might be able to discern why a pair of grenades just suddenly appear, without pins, a foot over the monster's large gaping maw, with for obvious goal to fall in there.

    But maybe the darkness here will make this a worse encounter.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    ROCKS: Prying up some of the rocks is... not easy, but doable. Most of them are jagged and broken, making for easy handholds. They slide away without much progress at first, but soon larger stone slabs are visible. Still crudely-shaped and nothing made formally, but someone of great strength has chiselled in faded lettering. Only a few letters, very rough, but obviously meant as some kind of label.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    POND:

    Psyber fires several bullets into the ooze, and they are quickly spent, momentum-wise. BLUP BLUP BLUP! So, that was pretty ineffectual. Ooze and bullets don't mix very well, even if the impact DOES carve out several large craters in the ooze, which are slow to fill.
    Or... is it ineffective? Because a bubbling, hissing noise is rising from the monstrous pond, the blessings on the bullets eating into the clear gel and causing the bullets to sink farther, making the darkness thrash in pain. This does nothing to stop the mud net from closing in on Psyber, though, and beginning to close off the openings in the net, starting to form a dome.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    THICKET:

    An Ochu. Wonderful. It's already flailing around, burbling a roarish-type thing. Burbling is a good word, yes? But then grenades appear, and as soon as the Ochu was summoned, it's kind of knocked out by the dual explosion right in its mouth, causing a convulsive seizure and smack of the tendrils against the ground. It's not dead, but it's certainly stunned in some way, and badly hurt.
    The darkness in the thicket /moves/ then, rippling outward in a wave that slowly engulfs the wounded 'prey' that it has identified. This, bizarrely, leaves the thicket looking less threatening, with the gloom there only natural. It's light enough in there to see a few old, pitted bits of armor and weapons from foolhardy adventurers.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "You better be right, Nate! You better be VERY RIGHT. If I die, control of my company goes to Laine! Imagine Laine as your boss." Psyber notes as the net causes him to close in on the oozing not-Lake. He'll handle those earth creatures heading his way later, this is a more pressing matter.

    The gun is holstered and Psyber claps his hands. There's a peal of thunder and a flash of lightnign beore Einherjar appears in his hands. The longsword crackles with electricity as he tries to thrust it into the godawful being and discharge holy lightning.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra has a special place in her heart for time magic thanks to SOUJI MURASAME. ...and Nox and Kenshin to a lesser extent now. That is to say she's not much of a fan but can recognize the signs of time shenanigans and time magic. Objects and people suddenly appearing places is usually a good indicator. Today Kyra will just be thankful that the time magic isn't being used against her for a change.

    In the meantime, she grasps what few liquid napalm flasks she has on her, tugging them free of her belts. "Not the intended effect, I'm pretty sure. The white magic did not come out as white magic which is entirely /my/ problem. Though I guess it is possible that the environment here had an effect on me...a pretty distressing thought, actually-" Her words are interrupted by the grenades exploding inside the ochu's mouth. She looks up to assess whether or not Homura's grenades did the thing in.

    It didn't seem dead-that is, it was still in one piece. Kyra's all ready to give it a little double tap with one of her explosives when the intangible darkness leaves the thicket to go devour the stunned monster.

    "...wow, predatory darkness mist. It must be lairing there?" she looks to Homura, "I think now would be a good time to loot-er, I mean check its den. While it's busy eating." Slowly, Kyra puts away her chemicals and sidesteps towards the grove.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor huffs and puffs as she clears the pile of rubble, surprisningly strong for a young lady of her stature. Hands grip and tugs at the rocks until she sees... they've got a puzzle on their hands. "Bother, I don't know this language. Hmmmm, but, we can at least try to put this back together. Assuming we've got most of the pieces."
    A smile over at Simon. "How are you at jigsaws?" A grin, and she starts turning over their bits of 'rubble' to see if they've got more of this message there.

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    Nathan takes a moment to prepare, taking a ready stance. He has detected RESONANT FREQUENCIES of the motion in the mindless creature's roots, deep in the earth. "I would prefer not to imagine the headwear involved in that change of ownership, yes, I can assure you I have confidence in this assessment. Strike from above. I shall work from below."

    Magic swirls around one of his feet, and begins to stamp the dirt rapidly, blasting EARTH MAGIC into the ground in a way designed to forcibly disconnect roots from the earth and break up the lower structure of the creature with a minimum of disruptive ground-shaking. This should have at least the basic effect of un-grounding more of the creature, to ensure the electricity passing through it is most effective.

    Distant planthers are given concerned looks. Nathan does not like having his backup trapped in a net while predatory plants look on. and hopefully they're just there for an interesting show.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    POND:

    That's actually pretty effective. The pond doesn't make any noises, no shrieks of pain, but thrusting the sword in like that can even reach to the dark wavering bits. The electricity bolting through the creature has an immediate effect, especially with the holy element. The crackling pulse lights up the darkness, outlining organs and putrid messes of former meals, then the mud-dome immediately starts to dry out, crumbling slowly around Psyber.

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
...Huh. "The markings on these rocks..." Simon peers at them. He checks to see if the marks appear to be worn by natural means or a conscious effort on someone's part. Regularity doesn't necessarily imply intelligent craftsmanship after all. But there's no mistaking it. This was intentional. Now the problem is determing the nature of the markings - are they just 'tags'? Words? Pictographs? Is this a language Simon can decypher, or something completely alien to him? They have limited time here, and the other groups are under attack. He's not super strong himself, but working with the surprisingly strong Eleanor should get these rocks turned over and sort through them a bit faster.

He has a pen and a pencil in his pocket, and papers in his backpack. Making rubbings should at least give them a record they can take with them, since transporting giant rocks isn't necessarily viable.

"I've never met crossword I didn't like!" he replies as he gets to work.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "Hm. Not a bad idea. If it's eating that thing, then..." Homura considers. How long can the Ochu last, badly wounded, against darkness so thick it forms an almost physical presence? Whatever that answer is it's almost assuredly not long enough move around with total freedom and be a loot-obsessed treasure hunter.

    Thankfully, limited time will never be an issue for Homura.

    She moves towards Kyra and without warning grabs her free hand. A thick ribbon is tied to it, and extends about ten feet before tying around Homura's hand as well. "Keep this on, don't wander off so far it breaks."

    And then, time stops. The world loses some of its colors, though does not become complete greyscale so much as faded-- besides the two of them, that is. It's also maddeningly quiet, since there's not so much as a single background noise like this. It's the sort of quiet that would generally make you want off the ride after a while.

    On the other hand, this gives them more freedom to go look at all those bodies and their equipment. Dig up a bit. The darkness is probably strong enough to break free after a while... but for a couple of minutes, it should hold. Probably.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    ROCKS:

    Hauling the rocks out of the way enough to see more of the stone slabs, at first it looks like a very... bizarre puzzle. The letters don't make much sense, especially in an unknown language! But with Simon actually writing down and comparing them, he'll easily notice that most of them have variations of the same sequence on the letters. Some are the exact same, in fact, but the second sequence is always different.

    They aren't able to fit together, either. They definitely are ordered, roughly, in how they're set in the earth though. Which means each one has a short, similar message, followed by another word.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    THICKET:

    The good news is that with time stop, it's pretty easy to get in, check things out, and get out. The darkness is feeding, not just fighting, so it needs time to defeat and then /eat/ the ochu. It might have been a more epic battle if Homura hadn't blown off the ochu's mouth. On the other hand, the darkness probably sensed the wounded animal.

    The bad news is, most of the equipment is pitted as if by strong acid, obviously not of the quality Psyber's looking for. Or if it is, it's ruined now. A single, shimmering spear tip, leaf-shaped, is the only thing that has survived worth gathering. The rest is trash. The speartip might be magical, though the subtle tarnish it has gained says it isn't indestructible.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Fuckin' DIE. DIE DIE DIE. You piece of shit!" Psyber stabs at the bond violently, thrusts of his blade and crackles of lightning surrounding him as he does so. He's not going to stop until the thing stops moving, and even then he's going to keep going to try to vaporize it out of the way so he can see what it decided to settle on top of.

    "So Nathan, I HAVE been thinking about hats though," Psyber says standing up, "I think you should get a tricorn. I'm an Admiral now, you're my second in command. You need a ship hat. Can you really think of a hole in this plan?"

    He's wiping disgusting mud off himself as he says this.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor just smiles over at Simon, happy to be of help really. The man seemed a little distant, and this seemed to be helping. Besides, she really didn't feel likecalling up someone from her blood in a place like this to play Linguist. This didn't seem like the sort of place to call up the memories of a dead person, even if the method wasn't magical in nature.
    Elle will dutifully shift rocks and slabs around for Simon to solve this puzzle.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Homura seizes Kyra's hand and she looks up, startled, assuming that she was about to be pulled away from some kind of danger. Turns out it was just to dole out a lifeline. She holds up her hand to examine the ribbon only to be seriously distracted as she realizes that, for once, she was on the other side of a stop spell. Only this time it looked like the whole world was stopped which is practically unheard of where she was from.

    The purpose of this is clear, though: plenty of time to dig through the remains at the den. There are quite a lot of them, it seems and Kyra finds herself with newfound respect for this creature's dangerousness. Unfortunately, their thorough search does not reveal any sign of what might be a super holy weapon.

    "I'm not seeing anything, Homura. It looks like all the stuff here was seriously wrecked by that mist's digestive system. Well...except that. Maybe." Kyra points to the shimmering speartip.

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    Nathan continues to stamp in the direction of those organs. Once things seem to work out, he's going to wander over to the corpse of the pond. Lord, what a weird line to write in any context, that one's just something you'd never expect to put into narrative. Well, anyway, his footing is unsteady but he takes this all very slowly, so he likely gets to Psyber after a long delay, but eventually gets there, and takes his standard neutral stance.

    "It would not suit the chairs you select." Nathan says, dryly. "Additionally, important facts to consider: A dog wearing a hat is only remarkable because of the people around that dog /not/ wearing hats." Nathan Hall, dropping philosophical bombs here after almost dying. "Now, let us see what can be done here." Nathan's no ICE KING but he's got a bit of storm magic to try and freeze the vast creature's protective membrane for easier (and less nauseating) vaporizing, expelling the magic at his feet towards the thing. Hopefully its offensive capacity has been dealt with, anyway.

    He's on Artifact Patrol, which is to say, he's looking very, very carefully at those old meals for anything that's unusually holy. Glowing, shiny, pure, that sort of look.

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
Simon is bothered somewhat by the fact the pieces don't seem to go together. "I don't think this is a puzzle. But there's definitely a recurring sequence here." He puts aside rearranging the stones, and says, "Hang on a sec, please! I need to get something write on!" Simon trusts Eleanor's strength and her ability, and assumes no gross corruption mist is going to snake out and kill him while his back is turned without at least a warning being shouted his way. Completely forgetting Eleanor can't... Actually see that stuff. WHOOPS.

He starts rooting around in the backpack again, and pulls out a thick scrapbook, stuffed to the brim with newspaper clippings. One of them flutters to the ground and seems to depict a tan-skinned man with wavy, dark hair, and glasses, carrying an odd looking book. The headline is 'Simon Petrikov Unearths Ancient Treasure'. And beneath that, 'Silly man returns from expedition with a marginally exciting discovery.' Not exactly flattering but if Eleanor notices while Simon is busy tearing blank pages out of the back of his scrap book that's... Marginally interesting maybe? Probably would be more so in a less immediately dangerous location with so many far more exciting things going on.

Once he turns around and starts writing down the symbols in order, he notes that - while he can't read the language, it seems that a phrase is being repeated - or variations upon such, some with a second and different sequence. "I can't read this right now, but figuring it out will have to come later. Sounds like the others are having trouble."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    A speartip's better than nothing. As Kyra points it out, Homura reaches out to grab it-- if that means sustaining damage from any leftover or pooling acid, it's not too big a deal, she'll have Kyra fix it. Though a bit of reinforcement with her own magic can't hurt there.

    Once they have the tip, she'll take a good look, allowing Kyra to as well. "I doubt this is what Psyber wanted. A magical weapon is a magical weapon though. There must be more lying around, but we shouldn't strain this much longer. I think I might know a blacksmith who can take a look at this if you don't."

    Lloyd, most likely.

    Well, time to go. But before they do...

    Homura's free hand produces a bright purple lightning bolt, forming into a sword. The holy blade Tyrfing gleams, and she points the blade towards the darkness and the Ochu. A blast of holy lightning is released, and freezes about halfway to the monsters. Then she puts the sword away.

    "No use letting it get a free meal. If you want to add something in, go ahead while you can." No such thing as overkill, and Kyra can probably hurt the darkness much easier than she can.

    If Kyra does not want to pitch in, time will resume its course. It will otherwise do so after she pitches in.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Don't mind if I do!" Kyra chimes in cheerfully after spending a little too long looking at the frozen in the air bolt of holy magic that Homura just produced from Tyrfing. She gathers up ever single one of her remaining liquid napalm flasks and spreads them all around the Ochu-darkness pair as close as possible, circling the monsters. Once time starts going again and the holy lightning strikes, the flasks will all trigger soon afterwards.

    "We might want to put some distance between us and those things when the napalm goes off."

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    POND:

    Freezing the pond's surface helps, allowing a shattering jab to clear things away. There's... not much in here, though. Some scraps and bleached bones, and two pretty nice but barely-magical daggers. Nothing of artifact level. Which means it either... isn't here, or it's somewhere around that mound of evil.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    THICKET:

    There's no need to go into detail here. The darkness was physical enough to hurt, and the ochu was already dying. The chief threat with this one was the possibility of walking into the darkness and basically ending up in a monster's maw. Whatever it uses to 'digest' stuff didn't seem to be an acid that lingered, though. In fact, the trees were untouched, so it must selectively 'eat' stuff. At least they got something out of it, yes?

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Tch, just daggers," Psyber says, adding them to his Fetch Modus with minimal effort on his own part.

    Psyber looks to Nathan and says, "You're right. LAINE needs a hat. It's all so clear to me. I'll get her a tricorn." Psyber decides, flipping through his Fetch Modus and eventually tearing off a page with a half-assed sword drawn on it. He rips that page off and a new weapon appears.

    It's a massive greatsword, "Hey Jude. Spool up all muh Strike Drivers. I wanna just crack this place like a walnut and see what's hanging out underneath it."

    And just like that, Psyber swings his Abstractum up over his head and then straight back down.

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    ROCKS:

    Finally, the slabs. The writing is pretty clearly improvised, but it's chiselled in hard. The actual mound used is old... really old. And the planthers have been 'rooting' there for a while. Some of the large slabs are off-kilter. One of them, when being shifted to read, shows a rotting steel-toed boot poking out under the earth. A corpse. The dark magic reeks here more, but it doesn't look animated.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    RIP the Ochu and the darkness.

    It was probably a spectacular show though.

    Homura unties the ribbon from her hand, assuming Kyra will follow suit. It is not especially important but waste not want not, she'll stuff it back into her hammerspace.

    "Guess we'd better regroup with Psyber."

    And lo they will do so.

Nathan Hall (168) has posed:
    "Fantastic." Nathan says, satisfied at having deftly avoided the headwear issue entirely. Still monotone, still so dry that environmentalists are putting millions into reforestation around his vocal cords. All in good humor, though, he was being a bit silly there.

    Oh, Psyber's about to split the earth. Nathan draws a quick circle in the air with one glowing fingertip and quickly steps onto a translucent yellow circular platform. "Oh, we are doing that, then, okay."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra unties the ribbon from her hand

    "Well that was fun. I'm out of napalm but I feel it all went to a good cause." Kyra holds her hand out for a down low high five from Homura, hoping it'll be recognized. She moves on soon afterwards with Homura, though, knowing that they should catch up with Psyber in case he needs some backup.

Eleanor Lamb (40) has posed:
    Eleanor sighs at the dead man's boot, even as she looks over her shoulder at Psyber getting ready to Zantetsuken the pond and everything else around them. She sighs a bit and looks over at Simon. "How much of that have you got copied?" She is already slipping gloves on, and moving to hastily attempt to uncover what's left of that corpse. If they're here for an artifact, it's likely down in that muck... if it's here.

Abstractum.Net (347) has posed:
    Adjudicator emerges from the Sylladex groggily, but dutifully. "Of course." It says, swiftly. The greatsword glows a deep crimson, and fire begins to build on it, intensifying in seven stages. When Psyber slams the blade into the ground, the brilliant flames are at least as tall as the man himself, and all at once they plunge straight into the ground, trying to crack it open. On some worlds, power of this scale would be akin to a major meteor impact when it comes to terrain damage, bringing out a huge crater. How much will be revealed here is another matter entirely, up to the resilience of this world's terrain composition.

Simon Petrikov (622) has posed:
Simon wrinkles his long nose at the uncovering of the dead body but continues with his work until everything is copied down. "All of it. The dark magic is stronger the further down we go. I don't know what that foot's attached to, but even if it's not moving right now, be careful. It could pull something funny at any moment. Or worse." It really does seem as though this mound is really old. Then Simon thinks for a moment and says, "...Wait, I think this might be a burial mound. A cairn or something like it. Maybe we shouldn't, uhh... Disturb the remains. I can't exactly dismiss the idea of ghosts and curses as superstition anymore, yeah?" He will move to help Eleanor if she continues, but holy artifact or not, digging up dead people just doesn't seem RIGHT somehow.

Or maybe that's the feeling of 'wrongness' that is getting stronger the further down they go, to say nothing of what he can actually SEE coming out of it.

"...Also maybe hold your breath."

Elliana Fairchild (92) has posed:
    POND:

    *KTHOOOM!*

    Seven or eight Strike Drivers blast downward, shattering the corpse of the pond and splitting the ground asunder! That's a bit of a hint, because it cracks deeply into the ground... rather deep, in fact, but it's not a devastating assault that would happen in certain other worlds. It's deep /enough/ though. It digs down to the SHAJEM'S TOMB!

    Or it would if there was one there. There isn't. What it does find is a lot of dirt and rocks. That... and skeletons. Bodies. Some with equipment on, but they're buried between two and ten feet underground, all about. The pond had three of them tangled up together, one with a sword in the other's gut. The remnants of the battle, apparently.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Upon discovering that his impromptu investigation brought about nothing, and receiving proper allowances from the radio channel, Psyber sheaths his sword upon his back. He then folds his hands behind his head and lets out an incredibly stressed sigh, "I really wanted to find Sovereign before the next stage of the plan. Vexing."