Scene Listing || Scene Schedule || Scene Schedule RSS
Owner Pose
Rubi-Kan Vagrants BAZAAR BETWEEN TIME
Hidden Realm


     Having bested the beetle queen in the abandoned aqueduct, evaded the corrupting influence of the Tar and activated a strange shrine, you summoned a mysterious blue portal. This portal, according to Phreak and the Engineer, should allow you to 'force' a destination, bypassing the random effect of the teleporters and guaranteeing you'll be able to reach Rallypoint Delta. You've made it through the portal. The question, as always, is 'how.'

     Stepping through the blue portal deposits you in a cavern, dimly lit by blue-white luminescent crystals and lazily drifting blue fireflies. The portal remains behind you, the ceiling of the cavern stretching far above. You stand upon a natural walkway that bends around into a tunnel--the mouth of which is lit by hanging braziers filled with the aforementioned glowing crystals.

    On either side of this walkway, the floor drops out into a deep chasm, vague shapes of structures faintly lit therein by sickly yellow-green. The Captain drops a small stone into this chasm. There is no sound to indicate it's hit the ground.

    'Peace' wouldn't be the right word to describe the atmosphere, in this place. 'Stillness' might be a better word. The clock display on Phreak's wrist-terminal is frozen in place, down to the milisecond. Analog timepieces don't have this issue. "Whoa. This isn't just dilation. This place is outside the rules--like, a lot of them."

    "I hear something," says the Huntress softly, pointing towards the mouth of the tunnel at the end of the natural walkway. "Over there. Chatter, or maybe talking." The speech patterns don't sound like any language you'd be familiar with, but the intonation, the trailing off, the inflection--they do suggest someone talking to themselves while they work. "Our ticket to the rally point, maybe?"
Kukuru Whether it's peace or stillness, Kukuru looks about as languid as she usually does while following that walkway downwards. She shuffles along the edge of the walkway despite that obvious drop, even leaning forward dangerously to peer downwards and listen when the Captain drops a stone in.

"Ooh, so this place is illegal? That's neat." She replies to Phreak with a gentle laugh, perking up barely when the Huntress mentions the chatter in the distance. Kukuru listens closely for a few moments to try and make heads or tails of it with her enhanced hearing, but that alone probably won't stop her from just starting to head that way with all the subtlety of someone practically singing during an evening stroll.

At least she's not actually singing, but she's definitely strolling. "If it is, then that'll make the rest of our jobs way easier. Hmm..." She taps a finger against her cheek, digs into her pocket to eye that strange teardrop bauble that she had picked up as a prize, then turns back to her companions while starting to walk backwards towards the chatter and also straight towards another drop.

"Do you think they'll know how this thing works? They sound like they might be pretty smart." She's guessing that last part, but it's an easy guess. Everyone she knows is smart.
Rita Ma      When next the party enters a zone with monsters, Rita's army will naturally replenish itself. But right now, she has only a couple of stragglers with her after the recent bloodbath: a beetle with a cracked carapace and a smaller-than-average lizard. It's fortunate she doesn't have more at the moment, considering the meager space on the walkway.

     For some reason, she seems oddly uneasy about having them around. But that could be masked by her fear of heights.

     Rita takes one peek over the edge of the walkway and is immediately stricken by fear. Her eyes open wide; her hands come up to her mouth as if she might bite her nails; a visible shudder runs up her spine. The lizard grabs the back of her jacket to make sure she won't teeter over, and the beetle wraps its limbs around the lizard to anchor it further.

     "That's... it's way too far! There should be a railing or something, shouldn't there?! What's this walkway even balanced on? Is this safe?? Auuuh..."

     When she finally manages to tear her eyes away, she clings to Liza's arm like a lifeboat in a storm.

     "It doesn't feel like a trap," she opines after getting ahold of herself. "If it were, they'd make it as easy to get here as possible, right? But this was pretty picky about getting in. Maybe we're not supposed to be here, but I feel like we are. Let's go into the cave." There is definitely an ulterior motive to her saying so: being in the cave instead of the walkway means she doesn't have to think about looking down. But she will, of course, follow Liza, and the bug and the lizard will follow her.

     She gives the two monsters a backward glance with a strange expression.
Liza Grier     "Outside the rules, not against them." Liza crackles absentmindedly to Kukuru. "Like what people think maritime law is. And like what void law really is." She glances at her own displays in the corner of her vision, then checks her wrist comp. "No time, no loc, no coords, no distance, no . . . gravity or pressure? No ambient even. What a hole. Someone either made this on purpose, or decided to get here on purpose, just for those reasons. It's too perfect."

    Liza removes her helmet again, stowing it to the hardpoint at her lower back. Eyes closed, she breathes in deeply through her nose, and releases the held breath with a dissatisfied sound. Eyes open, they're tinted a strange purple-red. Must be the blue lighting. "There's enough of us and not enough of them. No harm in it. If they're here, they're probably no friend to whatever self-declared divine authority this planet is currently fucked under."

    She glances reproachfully to Rita's monsters as the shorter woman clings to her arm. "We're not keeping them. I'm pretty sure the lizard thing at least sort of qualifies as slavery." Then she just picks Rita up and puts her on her shoulders (silently, this is for the purpose of Rita not squeezing up against her and trying not to look down while she's trying to walk). Without hesitation, she approaches the voice at the end of the walkway, weapon held in a relaxed posture against her middle, so that she's visibly non-hostile, but ready to fight, when she makes contact.
Redshift Operators     The cyborg looks over the edge. Look close, or exotically sense even more closely, and you can see a phantasmal future-form take a leap over the edge... and never come back. She turns away from the call of the void and heads along that walkway. "A locale with plenty of gravitas *and* gravity, I see."

    The astronaut checks something on their electronics. "No clocks. Time zoned out." They look up. "Maybe we can take our time here." As if assured by this, the team's techie is the one who leads the other three Redshifts in there.

    "We were looking for someone or something that messed with space, right? Messed up geometry? That's gotta be linked with this." Rambles one of them, the gruffest of the four. "And caves don't get like this all on their own."
Liza Grier     "True. This cave definitely isn't a natural formation." says Liza to Red Dwarf. "Look at it. Someone built it. That means it has to lead somewhere. Phreak was probably right; we just didn't expect to have to walk part of the way." She shrugs at Neutron. "We can take our time as long as nothing is trying to kill us. That's the best time to take it, actually."
Hiromi     There are a lot of things that don't affect Hiromi, or to which she instantly adapts, if not silently endures. It's no fault of the space, and no hit against its vastness, that the heights don't bother her, even while she's leaning over the edge. Nor even while she's craning her neck below the walkway they're on for a better view, keeping herself anchored with one foot stretched behind her, one toe dug in. She bounces back to her feet from that position, hard clicks from claws on stone as she stalks her way toward the voices.

    She's never found a form of 'language' she couldn't, so long as it was spoken by one with a semblance of life.
Rita Ma      "Sla- I know we're not keeping them!!" Rita says. But the way she's obviously flustered hints that Liza must have hit on something. Wasn't she letting her minions get killed by the dozens just a few minutes ago? "I'll... get rid of them at some point. I promise." The lizard and the beetle trade a silent glance, but their loyalty is unwavering.

     That's evidenced a moment later when Liza picks Rita up. The sudden movement directed at its queen/'hero' makes the stunted lizard briefly open its mouth, but it shuts again with a teeny wisp of smoke after sensing Rita's intentions. Rita herself emits a sharp "Ah-!", but it settles into a low, sunny "mmm!" when she finds herself on Liza's shoulders.

     "Thanks, Ms. Grier. You're the best."

     White Dwarf's hypothetical plunge, and Hiromi's perilous leaning, bring her to the verge of biting her nails again, but she doesn't give voice to that distress.
Raziel @emit Raziel appears with the rest of the group, those eyes of his take a look around to see what is there, feeling what others are getting with their instruments.  Words in the distance caught his attention, moving into the shadows for a moment to help stay hidden.  He sulks around as others head directly towards the voice.  

'A stillness filled this place.  It felt like something was waiting with bated breath as if time itself paused in this one moment.  What that something was, I was unsure of yet.  However, in this hostile place, I doubt whatever it was would be good.'

The Soul Reaver did not come to his hand yet, instead, he waited for whatever voice to reveal if they were friend or foe, ready to jump in should they be a foe.  In this place, things tended to reveal what they were very quick.  
Rubi-Kan Vagrants      "Probably illegal, but not for that reason," Phreak flatly replies to Kukuru. "More for -that- reason," he then agrees with Liza. But Kukuru's probably listening more so to the chattering. He falls in behind her, as do the others. Huntress gently ushers Kukuru away from the edges of the bridge.

     Her guess that the voice belongs to someone smart may not be too far off. Hiromi and Kukuru are the first close enough to interpret it, not distorted by echoes from cave walls. The Understanding parses the chattering as something to do with experiments and tinctures. The voice is throaty and guttural, but with a cheerful inflection that calls to mind an amiable, elderly college professor. "...close to a breakthrough, almost certainly..."

     "Well, M, it can hold the two of us," says the Engineer, gesturing towards himself, then Red Giant, as he walks. "And the rest of you, with no complaints. So I'd say it's as safe as a place like this could be." In the dim light, the Engineer's bubble helmet appears to have a glow of its own, the silhouette of a face faintly visible from witin. Hard, artificial angles along the jaw.

     The creature is tall enough that the Green Knight would reach his lower chest. His back is to the party when they enter the tunnel--a circular chamber carved into rock by diligent, patient work. One-handed work. Light purple-white, smooth skin with a thin, moist iridescent sheen. One atrophied, twisted arm. Both hands end in webbed fingers. A shawl wrapped around the neck, resting at the shoulders. A tail as thick around as Red Giant's leg, twitching idly as an amphibian head is turned down in study.

     "This, then, would be the newt that did it, M," says the Captain mirthfully to Rita, with a glance towards Neutron thereafter.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants      The newt that did it turns to face you. "Oh, hello!" He burbles. Milky eyes peer straight forward, and he sniffs the air. "You're not from my pod." He seems quite pleased with this. "And... why, yes. I -do- smell coins." He chitter-chuckles to himself, fixing his scarf with his working hand. "A convenient shorthand--but suffice it to say they're useful to my research, whatever their third-dimensional appearance might suggest. I have some things to offer in trade, if you like."

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTkPVYzMRoo

     All around you, there are curios on display. A human-sized crystal with a human-shaped blur visible inside. Tucked against the wall is a counter where there are a number of those strange pods, each forced open to reveal some manner of artifact. The newt's workbench, behind him, holds some manner of distillation train, slowly dripping a cloudy black-blue liquid into a decanter. Finally, on the far end of the room, two crucibles, red and green, sit adjacent to a pair of small, shimmering portals--one displaying a forest at sundown, the other displaying a frozen valley with unmistakably human structures.

     "And," notes the newt with a sweep of his working arm towards the aforementioned portals, "Services, I suppose. By all means, take your time! You've got all you'd ever need, here."
Hiromi     Hiromi had saved some coins, but that doesn't strike her as terribly important right now. Moving around to almost-literally poke her nose into everything in turn, inspecting, from the strange pods to the crucibles to the cloudy liquid, she completes her circuit to round on the large lizard, stretch her neck to either side, and not-quite-ask,

    "The Usurpers. Of them, speak."
Kukuru "Outside, not against..." Kukuru repeats after Liza, squeaking slightly when the Huntress stops her from proving Rita's point. She rights herself immediately afterwards, chuckling softly and giving her a light pat on the head while considering the rest of the space with the lack of time, location coordinates, time zones...

"Wait, but can we take our time if there's no time?" She finally asks as she looks from Liza to the Astronaut, then steps around a few times as more if it seems to boggle her further. "And we're still stepping around like there's laws of... Physics?" She's pretty sure she's using that word right. She looks towards the rest of the group just to see if they give her any indication of being impressed at how smart she totally was.

There's intelligent life forwards, too, and she doesn't really bother hiding her presence as she hears the voice a little more clearly. Upon spotting the source of the sound, she looks between the Engineer and the Captain once the latter identifies it as That Newt.

"He-llo there. Nope, we're new around here." She replies honestly, peering at him for several long moments to study his features before actually looking around at the rest of the stuff on sale. It's hard not to look at all those curios, and the decanter in particular gets her attention as she approaches it. She takes out her own chronobauble, comparing the shapes and the liquids inside before turning to the newt. "Oh, hey. Is this the same kind of stuff in these?"

A beat, and then Hiromi gets her mind back on track. "Oh. Um. Did you ever hear of anyone coming or heading towards Rally Point Alpha? Which way they headed, if they came through here, all that stuff?"
Raziel Raziel moves forward, and when the initial reaction to their presence wasn't a hateful shriek followed by a flood of enemies, he steps out of the darkness to stand fully upright instead of in an awaiting crouch.  He regards the newt, noting its appearance as being similar to the others.  Though as to why was shortly answered.  

'The room, despite its stillness, had some activity going on.  In the corner, where the sounds of an unknown language spook, we found a newt creature.  Unlike the rest of his kind, he did not seem bent on our deaths.  One hand atrophied, and with milky eyes he regards us.  Though with an intent that was familiar to me all the same...that of a merchant to that of potential clients.'

Raziel speaks up, "If you are from the same...pod as they are, why do you not strike out at us with the same recklessness that they do?" he asks, curious as to what was different about this creature.  Or rather, perhaps it is this /place/ is the answer, but assumptions would not get them anywhere.  

He looks towards pods opened up, likely against their will, with the prizes on display.  It would be rude to not, at least, look at what was for sale, but at the same time, he wondered what was really at the source of all of this.  "Forgive my boldness in this question, you just happened to be the first face we have seen that hasn't tried to kill us besides our own."

'Filled with various curios that seemed forced opened from boxes we have encountered, this room almost seemed similar to a shop.  Beyond it, though, were two portals.  One with a forest at sundown, the other depicting a frozen valley with human buildings.  Whatever this place was, it did give us a better choice of destinations.'
Liza Grier     Despite her evident curiosity and caution, the first thing Liza feels she has to say, offered strangely guardedly, is "Do we? If time doesn't pass here, we'd exit at the same moment we came in, sure. But then from our perspective, you'd have to have already been here for an infinite length of time. The fact that you're still here instead of either dead or moved on means that can't really be true, right?"

    "Delta." Liza habitually corrects Kukuru, then points to the snowy portal. "That's what it looks like to me." She starts scanning the man-sized crystal with a hard look, focused on what exactly is inside of it with a hint of distasteful concern. "What are you even doing here? Why do you need bluespace metamoney?" She mutters something partially inaudible about a 'cryptocurrency cryptid'. "We're not making any deals until you explain what all of that does."
Redshift Operators     "Looks like one of those Sourcer dens. Or a Bloodletter." Says the gruff Operator as he gets in here. "But you're dealing more like one of the Board. Hey," He looks around here. "Anyone else come through here? Couple dozen, all about like us, looking beat to hell by the monsters?" He tilts his head at Kukuru, indicating that his question is functionally a companion to hers. "Took us a goddamn lot of work to crack a gate into your little tesseract cave, need to know if anyone else did."

    The astronaut wanders to the shimmering portal to the frozen valley. They stare at it for a long time. "That's our objective." They say, blankly. "Right? They built structures at the rally point. How do we get there?"
Rita Ma      "Oh," Rita says dumbly. "You're the lizard from the statues. Right? I'm sorry." What, exactly, she's apologizing for isn't abundantly clear. She tilts her head from side to side and waves, watching the newt's eyes. It's blind, isn't it?

     She somewhat reluctantly dismounts from Liza's shoulders; even apart from the pleasant proximity, something about that high-up perspective appeals to her. But the opportunity to prod at strange things is more appealing still. "Thanks, Ms. Grier! Do you think we could do that again when we're going to leave?"

     The first thing to really draw her attention is the crystal containing a humanlike blur. She wanders over and presses her hand up against it, gauging its solidity. The beetle and the lizard follow her; the former sticks close like a loyal dog, while the latter looks around with wary caution. It just might be the first of its kind to ever see this place.

     Rita's eyes try to read details into the foggy silhouette within the crystal. Finally, she looks up at the newt. "Who's in there? What happened to them?"
Liza Grier     Liza shrugs at Rita. "You weigh like forty something kilos. Be my guest." Indeed, she'd shown no real notice of Rita's weight even while EDF combat strafing. "Though I think we're probably just jumping through a wormhole at this rate. Phreak?"
Rubi-Kan Vagrants      "Oh, well, I can certainly give an explanation. At least, for your second question, that is." He laughs. Maybe she's right. It does seem like he wants for company, though. "The pods your friend is sniffing there--they're curious things unique to a complex interworking of factors found only on a certain planet, caused by its moon. A planet you rather smell like!"

     One pod smells like decay-in-waiting. Another, like marble. Two, like bone. A fifth, like an eye plucked from its skull. The crucibles have the smell of vessels used to smelt much, in their time, myriad different metals mingling with burnt fiber, even the acrid scent of plastic. The liquid smells like a contradiction--something sharp and chemical and deadly, mixing with something soft and fragrant and medicinal.

     "They contain 'pieces of history' and 'memories' but until they interact with a coin, which one you may get is entirely unknowable--" The newt sniffs at Hiromi. Then over at Rita's monsters. "Yes, you're certainly from -there- alright." He scratches the side of his head with a purple-white finger.

     "...unknowable, that is, until the pod is opened. With special equipment like mine, the item can be forced into a different shape. A more desirable shape, perhaps. To touch one is to take in a piece of its story, to have one is to wield its power and its curse. A great many of them tell the story of the planet itself, its people. But some, smelling of your people and others still, do find their way in. It is a strange planet, isn't it?"

     Other explanations are offered: the crucibles can melt down items to exchange for more powerful ones, and the portals are backdoors into the planet's teleporter network. One of them, the Captain confirms to the astronaut, is Rallypoint Delta. Finally, the figure in the crystal--the newt admits he's never had enough 'coins' at once to do the work necessary to release them.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants      "Strange as it might be, -that place- isn't my planet," he utters next to Raziel. "And neither am I a Lemurian. I'm a newt." One that is, as Rita had guessed, blind. His eyes don't track her hand. This, offered to Rita and Raziel alike: "You might consider this place like a tide pool--a place where your world and mine touch, but isn't wholly part of either. I, myself, am amphibious--able to exist in both. That said... I'd like this place to remain a secret from my pod. So far, I've been successful. Now... your friend there asked about Usurpers. Where have I heard that?"

     He scratches at his chin. "Ah. Yes. Gleaned from the 'lunar items!' I remember, now. They're known as 'imps.' Extradimensional beings, able to bend space. They have these curious little organs that--" He pauses. "It's not important. They came, from their plane, to try and take an artifact from -that place.-" He means Petrichor V, presumably. "Providence stopped their invasion, and when their overlord came and tried to force the issue, he and his army were soundly defeated and banished to... well..." He sniffs the air, then chuckles. "There, actually," nodding towards the portal revealing the snowy canyon.

     Kukuru asks about her bauble, comparing it to the tincture the newt is working on. "Hm? No--what you've got there is interesting, certainly, but not intended for direct ingestion. It appears to be a localized temporal distortion--the shape and casing of the container are intentional. Meant to direct it." He beams proudly, putting a cork into the decanter once the last of the solution drips in. "This is a tonic I've been working on. I've finally managed to reduce the side effects to an acceptable level..."

     "For a paltry sum, I can lock the teleporter's coordinates into your 'Rallypoint,' so that when you leave my little tide pool, you'll be shunted there instead of the scorched acres."

     Phreak nods. "Me and him figured it was possible. So, yeah, we are, but..." He glances towards the figure encased in crystal. "I'm kinda with M on this one. Shouldn't we check this out, first?"

     "As for the artificer," he says, moving over to Rita as she peers at the crystal, "It's hard to know who they might have been, but it isn't hard to spot the handiwork of the House Beyond. The most ambitious of an already radical, driven people. This is a protective working--a last ditch effort to preserve one's own life. To undo it would be... laborious."
Raziel "So we're not there.." Raziel seems more thoughtful than disbelieving of the question.  A place that touches on that place and his own, and the answer that he wasn't a Lemurian, but then what does 'pod' mean in this case?  Perhaps related?  

Raziel inspected one of the pods themselves.  

'Inspecting the pods themselves, I found myself looking at something odd.  Though the Archwolf's senses were keener than my own, I could sense death from at least one. Though the others remained far from my senses as to what they were exactly.'

Pieces of history as they are referred to, perhaps of that world, more likely others.  

"So you are saying that their forms are...mutable.  A memory or concept idealized, but not fully given form until it comes into contact with these...coins?" he asks, clarifying.  "Do you know why it is specifically these coins?"
Rita Ma      "You're hiding from them," Rita says to the newt, nodding firmly. "I get it. Don't worry. We won't tell anyone." It is unclear who she could tell, even if she wanted to, but the sentiment is sincere. Stowaways and fugitives have her sympathy.

     While other people talk and investigate, Rita's attention is drawn away from the crystal momentarily by her beetle tugging at her skirt. Once it's gotten her attention, it presents the crack in its carapace and makes a soft, pitiful noise. She wavers for a moment, genuinely torn, but it's inevitable that she caves.

     With a sigh, Rita sits down on a rocky shelf and pats her lap, then rummages through her satchel. The beetle climbs up to give her access to its broken shell. She applies disinfecting iodine to the fracture, then some kind of creamy ointment, followed by a heavy dusting of powder and some sturdy white tape to hold it all together. The whole time, she seems... exasperated? Frustrated with herself? "Don't get hurt again," she mumbles to the bug. It makes a bright clicking noise in acknowledgement.

     After all that's done, the newt has her attention again. "A last ditch effort? So they're just... going to be stuck in there forever, until someone gets them out?" Her face scrunches up with tense concern. "That's... horrible, though, isn't it? If they stay like that forever, then... they won't have a home to go back to."

     Rita fishes the lunar coin out of her satchel once she's done putting the medical supplies away. 'Never had enough coins', the newt had said. She only has the one, still, but maybe her replicas are close enough? Clutching the real coin tightly in her left hand, she shuts her eyes and breathes deeply. Her right hand starts to crackle and glow with sharp unearthly energies, shapes of potential half-visible through the corona.

     And then, as before, duplicates of the coin shower down into her right hand, overflowing onto the floor. If one tried to hold onto them, they'd degrade dangerously- but she doesn't intend to keep them for long. Rita gathers up a huge handful and presses them against the crystal's surface. "Like this, Mr. Newt? Or is there a trick?"

     She may have forgotten already that it can't see.
Hiromi     "Death-smells. Stone. Bone. Soft-meats. Different." Hiromi announces, of the pods. "'Decided' when opening. Not 'from different places.' Not different things. Yes?"

    Then, "'Lunar items.'" Gesturing toward the collection of pods. "All?"

    Regarding the Usurpers, "'Imps.' Space-bending. I'll remember. But, trapped?" She'll just have to see what kind of wall holds them in. For the tar, it had been a sandsstorm. Really, it could be anything. Enough, for the moment, to assume it's something effective, or they would have already escaped, given this claim of their power. "'Overlord.' Brother to this king, yes? But, not 'your king.' Your pod's?"

    Hiromi's attention shifts to the crystal-trapped figure. "Leaving this one buried. Can you find coins, yourself? Sniff them from planet soil? No, they'd find you, find your den. You need others, to bring them. I see. You need 'like us,' for this one, or this secret stays buried."
Kukuru "Delta." Kukuru repeats with an affirmative nod towards Liza, actually sounding like she might retain it with how serious she sounds! Probably. There's an honest effort to, anyway, as she peers at the snowy portal Liza indicates. "Delta." Kukuru repeats to herself, then takes note of her and Raziel's suspicion about the newt's everything. "Is it so bad for someone to wanna gather up money? Everyone needs it for stuff, even if it's.. Um."

The term 'bluespace metamoney' just draws a glazed look from her. Rita

The talk of a Board, Bloodletters, and (B)Sourcers has her diverting her attention towards the gruff Operator, however briefly. "Are those from here, or from your place? They sound kinda scary, but I don't think I've heard of... One of them?" She sounds uncertain, as though she's thinking about the common meaning of some of those words rather than in the specific.

The newt explains the purpose of the pods, and Kukuru pays close attention to those smells like she's being given a signal the moment he mentions their smells. She gags almost immediately afterwards, too, but she does eventually recover by the time further explanations are given about the crucibles.

She rummages around in her pockets briefly, but decides against just throwing random food and old cooking supplies in. "May-be later when everything's done." She doesn't elaborate on what she's looking forward to doing later, but she's definitely thinking about it.

The talk of the bauble and the decanters grabs her attention once again, of course, and she squats by the setup to just keep watching the liquid. "You know... I can do healy stuff. As long as it doesn't make you all..." She gestures her hands vaguely in the motion of something spreading apart like mist. "... I can probably fix you if anything happens." She offers helpfully.
Redshift Operators     "Anyone else like you around? Someone who can talk? Not that I'm gonna whine they go right to the violence, but I'd rather know where to hold my triggers." The gruff one rambles while he confers with the giant about their money situation. Not much at all? Eh, that's alright. "You know the space next door to yours pulled attention from a big shipping giant, right? Big, and real focused on teleportation stuff. You gonna be alright out here when they come calling? Maybe you got all the time in the world, but it might not be enough, especially if *all the time* is *valuable*."

    "Hey, swap the teleporter output to the Rallypoint." The astronaut didn't much care about the lore or the danger coming in the next objective-months, he only cares about that objective. Did the Redshifts manage to pick up any coin? If they did, that's what they're donating to.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants      "Yes," says the newt to Hiromi. "Correct, on both counts. As for the Imp Overlord... there's no relation to Providence or Mithrix that I'm aware of, though I'm sure by this point, the Overlord and Mithrix feel fairly similarly about Providence." He chuckles. "My pod has no king--but it does have a leper. You're... correct about my reasons for staying here, as well."

     To Raziel: "The most concrete way that I could explain it would be to say that they're bent into a certain shape, in a number of senses, by a force from the [moon]. They represent the [will] of the one who rules there. The pods are like... thoughts, bubbling to the surface of the mind, and what is inside them can take shape only when focused by the traces of that force from the [moon]."

     "Thank you," says the newt to Rita with evident relief. "There's a trick. But I would be happy to elucidate. May I?" The coins evidently pass the muster of his sensitive nose. Holding his webbed hand out, he waits for her to pass them to him. The newt grips them--they sublimate away to nothing in his grasp, and his jaw sets in concentration. An invisible force cores out portions of the crystal in exacting, patterned meter. One complex layer at a time, the crystal is peeled back. The image inside grows clearer and clearer.

     She falls slack--but not down. Her feet never touch the ground. A sleek, long helmet. Whether it's for an inhuman head or simply an artistic choice isn't clear. White vestments suggesting the religious, over a black environmental suit. An elegant, simplistic jetpack--two perfectly round cylinders. "Where's my ship?" Her voice filters through the suits vocoder.

     "There was none to be found." The effort seems to have taken its toll on the newt, who appears to be catching his breath when Kukuru offers to fix him if something happens. "A most interesting offer. What would you want in return?" He clearly isn't used to receiving offers like that. Nor being shown concern, from persons gruff or otherwise.

     "Certainly," he says. Marching over to the tonic of his making, he pours a portion into his mouth. Immediately, there is a surge of vitality--a kind of glow about him as he corks it. With renewed vigor, he accepts the coins and sweeps a hand towards the portal. Your mind idly dreams of quiet snowfall. "Done."

     "Now... the gruff fellow's question. If by 'around' you mean 'here,' then no. Not... strictly speaking. If you instead mean Petrichor V, as I believe your people call it..." He frowns--not in the way that people do, but it can't be mistaken for much else. "Mithrix *can* speak but I..." He sniffs at Raziel. "I believe some of you know by now that he wouldn't have anything nice to say, before he took to violence. If Providence is still around, you might appeal to his better nature--without those, I should say," he says, gesturing to the beads in White Dwarf's hair. "You must understand, the [will] on the moon--Mithrix's anger, poisons everything that he and his brother once touched. 'Can' is a more fitting word than you know. It's a question of whose mind has managed to withstand being overridden by his. The golden doll, perhaps. And perhaps the heretic. But each are dangerous, in their ways."
Raziel Raziel nods once to the lizard, seemingly understanding what he was saying.  At least, partially understanding.  He closes his eyes, in regard to this explanation.  "I see, thank you for this explanation.  These helpful objects also being what seeks our doom is...interesting to say the least."

Raziel remains introspective until he is pointed out.  "Yes, that is true, the visions afforded to me did indicate that he would be less than pleasant to deal with.." he comments.  "Though I am curious as to how you would know that I know this?"
Kukuru "In return? Uhh-" Kukuru drones on for a while as she wracks her brain trying to come up with something, eventually just shrugging and waving a hand dismissively. "Ah, we can worry about that later after you don't explode." She recommends with a confident, yet still mildly sleepy grin. "I'm not too good at coming up with stuff that'd be good, but the folks back home could..."

Her brain has engaged. "Oh! Maybe you could come back home with me and Hiromi? I mean, if you're trying not to get caught by someone..." She glances back at Rita, giving her a thumbs-up for tipping her off to that earlier. "... Then being a member of the Concord and doing work for us would be super good for keeping people from trying to hurt you or take your stuff."

With that suggestion done, she resumes trying to parse what little she can of what's going on with the different parties in play here. There something about a vengeful figure overriding minds, golden dolls, heretics, the moon and will, not to mention the strange person that was looking for her ship...

"Is there anything they're known to like? Um... Like, are they looking for anything that might make it easier to talk with them instead of going right to the mind overriding thing, or just swinging until someone stops moving?" Kukuru's definitely asking about potential bribes or offerings. "Or... Um. Do any of them not like each other already? Maybe..."

She smacks her fists into each other lightly, as though that's enough to make her intent clear.
Rita Ma      "Thank you, Mr. Newt," Rita sighs in soft relief. If held for another moment or three, the fake coins would start to deteriorate. Her invisible tentacles quietly dice up the unused ones when the crystal-peeling process begins.

     Her arms are outstretched to catch the Artificer when they fall- but they never do. Rita gasps softly, then hurries to re-compose herself, giving a polite and embarrassed little head-bow. "Ah, it's good to meet you!! My name's Rita."

    "I'm really sorry about all this. We're on a really dangerous expedition right now, but we'll try to keep you safe until it's time to go home. I know you must've just been in a really bad spot before going into the crystal, so... I'm really sorry we can't get you someplace safe right away."

     "Oh! Are you hurt at all, Ms. Artificer? I have some things that could help, if you're..." She's a couple of seconds into digging around in her bag when, once again, the newt's words snag her ear. "'Mithrix'. So, you mean he's the reason everything here is attacking us? That they're not normally like that, and it's just..."

     Her eyes trail over to the stunted lizard and the bandaged beetle. A funny look crosses her face. Guilt? Sympathy? Pain? Her jaw sets with an unspoken resolution.
Liza Grier     "A certain planet? You talking about the one we just came from, and we're going back to? Or does it have a name?" Liza asks. A ghost of a frown twitches her lips at the explanation of the crucible, but she remains as objective-focused as she can. "So they're not even real objects. If you can melt them down and turn them into anything else that is. Narrative slurry. Paid for with coins that aren't real. Why the hell would anyone set up something like that?)]."

    She rubs her face a little, not so much talking to the newt now. "And what does any of that have to do with the lost ship anyways? It'd be attractive to a treasure hunter, but not a corporation of scale. Ugh."

    "So how many extraterrestrials, extradimensionals, visitors, pioneers, whatever, are even stuck here? How many fucked up ancient catastrophes are we dealing with, numerically? It can't just be the imps, right? And who the hell is Providence? Mithrix?"

    "Actually, better question; is anyone still in charge now, and if so, are they responsible for all of this, and where are they? Do we have to deal with one or both to get off the planet? And are one or both responsible for the planet being a hiveminded death trap?"
Redshift Operators     The objective is done! And... the astronaut is completely silent, just looking at the spherical portal for now. Looks like they're lost in thought, examining the terrain. The only thing that seems to make them respond is when Rita says, "Mr. Newt", and it's only after about fifteen seconds that they turn to her and say, "Huh?" A realization. "Oh." Theey turn back to the newt. "Thanks."

    "Providence. We'll keep a look out. He doesn't like this shipping stuff we found? Huh. Gotta find out more. Can't wait to interrogate all zero people who can talk to us." The gunman adjusts his helmet, snorting a short laugh through his internals. "By that name, guess he's the 'savior' that brought everyone here? Or at least working for the bastard."
Rubi-Kan Vagrants      "Indeed," says the newt to Liza, "I don't believe the brothers ever gave it a name--but the humans call it Petrichor V."

     The vampire asks how the newt knows of his experiences. "That thing in your presence. Orbiting around you, waiting to make more of itself. I can smell it," the newt answers Raziel. "I've touched it, as you have, in but a different time."

     Kukuru asks what's favored by the few still on planet with their faculties. "Providence is said to have loved worms very much." Raziel, having seen the murals depicting him riding a giant one, could certainly agree. "What the golden doll and the heretic want the most is freedom, and if Providence still lingers here, he would be very ill-inclined to give it to either of them."

     "It's alright," says the Artificer to Rita. "I'm not going home. I'm looking for..." She knits her fingers together. "I wish that my friends were here to find it with me. But I'll pull through. Thank you for worrying about me."

     "As far as I can gather," says the newt to Rita, "Yes. What compassion Providence has for mortal beings, his brother has equal parts contempt. Mithrix holds a special hatred for your people, you know." With a gesture towards the lunar item circling Raziel, "That you should be worthy of Providence's admiration, but not his own brother, drives Mithrix mad with jealousy." Humans are 'despoilers,' then, in that Mithrix imagined they'd one day come to steal Providence from him.

     "Those would be the brothers I mentioned," the newt answers. "The both of them were once worshiped as gods for their powers and strength. They grew apart over disagreements about the intended use and future of the planet. At some point--I don't know what caused it--Providence shackled his brother to the moon. And so, the short answer to 'which is responsible' is 'both.'"

     "Providence's desire to preserve, and protect," he glances towards Red Dwarf, nodding once, "To save, indeed, became smothering. His chosen people were forbidden from leaving for the rest of their newly-eternal lives. Mithrix's rage and jealousy at Providence's care for them became overwhelming. A planet where there is no volume for death, squeezed under the [will] of one only able to think of himself." The newt doubles over, the color draining from his skin. The side-effects he mentioned, no doubt. Between a wheezing cough, "You may well have to 'deal with' both, but of the two, I would almost certainly expect to 'deal with' Mithrix."
Kukuru As promised, Kukuru does what she does best (probably): Pump the newt full of the good healing stuff. Squatting beside him, she cups her hands around his head first  to let those healing nanites get to work, fixing up wounds and curing vague maladies in scientific ways that she can't even begin to comprehend. It's never been something she really comprehended, but it's generally been something she's already gotten to work some way or another.

"Ea-sy now. Hm...  Sounds like a complicated situation, then. It's a shame that what they want is kind of..." She pauses for an unnaturally long time, coincidentally long enough for her to have gone through a whole series of hand gestures if not for the fact that her hands are busy directing those nanites to keep the newt healthy and bring some of that color back to his face.

The one time she does draw a hand back, it's to get him a cough drop. It's orange cream flavored. "But I guess it'll be easier to convince them if we... 'convince' them, right?" Kukuru asks while trying to sound subtle and failing miserably at it.
Rita Ma      Rita's shoulders slump and her eyes slide downwards to the floor. "Your friends," she repeats to the Artificer. "I'm sorry. We didn't... they must have ended up somewhere else." A little bottle of analgesics falls from her fingers back into her satchel.

     Then she fills back up with purposeful bravery, like a second emotional healthbar, and smiles a plucky little smile. "Well, you don't have to tell me what you're looking for. But maybe you'll find it, where we're going. We've found a lot of really strange things already!"

     The newt, completely on accident, takes a chunk off of that second bar immediately. 'Your people' gets an eyes-wide, spine-stiffened flinch out of her. It takes a moment for her to relax after that, looking a little eviscerated and a little embarrassed- oh. It meant humans. Of course.

     "So if we want to fix what's come over the planet, we'll have to find some way to go to the moon, where Mithrix is chained. I think I get it." Rita's stunted lizard slips under her arm; she hesitantly pets it on the head, which gets a positive response. "But Rallypoint Delta first. That's what we really came for. I haven't forgotten."
Raziel Raziel pauses for a moment and then nods at the Newt.  "I see, so that is how you know about both me and Providence." The question was answered satisfactorily to Raziel.  For now, the specter listens to what the Newt has to say, hoping to glean some more insight into this planet.

'So this protector seemed to take his job too zealously, overly protecting his charges.  It is honorable to serve and to protect...but to overprotect can be just as harmful.  One must remember to temper one's virtues as well as their vices.  Lest it turns into a vice itself.'

"What of the planet itself?  It seemed to have some benevolent will of its own.  What has come of this?"
Redshift Operators     The leader looks to his team. The cyborg glances backm uneasily, while the astronaut seems lost in thought. It's the giant that provides perhaps the most scathing insight. He thinks for a long while about a tough situation. Jealousy and painful envy. This is a painful family tension that's probably lasted for uncountable millennia. But... if there's some way to get a foothold, it's going to be in Providence, not in Mithrix. Whole-hearted kindness also means making sure that you try to place that kindness where it's going to do its best work.

    "We'll make Mithrix's nightmare become his reality." Is all the gravel-voiced titan says. Because he would love to make friends with Providence! If he has to take sides in a feud, he'd rather be on the kinder side... And he probably should protect him from the shipping company too!

    "Guess that settles that. I'm done here. We got the cryo-case on their feet? Or-- guess not, but they're moving anyway." The leader readies his gun, checking it over with practiced dedication. He's gonna head for the portal to de-shunt from this space with the others once things are wrapped up.
Liza Grier     Liza watches Rita tend to the bug with a disappointed sigh of exasperation. She's pretty sure it's just going to get killed in the next skirmish anyways, but even if it doesn't, she really doesn't want to take that thing in. There'll be a menagerie before long. And yet, instead, she doesn't comment on that. Instead: "More girls, huh?"

    She at least has the decency of giving the Artificer a little nod, and "Straight back into the real world and that's on your priority list? Not bad. We don't really have time to slow down once we get rolling out of here, but if you can hit the ground running, we'll be glad to have you. If not, I can get you offworld pretty quickly, but I think your intentions were clear."

    She listens through the newt's explanation, and comes away with "That's . . . actually really helpful. Good work." And here she was thinking she might need an enhanced interrogation. "Psychotic sibling possession? That's a new one to me. Never dealt with it. But if they're both despots then they'll both get what's coming to them. And you think that'll fix the way everything on this planet wants to kill everything not on this planet? It's kind of a shame to 'fix' eternal life too." A thoughtful pause. "That black tar; is that his doing too? Have you seen it?"

    "Getting to the moon . . . Phreak, didn't you say this network communicates directly with it? The terminals that use the coins; they link right up to it, yes? Once we've secured the rally point and confirmed the state of the crew . . ." A teeny tiny epithet is uttered under Liza's voice when Red Giant speaks up. Past that point, once the teleporter is paid for (insisting that they not waste more time while the planet is getting pissed off) and the leftovers are spent on items, Liza absentmindedly checks the timer on the care packages before remembering 'that's not a thing here', and will go straight through on her own.
Rubi-Kan Vagrants     "I'm sticking with you," says the Artificer to Liza. "I need to see if this place is it." She turns her head to face Red Giant, still hovering quietly. "It's a comfort thing. You'll understand."

    The newt, meanwhile, offers answers to Liza, Rita, Kukuru and Raziel. "I know their stories only in bits and pieces, out of order. I know enough to know that the Tar wasn't a deliberate action on Providence's part--more a mistake, an unforeseen passenger. Whatever benevolence the planet may have had is bent to Mithrix's will, and so... removing that element from the equation does rather soundly settle things. How vigorously you decide to 'convince' him is up to you, though I do hope you all survive the encounter. I think I enjoy company." he turns the orange cough drop in his hand.

    "...Yeah, I got you, G," nods Phreak. "I'll get on it, soon as we're out."

     The Bazaar Between Time burns to white, as you step through the portal. A frozen, desolate canyon awaits you on the other side. Rallypoint Delta.