[IC] TotM:DC "Terraria: A fresh start"

[StormLord]

Somewhere Underground(Rivers):

 

As Rivers follows the side passage it starts twisting and winding around, eventually it comes to a bit of an upward incline.  The scenery doesn't change much, just more roots and dirt.

After a while of following the cave(ten, fifteen minutes?) she notices that the roof doesn't have as steep of an incline as the floor, she can hardly stand up straight at this point.  A little further ahead the cave becomes less winding, she can even see a faint light a few yards ahead, smothered and barely visible though it may be.  The only problem is that she's already almost having to crawl forward and the hole looks like it was made by a rabbit or some other small animal.

[Ragnarok97071]

Well, that becomes a bit of a problem, doesn't it? She could try to use a glyph spell to widen the gap... it'd depend on just how sturdy the ground above her is. If she had the Earth glyph it'd be easier, but she didn't. As it was... she wasn't getting out... oh, that's a plan. she needed a wedge...

 

So she backtracks, finding her way down to the room with the chest, and begins pushing it up ahead of her, down the path. She takes her time, not too worried about how long it'd take to get out, until eventually, the chest cannot fit further into the tunnel.

 

Then, she lifts her hand again, drawing another Glyph in the air.

 

"Me"

 

Then, with the two Glyphs linked in front of her, she releases the spell.

 

"ViMe - Wind Force"

a powerful wind surges from her Glyphs, forward into the chest, forcing it further down the path, widening it for her. It'd be a tight squeeze, but in theory, this should help her get out.

 

She'd repeat this process, likely several times, until eventually the chest either stopped moving, or she was able to escape from the hollow.

 

 

Edited March 28, 2018 by Ragnarok97071

[StormLord]

Somewhere Underground(Rivers):

 

Attempt: 4 vs 19,

Luck: 33,

 

Rivers forces her wind spell against the chest, it slides forward a few feet(accumulating a small mound of dirt in the process) before the stress ends up being to much and the old wood fails, causing it to collapse in on itself.  It leaves behind some "splinters of old wood" and "rusty iron chest bracings".

In some degree of salvation her wind spell whips out of the cave through the hole and tears away some obscuring vegetation, maybe the hole is larger than she first thought.  She might be able to squeeze through if she tried, though she'd be covered in dirt by the end of it.

[Ragnarok97071]

Well, these things happened occasionally. She'd just have to do some minor corrections later. Worst case, she gets stuck and has to use a bit of force, but... well. She picks up what remains of the chest, placing it in her back, and begins attempting to squeeze down the path.

[StormLord]

The Clearing(Rivers):

 

As she crawls, digs, and pulls herself through the hole Rivers finds herself standing in an oldgrowth forest, a little underbrush litters the ground.  She's on a slope and the ground around her seems a little rocky in composition, judging by what little of the sky she can see it's getting late, not quite sunset yet, maybe two hours of good light left.

Beyond her immediate surroundings she can see a clearing a little ways down the hill, through the trees she can make out a large yellow structure, roughly shaped like an long box sitting next to an even larger structure made of wood and metal with a large sail on either side.

[Irbsandcheese]

Alyssa looks at Hiram with a concerned expression. Nervously tapping her paintbrush against her chin for a moment, she begins to flip through colors as she speaks. "I will certainly give it a try but magical items tend to be a bit more finicky when it comes to my abilities. The magics either tend to clash with bizarre results or dance in harmony to music without sound. It is up to the roll of the dice as to which outcome I receive." 

 

Quickly finding the right color for the glass bottle, the lid, and the paint itself, the world around Alyssa seems to fade as she focuses on her projects. She spends many detailed minutes painting upon the table, careful to capture the essence of magic and the shifting, glimmering colors of Twilight. 

 

With a final flourish, the painter sheathes her paintbrush behind her ear and reaches into the table to grab the finished dye bottles. "Well, it seems to have gone swimmingly. If they do not quite work as intended, I apologize in advance, but I look into taking another stroke at it." 

 

Alyssa takes a step forward and straightens her form in an official manner. "Now, I must admit, I did not come here just to make a new friend. I have a favor to ask and you just might be the person to help me. I am looking into creating a paint that would be resistant to fire and some damage in order to literally paint the town. Does that seem like a challenge worth partaking in?" The sparkle in her eyes makes it seem like there are more ideas lurking if this one does not have the ideal outcome.

[Ragnarok97071]

Well, at least she's out, even if she is covered in dirt. She brushes off what she can, a slight frown on her face, before turning her gaze to the building in the distance. A settlement. Likely people there. Maybe a Gate back to this place's Hub? No, unlikely given what she'd seen before, but it's likely at least got something, and she has precious few options.

 

Onyx Rivers of Mourning heads down the hill, watching her footing carefully and making her way toward the building.

[StormLord]

The Clearing(Rivers):
 

As Rivers reaches the bottom of the hill and steps into the clearing she realizes that these aren't static buildings for a village or something, they appear to be more likely flying ships of some description.

 

The Small Yellow ship:

Spoiler

The Larger Metal and Wood ship:

Spoiler

 

A few colorful semi-transparent blobs of slime appear to be bouncing happily around the clearing and mostly ignoring Rivers.

While the larger ship seems to be empty and still, she can see a shadow moving around inside the smaller yellow ship.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dye Trader's house(Alyssa):
 

Hiram's eyes practically pop out of his skull with excitement as he watches Alyssa paint several bottles of dye into existence.

"Simply amazing.  Hmm?  Yes I think I can help with that, one second please."

He stops and takes the two original bottles of dye back to the storage room, then returns with another bottle labeled "Frost".

Upon opening the dye and taking a look at its contents it makes everything look as if it was covered in frost and ice, Hiram assure Alyssa that the effect isn't only decorative and that it is to some degree fire retardant.  He also mentions mixing it with other "normal" dyes to change the visible color.

[Ragnarok97071]

A ship? and someone inside it. Surrounded by... slimes. Hm. This becomes a question. Either this is a standard Shard, in which case they're likely of relatively little threat and perhaps even passive, or this is one of those Shards, and her approach would lead to them attempting to divest... no, best not to think about it. Either way, she will have to approach, and they seem to be ignoring her thus far, so likely they were not aggressive.

 

Rivers approaches, specifically heading toward the yellow... ship? How curious, there were a few shaped like it back home, even, though this seemed slightly more animated. No Gate, though with craft like these that's likely little problem.

 

"Hello there, can anyone hear me!?"

 

She speaks loudly, but mostly without inflection, attempting to get this person's attention.

Edited March 31, 2018 by Ragnarok97071
minor text fix

[StormLord]

The Clearing(Rivers):

 

A thin blonde haired woman pokes her head out of the side door of the bus, looks Rivers up and down for a second then replies.

"Oh, you must be another one of them, the ones fighting for the multiverse or whatever.  Follow the path over there up the hill, the rest of them are at the village on the other side of the mountains.  Better be quick too, their about to have some sort of meeting, and no, I'm not going to explain anything more to you."

With that she closed and locked the door to the bus and turned to walk back to the other end.

[Ragnarok97071]

Well okay then. That is indeed true.

 

"Thank you, Miss!"

 

She turns, heading toward where she'd indicated, nodding to herself and heading down the path, seeking those she was apparently fated to join.

[StormLord]

The Village(Everyone):

 

After several minutes of walking Rivers found herself passing through a fairly narrow pass that eventually opened up to reveal a small sprawling village, nestled around a river-cut valley between two long mountain ranges.  By this point it was dark and she had had to resort to using her glowsticks once again, in what appeared to be the village center, judging by the fact that it was the only place clearly lit, was a small gathering of people, maybe two dozen at most and several wearing very strange clothes.

 

 

Not long after Kusuke and Satomi left the mine, Jun, Toshiro, and Leo finished work one their alloy, and Lucille finished her work several villagers came and collected them and the rest of the group, urging them towards the village center on the reasoning that the Dryad was going to be here soon and wanted to talk to them.

Once everyone was gathered at the village center and a couple minutes had passed and rustling in the grass nearby revealed a massive flower bud growing.  WIthin seconds it grew to just over the height of a human and bloomed, a relatively young woman with hair and clothes made of leaves and softly glowing eyes stepped out.

"Well it's good to be back, and you all must be the heroes from a distant land I prophesized?  Well we've got a lot of work to do if you're willing, but I'm sure you've got questions so now would be the time."

[Endlessblaze]

Leo had eaten and gone to bed, only to be woken up for some meeting. This was evidenced by the fact his hoodie looked like it had just been thrown on haphazardly and his hair was a mess. Though that might have just been from the events of the day.

 

"What can you tell us about the corruption and its magic"

Snow decides to project herself. holographic form floating besides leo.
"Ok so aside from that flower trick, and telling prophesies what else can you do?"

Stone heart coils lightly around the air surrounding leo, shards arranged into a form not unlike a snake. Looking at the dryad.

"Curiosity, Name?"

 

Frostbrute kinda just...sits by the table, snow spraying from its exhaust pipes. lacking any emotion or higher thought to act upon. 

[Ragnarok97071]

Rivers was standing there, among complete strangers, covered in dirt, in an already-skimpy dress torn and tattered from climbing through roots and rocks, which now revealed likely slightly too much of her form, and faced with what appeared to be a dryad, who appeared to have some sort of quest. Likely a rare one, given the circumstances. Oh boy, she'd never been sourced for a rare world event before... wait no, this was beyond that. What do you call events that go beyond the World? Universal? Megaversal? Multi... Know what, not worth it.

 

"Oh. Um... Yes. I believe so. Hello... everyone. I believe I'm supposed to join you all, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Onyx Rivers of Mourning, I specialize in Glyph Magic, please take care of me."

 

Her voice wasn't quite monotone, but it was mostly inflection-less, not really expressing any sort of character, just... flat.

Edited March 31, 2018 by Ragnarok97071

[Yours Truly]

Jun took this opportunity to slowly deactivate her cloaking device, causing the rather familiar sight of her red visored helmet to appear as she took a few steps forward and moved her head slightly from side to side to get a better look at the two newcomers. She resolved to try and get 'Onix River' an actually wearable set of clothing later as she took off her cloak and offered it to them, "My name is ambassador Jun, and I can assure you that you will be well taken care of, but for now let's get right down to business." She quickly turned to face the Dryad and coughed a little to try ans get her attention, "First of all I must say that it is a pleasure to meet you for the first time, and I certainly wish that we could meet each other in less dire times someday. But for now I must ask, what do you know about the prophecy and the army of goblins heading to this island?".

[Sutoratosu]

A strange, crustacean-like creature followed Lucille, in addition to her usual cabal of creations. The silver-plated beast took stock of each individual there, snapping it's claws periodically as it sized up any potential threat. A quiet 'Woop' could occasionally be heard coming from it...

      "Yes, I've been waiting all day to discuss a few things with you..." Lucille responded to the Dryad. She heard the new voice, noted it, and would have pegged the girl for some sort of machine pretending to be human, if not for both her beasts and her own sense of smell telling her she certainly smelled human enough. Sweat could be a particular potent scent, one hard to replicate by the mechanical pretending to be flesh. She makes no effort to acknowledge the newcomer beyond that analysis however,

 

"I've many questions as to the history of this Island," she continues, "The guide helped me as best he was able, but I was informed if I wanted to know anything further about the country that once resided here and anything useful it might've left behind, I would have to ask you."

[Irbsandcheese]

Spoiler

Ess check: 12 vs 18, Luck: 17, Despite multiple attempts Alyssa fails to manifest anything better than a vat full of actual ice.

Alyssa goes from excited to annoyed.

Spoiler

Ess check: 9 vs 11, Luck 72, When Alyssa tries to paint a smaller sample of the Frost dye she succeeds...sort of. The dye is a little pale and thinner than the original, but workable.

Alyssa goes from annoyed to 'fuck you, world'.

 

After many, many wasted hours at the Dye Trader's house, Alyssa was getting frustrated at the lack of progress. One vat of literal ice and numerous vats of inert white and blue dye and one small bottle of something that might work was all that was achieved. The only positive result of the failed experiments was when Alyssa decided that the giant bowl of ice would be put to some kind of use. This is why she was near the village center when the meeting was called, just finishing up an ice sculpture of a giant middle finger. 

 

Putting down her makeshift hammer and chisel, Alyssa stomps her way over to the rest of the group, paintbrush at the ready. Standing in front of the new member, sarcasm laces her voice as she puts on a mocking tone. "Hi, I'm new here and I'm absolutely filthy and hardly wearing any clothes at all! I would be drop-dead gorgeous if I ever knew what soap and water looked like, but instead I get to look like something that went all the way through a Human Centipede!" Alyssa looks at the new addition to the group from multiple angles and stomps to the nearest wall with her paintbrush as she continues to mock the poorly dressed newbie. "The universe that I'm from is absolutely covered in dirt and we have annual competitions of who has collected the most grime and goop over their lifetime. I never won because I'm just too young and pretty, but that didn't stop me from trying!"

 

 Having forgotten to change colors, the new dress that Alyssa just crafted is a swirling white and light blue with no determinable pattern. The long dress is pleated in such a way that the bottom will flare out when twirling, but the top of the dress still clings to the wearer's frame, leaving little to the imagination. Small symbols line the bottom of the dress in red, but then blur to become a stream of red that falls upwards, towards the neckline and stops. As Alyssa reaches into the wall to grab the finished product, a practiced observer would notice that the lines are shaky and brash while the red is not a uniform color as the shade is slightly off. (The dress has no magical properties)

 

Having vented a little, Alyssa walks back over to the group and places the garment in the new kid's arms. Alyssa speaks in her normal voice once again. "I am Alyssa. Do not put this dress on until you get all of that dirt off of you and if you need something else to wear, I would be glad to help you out. Now, I am going to go cool off." Alyssa takes a seat on the ground next to the ice sculpture to 'cool off' and listens to the conversation.

[Yours Truly]

Jun awkwardly turns to glance in the artist's direction before she and leans slightly closer to the newcomer to whisper, "Don't worry, she's not usually that.... harsh with her choice of words. I think you just triggered something inside of her with the state of your clothing." She then just as awkwardly attempts to gently take her proferred cloak back from the newcomer. "I think there is a river around here you could wash yourself in. Although I do recommend that you either ask for an escort or for the location of a safer place to bathe, as it is quite late at night."

She turned slightly to face the Dryad before she continues with, "Also a friend of mine warned me that a blood moon would occur this week, and that a meteor shower would occur soon afterwards, and i was just wondering if a blood moon referred to something other than a total lunar eclipse on this world."

[Powder Miner]

Satomi still had her things on her at the meetings, which meant that various mechanical locks, crossbows, and her portable ballista bundle were all hanging off of various spots of her armor and her sash. She’d been curiously staring at the Dryad’s “arrival”, and then for a brief while at the new arrival, but Alyssa’s sudden tirade caught the samurai off guard, breaking her from her observation. ”Um... that doesn’t seem quite necessary,” Satomi notes softly, ”you don’t know what her world is like, nor what she has gone through to get here.” Satomi could empathize with getting berated like that, it was a common pastime of the Crane prissies at times to insult the perceived brutishness of the Crab.

 

Then Satomi turned towards the Dryad, and curled her finger in her hair. ”I suppose I have two. First of all, how much is the Taint spread throughout this land, to create the zombies? It seems to me like a fair source of concern, and perhaps something to help defend the town from, other than of course the siege. And speaking of... I don’t suppose your prophesizimg has told you about the approaching enemy force?”

[kj1225]

Arminius stares at the people harassing the elf over her clothes. Fucking weirdos. Hell, she's not that much more under dressed than Lilly. And this fucking dryad is wearing only flowers and vines for gods' sake. He rolls his eyes and nods at the new comer.

"Greetings. No offense but can I call you just Onyx? Your name is long and kind of odd to be blunt."

He nods politely to the dryad, figuring he could ask about his request later when she's a bit more free.

[Projeck]

Calvera, finally returning to the group from her relaxation, spots the two newcomers. One, was the girl covered in dirt, asking for assistance, and talking of magic. The other, someone who prophesied their coming to this world. She didn't quite know how to take it all in, so she quietly walked up to Arminius, giving him a slight bump on the arm with hers, a slight smile forming to her face. She mouthed ad voiceless 'hey,' before turning her attention to the new people on hand. She presumed one was the dryad they were waiting on, the other... well, given how people have randomly popped up, probably something to do with their ever-present goal.

[Chevaleresse]

Kusuke side-eyed the interaction around the newcomer, but elected not to comment for the time being. Alyssa didn't typically act this way, but it seemed enough people were already commenting. Instead, he turned his focus to the dryad. "Past what they've got, all that's left that I want to know can probably wait. With the exception of two questions, actually; have you seen a shifty guy with a mask around here? The second is just what you want us to do for you."

[Aurorix]

Toshiro just chuckled listening in on how the conversation progressed. That artists has some sass to her it seems. He really couldn't think of anything more productive to ask the lady. Most of the important stuff he could think of has already been asked. Though there was one thing that has been on his mind for a while now. He stopped his laughing and looked towards the flower maiden,  "Say, you know the creatures around here right? Any strong ones in-particular that are posing a threat to the village that could use some pest control? In other words, are there any strong beasts out there worth fighting that you know of?"

[StormLord]

"The Corruption and Crimson are relics of tainted power from this world's last age.  When I was young the men and women that ruled the kingdom on this island summoned forth powers other-worldly powers they had no hope of controlling, the mere presence of these powers twisted the land to the Corruption and Crimson, an effort was made to try and revert the effects.  It failed, resulting in the existence of a similar taint on the land known as the Hallow.  Eventually various nature spirits and other powerful entities banded together to seal the sources of the Hallow, Corruption, and Crimson.  What remains is a weakened shell of their true power.

I suggest you avoid fooling with its power, but in the case you decide to ignore me take this."

The Dryad hands Leo a small blue bag of sparking white powder.

"It cleans the taint in small quantities."

She looked curiously at Snow's projection for a second before answering her.

"Obviously I've got powers over nature, but no one knows the history of this land better than me, except for maybe a few very old demons.  I also know more than a few wards and can help identify any relics you happen across."

She looked down at the small stone golem.

"Many people call me Tania."

She turns to answer Jun's question.

"Well I made the prophecy so....As for the goblins, they weren't exactly expected, but they were definitely a considered possibility.  I've actually just finished transplanting some Maneaters and Hornet colonies from the jungle into their path, it should slow them down a bit."

Tania looked at Lucille with some interest, glancing at her now rather extensive horde of creatures.

"My, you seem to be quite the adept summoner.  I will of course answer as many questions as I can about the history of the island when we're done here, if you don't mind waiting a moment."

She tore her gaze away to talk to Jun again.

"A Blood Moon isn't good news.  The monsters always come out at night in greater numbers and with greater force during a Blood Moon.  A meteor shower is a good thing though, there are some powerful relics fueled by meteorite technology."

Again she turned her attention to answer Satomi's question.

"I'm actually not entirely sure what causes so many things to rise from the dead, nor where exactly all the bodies keep coming from.  My best guess is some lingering effects of long gone Necromancers from the old age.  Like I said before, I just got back from transplanting some Maneaters and Hornet colonies into the path of the army and I could probably do some of that work here."

Kusuke spoke up and caught her attention with a relatively odd question.

"Shifty...man...in a mask?  No I don't think so, and I think that's what we're here to figure out, or at least make something resembling a plan."

She thought for a second at Toshiro's question.

"Well, there's a massive vulture wandering around in the desert, a particularly large and aggressive slime somewhere in the forest, there may be creatures of extreme power hiding in the Corruption or Crimson, there's a giant crab that keeps scaring people off the beach to the south, and there is an ancient spider wandering around in the snowy mountains and forests."

She finally took a step back, looking at the group as a whole.

"Now I don't know what plans you may have already made, but I've taken the liberty of watching the goblin's invasion force as they arrived on the island.  By my count they had four siege Ogres, two Shadowflame Mage batteries, two siege Engineer batteries, four Archer battalions, six Warrior battalions, and two Beastmaster Battalions.  My traps should thin out the infantry somewhat, but we're going to have to find a way to deal with as many Ogres and Mages as possible before the siege."

[Sutoratosu]

"Very well then..." Lucille says, before hearing the mention of a particular spider, and the horde of beastmasters and their accompanying ogres. A faint smirk appears, for reasons very obvious to all who were on that expedition, "Funny you should mention the frost strider, I'm sure it's presence during the siege will be nasty surprise for the goblins. Exactly how big are these 'Ogres' of theirs, and do you know of any other creatures they're commanding?"