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

[StormLord]

"I'm not entirely sure what drove them to it, I was young and didn't pay the advances of mortal men any mind.  In the years since I've come to the conclusion it was most likely a play for power.  The ruling class of the old age was addicted to wealth and power, they lived to amass as much as they could, they even had competitions to see who could conceive the most complicated, impressive, and ultimately wasteful spells and contraptions.  I believe whatever being wanted to break through couldn't without their help and offered them power in exchange for summoning them.  Clearly not everyone was in favor, a significant portion of the populace fled the second they caught wind of it."

She turned back at Leo's interjection.

"I'll be around."

Then she returned to her conversation with Lucille.

"As for how their magic worked, most of them didn't have much innate magical ability so they augmented themselves by either wearing or consuming something called 'Mana Crystals' they made from the essence of fallen stars.  The crystals draw in the magical energy floating free in the air and allow the user to channel it into spells or artifacts.  Magical tomes and gemstone set metal staffs were both common choices.  They also left a multitude of small baubles around that are enchanted to work passively, if you happen across a bottle full of clouds or a pair of green boots grab them, they're both very useful.  If you trying to find them, there is an old castle to the north which I'm sure you're familiar with if you've already faced the Strider, exploring the underground portions of it may prove fruitful, there are also countless small safeholds and hideaways underground all over the island.  Additionally there are the remains of a ruined city drifting into the ocean to the south where the river meet the ocean, and an abandoned village bordering the Jungle and Desert.  The village is newer, but may still hold something."

She paused to think for a second.

"There are also small floating islands above the larger island.  They move around occasionally, but if you see a strange cloud well...I've never been to one myself but there are relics from before the old age up there."

[Endlessblaze]

Leo listens in to the info dump eagerly.
"Mana crystals huh? The part about drawing magic from the air is defintly familiar. But if they can control it after its effected by the crystal, i wonder what kept them from just harnessing it naturally..."

"Staves as well huh? makes sense. If we can find any old foci they might prove very useful."

"I saw a strange cloud earlier when i entered the world, but it uh...tried to kill me when we flew by it. I take it that was something else?"

"We should look around and try to find one of the islands, You DO know how to fly the weatherlight now, and whatever is keeping the things floating might be useful"
 

[Yours Truly]

Jun's helmet covered face and her tone of voice betrayed not even a hint of discomfort or awkwardness when he replied with, "Ah not at all, my name is more than a little...gender ambigous after all, I am in fact a woman. Although I can and will forgive you if you choose not to believe my statement... for after all I am still wearing my helmet aren't I?."

 

She then turns slightly to face both Leo and Toshiro before she said, "Perhaps we should take the weatherlight and head for the abandoned village at the border tomorrow? Or to try and find the treasures hidden deep inside if the abandoned castle? It might be less dangerous than another foray into the outskirts of the corruption after all."

[Endlessblaze]

"Sorry, Not tommrow, Ive got to prepare workers, get resources, study some things and run various test, and try to work on some weaponry. ill let you know if anything changes"
"Alternate proposal, you produce the workers, and send them to work and get resources, then you, jun and Toshiro take the weatherlight to a floating island to gather resources and artifacts, you return, Then you start working on the fancy stuff, using what you gained."
"That...might work....just...meet with me tommrow morning, and we can talk it out then."

[Ragnarok97071]

Rivers smiles, shaking her head when Jun comments that she'd understand if she didn't believe her.

 

"Not to worry, I don't believe you have a reason to lie to me, ergo, I will believe that you are, in fact, a woman. Just tell me when you're ready to go and I'll be ready."

[Yours Truly]

Jun nodded once in Leo's direction before she said, "Well then, I'll meet you in front of the blacksmith's after breakfast. Although chances are we won't be able to travel to the weatherlight until just before lunch... as I have some business to attend to."

 

She turns to face Rivers once more as she starts to walk towards the mostly still river in the south, "I am a woman who wears a mask and alters the sound of my voice dear, I have a lot of reasons to lie, trust me. But anyway unless anyone else here has any objections; I should be free enough for the rest of the night to lead a River to more of her kind. And please try to keep up."

[Ragnarok97071]

"It's Rivers, plural, actually. And you'd be surprised the kind of people I've met. Some people do it to be more intimidating, or just for appearances, or they like to make people ask. But yes, let us depart."

 

She'd fall into step next to Jun, happy to have a chance to get herself presentable again... shame about the dress, she'll need to fix it sometime.

[Powder Miner]

Seeing Rivers and Jun depart towards the bathing area, something clicked in Satomi's mind. Oh, kami, she was still filthy, and a little tired besides. Getting herself bathed would be an absolutely heavenly experience, and it would be unfortunate if she were to miss out. So she jogged out to follow the two of them. "I hope you don't mind, but I want to follow along! I need to get myself bathed, it has been days and I've been through a lot of fighting and exploring. Eyeugh."

[Yours Truly]

Jun led Rivers (and Satomi) down a long and mostly straight path heading away from the smithery, the inn, the dryad, and the city center in general. She finally decided to try and break the silence once they have gotten to the grassy fields surrounding the village, and she turned slightly to get a better look at Rivers before she said, "So I ass-" MAAAAA! And of course it was at that exact moment that a pair of rather loud goats seemingly materialized in the distance, as if they were placed there for the sole basis of interrupting he-MAAAAA! and her train of thought. She rather wisely decided to wait until the goats...galloped (Was that the word for it?) away before she finally said, "So Rivers, did Doctor Ebony or anyone else say anything to you about our group?."

[Powder Miner]

Satomi jumped a little when the first goat made its loud noise, but then tried to play it off as though nothing had happened. Then she put a finger in her orange hair and twirled it when Jun asked the new arrival her question, waiting for Jun to conclude and then asking her own. "...Onyx Rivers of Mourning, that's your name, yes? If we're going to be asking questions, I suppose... where is it that you hail from?"

[Ragnarok97071]

Rivers tenses up somewhat at the goats, keeping her eyes on them until they move on, then breathes out, shaking her head.

 

"You can call me Rivers, if you'd like. I was given a recording of your initial encounter with them, I do not remember anything before waking up in the cave other than my home. I am from Ard Skea, the central city of the Omicron shard cluster. I doubt that means anything to you, being travelers from other universes. And the two of you?"

[Projeck]

Calvera awkwardly tapped her feet a few times, before tugging on Arminius' sleeve. She looks like she was gonna be sick from worry, as her face flushed, and she frowned. "Hey, mind if I talk to you for a second? I've had some stuff on my mind for the past couple days."

[kj1225]

Arminius turns to her. He raises an eyebrow as he frowns, looking somewhat worried. Eventually he nods. This was rather out of character for the sun woman so that meant it was important.

"Uh... yeah... Yeah, what's up? We could go to my room if you want to talk about it in private."

[Yours Truly]

Jun rather randomly annoyed nearby wildlife by rapidly sending psionic messages inside of their head or booping them with some rather small pebbles, "I would tell you of my home, but I fear that I would bore you with my comparatively mundane tales of travelling throughout the milky way with a small group of escorts inside of a different ship every other week as we sought out new worlds and new peoples to converse with and bring into the fold of a galactic empire. Also it would probably take too long, as I think we are almost there." 

 

Someone with a particularly good sense of hearing (or someone who cheated using technology like Jun did) would perhaps hear the sound of rushing water in the distance as they started to approach the river, and Jun pointed to a point somewhere down the river before she said, "I heard the guide mention that there was a particularly still stream somewhere down the river, should be easier to bathe there than anywhere else."

[Ragnarok97071]

"On the contrary, I think that would be quite enjoyable. I'd like to hear about it sometime, if you don't mind."

 

Rivers smiles slightly at her, turning to follow the river in the direction indicated, one foot in front of the other.

 

"I don't know anything about empires, or about galaxies or anything, just the Clusters, mostly the one I lived on. Scouting out new places, making new settlements... that was our life. Now I'm here, protecting something bigger."

 

Finally reaching the river, she pauses, as if hesitating about something, a hand half-raised, before starting to attempt the fasteners on her dress, having a bit of a time of it, as if she'd never really taken it off before.

[Yours Truly]

The seemingly all encompassing red light on Jun's visor receeded in a way that made it seem as if he was... smiling? As she nodded in response, "Well I'll make sure to tell you all about it when I have the time then. Although I must say that it might be a slight challenge for me to properly explain what a galaxy is to someone who comes from an entirely different universe....do any of your clusters happen to orbit around anything by any chance?." 

 

After the three of them finally reached the river, she walked over to a large and relatively comfortable looking rock with a surprising amount of speed before he sat down and started to scan her surroundings for any incoming threats.... only to find herself unable to not notice the fact that Rivers seemed to be having a bit of trouble with removing her dress. He tried her best to not surprise Rivers when he asked, "Have you....ever taken your clothes off by yourself before?."

[Ragnarok97071]

She sighs, pausing and stopping her efforts for a moment.

 

"I've never taken them off manually before. Only with my Equipment System, which I lost access to upon arriving here. It's likely a part of my world that either couldn't make the translation or simply was not tied to me, but the universe as a whole, and thus didn't come with me. So... No, I suppose, I have not."

[Yours Truly]

Jun took a couple of steps forward to move behind Rivers before she said, "Well... would you like me to help you take them off then? And put them back on if you don't know how of course. Although it might be wiser if I just... taught you how to do it yourself actually, and you should probably tell me what other activities you used to rely on the equipment system or in fact, any other system you are used to having; to perform, because it would be pretty awkward to suddenly find that you can't say.... operate a computer without a separate Computer Operation System to automate all of the mouse clicks and keyboard strokes for you or something."

[Ragnarok97071]

She chuckles, shaking her head.

 

"I think the dress should be everything. Simple things I can figure out. This dress is... Not simple. Go figure, style over practicality when you can change with a gesture and a thought. I'll likely be wearing the other clothes until I can make it less of a nightmare anyway. Help would be appreciated."

 

 

Edited April 1, 2018 by Ragnarok97071

[Powder Miner]

”I come from the Emerald Empire of Rokugan, which has stood for eleven hundred years after its creation by the Kami and the creation of the samurai Clans. It is a land beset by many enemies, but by fulfillment of duty of all of the clans of samurai, in particular my clan, it has stayed intact.

 

My Clan is the Crab Clan, which battles day and night against the monsters of the Shadowlands, a force very similar to the Corruption mentioned today at that meeting except backed directly by the evil realm of Jigoku. They seek to destroy Rokugan, and we hold the Kaiu Wall to drive them off. I am part of the Kaiu family that does the construction and siege engineering for the Clan, and I hail from a province named Hokufuu Province.”

 

Satomi then watched with some confusion as Rivers had great issues with removing her clothing. ”How strange. Is this Equipment System a catch-all device that is used in your home realm?” Satomi herself got to removing her kimono, a blue silken piece crisscrossed with grey bars and with a symbol of a Crab within a circle in gold on the back between the shoulderblades. She frowned rather mournfully when she got it off, though: her undergarments (a thinner white robe underneath her kimono and a skirt) were heavily stained brown with a combination of dirt and, of course, blood. ”The journey has not been kind on these...”

[Yours Truly]

Jun's gauntlet wearing fingers were rather busy with untying the fasteners of River's tattered dress with an amount of speed and dexterity that is only present in the hands of someone who has done this from all possible angles many times before as Satomi spoke at length about her world, and the dress was already on its way down to the floor by the time the Samurai finished speaking. She then gently tugs at the dress Alyssa gave to Rivers before she turns her head slightly to not openly stare at anyone, "Well for now since the two of you are already barely dressed I'll just...keep an eye out for any trouble out here then." 

[Powder Miner]

Satomi looked at Jun a little funnily, but funnily in the manner that one looks at someone who is being awkward over nothing at all. ”We are just bathing, it is not like there is anything that requires worrying about about that. Plus, we are all women here, so it is not as if there is much to have to chaperone against.” And Satomi reached over to take off her under-robe and her koshimaki skirt, the unclad samurai slipping herself into the edge of the water immediately after doing so. ”Let’s see, I want to at least try to get this cleaner, so...” Satomi found some rocks and pinned each garment (by the spot furthest from the bloodstains) under one right by the water, letting the rest of the garments fall into the water to be soaked by the river, banking on the motion of the water cleaning her clothes.

[Ragnarok97071]

Rivers smiles, nodding to Jun.

 

"Thank you for your help, Jun. Honestly, I don't think I ever want to put that back on again, so I'm glad I have this other dress."

 

Speaking of, she lays the dress out on a nearby stone and climbs into the water, beginning to bathe herself, at least as best as she can at the moment.

 

"indeed, though with the general lack of protection around here I could understand wanting to keep an eye out. If you're worried about that, I'm sure we can keep an eye out once we're done so you can bathe."

[Yours Truly]

Jun turned slightly to face both Satomi and Rivers before she nodded and said,
"It's fine, I used to have a bit of trouble with them myself back when I was young, carefree, and wasn't paranoid enough to worry about the prospects of being attacked by some hungry native animals in one of my most vulnerable moments."

[Powder Miner]

”Oh, no, I wasn’t referring to that. I am Crab, and we are just about as paranoid as samurai get, I don’t fault you for actually checking for zombies or something — my daisho is within easy reach, even. I was instead commenting on, you know, you avoiding looking at...” Satomi gestured at her own bare chest, below the waterline.

 

She trailed off into nothing, her cheeks a little red, having managed to fluster herself. Then she cleared her throat to get herself back on track. ”Anywaaay...” she ventured forth, but took a moment to figure out a subject change. ”Bathing is actually a large part of the culture of Rokugan, and even us Crab like to partake in it when we’re not busy on the Wall or Shadowlands. This isn’t exactly an onsen, but I’m glad just to get to clean myself. It’s been... yeah. A while.”