[IC]TotMG:DC The Nether

[StormLord]

Those stepping through the glowing purple portal are greeted with a veritable wall of heat and the stench of sulfurous fumes.  An obsidian frame identical to the one on the other side rests upright against a cliff face of pink and red stone.  A ledge extends about thirty feet out from the cliff face before dropping down several hundred to a massive ocean of lava as far as the eye can see.  Above there a cave ceiling made of the same pink and red stone with the occasional mass of tenuous glowing golden crystals growing downwards.
The ledge to the left narrows slowly before wrapping around the corner of the cliff out of sight.  To the right it takes an upward slope that leads to the plateau above the portal.  Beyond the hill structures made of black brick can be seen.  Heavy breathing and gargling snorts can be heard nearby.

Tim can be seen near the portal looking out over the ledge and ocean of lava.

[Hal Henderics]

Law swallows heavily.

 

"This place seems unsafe," he says, looking around nervously.

 

He approaches Tim, trying to see whatever it is they are looking at.

[StormLord]

"It isn't too hostile as along as you mind the lava and don't piss off the locals."
Approaching the edge of the ledge Law sees a structure built over the ocean, a long bridge made of dark bricks that leads from lower in the cliff towards the ocean.  Thirty or forty feet out a broken segment shows where the bridge has collapsed into the lava below.

"I'd like to get into that fortress, we could either try to descend from here or walk over land that way."
He points over the cliff to the structures pointing up a fair distance away.
"What do you think?"

 

[Hal Henderics]

"I think we should take the shortest path.  To minimize...  Unforeseen problems?" Law says, more confident in his climbing ability than his survival ability.

 

 

[StormLord]

Law uses the Peacemaker with Tim's help to blast down some Glowstone and fly over to gather it.
 

(23)

 

A large pile of crystals come crashing down onto the cliff top above Tim and Law, as it lands a loud squeal can be heard followed by a rush of footsteps away.
And then in response to the boom of the gun a loud moan rings out over the lava ocean.

"We might want to get into the fortress quickly.  That's a Ghast and I really don't feel like fighting it."
 

(+5 Glowstone Crystals, +12 Glowstone Dust)
The crystals are easy enough for Law to collect as Tim lowers the cobalt mesh rope.  Stepping down onto the bridge the pathway leads back into the cliff face and under ground.  Inside about a hundred feet there is a large squarish room with vaulted ceilings and several small pools of lava acting as a sort of lighting.  Three more doorways lead out of this room, one straight ahead leads on a fair ways and then loses sight to a staircase leading downward.  To the right and left are double doors, one of which on the left is propped open revealing a small rectangle room beyond.

[Hal Henderics]

Law opens the left set of double-doors to see what is behind them.

[StormLord]

(65)

Law steps into some kind of armory or workspace.  A large round stone structure that was likely once a forge sits in the far corner cracked with signs of cooled magma having spilled out.  Several racks and shelves that once lined the walls now litter the floor.  The whole place looks like it's been trashed several times over many years.  A few assorted smithing tools are strewn across the floor near the forge and a single buried stone box rests in the corner.

[Hal Henderics]

Law rummages around the room, organizing the shards and scraps inside by what they're made of, how magical they are, and how damaged they are, and opening the box.

[StormLord]

(70)
Law rummages around and finds a few pieces of iron, a fairly large number of gold ingots or metal scraps, a steel anvil and hammer, and a piece of orange metal scrap that seems fairly magical.

 

The box seems to be sealed, though Law can see and obvious seam where it opens and part of the hinges, neither he nor Tim can make it remotely budge with hand prying.

[Hal Henderics]

"Hmm."

 

Law crafts his multitool into a very long, thin prybar, and tries to use this to pry it open.

 

Spoiler

(Level 3) Precursor Multitool: A Heavy Egg shaped ball of metal, engraved with Precursor Script reading something along the lines of "Do-All", it can transform into almost any solid object, and imitate many solid objects if they do not have moving parts, or if the parts are provided.  It never changes in weight, a solid 10 Kilograms.

(Gear Level 1): Can transform into anything within reason using a Craft Roll, it cannot have moving parts, but may include objects in it's form while reshaping.

 

(Merit Level 2): It is indestructible, but will revert to egg form if it's absolute upper limits are reached.  Bound.

 

(Perk Level 3): The user may craft with this item, no matter the circumstances, and never receives penalties to crafting with it.

 

[StormLord]

(1, 19)
(47)
 

In order to create a thin enough piece to actually gain purchase on the seam the tool becomes too thin to support the strain of prying and folds.  Easy enough to reform though.

[Hal Henderics]

Law uses their jump pack to allow him and Tim to glide down safely to the bottom.

[StormLord]

A quick refresher:

Spoiler

The crystals are easy enough for Law to collect as Tim lowers the cobalt mesh rope.  Stepping down onto the bridge the pathway leads back into the cliff face and under ground.  Inside about a hundred feet there is a large squarish room with vaulted ceilings and several small pools of lava acting as a sort of lighting.  Three more doorways lead out of this room, one straight ahead leads on a fair ways and then loses sight to a staircase leading downward.  To the right and left are double doors, one of which on the left is propped open revealing a small rectangle room beyond.

 

Law opens the left set of double-doors to see what is behind them.

 

Law steps into some kind of armory or workspace.  A large round stone structure that was likely once a forge sits in the far corner cracked with signs of cooled magma having spilled out.  Several racks and shelves that once lined the walls now litter the floor.  The whole place looks like it's been trashed several times over many years.  A few assorted smithing tools are strewn across the floor near the forge and a single buried stone box rests in the corner.

 

Law rummages around and finds a few pieces of iron, a fairly large number of gold ingots or metal scraps, a steel anvil and hammer, and a piece of orange metal scrap that seems fairly magical.

 

The box seems to be sealed, though Law can see and obvious seam where it opens and part of the hinges, neither he nor Tim can make it remotely budge with hand prying.

 

Law expends his last Scanstave charge to open up options for the box, be it magical or technological.

 

Law manages to pull up a sort of drop-down menu tree listing a number of possible options.

 

[Insert coding montage]

 

Law finishes with:

Spoiler

Level 6: The QED is now able to transmute objects placed into its feedstock bin into other objects, so long as they do not have radically different qualities.

 

4 Precursor Orbs
3 Ardite ingots

 

Locations:

Spoiler

The Portal — Netherfort Bridge |— Long hallway — ???
                                                   |- Armory(Law)

                                                   |- Right Doors

 

[Hal Henderics]

"What in particular are you looking for right now?"  Law asks, following Tim's lead.

[StormLord]

Tim reaches up and scratches his beard in thought.
"Well I'd like to get some Blaze Rods, and Wither Bones wouldn't be bad.  Soulsand would also be useful."

He steps out of the room and gestures to the hallway leading down stairs.

"We might encounter wild Blazes, or we could go looking for a Blaze Monster Cage.  We also may find a plantation room somewhere in this old fortress."

[DragonRage]

Bored and looking for something to do, Mirri steps through the portal into the Nether.  Following vague nudges from the Force, she crosses the nearby rope bridge over a lava river and heads down a nearby hallway.  "Tim.  Law.  Hello."

[StormLord]

Tim glances up as Mirri approached, his face still perpetually shadowed by his gold rimmed red cloak.

"Hello there.  You must be someone from the ship?  Well you're welcome to join along."

He reached up to pull on his beard in thought again.

"We were just discussing what our next course of action would be."

[DragonRage]

"Yes.  I am Mirri.  I caught your names earlier, but..."  It's not like she was talking much, "What is this place?"  Her helmet pans back and forth as she looks around, "And what were you planning to do here?"

[StormLord]

"Hell."

Tim said with the same tone as one might say "the mall".

"Some call it The Nether, it's a sort of subspace plane that exists under the primary material overworld in my dimension.... "

He quickly trailed off, mumbling more to himself by the end of it.

"Anyway, I'm probably boring you.  We're here to do some mining, loot some abandoned fortresses, and maybe kill some monsters."

[DragonRage]

"I can get behind looting and a monster hunt.  Just point the way."

[StormLord]

Tim nods and gestures for Mirri and Law to follow him.

 

Continuing along the hallway, the party walks down the set of stairs and quickly finds the solid stone around them opening into vast open cave.  A huge lava tube oriented as a gentle downward slope, around a half mile across.  The occasional streak of burning lava can be seen pouring from some reservoirs above down into the raging river of magma below.

In the middle of the river is a tenuous island of Netherrack slowly eroding at the base.  The hallway the party was once following becomes an open bridge, much like the ruined one they originally descended onto, leading towards the island and a complex of towers and walls there on.

 

Ominous structures in the distance aside, there is a bit of ledge here where one could deviate from the path to explore more of the less structured environment.  On the right of the path is a fairly flat bit of land with a narrow lava stream pouring from one wall, across the ledge, and on down towards the river below.  A number of mushrooms of various descriptions appear to be growing along the banks of the "stream", including several reddish tree-sized mushrooms.

On the left of the path is a downward incline, a bank of brown soil rests at the very edge of the cliff, while closer to the cave wall there are several patches of tall bright yellow and white flames.

 

Tim casually wanders over to the dark soil and begins collecting a few samples.

[DragonRage]

At a bit of a loss for where else to go, Mirri follows Tim.