W5 🛸 PLAYER CYOA: FUCK IT WE EYEBALL (ALLI) 🚀 GUY, MARGARET, OWNER, SIDON

[dropoffs]

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DAY 1

[tombtaker]

[ Welcome to Site Alpha-2.

It’s been a while since you’ve been in proper civilization - long enough that memories of your home, your life before this frozen hellscape seem so distant and unreachable right now. You do remember a life before, the people in it, even the ship that you were on, but it’s hazy and strange. Like it was another life, another dream. Perhaps you are simply too cold to think that much about where you might have come from at this moment.

At this moment you are deep in the reaches of Eiselcross, north of the Greying Wildlands, a string of islands known as the Biting North - a strange, desolate and terrible place. Everywhere is ice and snow, and odd magic, ancient artifacts and perhaps most importantly to you: untold treasures of every kind. Over a thousand years ago, during the event known as The Calamity, this is where the great flying city of Aeor had crashed to earth. Struck down by the gods themselves for their hubris, taking with them every one of their great minds, the secrets their mages had unlocked and every piece of valuable arcane tech that had made their city run. Civilization set back hundreds and hundreds of years in one fell swoop.

Now, adventurers like yourselves are the main visitors to the Biting North. Seekers of treasure and secrets, the potential for gold and power and whatever else is in your heart that you desire. The right amount of wealth can open any number of doors, free you of almost any shackles. Poverty, hunger, pain, academic funding for your personal pet project - even death can cease to be problem for the right number.

You four were hired by the Eudora, a mysterious group that you suspect is led by powerful mages of some nation or empire who have enlisted you to find them treasures: books and artifacts, anything that could be of value. This is common. The mages of these types of institutions tend to keep their hands clean of the messy business of delving into the ruins of Aeor, both for the optics and because the death rate is incredibly high. There’s a reason you’re paid so handsomely for the trouble. You have been here for a while, having found a few things of interest already: a few gemstones, some trinkets made of gold, and most recently an ancient seeming journal that contained a map with several very interesting locations marked - it seems it has notated some of the crash sites of Aeor itself. The rest of the journal is thick and difficult to read, in a language that seems extremely archaic - if you want to read more of it, you’ll need to dedicate some specific time to trying to translate it.

Currently, you all sit at your campfire, tucked away under the entrance to a deep, yawning cavern underground - the only indication that this is the potential site of untold treasure is a few old and worn looking ropes already fastened to the outside edge of the hole. You can descend using them, though it looks a bit precarious.

To begin, you each have the following:
INDIVIDUAL SUPPLY PACK:

1 Healing Potion
1 day left of rations
1 weapon/focus of your choice

AS A COLLECTIVE PARTY

A map, though it’s only partially filled in
1 lantern
50 gold (value of gold and gems)
The journal

PICK 2:
ARCANA - Casting magic/Understanding magic
INTELLECT - General intelligence checks/Understanding History and Languages
STRENGTH - Hitting things/Lifting Things/Hugging your friends very tightly
DEXTERITY - Using weapons/getting into fiddly tech/perhaps you can wriggle through a small hole
CHARM - Dealings with other people, creatures and living things
WHISPERS - Perhaps there will be things outside of mortal understanding, and you, tuned into the nature of the world, have a better knowledge of them than most.

These will be your favored skills, and you’ll use them to try and problem solve! Please note your two (2) skills here, your weapon, and feel free to chatter amongst yourselves for a moment to settle in! ]

our picks

[bossbabygirl]

[bossbabygirl]

CHARM/INTELLECT and a plasma blaster pistol

[discomfort]

CHARM/WHISPERS and a katana

[polliwog]

CHARM/STRENGTH and a trident. charm only

[mansplains]

CHARM/DEX and a sword with a scabbard (i had to specify this)

NONSENSE HERE

[tombtaker]

[bossbabygirl]

[ah, yes. here we are in the biting north, our wonderful team of charming mercenaries. this is at least canon for margaret. she huddles around the campfire, trying to get warm while sipping on some of their last tea rations. her thoughts turn to the past, where this team met long ago. it seems like another life. her memories of that time are fuzzy; she remembers her old crew on the Wurst, she remembers the ship, she remembers Charles and Arthur, but everything else has started to fade away.

odd to dwell on it, anyway, when they have such a tough mission ahead of them. all of them are so, so charming, so the sales pitch to get this contract was easy enough, but actually pulling off the mission, well...

she smiles and looks around at everyone.]

Alright. We don't have much food left and it's freezing out here, but I really believe in us. We have a map, we have a spooky journal, and we have the most important trait of all - people skills. With all of that, I know we're going to succeed out there. So everyone, eat well for the full, beautiful day we have ahead of us.

[discomfort]

[ hopefully, arthur and charles are doing okay, wherever they are... maybe they are still on that ship? not that it matters, as they really need to concentrate on what is ahead of them. there is no use trying to focus on the past. ]

I can't believe we managed to talk ourselves out of that last mishap. Who would have known that Sidon would be able to get those thieves to abandon their criminal ways, letting us have their goods?

[ he pulls his coat closer to himself for warmth. ]

[polliwog]

[ he's got both hands stuck out towards the fire, trying to keep his mind off the cold. he has probably forgotten the zora trauma of ice and also the personal trauma of freezing to death. he does remember charles and arthur, though.

but his mind is mostly on the three others with him right now, his Crew and their mystery hole. he grins despite the cold. ]

I really think most people just need someone to believe in them! With enough encouragement, why would they think crime is their only option? They're capable of anything!

[ everything will be fine, probably. ]

[mansplains]

[ memories of the ship are faint... guy mostly remembers being excited over the technology, and supporting charles and arthur. he hopes they're okay. ]

[ he's least bothered by the cold out of all of them, but still shivering a little bit. rather than draw his coat in, he shifts a little closer to all of them, particularly sidon. offering his hand, if sidon wants to leech some of his warmth ]

Between the four of us, we'll be fine. I have faith in you all.

[ everything will definitely be fine ]

Besides, spooky journals are always a good lead.

DAY 3 - GROUPS

[tombtaker]

REJUVENATION CHAMBER

[tombtaker]

[ Hello Margaret and Owner. You hold each other’s hands and skip off down the hallway together, assured of each other’s good intentions towards one another.

It’s a long walk, and without Sidon to help lift rocks and yourselves over the harder parts of the journey, it’s exhausting. But it’s important, to keep pushing forward. To go forth is the mandate of the soul, after all.

After a while, you enter another chamber - this one smaller than the Dawn Crucible, but intricate. Inside is two empty platforms at the center-back encased in cylindrical glass. They are labeled (because you can read:) "Terminal RE 01" and "Terminal RE 02”. One is heavily cracked, the glass shattered on the floor. The other is fogged over, but intact. There are purple crystals affixed to the top of them, still very slightly glowing with … something.

Waiting.

Well? ]

[bossbabygirl]

[well. she's keeping one eye (get it) on owner, sure he's planning something against her and ready to react if he does. but can she use her arcana to see what this is and how to use it?]

[discomfort]

[ well, as soon as they're in he is also just walking as far from margaret as he can because he doesn't trust her. it's fine. he walks over to the shattered one, to maybe get a better idea of what happened here?? does it look like something from the outside broke it? ]

[tombtaker]

[ she may use her arcane wisdom to figure out that yes, these are quite magical. as for what EXACTLY they do … even with all your education and newfound magical prowess, it’s still ancient technology. The gem on top is reminiscent of the strange Luxon Beacons you might have heard tell of at one time. Something to do with … manipulation of the body. The soul.

Owner, your whispers are even more powerful than before, and these certainly have a lot to say. Feelings of pain and age … turning into relief. A reversal of hurt. But, the whispers in your ear think - if it can heal, surely it can …

It looks broken from the inside out. ]

THE ARBORETUM

[tombtaker]

[ Guy and Sidon! Best friends forever! You head off the other direction - talking fondly of your favorite people from your past. Charles and Arthur. Wow. I wonder what they’re up to right now? Probably something really cool.

It’s a long walk. Going in this place is rough and exhausting, but with the journal giving you encouraging back rubs and Sidon’s strength and Guy’s dexterity, you’re actually probably doing okay. Y’all really split off your more physical party guys into one half and sent your tiny little babies on the other side, huh.

Eventually it gets … dark. I guess I never made a call on if Zora have dark vision or not. Well. I guess that’s up to Nu, I won’t impose a head canon upon ye. But it’s very dark. You can hardly see a few inches in front of your faces, actually. Perhaps the only way to track where the other of you is, is by the slightly ominous glowing light of the eyes from their body. I’m sure that’s a good sign.

You can feel the ground start to change under your boots, however. From hard rock and slippery ice to … dirt. The crunch of leaves. You accidentally run a shoulder into something and hold out a hand and can feel that it’s … bark. You’re in a deep, wooded forest, eerily silent. But something rustles in the trees. ]

[polliwog]

[ WE REALLY ABANDONED OUR LITTLE GUYS!!!!!!

that's okay, today sidon doesn't care. he thinks they're probably fine and if they aren't they'll be okay later! can they like, actually see out of these red hell eyes?

i googled if sharks can see in the dark and they apparently can so he can have a little dark vision as a treat. he tries to keep an awareness of where guy is, but can he spot any movement out there? ]

[tombtaker]

[ to keep things boppin’ ill go ahead and answer this - you can’t actually see out of them, at least, not on the material plane. And perhaps they grant sight of other kinds but not in the sense that you can like. Lift your hand up and see out of it. You dig?

He can have a lil dark vision as a treat. He can see in shades of black and white and red … but there’s no large movement he can see. Just shifting leaves. ]

[polliwog]

[ mystery eyes... they do help him spot guy in the midst of all the branches and darkness, at least. he's torn between leaving him behind, expecting him to follow in the way a prince expects to lead any charge, but also not really sure if he ought to leave his back exposed.

but he's not a coward, so he'll go towards the rustle of leaves. ]

LOCKED FROM LIVING UNHACKABLE

[tombtaker]

[ Margaret.

You wake up. Or, you don't, because there is no such thing as waking or sleeping here. For a long time, there's only darkness. Nothingness.

And that's maybe a relief, because for a while there it was crowded. Noisy. Terrible.

But then, somehow, you're upright. Walking along the hallway of the Wurst, and as you come to the Bridge, someone turns around in the Captain's chair. She's beautiful - if that is a word that can encompass everything that this thing is - skin an endless blue expanse of sky and eyes milky white. She stands up. She is taller than a mountain, yet looks you level in the eye.

"I apologize, I know that isn't my seat. Margaret, right?" ]

[bossbabygirl]

[sorry to this hot blue lady, she would normally be more respectful of an enormous babe in the captain's chair of her ship, but right now she needs a minute. she just needs a minute.]

Uh...

[tombtaker]

[ that's fine. She has all the minutes in the world, really. Time doesn't move here like it does out there.

The woman waits for as long as she needs. An eternity, if it is what is required. In the window, the stars swim in the sky, gentle and familiar. ]

[bossbabygirl]

[cool. she'll take that eternity, then, to gather her thoughts again. and then look back at the woman, and smile, and put her hand out for a handshake.]

Yes, that's right. Margaret Encino, it's a pleasure.

[tombtaker]

[ she will take the hand. she has a firm handshake - but one that feels like she is withholding a little secret. Just for kicks.

"It's alright if it isn't. I know this must be something of a shock. Twice, in such a short time too ... "

She pulls away and goes to sit, somewhere else other than the captain's seat. that isn't polite.

"What did you think of all that? I'm curious." ]