Session 114: Alterna-ting Between Horror And Delight
Below decks in the Starfall, inside a spacious chamber, a map of Ducorde sits pinned to a table. The map does not show borders or bodies of water, but instead shows names and faces spread throughout the land. Juniper sits in a chair occupying an unfortunate position inside the crossfire between the ancient airship’s oldest crew member, Rahel Sutter, and its newest crew member, Stella Helder, locked in angry debate over the particulars of a Caerwynian ball looming ahead on the social calendar. The darkness of a missing ceiling tile obfuscates the approach of a thin wire, wobbling in the air as it attempts to snag a standing cutout of a gang’s symbol in the Triad. Isaline Osler glances up from the map to the ceiling, then holds the wire between two fingers as she moves the token herself, the barest hint of a nod her only acknowledgment of Chmurka’s mumbled gratitude. The Cardian noble straightens up and looks at the speaker on the wall.
The kitchen aboard the ship is chaotic at the best of times, and this is not the best of times. Saray has finally snapped at the backseat-cooking from one Linnet Leveche, and a simple request for space has instead morphed into an overblown shouting match that neither will remember inside of twelve hours but will gain its own narrative as it makes its way through the crew. However the story starts, it will not be through Bjrn, who dealt with enough during the Holly Incident two months prior, and even now is trying to put as many tables and dishware as possible between he and the argument. Shula Brighton rolls her eyes as she works her way through a series of simple repairs, fastening legs to chairs and mending tears in cloth napkins the quartermaster did not approve replacing. Recent hire Luca Ficarra watches the exchange with raw delight, fancifully narrating the verbal barrages to their tablemate Orrey Alyon, as Orrey sketches his interpretation of Luca’s story, one that already features more fire and fright than the true story on which it is based. Left alone with the puff pastry, Artemicion calmly constructs his own apple tarts with skill and finesse. Orrey’s pencil stops moving just as Linnet’s argument wilts, and both officers look up at the speaker positioned over the sinks.
The stage is the tip of a theater’s iceberg, and the Starfall is no different. No touring company has ever had a prop room as large as the Starfall’s cargo hold, and Jasper Samson rules over it from on high, snug on an elevated platform that overlooks every case, crate, and barrel within the airship’s hold. Celeste Meracydia sits on the rim of a twelve-foot-tall wooden crate, hooking the cylindrical cases of two maps into the railings of her free-standing ladder. Forty-five feet above the ground, Shaul Shotlocke clambers over storage containers full of faux-nautical paraphernalia, seeking out the one real spyglass in a sea of reasonable facsimiles, mixing pure filth in among his many kupos. Yves Mjrwin and Isara Marquez loiter by the entryway, taking a break from poring over engineering diagrams and chemical analysis to instead trade eyeliner tips and discuss the latest in counter-culture accessorizing. Yves pauses, his hand halfway to Isara’s proffered earring, as his attention shifts to the speaker by the door.
The bridge hosts a meeting between those responsible for the ship’s aerial safety, though they approach this discussion with different theories. Apocynthion Lunakrei Tolvani, the Third, is his usual self, grandiose and declarative, running a hand through his elegantly-coiffed hair. Jozue Helder leans across the table, lowered eyebrows darkening his eyes, making his counterargument. Natron Rensa, calm and studious, picks his spots carefully, tracing a firing line in the air to illustrate his point. Owen Moda dutifully watches the animated discussion, resigned to following it through to the very end, confident in doing whatever he was going to do in the first place regardless. Captain Bast and Marina Zaharak exchange a knowing glance, the captain’s rueful smile balanced by the helm’s weary groan. Interest returns to Marina’s expression, however, when Bast steps up to the ship’s microphone and clears his throat.
**
"This is your Captain speaking."
He stops for a moment, then goes on in a quiet, level voice carried to every corner of the ship by the craft of centuries past.
"You have come here by many paths. You have faced things that would make sensible sailors long for a life on land, stood tall, and prevailed. And now our greatest challenge yet lies before us: restless Alterna, where the ghosts of the past guard its secrets and treasures. There is no map to follow here, no safe path charted; no explorers have gone before us.
And there is no better crew, in any corner of the Dicelan, to uncover what has been hidden here all these years."
There is silence for the space of one indrawn breath.
"Power to the Engine, Miss Marquez. Let's make some history."
Isara was halfway to the engine room before Bast said her name. It only takes another forty-five seconds for the Luminous Engine to activate.
The Starfall lurches in the air as the Luminous Engine roars to life, drinking deep of Asura's wrath as the pride and joy of Marquez engineering activates in full.
A steady hum deeper than the Theatre of the Untranslatable's most commanding baritone eliminates all sound within the Starfall, and then leaves with the pulse wave that travels from the ancient airship into the former capital of the Alternan Empire.
In the pulse's wake, the seas calm.
The swirling clouds thin.
The elemental storms abate.
The chaos subsides.
For a time, Alterna will know a semblance of peace.
The Starfall flies forward into the ancient city as the officers convene on the bridge.
Bast looks over the familiar faces, amused. "Never let it be said that crime doesn't pay. Anything falling off yet?"
Orrey, standing with Celeste, stares out the closest window, sketching like mad as he tries to map the layout of everything from above, getting helpful input from her as they scan the area together.
"Everything's running beautifully, Captain," Isara says through the radio from the engine room, as if there could be any doubt.
For all of Bast's seeming nonchalance, he might be at risk of things falling off himself - every piece of equipment he's spent nights tinkering with and fights testing to fiery destruction seems to be strapped on somewhere on his person.
Linnet is definitely not storming out of the kitchen; she is very deliberately taking her time, though she may have forgotten about the flour on her cheek and the tomato-stained apron. "Finally. Let's get this show in the air, Captain."
Under normal circumstances, Isa dresses in what can reasonably be called "mercenary chic," large coats and heavy boots and severe cuts.
These are not normal circumstances.
When she arrives on the bridge she is armed and armored as a full Cardian Dragoon, a coat of red and black under asymmetric plate armor, her legs more heavily protected than her torso because that's what her enemies are more likely to see. She is carrying the Frost Fair Blade, tucked tight against a shoulder and heedless of the soft waves of cold air emanating from it. She nods to Bast as she takes her position.
Marina sucks in a raspy breath as the Starfall travels through a cloudbank, drawing ever nearer to the ancient city itself. Lightning flashes inside the cloud, to the ship's port side, briefly illuminating the silhouette of a long-bearded sorcerer.
A gout of fire harmlessly licks the edges of the ship, forming into a snarling leonine head with two curved horns, before it, too, is gone in a puff of smoke.
"Weather's nice." Bast remarks, looking ahead. "Hope it holds."
The wind that dissipates the smoke comes from four feathered wings, wings that vanish when the windows separating the bridge from the elements splatter with rain, rain that flash-freezes to ice before crackling free with a snap.
"Much better than last time," Isa agrees.
"...oops. Didn't realize we were in formal dress for this part." Linnet slips out the door to her cabin, returning a few minutes later clean and presentable. The apron has been ditched in favor of a new moss-green tunic over her favorite bell-bottom jeans. The braid is coming undone, but the brick-red streak is clearly visible, washed clean of flour. Shoes will come later; when your feet don't touch the floor until you remember there's a floor, you don't need them.
Linnet draws a card - not looking at it - and flips it between her fingers. "Let's do this."
The rumble that follows is far heavier and thicker than mere thunder, from the broad shoulders of a cloudbank. One final wave of rain washes over the Starfall, purple fins in the peripheral vision... and then the clouds are behind them.
"I might not have packed enough eyeliner for this," Yves murmurs sidelong to Isara.
And then, before them all, there is Alterna.
Celeste has a map out, pressed against the glass, that she drew from prior stories after joining the crew. "Okay, well, if that's where you said you landed before after getting the ship," she mumbles around the pen between her teeth, scribbling instead with pencil, "we're not landing there, 'cause it's in the sea."
"What looks stable?" Marina calls out.
"I've got... two places, I think," Celeste says after scribbling out a third. "There's another spot out in the open... see, in front of those columns, the ones cut off halfway through?" "I see 'em," Marina confirms.
"That's one. It's flat, it's in the open, it's easily accessed on all sides, it's basically right in the middle." Celeste circles a spot on her map.
"It's all ruin..." Isa says, to herself, and as if this were surprising information.
"It's got a straight line out to the sea with these clouds gone, meaning anyone who comes by will see us in here," Marina says. "Which might be a pain."
Bast seems fully absorbed in the view, one hand resting on glass still carrying traces of frost.
"Starboard, please." Celeste runs across the bridge to the far side, spinning past Isa with the grace of a ballerina who made it exactly eight months into training.
The map slaps against the window, and scribbling follows. "That forest, there's a spot that should hold the ship. Right there, see where the two trees fell over?"
"You want me to park this entire ship in that tiny little spot?" Marina snorts.
"What, you can't?"
"'Course I can," Marina says. "It's just gonna be tight. If you need to get out of here in a hurry, that's going to make it a hell of a lot harder."
"Captain's decision?" Celeste asks, looking at Bast, and by association the rest of the officers. "Out in the open where anyone can see us, or in the trees where getting out might be a lot harder?"
Orrey has stopped sketching for many moments, frozen, eyes wide as he stares as if not seeing anything in front of himself. He comes back with a sigh, a tear running down his cheek. He slowly starts back on the visual picture from the sky.
"We can blast our way out if need be," replies Isa. "We know people are looking for us."
"Sure, what's a few trees," Marina says, not realizing Yves is right behind her.
Bast nods slowly. "Too early to advertise."
Linnet hugs herself about the shoulders, staring wistfully out the windows, card forgotten in her hand.
Yves stares at Marina. "...some of those trees might be people, at that," he says frostily.\
Cinnabar noses Linnet's ankle supportively.
Marina has learned to mostly ignore Yves; he's not going to make sense later, even when he explains himself.
Linnet picks up Cinnabar and coos at her about being the best bunny. "Are we taking you home, sweetheart?"
Cinnabar makes a small sparkly-warble sound, ears straight up. The emerald rabbit then tries to scramble in mid-air with absolute glee to get closer to Linnet.
Yves whispers into his satchel, "Don't worry, we'll talk about it before anything drastic happens."
"Well, clearly we'll just have to take you with us." Linnet perches Cinnabar on her shoulder and scritches those lovely little ears.
Marina steers the Starfall for the forest.
"If our dear Cinnabun is here in person, are the others?" Orrey asks Yves.
"Oh, it's mostly just a few masks that might have special interest in this situation," Yves tells Orrey. "Though if they decide to show up in person later, that's great too."
"Is it?" Isa asks.
Within thirty minutes, the ship has landed, without a single branch in the forest so much as cracked as a result. The crew turns out to bid the officers a safe exit, with assurances from Stella, Jozue, Apoc, and Lily that the Starfall will be defended well in their absence should a need arise.
Yves gives Isa a guileless nod. "I thought Golem in particular might enjoy seeing how things are going, and maybe give a few pointers if we get stuck."
"Mm. As long as they're helpful," Isa says. She pulls on a helmet, en-visored and be-winged, and is the first to hop down from the gangway.
"If something weird and elemental tries to talk to you, be polite but try not to engage. If the trees start talking to you, move the ship immediately. Remember not to give Triscuit baked goods, be careful with your weapon drills, tell Saray I'm very sorry for this morning, and...what am I forgetting?" Eventually, Linnet will extricate herself from frantic-advice-giving mode. Eventually.
Orrey hefts a sizeable pack of equipment, double checking that he has access to the Armageddon, his knife, and his usual satchel full of sketchbooks and art supplies.
"Your sword, that's what you're forgetting." Shula straps her friend's rarely-used weapon to her back, hugs her, and rolls her eyes quietly.
"Thirty seconds she's still here, I'm throwing her over the edge," Jasper says to Rahel.
"...right. Thank you, Shula. I'd leave my brain with you for safekeeping, but, well." Linnet blushes, slides on a pair of leather ballet flats, and hears Jasper's comment - "okay, okay, I'm going." She waves and runs to catch up with Isa.
Cinnabar lopes along beside her, unable to balance on the sylph's shoulders with as fast as she's moving.
"Yves, before you go."
Yves turns back, his satchel already hoisted into place. (Not that it ever leaves.)
Apoc produces a cerulean crystal from his pocket. "Should a danger you cannot fulminate descend upon you, say as much into this crystal, and rest assured, help will arrive."
(Linnet is still within earshot and touches the pouch containing Perilune's crystal, still tucked under her shirt.)
Yves accepts the crystal from Apoc seriously. "Thank you," he says. "I'm hoping the dangers ahead will be largely fulminatable, but it's reassuring to have some backup options as well."
Someone shouts "Speech!" at Bast as he is the last to leave, with another "Encore!" that was definitely Mogratheo, though he's ducked out of sight since.
Bast, hands already on the rail, pauses with quiet "Hah" and turns around, taking in the crew gathered on deck.
"You want another speech, you keep this ship and yourselves in one piece until we're out of here. And while I don't encourage that sort of thing? I will be very surprised if one of you isn't eventually guilty of a play about all this."
He waves to the crew, flips backwards over the rail with only a small jet assist, and is gone from view.
"You're encouraging them, now?" Orrey asks Bast with a smile.
"Seems like the time for it." Bast peers through the trees at the ruins beyond.
"Let's get out of earshot before they start rehearsing." Linnet grins, looks up, and loses herself in the majesty of the forest.
The forest around the Starfall is gray, wiry, and stretched, trunks woven around each other, coiled around rocks, branches gripping each other for support against an unseen or absent force. It is the same wood as Golem's mask, for those on the ship who have seen Golem's mask but not this forest before.
"...so does anyone actually know where we're going?" asks the sylph who certainly does not, after about five minutes of silent tromping.
"Into the city, at least," Isa says, her voice made hollow by the helmet.
"There was a Museum. And a University. We're walking through what remains of the living, sentient forest. The Tower of the Gods we've been in before. And there's the train station, or what's left of it." Orrey ticks off each on his hand, getting that faraway look he had on the approach.
Yves looks up from where he's having a quiet conversation with (at?) a stretch of wood. "And from there, we can figure out exact locations based on, uh, evidence and stuff? Or maybe people will just say hello and ask for a lift out. That happens sometimes." He pats a branch near him.
Linnet looks down at her ankle-height companion. "Anywhere you want to start, Cinnabun?"
"And the Floating Ziggurat. Well, Fallen Ziggurat now." Orrey says quietly, somber.
"Might be good to see if any records survive. And we probably don't want whoever's at the train station to know." Bast looks straight ahead.
Cinnabar has lost track of whatever Linnet is saying, as they're happily bouncing in a giddy circle around Bast.
Bast takes a break from plotting a course for the ruined university to lean down and scratch behind Cinnabar's ears. Once the ears hold still long enough.
Orrey helps guide Bast towards the University, somehow seeming to know exactly which roads to take most of the time, minus a few areas with fallen buildings across the path.
Linnet switches to floating after the fourth time tripping on a fallen branch, stone, or other object she didn't see. She has an excellent view of the treetops and the outskirts of the city, and no idea what's under her feet.
The path that opens through the forest -- literally, the trees are slowly parting to admit Yves -- takes the party into a large circular clearing.
...Linnet investigates for the cause of the circle. Disaster? Ceremony? Unfinished amphitheater? Just-created?
If anything, the solicitous trees make Bast's progress slower as he tries to figure out how they're moving out of the way.
"I am back," Yves tells the trees around the clearing. "I'm sorry it took so long; there were some, well, logistics? And we haven't exactly solved everything yet, though we're working on it."
Isa's helmet turns side to side, and she grunts in response to something unheard.
The trees never visibly move. As soon as the eye is not on them, they have moved. When Bast stares directly at one, he finds that he is staring another twenty degrees to the right where the tree now rests, with no recollection of exactly how this happened.
"...Yves, want to see if Golem has anything to say about this?" Linnet asks out of the side of her mouth.
Finally giving up, Bast follows the group into the clearing, keeping well clear of the weird wandering trees.
The path eventually directs them onto an actual street; overgrown with nature, stones split by seeds, with all of Alterna before them to select from.
The castle from which the Starfall came is a considerable distance away.
Linnet picks a building that looks vaguely university-like and sets off, still staring everywhere but where she's going.
Bast is not far behind, exchanging murmured comments with Orrey about the route.
"Oh, I'm very glad to hear that," Yves tells various trees, as he passes. "But of course you should know that if you ever need more, or want to make a specific request, on your behalf or the behalf of someone else, well. I do try to listen!" Then he adds to Linnet, "Golem's doing well!"
One comment from Bast reaches farther than the others: "You saw it too, right?"
"Saw...Alterna as it once was?" Orrey asks, then nods.
"Seemed like that's what it was. More tower than I figured, from last time."
"I know we won't find the university as it was, but...maybe there's still some of the magic there." Linnet doesn't look like she's talking about practical magic.
"I saw all those places I mentioned, as they used to be before the fall. Like a vision, like I was there...er...then." Orrey elaborates.
"Oh, really?" Yves says, a little absently. "I was chatting with Golem, but it's nice to know other things are communicating too. If that is a communication."
Bast glances over his shoulder at Isa and Yves bringing up the rear. "Did you get the Alterna Welcome Special on the approach, too?"
Yves shakes his head to Bast. "Not unless you mean the trees. But that's more like sound than vision, and certainly not of any, I don't know, pre-fall situation."
"They used to open portals inside the Laboratory of the University, to other worlds, maybe other universes. And beings came through. Beings of order and math and reason...and beings of static and decay." Orrey says.
"Let's hope we find the former rather than the latter." Linnet shudders a little.
Isa's helmet tilts in a nod.
"We know this place isn't safe. It might not even be comprehensible." Orrey says.
"I mean, order and math and reason can be pretty grim too," Yves says to himself.
"Safe is a ways away by now. I'm hoping for useful," replies Bast.
"We will damn well try. Between all of us, I'm pretty sure we can comprehend whatever's lurking in the ruins." Linnet extends a hand to the bunny. "And if it fails all of us, Cinnabun can figure it out. Can't you, smart bun?"
Cinnabar hops along happily.
Orrey eyes Bast. "Why are you and I the only ones to see anything on the way in?"
"I did too," Linnet adds over her shoulder.
"I saw it," Isa's voice echoes. "Don't know what it meant other than to taunt us with what was."
"With all respect, if someone's gonna be the odd one out, it'd be the one who talks to the trees." Linnet nods to Yves.
"Yves does have a stronger connection to the Guardian Forces." Orrey muses.
"Maybe I was just distracted," Yves says tentatively. "Or maybe because I'm talking to who's really here, I see what's really here, instead of what used to be? Assuming the visions are true. I suppose we don't have a good way to test that assumption."
"Probably not unless we find another time portal, like the End of the World. And let's not go seeking that out."
The University, as Orrey refers to it, is a series of buildings in a large triangular field, a large central building with three smaller ones in the points of the triangle. That is, at least, a reasonable guess as to its original construction. In the present day, the central building has lost the vast majority of its size, with multiple floors collapsed in on themselves. Two of the three smaller buildings are gone; the northeast one is a husk of melted glass, and the southeast a flooded crater. The western building is still largely intact.
There is movement in the central building, that much is clear from this distant vantage point. Something, or somethings, still exist within it. What they are is as yet unknown.
"...well, let's not go knock on the central building just yet. Start at the west and see if there's anything we can recover?" Linnet shifts her pack, staring uncomfortably at the heap of glass.
"Sounds wise." Orrey says in support.
Bast peers at the distant movement. "Yeah, no call to be making friends just yet. Let's see what we can find out first."
"Carefully," Isa agrees provisionally. "Don't leave our backs to them."
"Maybe Golem will watch our backs," Yves suggests. "Though, on second thought, I would be presuming quite a lot there, so better that we keep an eye out for ourselves."
Having stated a goal, Linnet contravenes it by floating around the far edge of the northeast building, trying to picture what could have even done this.
The northeast building is a mass of fused glass, a misshapen boulder of reflective nightmare. Occasionally, it twitches.
Bast gives an arch look to Linnet's retreating back and checks on his crossbow.
"Look at that movement," Yves says, pointing to the twitchy building. "I wonder if it's a person!"
"...what the..." Linnet nudges the building with her foot to see if it's still warm, or if it...reacts. It's a building. Buildings don't react.
"Do at least try not to get eaten by anything within an hour of getting here?"
The building reacts.
End session 114. (cue Linnet's player text-screaming "MATT YOU SON OF A SHOGGOTH")
The kitchen aboard the ship is chaotic at the best of times, and this is not the best of times. Saray has finally snapped at the backseat-cooking from one Linnet Leveche, and a simple request for space has instead morphed into an overblown shouting match that neither will remember inside of twelve hours but will gain its own narrative as it makes its way through the crew. However the story starts, it will not be through Bjrn, who dealt with enough during the Holly Incident two months prior, and even now is trying to put as many tables and dishware as possible between he and the argument. Shula Brighton rolls her eyes as she works her way through a series of simple repairs, fastening legs to chairs and mending tears in cloth napkins the quartermaster did not approve replacing. Recent hire Luca Ficarra watches the exchange with raw delight, fancifully narrating the verbal barrages to their tablemate Orrey Alyon, as Orrey sketches his interpretation of Luca’s story, one that already features more fire and fright than the true story on which it is based. Left alone with the puff pastry, Artemicion calmly constructs his own apple tarts with skill and finesse. Orrey’s pencil stops moving just as Linnet’s argument wilts, and both officers look up at the speaker positioned over the sinks.
The stage is the tip of a theater’s iceberg, and the Starfall is no different. No touring company has ever had a prop room as large as the Starfall’s cargo hold, and Jasper Samson rules over it from on high, snug on an elevated platform that overlooks every case, crate, and barrel within the airship’s hold. Celeste Meracydia sits on the rim of a twelve-foot-tall wooden crate, hooking the cylindrical cases of two maps into the railings of her free-standing ladder. Forty-five feet above the ground, Shaul Shotlocke clambers over storage containers full of faux-nautical paraphernalia, seeking out the one real spyglass in a sea of reasonable facsimiles, mixing pure filth in among his many kupos. Yves Mjrwin and Isara Marquez loiter by the entryway, taking a break from poring over engineering diagrams and chemical analysis to instead trade eyeliner tips and discuss the latest in counter-culture accessorizing. Yves pauses, his hand halfway to Isara’s proffered earring, as his attention shifts to the speaker by the door.
The bridge hosts a meeting between those responsible for the ship’s aerial safety, though they approach this discussion with different theories. Apocynthion Lunakrei Tolvani, the Third, is his usual self, grandiose and declarative, running a hand through his elegantly-coiffed hair. Jozue Helder leans across the table, lowered eyebrows darkening his eyes, making his counterargument. Natron Rensa, calm and studious, picks his spots carefully, tracing a firing line in the air to illustrate his point. Owen Moda dutifully watches the animated discussion, resigned to following it through to the very end, confident in doing whatever he was going to do in the first place regardless. Captain Bast and Marina Zaharak exchange a knowing glance, the captain’s rueful smile balanced by the helm’s weary groan. Interest returns to Marina’s expression, however, when Bast steps up to the ship’s microphone and clears his throat.
**
"This is your Captain speaking."
He stops for a moment, then goes on in a quiet, level voice carried to every corner of the ship by the craft of centuries past.
"You have come here by many paths. You have faced things that would make sensible sailors long for a life on land, stood tall, and prevailed. And now our greatest challenge yet lies before us: restless Alterna, where the ghosts of the past guard its secrets and treasures. There is no map to follow here, no safe path charted; no explorers have gone before us.
And there is no better crew, in any corner of the Dicelan, to uncover what has been hidden here all these years."
There is silence for the space of one indrawn breath.
"Power to the Engine, Miss Marquez. Let's make some history."
Isara was halfway to the engine room before Bast said her name. It only takes another forty-five seconds for the Luminous Engine to activate.
The Starfall lurches in the air as the Luminous Engine roars to life, drinking deep of Asura's wrath as the pride and joy of Marquez engineering activates in full.
A steady hum deeper than the Theatre of the Untranslatable's most commanding baritone eliminates all sound within the Starfall, and then leaves with the pulse wave that travels from the ancient airship into the former capital of the Alternan Empire.
In the pulse's wake, the seas calm.
The swirling clouds thin.
The elemental storms abate.
The chaos subsides.
For a time, Alterna will know a semblance of peace.
The Starfall flies forward into the ancient city as the officers convene on the bridge.
Bast looks over the familiar faces, amused. "Never let it be said that crime doesn't pay. Anything falling off yet?"
Orrey, standing with Celeste, stares out the closest window, sketching like mad as he tries to map the layout of everything from above, getting helpful input from her as they scan the area together.
"Everything's running beautifully, Captain," Isara says through the radio from the engine room, as if there could be any doubt.
For all of Bast's seeming nonchalance, he might be at risk of things falling off himself - every piece of equipment he's spent nights tinkering with and fights testing to fiery destruction seems to be strapped on somewhere on his person.
Linnet is definitely not storming out of the kitchen; she is very deliberately taking her time, though she may have forgotten about the flour on her cheek and the tomato-stained apron. "Finally. Let's get this show in the air, Captain."
Under normal circumstances, Isa dresses in what can reasonably be called "mercenary chic," large coats and heavy boots and severe cuts.
These are not normal circumstances.
When she arrives on the bridge she is armed and armored as a full Cardian Dragoon, a coat of red and black under asymmetric plate armor, her legs more heavily protected than her torso because that's what her enemies are more likely to see. She is carrying the Frost Fair Blade, tucked tight against a shoulder and heedless of the soft waves of cold air emanating from it. She nods to Bast as she takes her position.
Marina sucks in a raspy breath as the Starfall travels through a cloudbank, drawing ever nearer to the ancient city itself. Lightning flashes inside the cloud, to the ship's port side, briefly illuminating the silhouette of a long-bearded sorcerer.
A gout of fire harmlessly licks the edges of the ship, forming into a snarling leonine head with two curved horns, before it, too, is gone in a puff of smoke.
"Weather's nice." Bast remarks, looking ahead. "Hope it holds."
The wind that dissipates the smoke comes from four feathered wings, wings that vanish when the windows separating the bridge from the elements splatter with rain, rain that flash-freezes to ice before crackling free with a snap.
"Much better than last time," Isa agrees.
"...oops. Didn't realize we were in formal dress for this part." Linnet slips out the door to her cabin, returning a few minutes later clean and presentable. The apron has been ditched in favor of a new moss-green tunic over her favorite bell-bottom jeans. The braid is coming undone, but the brick-red streak is clearly visible, washed clean of flour. Shoes will come later; when your feet don't touch the floor until you remember there's a floor, you don't need them.
Linnet draws a card - not looking at it - and flips it between her fingers. "Let's do this."
The rumble that follows is far heavier and thicker than mere thunder, from the broad shoulders of a cloudbank. One final wave of rain washes over the Starfall, purple fins in the peripheral vision... and then the clouds are behind them.
"I might not have packed enough eyeliner for this," Yves murmurs sidelong to Isara.
And then, before them all, there is Alterna.
Celeste has a map out, pressed against the glass, that she drew from prior stories after joining the crew. "Okay, well, if that's where you said you landed before after getting the ship," she mumbles around the pen between her teeth, scribbling instead with pencil, "we're not landing there, 'cause it's in the sea."
"What looks stable?" Marina calls out.
"I've got... two places, I think," Celeste says after scribbling out a third. "There's another spot out in the open... see, in front of those columns, the ones cut off halfway through?" "I see 'em," Marina confirms.
"That's one. It's flat, it's in the open, it's easily accessed on all sides, it's basically right in the middle." Celeste circles a spot on her map.
"It's all ruin..." Isa says, to herself, and as if this were surprising information.
"It's got a straight line out to the sea with these clouds gone, meaning anyone who comes by will see us in here," Marina says. "Which might be a pain."
Bast seems fully absorbed in the view, one hand resting on glass still carrying traces of frost.
"Starboard, please." Celeste runs across the bridge to the far side, spinning past Isa with the grace of a ballerina who made it exactly eight months into training.
The map slaps against the window, and scribbling follows. "That forest, there's a spot that should hold the ship. Right there, see where the two trees fell over?"
"You want me to park this entire ship in that tiny little spot?" Marina snorts.
"What, you can't?"
"'Course I can," Marina says. "It's just gonna be tight. If you need to get out of here in a hurry, that's going to make it a hell of a lot harder."
"Captain's decision?" Celeste asks, looking at Bast, and by association the rest of the officers. "Out in the open where anyone can see us, or in the trees where getting out might be a lot harder?"
Orrey has stopped sketching for many moments, frozen, eyes wide as he stares as if not seeing anything in front of himself. He comes back with a sigh, a tear running down his cheek. He slowly starts back on the visual picture from the sky.
"We can blast our way out if need be," replies Isa. "We know people are looking for us."
"Sure, what's a few trees," Marina says, not realizing Yves is right behind her.
Bast nods slowly. "Too early to advertise."
Linnet hugs herself about the shoulders, staring wistfully out the windows, card forgotten in her hand.
Yves stares at Marina. "...some of those trees might be people, at that," he says frostily.\
Cinnabar noses Linnet's ankle supportively.
Marina has learned to mostly ignore Yves; he's not going to make sense later, even when he explains himself.
Linnet picks up Cinnabar and coos at her about being the best bunny. "Are we taking you home, sweetheart?"
Cinnabar makes a small sparkly-warble sound, ears straight up. The emerald rabbit then tries to scramble in mid-air with absolute glee to get closer to Linnet.
Yves whispers into his satchel, "Don't worry, we'll talk about it before anything drastic happens."
"Well, clearly we'll just have to take you with us." Linnet perches Cinnabar on her shoulder and scritches those lovely little ears.
Marina steers the Starfall for the forest.
"If our dear Cinnabun is here in person, are the others?" Orrey asks Yves.
"Oh, it's mostly just a few masks that might have special interest in this situation," Yves tells Orrey. "Though if they decide to show up in person later, that's great too."
"Is it?" Isa asks.
Within thirty minutes, the ship has landed, without a single branch in the forest so much as cracked as a result. The crew turns out to bid the officers a safe exit, with assurances from Stella, Jozue, Apoc, and Lily that the Starfall will be defended well in their absence should a need arise.
Yves gives Isa a guileless nod. "I thought Golem in particular might enjoy seeing how things are going, and maybe give a few pointers if we get stuck."
"Mm. As long as they're helpful," Isa says. She pulls on a helmet, en-visored and be-winged, and is the first to hop down from the gangway.
"If something weird and elemental tries to talk to you, be polite but try not to engage. If the trees start talking to you, move the ship immediately. Remember not to give Triscuit baked goods, be careful with your weapon drills, tell Saray I'm very sorry for this morning, and...what am I forgetting?" Eventually, Linnet will extricate herself from frantic-advice-giving mode. Eventually.
Orrey hefts a sizeable pack of equipment, double checking that he has access to the Armageddon, his knife, and his usual satchel full of sketchbooks and art supplies.
"Your sword, that's what you're forgetting." Shula straps her friend's rarely-used weapon to her back, hugs her, and rolls her eyes quietly.
"Thirty seconds she's still here, I'm throwing her over the edge," Jasper says to Rahel.
"...right. Thank you, Shula. I'd leave my brain with you for safekeeping, but, well." Linnet blushes, slides on a pair of leather ballet flats, and hears Jasper's comment - "okay, okay, I'm going." She waves and runs to catch up with Isa.
Cinnabar lopes along beside her, unable to balance on the sylph's shoulders with as fast as she's moving.
"Yves, before you go."
Yves turns back, his satchel already hoisted into place. (Not that it ever leaves.)
Apoc produces a cerulean crystal from his pocket. "Should a danger you cannot fulminate descend upon you, say as much into this crystal, and rest assured, help will arrive."
(Linnet is still within earshot and touches the pouch containing Perilune's crystal, still tucked under her shirt.)
Yves accepts the crystal from Apoc seriously. "Thank you," he says. "I'm hoping the dangers ahead will be largely fulminatable, but it's reassuring to have some backup options as well."
Someone shouts "Speech!" at Bast as he is the last to leave, with another "Encore!" that was definitely Mogratheo, though he's ducked out of sight since.
Bast, hands already on the rail, pauses with quiet "Hah" and turns around, taking in the crew gathered on deck.
"You want another speech, you keep this ship and yourselves in one piece until we're out of here. And while I don't encourage that sort of thing? I will be very surprised if one of you isn't eventually guilty of a play about all this."
He waves to the crew, flips backwards over the rail with only a small jet assist, and is gone from view.
"You're encouraging them, now?" Orrey asks Bast with a smile.
"Seems like the time for it." Bast peers through the trees at the ruins beyond.
"Let's get out of earshot before they start rehearsing." Linnet grins, looks up, and loses herself in the majesty of the forest.
The forest around the Starfall is gray, wiry, and stretched, trunks woven around each other, coiled around rocks, branches gripping each other for support against an unseen or absent force. It is the same wood as Golem's mask, for those on the ship who have seen Golem's mask but not this forest before.
"...so does anyone actually know where we're going?" asks the sylph who certainly does not, after about five minutes of silent tromping.
"Into the city, at least," Isa says, her voice made hollow by the helmet.
"There was a Museum. And a University. We're walking through what remains of the living, sentient forest. The Tower of the Gods we've been in before. And there's the train station, or what's left of it." Orrey ticks off each on his hand, getting that faraway look he had on the approach.
Yves looks up from where he's having a quiet conversation with (at?) a stretch of wood. "And from there, we can figure out exact locations based on, uh, evidence and stuff? Or maybe people will just say hello and ask for a lift out. That happens sometimes." He pats a branch near him.
Linnet looks down at her ankle-height companion. "Anywhere you want to start, Cinnabun?"
"And the Floating Ziggurat. Well, Fallen Ziggurat now." Orrey says quietly, somber.
"Might be good to see if any records survive. And we probably don't want whoever's at the train station to know." Bast looks straight ahead.
Cinnabar has lost track of whatever Linnet is saying, as they're happily bouncing in a giddy circle around Bast.
Bast takes a break from plotting a course for the ruined university to lean down and scratch behind Cinnabar's ears. Once the ears hold still long enough.
Orrey helps guide Bast towards the University, somehow seeming to know exactly which roads to take most of the time, minus a few areas with fallen buildings across the path.
Linnet switches to floating after the fourth time tripping on a fallen branch, stone, or other object she didn't see. She has an excellent view of the treetops and the outskirts of the city, and no idea what's under her feet.
The path that opens through the forest -- literally, the trees are slowly parting to admit Yves -- takes the party into a large circular clearing.
...Linnet investigates for the cause of the circle. Disaster? Ceremony? Unfinished amphitheater? Just-created?
If anything, the solicitous trees make Bast's progress slower as he tries to figure out how they're moving out of the way.
"I am back," Yves tells the trees around the clearing. "I'm sorry it took so long; there were some, well, logistics? And we haven't exactly solved everything yet, though we're working on it."
Isa's helmet turns side to side, and she grunts in response to something unheard.
The trees never visibly move. As soon as the eye is not on them, they have moved. When Bast stares directly at one, he finds that he is staring another twenty degrees to the right where the tree now rests, with no recollection of exactly how this happened.
"...Yves, want to see if Golem has anything to say about this?" Linnet asks out of the side of her mouth.
Finally giving up, Bast follows the group into the clearing, keeping well clear of the weird wandering trees.
The path eventually directs them onto an actual street; overgrown with nature, stones split by seeds, with all of Alterna before them to select from.
The castle from which the Starfall came is a considerable distance away.
Linnet picks a building that looks vaguely university-like and sets off, still staring everywhere but where she's going.
Bast is not far behind, exchanging murmured comments with Orrey about the route.
"Oh, I'm very glad to hear that," Yves tells various trees, as he passes. "But of course you should know that if you ever need more, or want to make a specific request, on your behalf or the behalf of someone else, well. I do try to listen!" Then he adds to Linnet, "Golem's doing well!"
One comment from Bast reaches farther than the others: "You saw it too, right?"
"Saw...Alterna as it once was?" Orrey asks, then nods.
"Seemed like that's what it was. More tower than I figured, from last time."
"I know we won't find the university as it was, but...maybe there's still some of the magic there." Linnet doesn't look like she's talking about practical magic.
"I saw all those places I mentioned, as they used to be before the fall. Like a vision, like I was there...er...then." Orrey elaborates.
"Oh, really?" Yves says, a little absently. "I was chatting with Golem, but it's nice to know other things are communicating too. If that is a communication."
Bast glances over his shoulder at Isa and Yves bringing up the rear. "Did you get the Alterna Welcome Special on the approach, too?"
Yves shakes his head to Bast. "Not unless you mean the trees. But that's more like sound than vision, and certainly not of any, I don't know, pre-fall situation."
"They used to open portals inside the Laboratory of the University, to other worlds, maybe other universes. And beings came through. Beings of order and math and reason...and beings of static and decay." Orrey says.
"Let's hope we find the former rather than the latter." Linnet shudders a little.
Isa's helmet tilts in a nod.
"We know this place isn't safe. It might not even be comprehensible." Orrey says.
"I mean, order and math and reason can be pretty grim too," Yves says to himself.
"Safe is a ways away by now. I'm hoping for useful," replies Bast.
"We will damn well try. Between all of us, I'm pretty sure we can comprehend whatever's lurking in the ruins." Linnet extends a hand to the bunny. "And if it fails all of us, Cinnabun can figure it out. Can't you, smart bun?"
Cinnabar hops along happily.
Orrey eyes Bast. "Why are you and I the only ones to see anything on the way in?"
"I did too," Linnet adds over her shoulder.
"I saw it," Isa's voice echoes. "Don't know what it meant other than to taunt us with what was."
"With all respect, if someone's gonna be the odd one out, it'd be the one who talks to the trees." Linnet nods to Yves.
"Yves does have a stronger connection to the Guardian Forces." Orrey muses.
"Maybe I was just distracted," Yves says tentatively. "Or maybe because I'm talking to who's really here, I see what's really here, instead of what used to be? Assuming the visions are true. I suppose we don't have a good way to test that assumption."
"Probably not unless we find another time portal, like the End of the World. And let's not go seeking that out."
The University, as Orrey refers to it, is a series of buildings in a large triangular field, a large central building with three smaller ones in the points of the triangle. That is, at least, a reasonable guess as to its original construction. In the present day, the central building has lost the vast majority of its size, with multiple floors collapsed in on themselves. Two of the three smaller buildings are gone; the northeast one is a husk of melted glass, and the southeast a flooded crater. The western building is still largely intact.
There is movement in the central building, that much is clear from this distant vantage point. Something, or somethings, still exist within it. What they are is as yet unknown.
"...well, let's not go knock on the central building just yet. Start at the west and see if there's anything we can recover?" Linnet shifts her pack, staring uncomfortably at the heap of glass.
"Sounds wise." Orrey says in support.
Bast peers at the distant movement. "Yeah, no call to be making friends just yet. Let's see what we can find out first."
"Carefully," Isa agrees provisionally. "Don't leave our backs to them."
"Maybe Golem will watch our backs," Yves suggests. "Though, on second thought, I would be presuming quite a lot there, so better that we keep an eye out for ourselves."
Having stated a goal, Linnet contravenes it by floating around the far edge of the northeast building, trying to picture what could have even done this.
The northeast building is a mass of fused glass, a misshapen boulder of reflective nightmare. Occasionally, it twitches.
Bast gives an arch look to Linnet's retreating back and checks on his crossbow.
"Look at that movement," Yves says, pointing to the twitchy building. "I wonder if it's a person!"
"...what the..." Linnet nudges the building with her foot to see if it's still warm, or if it...reacts. It's a building. Buildings don't react.
"Do at least try not to get eaten by anything within an hour of getting here?"
The building reacts.
End session 114. (cue Linnet's player text-screaming "MATT YOU SON OF A SHOGGOTH")
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