sunmon: (7)
a rubiks cube of a person ([personal profile] sunmon) wrote in [community profile] ethyraia2021-08-01 09:22 am

◣ OPEN ◢ CATCH THAT THESSYX

WHO: anyone signed up for this player plot
WHAT: a band of merry hatchlings followed the thessyx as they left, in an attempt to find their city!
WHEN: august 1-5
WHERE: north of basecamp
NOTES/WARNINGS: animal mutilation; for other warnings, please utilize subject lines

preparation;

in the last days of july, whispers spread amongst the hatchlings of a planned excursion north of the city, following the trail laid by the thessyx who had left before the window closed. friends of alina starkov — or anyone with skills useful enough to keep her alive long enough to get to the thessyx's underground city — might have received a personal invitation via text or in person, but anyone else might have simply jumped on via word of mouth.

there are rain shields to wheedle out of remí, food to hoard wherever possible to support the excursion, and other preparations to be made. those heading out on this journey don't really know how long they'll be gone: better to be ready for anything. hopefully, those coming along have weapons. you never know what you'll find in the ethyraian wilderness.


the journey out;


day one
to a skilled observer, the tracks left by the thessyx originally appear to meander without purpose across the desert-like landscape. the terrain is easy to traverse, dry and covered in scrub. serpentflies flutter around, glinting in the faint light that leaks through the threatening cloud cover. the tracks gradually veer over the course of the day to join what seems like a migration or herd route of some kind... almost like a well-trodden road.

the good news is that the road offers excellent visibility and makes it hard to sneak up on the group, though it is pocked by a variety of animal prints. amidst the prints of animals that use the path, the thessyx's prints run the risk of getting lost in the noise.

when they rest for the night, just off the edge of the trail, a male scorpiug plunges into the camp looking for offerings to attract a mate. the scorpiug will attack, its claws and teeth equipped with a toxin that can induce sleep and paralysis on the victim, leaving them defenseless for a female scorpiug to sniff out and come devour later. at 30 ft tall, the scorpiug proves difficult to combat, and trailblazers should team up to take out this tank!

day two
the next day, when everyone is tired from the interruption to their sleep, and once they've left the camp out of sight and out of mind, the journey takes a turn for the disturbing as they discover the next stretch of road is marked by animal carcasses. these don't look like they were merely hunted by the inhospitable wildlife of ethyraia either. mangled bat bones, discarded rat tentacles, and golden cliff viper heads have been left behind in disarray. they don't look like they were left there by the thessyx or the kind of animal that would have been hunting them in the wild...

a downpour starts in the early afternoon. light at first, but after half an hour of sleet, the mild flooding around their feet and the intensity of the rain prove too much for rain shields and shielding abilities to completely correct. they are going to need safe harbor. fortunately, in the nearby mountainous landscape there appear to be some caves, nestled amongst boulders on higher ground ...

the cave;


still day two
on the interior walls of the cave are ancient-looking paintings, wall art depicting dragons drawn to massive scale, taking up much of the wall and some of the ceiling! around them are also creatures that look quite like the thessyx themselves... and there are other drawings that don't seem to match them? taller figures with flatter heads and broader limbs. the art depicts all the featured creatures in harmony.

as night falls and people find places to settle, eivor wanders deeper into the very extensive cave. the number of tunnels and depth of the cave may be surprising or discouraging to other wanderers, but as eivor persists, she comes across an ancient, feeble, malnourished thessyx curled up in a corner.

provided she communicates with them, the thessyx explains telepathically that all elderly thessyx leave their subterranean city to go and 'join the ocean' on a final journey. however, this Thessyx does not think it will make it, and seems to lament this fact.

what they found didn't find;


day three
the next day, as the group gets ready to go, there are decisions to be made: what to do with the thessyx, and whether to turn back themselves in the face of the weather. after some debate between bringing them along and returning them to basecamp, the group settles on the latter, sending a few of their number (sam, balthier, and natasha have volunteered) back with them.

those who opt to remain continue after the trail left by the thessyx, but it goes cold later that day at the side of the mountain, as if the entire envoy simply vanished or teleported. low on food and other supplies, and threatened by rain and monsters, the group will have to decide whether to continue blindly or to turn back as well.
portolan: (f o r l o r n)

02

[personal profile] portolan 2021-08-13 03:47 am (UTC)(link)
[ Balthier has seen the way Alina floats to Kirigan's side, only to bound off and return again, like a magnet with its polarity switched back and forth. He can't get a read on their dynamic, but he can certainly put together Alina's desire to flee anywhere else and her impatience at being bottled up.

He sees her at the cave of the mouth, ready to bolt the second it lessens. The light she summons around herself is mesmerizing. And hard to see through. He comes to lean nearby. Honestly, the sound of the rain is soothing, and he's appreciate some time to collect his own thoughts.
]

How much did I tell you about when I left home?
unclesam: ((84))

[personal profile] unclesam 2021-08-13 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
They're pretty awesome, won't lie.

[ Sam grins, wide and bright. He's loved the previous versions of his wings too, but the upgrade he got recently is really something else, and he's not so modest that he won't engage in some appreciation for them. For now, they fold back into the slim silver pack on his back as if they'd never even been there. ]

Let's hope the weather clears up soon so we can actually cash our little race in. In the meantime...

[ He doesn't enjoy the term lab rat. Makes him think of Isaiah Bradley, of the government's history of conducting experiments on people who look like Sam. It's uncomfortable. But the other options are Natasha and the Thessyx. The latter is in no condition, and Sam won't let anything get tested on the former. Nah - he'll embrace the risk himself. ]

Sure, knock yourself out.
portolan: (w e l l l l l)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-08-13 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
Well as far as anyone knew, it was the resting place of the Dynast King himself and all of his treasures. You'd expect something like to have been looted years ago, what with the stories stretching to the farthest reaches of the continent and even across the seas.

But the King was wise and knew his treasures were dangerous. He had the tomb built in the Valley of Death, which in addition to being a scorching desert is too windy to fly an airship through. It's three days' walk before you even reach the tomb.

And I was supervising three teenage idiots. [ He pauses. This is not really a fair judgement of Penelo. And truly not of Ashe, although she was still full of impulsive vengeance at the time. Basch still wanted to kill him with his eyes for being a dirty pirate. Ah, memories. Was it really only a year ago? ]
unclesam: ((24))

[personal profile] unclesam 2021-08-13 05:35 am (UTC)(link)
[ His expression turns a little less exaggerated when he hears the wonder in her voice, his own smile going softer. She reminds him so much of Sarah when they were young it aches, makes him miss home. Fate of the big brother, probably - always doomed to see his sister in others, or his nephews in younger kids. ]

Alright. I'm gonna show you a little more now.

[ The HUD should now show Redwing's tracking as the drone circles closer to the ground, and the HUD fills with some more details, small red lines tracing the shape of what might be tracks, analyzing them, trying to find patterns as Redwing moves, searching for what Sam taught the drone are thessyx tracks specifically. whenever it finds them, a small confirmation alert chimes on the HUD and Redwing slowly builds a virtual image of what tracks it can find, or what tracks seem the best matches. It'll allow them to be aware of the location and direction of at least partial tracks in the morning, even if the tracks wash away. It's slow going though - the rain means low visibility even for this small electronic wonder. Occasionally Redwing's camera pans behind to give a status report, showing a path of red highlighted tracks in the mud. It's not a perfect tool - but as Sam said, it should at least give them a good starting point and direction the next day. ]
ulfrkysst: (ou mi galdr maðr áss áss æt)

[personal profile] ulfrkysst 2021-08-14 02:08 am (UTC)(link)
[A good portion of this simply does not make sense, but Eivor glosses over all that for the parts she does understand.]

Seiðr, [she corrects mildly, then shakes her head.] I am a warrior. But the All-Father himself sought the runes, so it is not unheard of for a man to practice magic.
morozova: @axisandallies (Default)

b;

[personal profile] morozova 2021-08-14 06:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Nothing severe.

( between the dragon-skin shield and alina's neat new party trick, he'd managed to avoid the worst of the rain's effects. this being said, eivor does raise a valid point. )

The Aid Station likely has something. ( desperate as the camp is, he can't imagine that they'd send their people out in these conditions without something to mitigate the worst of the damage.

whether or not they had the benefit of that knowledge, however, remains to be seen. )
morozova: [ used with permission ] (pic#14854917)

👌 perfection

[personal profile] morozova 2021-08-14 06:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Not for some years, no.

( mildly, because as far as he knows there's no reason to be ashamed of this fact — even if his mother would be quick to throw out accusations of growing soft.

and she'd be right, of course, because it really is much easier to have someone take care of this kind of thing for you. )


Perhaps the rain will keep it at bay.

( but he sounds doubtful, now. everything on this planet seems primed to kill them. )
morozova: by @axisandallies (pic#14918585)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-08-14 06:23 pm (UTC)(link)
( he stills, surprised.

it's true, of course. despite their distance from ravka, from the war, he still seems reluctant to sacrifice his standing as general even if it means absolutely nothing here. )


Forgive me, ( his head dips, tone apologetic. evidently she's angrier than he thought she'd be. )

But I found something rather interesting I thought you might like something other than the rain to look at for a moment.
morozova: by @@axisandallies (pic#14918595)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-08-14 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
( alina wilts, not quite folding in on herself but it comes close. he wonders if he's ever known her to not look like the weight of the world is resting on her shoulders.

a weight he'd been all to eager to place there. )


If I tell you that, it'll ruin the surprise. ( offering her his arm, though he tells himself he won't be offended if she doesn't take it. )
morozova: (pic#14874461)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-08-14 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Have you forgotten my penchant for the dramatic so quickly?

( court had taught him the value of showmanship and his mother had taught him to never shun a weapon, much less one an enemy eagerly places in your hand.

when she tucks her arm through his, he looks away before she can catch his smile. then, they're turning away from the mouth of the cave and back toward the passage he'd just emerged from. )


There are paintings. Ancient, if I were to guess. And you are an artist.
morozova: (pic#14862919)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-08-14 11:16 pm (UTC)(link)
None of the ones I've found, but then I didn't venture very far. ( shadows are meant to shroud rather than reveal. and perhaps, just perhaps, he'd seen them and thought of her. )

The ones I did find are of dragons. ( or so he assumes. some of them look more like the creature that visited them in that strange shared dream. )

And are rather remarkable.
morozova: [ used with permission ] (pic#14854917)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-08-14 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't know.

( it should be comforting, the idea that they were brought here for a reason, because it means that there might be a way to get back, even if it means that they have to perform some task first.

but it's difficult to imagine. it's much too neat. )


But then I've never met a dragon.
morozova: [ used with permission ] (pic#14885239)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-08-14 11:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Does Rusalye count given that he was born a man?

( presumably. it's entirely possible that he was just another in a long line of grisha saints, if so, transformed much like sankta vasilka had been through cunning and wile and no small amount of desperation. )

Sankt Juris faced a dragon, but if it spoke I don't recall it ever being mentioned in any of the histories. ( granted, "speak" is misleading, too. creatures like the sea whip and like the stag had their own way of communicating, evidently. )

portolan: (a f t e r y o u)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-08-15 06:26 am (UTC)(link)
Weather never keeps the nasty ones away. [ He says it cheerily. What hasn't he seen in his time? He doubts that the General has fought anything like what he has at home, especially since Alina hasn't mentioned much in the way of creatures. Nina said something about horses tame enough to ride. Definitely not what's doing this damage.

Balthier isn't the best tracker, but these corpses don't look too fresh. a Good sign. He stands, stretching is back. It's been demanding driving the hovercraft at such a slow speed all day.
]

Fear not, though, good citizen. You are in the company of and infamous monster hunter and pirate extraordinaire. Plus, I've seen worse.
portolan: (c o n v e r s a t i o n)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-08-15 06:29 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, rune based magick, is it? Never imagined there were so many magick systems in the universe. Mine's based on the planet's energy. [ He taps the ground. It's always there, but disappears in the background when he isn't looking for it. ] Shall I show you?
portolan: (s u s)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-08-15 06:33 am (UTC)(link)
[ Balthier stays seated, closing his eyes and steadying his breathing. He hasn't been this deliberate since his studies as a boy, or when he was first practicing with Fran, but he's nervous. The rain is no joke, and if they get stranded, no one is coming back for them -- he doesn't expect Alina's party to return, and Childe's people don't entirely know where they are.

He's cast this spell a thousand times, but always in battle and on the world it was supposed to work. He doesn't know how fast it will drain him, or if it will work with the rain, but it's better than nothing.

He pulls the protection over himself first. It slides on easily, as it always has. He can't feel it physically so much as sense a brightness in the back of his mind. If he were to drop a rock on his foot, it would bounce more than usual and hurt less.
]

I've got mine up. I'm going to try to hold that and cast on you at the same time.

[ He pulls into the Mist again, and the second spell goes up just like it should. What a relief. ]

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