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.
morozova: [ used with permission ] (pic#14862927)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-08-18 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Illness means that they're more likely to take risks, yes?

( like trailing their little group, possibly attacking. as if being out in the open like this weren't unsettling enough.

but he nods when balthier mentions taking samples. the adamant's animal database is fairly sparse, to say the least, but it's easy to imagine someone, somewhere, in the camp would find that useful. )


Regardless, I think the sooner we find shelter the better.
portolan: (c h i t c h a t)

Balthier has to drive and can't really talk while he does that...do you want to time skip to cave?

[personal profile] portolan 2021-08-19 12:13 am (UTC)(link)
It can certainly cause higher risk taking. As far as I can tell this world doesn't have magical ailments, so there shouldn't be coercion toward a goal or extended stamina to worry about. [ He lets the other end of that argument go unspoken: the Hatchlings are from other worlds; someone could presumably be casting magic on the creatures. ]

I agree on shelter. I don't like the look of the clouds either. [ Balthier takes the initiative to gather the group, offering a Cure spell if anyone is feeling weak or has suffered any surface injuries but it's a hardy group. Any supplies that need to be added or removed from the hovercraft are reorganized as the group gets ready to keep moving. ]
morozova: [ used with permission ] (sab779)

absolutely cool with that 👌

[personal profile] morozova 2021-08-19 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)
( aleksander is definitely picking up what balthier's putting down, though it opens up several avenues of consideration that he hadn't even considered — and he should have, given the secrets he's been keeping, himself. )

Would that we had the company of a Squaller. ( it's murmured softly to himself. a tidemaker, too, wouldn't go amiss. though this might be the first and only time he's thought of zoya with any real sort of longing. )
ulfrkysst: (hang hang gang gang)

[personal profile] ulfrkysst 2021-08-20 02:03 am (UTC)(link)
[Luckily for Balthier -- and for Eivor, for that matter -- Eivor is basically feral, always climbing and jumping from things, and in a constant state of bruising. She recoils very mildly from the light, surprised, having not expected anything at all to happen.

Eyes round, she looks down at her hands and flexes her fingers experimentally.]


This is...
ulfrkysst: (hap hap tak tak)

[personal profile] ulfrkysst 2021-08-20 02:08 am (UTC)(link)
If their interest is so fleeting, finding them will not be worth the bother. [In other words, if the thessyx had no intention of seeking them out again, they would probably turn them away at the gate. Or something even worse.

She shakes her head, gesturing vaguely in the way they'd come from.]


Our fates are already carved. If we are meant to be reunited with the thessyx, we will be. But I do not think this is the time.
ulfrkysst: (hap hap tak tak)

[personal profile] ulfrkysst 2021-08-20 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
[She glances in the direction he gestures, nodding slowly. The whole of the expedition should know that Alina organized it, and should logically go to her for treatment.

Still--]


It is much responsibility for one so young.
mylawn: (pic#10433717)

[personal profile] mylawn 2021-08-20 05:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[Ah, a good old-fashioned grave robbery. 76 can't judge too much--depending on the circumstances, he might attempt something similar. Hell, he'd already made off with a lot of high-tech equipment from defunct Overwatch bases. That's almost the same thing (not really). The story is more an excuse for 76 to piece together Balthier's background. Even the talk of a king and an airship paints a mental picture for him.]

Were they your crew?

[76 has done a lot of supervising teenaged idiots, so he's sympathetic.]
ulfrkysst: (fuðork haniast bjalmyr fuð fuðork)

[personal profile] ulfrkysst 2021-08-21 04:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[Eivor's eyebrows raise, but she doesn't comment on the derision. She's long ago found that arguing about belief is pointless.]

My plan, [she says, with a mild bite to her words,] is not to die wandering aimlessly in the wilds.

[If they die now, they won't be able to meet the thessyx later.]
mylawn: (pic#10467983)

[personal profile] mylawn 2021-08-21 07:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[76 isn't entirely sure either, but he figures his best guess is better than nothing. Besides, it looks like everyone is traveling the same well-worn path, and he hasn't found evidence of Thessyx prints branching off yet, so he's just going to keep at it.

It wouldn't surprise him if the Thessyx assumed someone would try to follow them, but then again, it's difficult to even imagine what might be going through an actual alien's head.
]

Maybe. They seem to know a lot more about us than we do.

[Or, at least, they are using them as placeholders for something they hoped would happen. 76 is still concerned they won't be what the Thessyx expected, and things will turn out badly.]
portolan: (s m i r k)

Sorry I'm moving a little slow. Work kicked my butt this week.

[personal profile] portolan 2021-08-22 12:22 am (UTC)(link)
Looks like we're ready to head out, but you owe me a story about what Squallers are when we make camp again. As a sky pirate, I'm entitled. [ He says it with a grin and a wink, mounting his hovercraft with all the finesse of a cowboy trick rider. He still isn't used to doing all the steering, and he'll be sore tomorrow, but it's good to be in the skies -- even if they are currently about three feet off the ground. ]
portolan: (c o n v e r s a t i o n)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-08-22 12:31 am (UTC)(link)
Quite handy, isn't it?

[ He notices her surprise but doesn't want to push -- he knows enough by now to understand magic rules are different from different worlds. He isn't sure if he's hit a bad memory or more of a limitations of perceived universe sort of shock, but he means to give Eivor a moment to process. ]

I'm going to check on the others. Save my seat.
portolan: (w e l l l l l)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-08-22 12:49 am (UTC)(link)
[ 76 is a good listener so far. Doesn't seem bored, so Balthier keeps going.]

Not yet. I was just accompanying the princess -- international destabilization is bad for profits, long term, and I do enjoy going to the theater.

She gets the Dawn Shard, which proves she's queen, Fran and I get our riches, the teens disperse. Everyone's happy.

[ Everyone was not happy, dear reader. ]

We reach the tomb, and one of Basch's old Resistance friends is there -- Vossler. Says he wants to help. People say pirates are shady creatures, but military are just as untrustworthy. Never trust the honor bound. But I get ahead of myself.

We enter the tomb. Full of monsters, traps, giant statues. Not much treasure. Probably in the main burial room.

But wouldn't you know it, that room was guarded by an Esper -- immortal spirit, three stories tall, full of magic and rage.

portolan: (g r i e f)

[personal profile] portolan 2021-08-22 12:51 am (UTC)(link)
[ Balthier understands this. The need to keep busy, to feel like things are moving forward in the wake of something too big to carry. Isn't that what he's doing now, here on this mission, at his rounds at the aid station, in his effort to make friends?

It's easier than thinking about what he's lost.
]

Do you want to help me with the hovcraft? I need to check for rain damage and repack supplies. It'll take me awhile.
morozova: [ used with permission ] (pic#14852097)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-08-24 11:38 pm (UTC)(link)
( a sound startles out of him as his back hits the wall. somewhere between a laugh and a moan. she's always been ...decisive in a way he's enjoyed. forceful.

and with her fingers in his hair and her teeth in his skin, it's rather difficult to remember just who is trying to consume who, here. and why it ever could have mattered. )
morozova: [ used with permission ] (pic#14854856)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-08-26 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
( she's still close enough that he can reach for her again if he wants. good, that's good.

but then she's making a soft noise. startled, maybe. and the pain — such a novelty, pain, when was the last time he ever truly bled — asserts itself and he is lifting his own hand to touch his lip.

his fingers come away bloody. )


It's nothing.

( he draws his lower lip into his mouth, sucking. hopes she hadn't noticed the sheen of oily darkness. )
mylawn: (pic#10467983)

[personal profile] mylawn 2021-08-27 04:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[There are many words here that have no meaning to him, but he pieces enough together with context clues. He imagines that if he were telling a story about Overwatch, Balthier might have similar difficulty making sense of things.

Not that he's going to tell a story about Overwatch.

It's the namedropping, mostly--76 gets some amusement from trying to assign roles and relationships to a bunch of people he doens't know, some of whom might be idiot teenagers. That in itself is entertaining, enough to distract him from the continuous trudge through the alien jungle.
]

Well, you're here now, so it didn't kill you.

[He doesn't need to be an expert to know that "full of magic and rage" is probably bad news.]
portolan: (Default)

I'm good to wrap this one up unless you wanted something specific.

[personal profile] portolan 2021-08-30 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
Oh? That is a very useful trick.

[ He starts walking down the corridor. Her body language is a little calmer, her energy a little more settled.

It's easy to forget how young she is, and how alone.

Being there for her makes him feel more settled, too.
]

Page 5 of 5