Field Mission 2: Elegy Effigy Part 3

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I'm. I'm so sorry. NAVIGATION 1. ELEGY EFFIGY: THE FATE OF THE NETHERIL "The Adventure Zone - Crystal Kingdom Song [Complete]" (Watch on YouTube) A. THE OASIS TOWN, A MIRAGE With Terezi and Chiron at the wheel of a revitalized airship, they touch down in the middle of Vista Virs as the destruction winds up to a fever pitch. There's not much time left for this city as the Sandworms begin a final barrage against the bustling Oasis town. Destruction is imminent- and you have a choice. Help the Needlers and the Kitsune get onto the ship and wait for the torrent of attacks to die down, or stay within the limits and stall for as long as you can. For those of you willing to fight the good fight, know that the battle is a losing one. There are simply too many of them in number and size, and not enough power among the Reclaimers to successfully avert their ire. Do what you must; explode the topaz on the outside limits, take motorcycles and become the carrot on the stick, fire magic straight into their mouths to slow them down. It's only a band aid at this point, but every second you keep them away from Vista Virs, more lives are able to be saved. Anyone looking to stay within the airship can do their part as well. The area you're in is rather spacious, complete with several halls of military issued bunk-beds, a mess hall, an empty library, and, of course, the engine room. Some of the more famed Kitsune hunters (Suwa and Ishisaru) are nowhere in sight. True to their noble intent, they're still down there, doing everything that they can to slow the destruction down. They strike, and they destroy. From the airship's main observation deck, you see the long hanging archway of Vista Virs fall into the lake below. You see Stylosa trying to bring people together through an old jaunty tune, turning their attention away from their homes being dismantled piece by piece. All in all, the casualties are a little higher than anyone would hope for. But you've done everything you can. And just like that, the cold chill in the air dies. The winds cease to whip around. You can feel the dread in the air alleviate, and the sandworms all stop to stare off in the distance, as if a war horn has blared, calling them off. And all around you, the topaz that once glowed a sickly yellow return to a cool, cloudy saffron. You don't know what's happened, but you can guess it. The Architect's Pen has been retrieved, and the veil between worlds restored. After a while of anticipation and waiting for a signal of a secondary wave of attack, the airship lowers down. And it's a quiet, somber scene. B. THE LABORATORY Roxas, Futayo, Kenpachi, and Wash have infiltrated the laboratory compound and disabled the cosmoscopes that were allowing the mingling of worlds. Legion has been sucked into the Astral Plane, and with it, the rage of the Netherese Empire finally subsides, no longer trapped and stewing beneath the topaz of the desert. Bubbles are called down and the injured are carried away. For those of you who are a little bit more inclined to the... self-servicing side of the alignment scale, the laboratory is open for looting. There's a good deal of experiments that Lucas was working on back in here, and we'll leave it up to you in what you find. Just don't go too crazy; he didn't create a laser death ray, although- maybe that would've been a little helpful in the preceding hours. Lastly, if you have a grudge against Hodge Podge, now's the time to yeet that thing into the trash compound. The robots there have effectively overthrown their domineering manager drones, and live in a perpetual state of peace and communistic society. That's not to say that it's entirely smooth; there's still quite a lot of things to suss out for them and what that means. If you've got the spirit of leadership inside you, it might be worth it to try and help them establish at least some order. It might be helpful too, one day- when Vista Virs is eventually rehabilitated. Twocas, Lucas' doppelganger, eventually makes his way back to town with the help of Roxas and Wash. Pretty much everyone around here glares and tenses up when they see him. It's almost like they can smell the wrongness in his own nature. What happens next is, actually, somewhat surprising. They talk. Lucas and his twin have a heart to heart about their mother, and if you're paying attention, it's pretty heart wrenching to see. In the end, Twocas starts to cry, and Lucas, well. He gives him a really, really awkward hug. Like the reflections you saw in the caverns below, he fades away and becomes whole with his other half again. But the joining of the two hits him hard. "I created him to split my grief away from me. I know... now, of course, that... it was a really, really bad idea. I just couldn't live with it. It hurt... so, so, much and I just. I didn't know what to do with all that pain. I'm sorry, everyone. This is my fault. This is all my fault. There's nothing I can do to bring the town back to the way it was before. The only thing I know I can do is pay for my crimes. I'm ready to return to the Moon Base. Lucretia can decide what happens to me." Maybe you're happy with this outcome, maybe it's bittersweet. But eventually, Killian will slap a pair of arcane handcuffs on him, grab him by the collar, and call down a bubble to Vista Virs. Lucas was right. It's time for him to accept the responsibility of what he did. C. THE CAVERNS AND THE DESERT Now sealed off, the caverns remain home to no one but a sleeping God of Death. Sseth remains in there, his worshipers all sacrificed upon his birth into this world from the Celestial Plane. It's incredibly dangerous and ill-advised to return back in there, but we're not going to stop you. Several parts can be cleared away by hand with enough effort and enough moxie to Indiana Jones your way down. There's villages of Yuan-ti nests dotted throughout the caverns and ripe with various jewels, gems, and fine trinkets. If you can stomach looking at a giant reptilian god sleeping away, it's all yours. But note, the ever looming presence of evil strongly exists there. This is not a completed job, not by any stretch of the word. Although the god sleeps in the caverns below, his influence is pervasive. Spend a long enough time down there and you'll start to feel a malevolence touch your heart, like a black and oily hand clasping around your brain, whispering madness directly into it. Otherwise, the desert is rather calm. There are still monsters about, but it seems that the chaos has come to a halt. If you've got a heavy heart, you might be able to ride out and camp for a night or two before returning to base. Anyone who sleeps out there under the stars will have a peaceful, albeit surreal dream of occupying the body of an animal, traversing across the sands. It should bring you some peace, but maybe not enough to undo the trauma of meeting your reflection or any of the other quite awful things that have happened since your arrival in the Netheril. But everything comes back to Vista Virs. Return to town, or return home to the Moon Base, the choice is yours. But there's still stuff to do if you have the time and energy to spare. Some say that keeping yourself active helps you not dwell. We imagine some of you would be very keen on taking that to heart. 2. THE FIGHT, THE RETURN HOME For those of you who have not assembled to retrieve the Grand Relic, this still isn't the time to be sitting on your hands. There's so much to be done if you intend to make it back to the Moon Base. A. IN THE THICK OF THINGS With all the chaos unfolding in and around Vista Virs as the sandworms approach, there's little in the way of impactful support for the Needlers, merchant Kitsune and even your fellow Reclaimers who have been affected. If you're up to it, and if you're able, here are a few options. Of course, you are always free to have your character do what would best suit them. ○ First aid, or final aid: Healers, this is your time to shine. With the symbiotic relationship between the Kitsune and Needlers, and with many of them having never seen a conflict past Netheril survival, hunting and a bitter rivalry with the Kobolds, there's a dearth of effective healing magic. Will you be tending to the injured? Or will you be the one to hit that unfortunate button on the bracer to send a Reclaimer back home for revival? ○ Hang back and fight: Speaking of the Kobolds, you may run into one or two, looking to sneak their way into Vista Virs to pilfer some of those increasingly valuable resources. It's going to take yourself and a fellow Reclaimer to stop them — or an even wider-scale conflict with the Kitsune of Vista Virs. You may choose to fight, or if you've managed to befriend a group of Kobolds in the past, maybe you can reason with them. The choice is yours. ○ That's a morale: Maybe you can't heal. Maybe you can't fight, either. But you probably know at least one (1) good joke, right? Keeping the mood light while the plane of the dead literally creeps to your front door is not an easy task, nor is it any less important than the others. Park yourself at one of the kotatsus at The Succulent, grab yourself a glass of flavored water, and try to keep your mind off of impending disaster. ○ Fuck this shit I'm out: It's not like this can get any worse, right? Assuming you can find somewhere safe to bail, that is — keep in mind that if you choose this option, you may be subjected to a course even worse and more mandatory than Stop Dying 101 at the Moon Base. B. THE AFTERMATH It is, unfortunately, the way that a war with an unspeakably thorough destruction such as the Hunger occasionally plays out. Your efforts were not in vain. But collateral damage could not be helped. The tall, haphazardly constructed yet beautiful settlement of Vista Virs has been destroyed by the sandworms. Casualties could not be avoided. Among the wreckage, the shredded and splintered framework of the boardwalks you've inhabited for the past month and a half, a lone monument to the tenacity of the Needlers remains: A lake, pristine as ever, even if it's currently littered with debris. As the story goes, the Thorn that wrung out the nearby cacti to create Thorn's Thumbprint gave the Needlers the endurance, the strength they needed to survive in a harsh environment such as the Netheril. And Thorn's Thumbprint remains. They will survive, just as they always have. You may comfort those who have lost so much. You may help with rebuilding efforts. You may give them your word that you'll be back to help rebuild — which isn't a lie. Ultimately, though, you will have to return. C. HOMEWARD BOUND Your visit to the Netheril is over. After a month in the unforgiving desert climate, you return to your quarters on the base, where your bed's been freshly made, the water in the shower's warm, and the food is far more appetizing. It's time to rest. At some point past your initial return, though, a message appears on your bracer. It's not quite an acknowledgment of what happened at Vista Virs. That'll come later, and in a setting that's more formal than a message through the bracers. It has come to my attention that the Culinary Operating Official Kitchenmate, or the robot you all have affectionately termed Bender, is functioning exactly as intended, according to the man who constructed it. My sincerest apologies for those of you who have suffered collateral damage from Bender's more adventurous culinary forays. Terms of amends may be addressed in the future. Rest now. We will provide aid to the citizens of the Netheril. And we will discuss your efforts at a later date. 3. OOC NOTES Congratulations on obtaining the second Grand Relic! For those of you who participated in the Call to Arms, you can use this log to thread out the results. As a reminder, in order to qualify for a token to use in the Gacha, you will need to provide a link to your CTA thread from this log. There will be no RNG for this post. As noted in the third extra prompt, you are going home, and will be back at the Moon Base by March 10th. You may use this log for homecoming prompts as well. We'll have a proper Interlude plot for you and new Reclaimers in the coming weeks! We hope everyone enjoyed their visit to the Netheril! We're so thrilled with all that you've accomplished. blurb code by photosynthesis

Comments

[feytality]

.... There were 76 Jacks?

[ she knows it's a common name but that's a little much ]

[mylawn]

I don't know. Were there?

[MAYBE HE'S

A CLONE]

[feytality]

[ this is some metal solid gear shit. ]

....

You're just messing with me now, aren't you.

[mylawn]

I guess you'll never know.

[Because they're back! Ride's over. So is the probing. She's lucky to have made it this far.]

[feytality]

[ she'll find out his jacket secret if it's the last thing she ever does!! ]

For now......

[ dun dun dun. but she brightens up. ]

Thanks for the ride, Steel Hedgehog!

[ she can mess back!!! ]