balance_logs | Field Mission 3: Brushing the Sun, Part 1

Field Mission 3: Brushing the Sun, Part 1

	Are there really no bananas on board this thing?
	NAVIGATION

1. FIRST, YOU DRAW A CIRCLE

Click here for the RNG thread!

A. IT'S TIME TO GET TO WORK

That certainly isn't to say that your previous efforts have not been hard work. But one half of this mission has been fine tuned, a logistical machine of well-oiled cogs, the creative efforts of a man who has so much to make up for.

After the three-hour journey across the sky, you and the three other Reclaimers you boarded the glass orb with will be deposited right in the dead center of Maru, where the Bureau has set up a small camp for gathering, sorting, and sending off supplies. It's chilly, but not unbearably so. The air is thin, but up here, it's probably the cleanest you've breathed anywhere else in Faerun — new and old Reclaimers alike.

Whatever goal you decide to work toward during your stay here, after a quick rundown of how supply gathering will work (it's pretty simple: You bring supplies, the unnamed Bureau members assigned to the base will send them off), you're turned loose to the gnarling wilds of the floating continent.

Because, as the header says, it's time to get to work.

And you most certainly haven't gone unnoticed.

2. USE YOUR PATH ACTIONS WISELY

B. ROWDY RUMBLE

Those of you who aren't quite combat ready might be getting something of an instant crash course in the art of a hostile encounter — though, perhaps in a bit of a lucky streak, goblins, like the pack of three of them that are leading the charge here, are, uh. Well, they're morons.

But these particular three see a bunch of humanoids flying in on what are very clearly cursed globes, and they see a bunch of humanoids wandering the lands and attempting to cash in on their treasure. They were here first, you know! Even if they don't entirely understand why the mine they were here first in isn't exactly on the ground anymore. Or where exactly they are to begin with now. Or ... well, frankly, nothing about any of this makes any sense.

Whether you're back at the base at the center of Maru, or whether you're out in the fields, toeing at the ground for hints of treasure underneath, you, and whoever you happen to be traveling with, will be approached by a rather bold trio. And whatever treasure you may have on your person? They're rather keen on taking it.

What will you do? Fight? Try to reason with them?

For those of you with the combat experience, there are, of course, much bigger fish to fry. Take a look at the YOLO's guide to monsters for a full list of the hostile critters you can challenge to a wrestle during your stay on Maru.

C. NIGHTLY WHISPERINGS

You've probably heard the rumors by now — the fact that nobody seems interested in going to the small lake and waterfall on Maru once nighttime rolls around. Seems pretty silly, right? Superstitious, even. It's a rather beautiful patch of the floating continent, and if your previous expeditions digging through the ground are any indicator, there's a wealth of valuable items to be had underneath the surface.

Hubris might lead you to camping out near the water's edge, for just one evening.

And sometime around midnight, provided that same hubris hasn't put you to sleep, the light of your campfire, or the light of the moon, suddenly extinguishes. It's like being wrapped up in a cloak of vantablack, in very nearly every single sense, not just sight. No rustling of leaves, no sound of the wind passing through every nook and cranny of the continent. No light. No nothing.

If you decide to book it out of there, be careful, lest you accidentally wander into the lake, without a clear sense of where exactly the exit is. But if you choose to hold steady, after about an hour, the silence and darkness clears — and the scenery returns to normal, as if nothing happened.

Something did happen, however. Whether you stayed there for just a moment, you sat through it, or you slept through it, if you were anywhere near the lake at midnight, you'll be subject to a nightly enchantment coming from an unknown source. You may pick one of the following:

○ The next time you are asked a question, whether it's what you had for dinner or whether you're all right, you will be magically forced to answer it truthfully. The effect wears off after one question.

○ When you speak, you'll hear yourself speaking normally. Everyone else will hear you either making an animal noise, or repeating a sentence you've said before, regardless of its relevance. That goes all the way back to your canon! The effect begins at sunrise, and lasts for three hours.

○ Whenever you try to leave, it feels as if your shoes are suddenly made with two tons of lead. You will not be able to move away normally. Someone's going to have to carry you out of there.

○ When the sun rises, you will be magically reduced to half your height. The effect lasts for five hours.

3. MINE CART MADNESS

D. I'M ABOUT TO LOSE MY MINE, UP IN HERE, UP IN HERE.

Eventually, you'll probably find yourself down in the mine's labyrinthine system of tunnels and networks that seem to sprawl out in nearly endless directions. Be careful when you turn corners, as there may be an Umber Hulk or a Basilisk waiting for you in the darkness, but as you look down, you do notice tracks that head in nearly every direction. Whoever had initially excavated this area was quite laborious and thorough with the pathing down in its deepest delves. One turn leans to another long corridor, and maybe another turn leads you back in a circle. Mining equipment can be found almost everywhere, left to rust and decay with the passage of time that could only indicate hundreds of years of being completely unbothered.

You step forward, and look to see a path that carves out into four directions- straight, left, right, and back.

And you quickly realize something doesn't feel right. That's true- as you begin to step forward and take a path, you find yourself back to where you started after walking for a little while. Turn back, and you might notice that you're in the exact place you just were as well. Maybe you brought some chalk with you, or maybe you managed to drop something here like a breadcrumb trail to tell you which way you've already headed. Or maybe you don't even notice it until you've been walking for hours, but you're stuck in a loop.

Of those four directions, you'll notice something peculiar if you start to take notice.

○ One direction will always lead you back to where you started.

○ If you listen close enough, down one hall you'll be able to hear the sound of a coastline, weak waves echoing and crashing against the shore. Follow that sound and you'll come to the source of it: a large standing pool of water that sits absolutely still, no tide. You can swim to the bottom of it, not a problem. There doesn't seem to be anything there. But the walls are bio-luminescent, coated with weird fungi that you definitely don't want to eat.

○ When you look on the ground, you can always find baby fire beetles at the mouth to one of the spokes. Follow those markings long enough and you'll inexplicably be sent back to the mine's entrance.

○ One direction is completely nondescript, but unlike the first one that sends you to the beginning of the maze, you enter a new area that doesn't hold any of the signs that you were there previously. You can follow this lead for several iterations, and eventually come to a four-way that has no features noticeable whatsoever: no beetles, no sound of rushing water. But you head down one of them and you're back to where you started.

E. I'LL FOLLOW BEHIND YOU ON RAINBOW ROAD.

Mind boggling puzzles aside, you're welcome to explore the depths of the Lost Mine of Phandelver. One of the more ridiculous, albeit, fun adventures you can take is a mine cart ride through the mine down to the farthest reaches. It starts off relatively bumpy and doesn't seem to smooth out at any given point, but it's the closest thing you're going to get to a roller coaster ride down here in Faerun. Reaching the end is a matter of waiting the cruise- and you eventually come to a dead end.

There's stuff you can mine down here as it empties out into a vast, damp cavern. Iron, several types of cheap gemstones, and rocks can be found pretty much anywhere. If you're looking to rebuild Vista Virs, this is a good place to start. If you're looking to make a little cash on the side, that's possible too. We're not here to judge your moral intentions.

Getting back isn't as fun as it was coming down here, as you're pretty much stuck pushing the cart back to where it was if you want to take things out. Don't worry about the logistics too much; there always seems to be a cart available for you to descend, and oddly enough, it never feels like it's the same journey down and back twice in a row.

F. BEEN HERE ALL NIGHT. BEEN HERE ALL DAY.

There are a few notable places to explore while you're down in Phandelver:

○ An administrative office, complete with desks that haven't been touched in years. Several papers are still there, with dates that go far and wide back into the past. Touching them causes it to disintegrate into dust. For anyone who makes it down there, there is a lockbox to be found that can be opened by smashing it on the ground or attempting to unlock it with thieves' tools. While the contents are up to you to decide, nothing in there should be magical beyond a simple potion of healing, aged... several centuries.

○ An old room that seems to be barred from the inside, about an hour's walk past the mine entrance. Outside, you can find several skeleton carcasses of humanoid creatures that have long since died down here. If you try to make it into the room by force, you'll be greeted with a barracks that once housed the dwarves who worked down here. You get the sense that a battle happened in these parts, but beyond that, it's kind of hard to tell what went down.

○ A large quarry with a practically neolithic drill in the center of it. It hasn't seen use in quite some time, but be careful as the drop can be upwards of 100 feet. Another prime locale for mining, this area seems to house sturdier metals. Hence, the drill being necessary. Be careful, this is prime Umber Hulk territory.

○ Various storerooms that housed supplies for the workers of the cavern. You'll find wine and spirits down in the depths, and who wouldn't want to try some 300 year old whiskey? The climate down here is particularly perfect for keeping and storing these rare and fine vittles. Drink up, it's on us.

○ One peculiar room that when you enter, you feel a chill sort of feeling take over your body. There's a bed in here, with a storage chest at the base of it. Attempting to open it or touch it or even having an intention to steal/uncover what's inside will cause you to hear incredibly powerful and loud screaming in your head, enough to make you clutch your ears and take psychic damage from it. Hm.

4. WILDCARD

The floating continent of Maru is your world to explore, and your story to write! You may use any of the prompts we've given you here, or you may come up with your own prompts — you can utilize any part of the setting provided in the OOC post.

If you'd like the outcome of a particular thread randomized, or if you'd like to investigate a particular part of the setting, feel free to drop a note in the RNG thread and we'll set up a roll for you.

As always, be amazing. You're two for two on reclaiming Grand Relics, and we can't wait to see what you do here.

blurb code by photosynthesis

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Someday, Mista will figure out that Ryuji is probably the best person to watch a cooking show with, and he'll doubly curse the fact that there is no way to watch cooking shows here on this bitch of a Faerun. They'll probably still find a way to be annoying about it, though.]

[For now, he blinks a little. Unfamiliar though he is with the notorious brand of home-bake pizzas, he feels somewhat memed upon. It would be more offensive if it weren't so obvious that Ryuji really did just try, bless him.]

Yep, you got it.

[Good enough.]

[There's a good deal more philosophy in Ryuji's explanation than he expected, which maybe is silly. Maybe he should've expected it. At the same time, he kind of digs the sound of it. Getting your brain to switch off . . . it sounds good.]

Like eating.

[He just says that with his mouth words, without thinking.]

Just eating something really good on a sunny day. I get you. I think I get you, anyway.

Yeah, just like eating!

[Listen, he gets it.

And the parallel is beautiful, valid, and aptly filled with a certain level of Mista-ique.

Ryuji settles down his rucksack to pull out a few detached pieces that are meant to be put back together. They don't really have bait to work with, but there's some bread he managed to snipe from the cafe before coming back down here, and it'll have to do. Maybe there are smaller guppies around here that they can use for larger ones, like the Big Fish Salmon Challenge or something.

Unfortunately, that rod is a tangled up fucking mess and he stares on at it with the most unhappiest, sullied look on his face.]

Shit, looks like it didn't like the transport down here. Gimme a hand, will ya? Then we'll get to the reel fun.

[The narration protests the pun. Mista, on the other hand, only takes a second to process before lighting up and shooting Ryuji double fingerguns and a wink.]

[What a bastard.]

Yeah, gimme.

[Ryuji's reward for shitty puns is an eager assistant. Mista flops down on the ground, getting his stupid ugly pants dirty as God intended, and grabs the rod, giving it a look-over.]

This shit's like Christmas lights, isn't it. No matter how good you put it away, it ends up a mess later. Lemme see . . . [He starts picking at the tangles, a hyperfocused expression on his face. Gotta fix. Gotta fish.]

Where'd you learn to fish, anyway? I'm a fucking disgrace, I come from a port city and I can't fish for beans.

[Enjoy a serious intermission of elevator music as Ryuji watches Mista get to work at untangling the thing. He's not really being that much of a help here, but he's trying to provide moral support! Probably as Mista's just... you know, treating this like it's the day after Thanksgiving and time to grab all those holiday lights out and wonder why in the hell they ended up like this to begin with.

Ryuji is the why, at least.]

We never put those up, honestly. The apartment me and my mom lived in was too small for a Christmas tree, and, uh. We didn't really have a ton of real estate to decorate the front door or nothin'.

[When Mista asks about the fishing, though, his eyes light up. They always do when he talks about Akira.

It would've been nice if his dad taught him how to do it, but. Some things just aren't meant to be.]

Akira taught me. We went a few times to this farm where you basically fish in a pool. Tokyo's pretty crowded like that, y'know? But... it was always a good time. He even took me on my birthday once.

[The second, the absolute instant Ryuji mentions his mom, Mista perks up. Moms? Moms are so good. So important. Vital. Crucial. Invaluable. Note to self: circle back around to mom.]

[But there's someone else to be discussed first. Not a mom, but a Good Boy. A Lucky Boy. Mista grins, looking back down at the tangled rod and getting back to picking at it.]

He's the guy with the glasses, right? Kinda quiet. [How descriptive.] I don't know anything about Tokyo except that it's huge, and I never heard of anything like that, but it sounds fun. You guys get to keep what you caught? You cook it or anything?

Yeah, he doesn't say much but when he does, it's usually either... like super effin' deep or just straight up dumb and you should definitely call 'em out on it.

[Giving away secrets like this... ah, he must really like Mista.

Or not, dunking on his besties is a favored past-time.]

You can pay for the fish you catch, yeah! And then bring it home and eat the shit outta it. Sushi grade, grilling grade. I mean, all fish is good fish. Even Dr. Seuss agreed with that sorta logic.

[He looks over to the water.]

But we can start off small. We gotta repopulate an entire village with food. I bet the Kitsune will be a lot happier not havin' to go out to the desert to hunt every day. I was with 'em the entire last mission. It's dangerous shit, sometimes.

[Dunking on besties is basically the definition of bestiehood. With a brilliant grin, Mista gives . . . well, a single fingergun this time, because he's still trying to untangle this mess. The point is, he's made a note of the fact that sometimes Akira is a dumbass and he is to call attention to it if necessary.]

Some fish are poisonous, though.

[Like, just saying. Dr. Seuss doesn't know everything!! He definitely doesn't know as much as Mista does. Dr. Mista.]

[There's a pause and a hissed swear as he gets a finger caught in a loop of line, somehow, almost cutting off his circulation before yanking himself free. Sucking on his finger, he frowns sharply, focusing on what Ryuji's got to say.]

. . . You don't fuck around with nature. Especially not if nature's got sandworms, but I mean — even without all that, deserts are dangerous. So I think you're on to something. Reduce the amount of work they gotta do, the amount of danger they're exposed to, make everyone's lives easier . . .

Nothing's gonna make what happened there okay. Nothing's gonna make all that destruction better. But if we can make the future less difficult and dangerous, I gotta believe that's something. So let's catch some strong fish and dump them in the desert to make a ton of strong fish babies for a bunch of foxes to eat.

[He holds out the now-more-or-less-untangled fishing rod triumphantly. Shonen music swells.]

[Mista, you're the true hero of this mission. At least, to Ryuji, who relatively doesn't know how to invest his energy into these things most of the time. He's mostly stood around the sidelines, helping where he could, until something really big ends up happening to the thing that he was doing, but on the peripheral of it. Like trying to get back into New Aspen and breaking the bubble around it. Or falling from a really tall building into water and discovering a robot.

Fishing, though? Nothing can come out of that. Just two dudes, some quality time in nature, and the calmness that comes with waiting for the big pull. He grimaces over Mista's finger though- this was supposed to be painless, dude!]

Mista. Man. Dude. I don't think I've ever met someone who thinks the exact same way I do about... pretty much anything? To be honest. 'Cept for Dave, but that's 'cause I'm balls deep in love with that guy, but like. Yeah. You get it.

[He looks out over the lake.]

Even something small to keep the kitsune safe back there? One little thing can make a huge difference. And if all we can do are little things, then let's make sure we're doin' 'em well. And hope to whatever demon monkey god king in the sky up there that it'll make a difference.

[So many people back in Tokyo didn't give a fuck.

They didn't give a fuck about anything, and because of that, the world was almost consumed by an apathy that threatened his and his friends' very own existence. Ryuji ain't about that noise.]

Yeah, let's catch some fish. We can call down two spheres, whoever fills theirs up with the most gets dinner from the loser. Sound good?

[That's the thing. Not everybody can be the main character. Not everybody can be the hero, not in the big flashy ways. The hero can't save everybody, either, or think of everything. That's what Mista's learned: the hero, the guy who steals the show, has too many plates to juggle. He needs help sometimes.]

[Mista's happy to be that guy. The one who helps, who spots the holes in the plan, who sees what'll affect the little people in a way that the hero might not see. Something smaller than saving the world or reforming a corrupt system, like making sure a town has a steady food supply.]

[He grins, pleased — at everything Ryuji says, because it's all good shit, but especially that thing about Dave. It's cute. Love is cute.]

Listen, not everybody can be a big-picture guy, right? But guys like you and me make a difference, too. I didn't used to think that way, but I do now. As long as we're working towards something, that's what's important.

[It's been a long time since he felt genuine directionlessness. He's grateful for it, too. He always will be.]

[So — he cracks his knuckles.]

That works. I mean, it'll be me getting you dinner 'cause I don't know how to do this at all, but that's cool, I don't mind. You gotta show me how to stab bait onto this thing without poking my eye out, though.

[Why your eye, Mista. Do you have some kind of Eye Association with fishhooks? Maybe?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Field Mission 3: Brushing the Sun, Part 1

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