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One with the Birds

Scene details

Setting: Our rehydrated heroes venture on to reunite with their fearless leader, only to discover that Reize has had some extraordinary adventures of his own.

Log


 Patchwork sailcloth billows in the blustering desert winds as the sand sledge begins to move, accompanied by the creaking of driftwood and the squeaking of little marmots. The Star Chasers, resupplied with fresh water from the oasis, are moving on from the dense thicket of cacti that surround it and toward the volcanic slopes at the isle's center. The gaggle of eccentric magitechnicians that comprised their recent away team had delayed just long enough to line an aphid-chewed path through the needle-ridden plants with giant wasp acid in the hopes of warding off their prey in perpetuity and thus making this a relatively safe stopping point for any future desert crossings, but did not delay any longer. After all, Reize is in need of rescuing -- again.
 "I'll handle the winds," Ivo is saying, hands on the tiller as he steers the accelerating bulk of their somehow still intact vessel. "Keep an eye out for vultures, please."

> BGM Change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-IMeI5p0Ug

 It was not easy to track where the oversized shamshir vultures had taken wing to in the tumult of the first half of their voyage. But if the vultures are not nesting among the cacti of the desert, then the only option is where cliffs offer purchase and trees grow in higher altitudes and richer soil, further inland.
 hree megamarmots scamper before the vessel's keel, helping to pull it along. Somehow, while Ivo and company had been resupplying, one of the megamarmots went missing along with the surly giant tortoise who had joined them before. With any trace of their passing quickly obliterated by the winds that sweep the desert sands, Ivo had advised that, despite the unfortunate loss and mystery associated, the party had best move on for Reize's sake.
 The cactus forest seems to thin out as the sledge starts to move further inland, occasional sand-blasted rocky outcroppings emerging from dunes, suggesting a gradual shift in terrain. The volcano remains in the distance, but looms greater, its cliffs pink and black and rainforests emerald in the beating sun above.



Reize Seatlan needs rescuing. This is bad.

But she has a kitty, petting the shadowcat, so that's better.

She'll have to acclimate the kitty with the doom chicken now, but later. For now!...

"Gonna go eat some vultures~" she sings softly to the shadowcat. "Gonna roast them up and eat them whole for stealing my fianceeee~ o/~" she sings. "Even if they taste.. disgussstinnngg." she sings more lowly. o/~

She then eyes the shift of terrain. They're getting closer.


 "Hmm hm hm hmmmm hm hmmm hmmm," Ivo hums quietly along with the melody of Ruidosa's song, musically accompanying her as they cruise through the desert. As the terrain changes, their progress slows but thereby becomes easier to manage, dramatically reducing the risk of crashing headlong into anything, which seems increasingly fortunate as cacti are substituted for rocky crags. Though his demeanor is relaxed, Ivo's gaze scans the sands for any lurking foes or potential ambushes amidst the rocks. None appear, but he cannot help but find the very lack of adversaries ominous. Given that the terrain offers more protection from the ever raging winds, he would expect more signs of life.
 As he ponders this, Sombra, luxuriating in Ruidosa's attentions, stretches and yawns while meowing, extending and bending the high-pitched sound. Awwww.

> The party's morale has improved.

 Ivo, smiling blissfully, looks back to the horizon, showing no sign of his former concern. Just that moment, however, Hauteclare's pommel pings, an indication from its heretofore malfunctioning sensor. Puzzled, with one hand on the helm, the Cosmopolitan half-draws his blade to examine the esoteric pattern of pulses that constitutes a readout.
 "Wind and Destruction?" he murmurs. "Not so much domain aether as to indicate eidola, but still, an unusual preponderance... and so thoroughly interwoven... could it be naturally occurring?"
 Their altitude begins to climb. Though sands remain beneath them, allowing the sledge to still progress, the megamarmots are working overtime. The wind seems to be dying down. Perhaps there are pockets beneath the cliffs where its course down the slopes above is interrupted. Yet still, considering that the volcano is still some distance away, such doldrums may seem unusual.
 "Hm?"
 Ivo, briefly distracted by the change in their environs, looks down at his sensor again belatedly and seems further startled.
 "Its position--" He looks up. "Watch out! Something's approaching on the winds--"
 It swirls up like a dust devil before the sledge, causing the megamarmots to skid to a halt, Ivo swerving to drift and reduce their momentum. A small violet whirlwind, turgid and raging, seems to have been carried here on the winds and then stolen their force, turning them inward, radiating a strange and surreal malice. It is not yet approaching, but it bars their path.
 "I don't detect consciousness or Chaos," Ivo is saying quietly, able to be heard nonetheless with the wind stolen away by the new presence. "It seems like just an elemental, but... Rui, does your tome have anything on this...?"

> A corrupted wind elemental has appeared.
> Its characteristics are currently unknown...

  • Character: Daiby
  • 9 months, 2 weeks ago


Daiby steps forwards, looking over the rims of her shades towards the mega marmots as they have come to a momentarily halt. She then looks past it, towards that violet dust-devil, and her lips purse in thought for a moment.

"Oh, well, at least it's not very big," Daiby says, ever the optimist. A few moments as the whirlwind moves relative to several background objects, including uprooting a distant cactus.

"Oh, no, that's fairly big," she continues.

After this she turns around to look towards Rui with something like hope with a leavening of expectation. Several of the snakes in wicker cages do the same, although one ruby-hued one seems relieved at no more swinging-around to herd marmots.

Ruidosa La Crima is gonna roast some birds, basically, she thinks. It's all she's thinking about now. All the ways one could prepare vulture. Vulture stew, Vulture cacciatore, Fried vulture and waffles, Vulture adobo, Arroz con vulture, BBQ vulture, Vulture and Dumplings, Vulture marengo, Vulture Parmesa--- oh. what's that?

Sudden shift of winds and Ruidosa suddenly GRASPS onto the mast and then steadies herself and starts whipping through her book. Wind Elementals. Something about...

"Oh... Oh no."

She reads. "This is the result of a bunch of wind elementals fighting one another for a long while. I don't think it's conscious or something we can reason with!" she says rather worriedly.

OH "Vulture pot pie!" she finally says, for no clear reason, out of the blue.


 "But of course," Ivo says, nodding thoughtfully to Ruidosa, his brow furrowed. "I wouldn't have thought of that, but... if two sufficiently developed wind elementals that WERE conscious attempted to destroy one another for long enough, a manifestation like this could plausibly occur. Difficult to induce intentionally, but as an incidental byproduct... why, it would be like a Primordial War in miniature, with lesser elementals in lieu of eidola."
 This is all surely very interesting, but none of Ivo's exposition seems to be having any effect upon the corrupted elemental barring their path. He looks to Daiby, regarding his admired peer with an uneasy expression.
 "I know that our hardworking scaled friends need to rest," he says, "but do you have any ideas, Daiby? If I had my elespheres, I would aim an earth-aspected one right down the center to disperse it, but... until we can mine some ore, I'm stuck without them. I was hoping we could avoid any encounters like this until we reached the mountain, at least."
 He glances to Rui.
 "We could overload it with Destruction," he adds after a moment's hesitation, "but the risk of collateral damage to the sledge is... not nothing."
 At least the corrupted wind elemental seems not to be approaching them to attack, at this very moment.
 "One strike down from above to disperse the aether gathered at its core," he murmurs, looking back to squint at their looming foe. "That could do it, but... I don't think Hauteclare can make it through its winds without an elesphere boost..."


 After a long silence, Ivo cups his chin thoughtfully.
 "Perhaps a suplex...?"
 He briefly glances to Daiby, just to check if this idea impresses her.

  • Character: Daiby
  • 9 months, 2 weeks ago


"Trapped in an unending battle, able to neither defeat nor be defeated," Daiby says, eyes widening. "Lacking either the surcease of victory or the conclusion of defeat. It would be horrible!"

Back towards Ivo. "I don't!"

But she's thinking afterwards.

Her expression does brighten at the prospect of suplexing a weather formation.

"You might not need to break them up forever," Daiby continues, glancing towards Ruidosa perhaps for moral support. "But if you broke them up for a little while, you might have them either move on with their lives (so to speak) at last -- OR you would at least require them to tumble around and come back into that empyrean conflict that so wracks and startles our valiant steeds!"

"And if that doesn't work, maybe blinders?"

Ruidosa La Crima frowns at Ivo as Ivo explains things.

"Okay so I heard, 'Blast the Weather Formation with a lot of dark magic.'" she says as she bluntly huffs. "But I can't high enough in these winds by hovering and ahahaha I'm not getting up there as a tiny bat. If I could move quicker somehow..."

She narrows her eyes and looks at Ivo with a concerned, serious look.

"Ivo if I we're a bat could you launch me on your sword."

"Though the wind." she asks.


 "Your observations raise an excellent question," Ivo is saying to Daiby, not just flattering her. "Are the elementals currently fighting *within* that sinister wind, or is it merely an emanation of a conflict occurring elsewhere that has descended here? My sensor did not detect consciousness, but it has been faulty and, even at its best, might not be able to sense *through* those winds. I'm not sure what would be more worrisome. If they're within, and we have to break them up, then that's another problem right before us. But if they're *not* here... that means they're powerful enough to produce a phenomenon like this as a mere aftereffect of their struggle... so..."
 When Ruidosa looks sharply to him, he raises his eyebrows, listening to her, then after a long pause nods. His expression turns resolute.
 "If it doesn't involve turning me into a frog," he says heroically, "I'll do it."
 Whenever the vampiress is ready, Ivo, prepared to dextrously balance her on the flat of his blade, will launch her at the utmost speed he can muster without further elemental enhancements. The speeding sword will rush above the sands and pierce the outer layer of raging purplish winds, but it is soon being brutally slowed by the battering winds. If Ruidosa commits herself to the effort, she should be able to approach the eye of the storm -- at least for long enough for one strike, though it might be costly.

Ruidosa La Crima turns into a bat and balances herself on the blade, and then she's off, she did not think this through, spinning into the distance with a tiny little squeaky 'Ahhhhhhhhhhh!' as the blade carries her into the storm....!

She doesn't have a lot of time to examine her surroundings up there, when she turns back into a humanoid, but she can sense a core between stronger beings up here. The core is weaker.

So she hits it with a strong, blast, orb of dark energy. Destruction magic.

Before she gets carried into the winds and thrown back towards the ground. She ''THUDS'' right into the sail of the sledge and slides down onto the ground of it with a groan.

"That was a dumb idea I had." she says.

"Did it work?"

  • Character: Daiby
  • 9 months, 2 weeks ago


"You know, I think I didn't enroll in those classes," Daiby remarks after Ruidosa has turned into a bat, but hopefully well outside of the range of her hearing. She shades her eyes to watch her go.

"Oh no, I can't see -- OH there she is," she continues, before moving over to stand near, but not directly in contact with, Rui: "Are you alright?! Do you want a drink???"


 Ivo, struggling to maneuver Hauteclare's blade from afar with one hand, other hand shielding his eyes against the sun to gaze as best he can into the roiling winds of the corrupted elemental, quips "Me neither--" to Daiby before flinching against the sound of an explosion. As the brave Ruidosa is expelled from the proceedings and send hurtling back to the sledge and its sails, the elemental pulses with darkness and quavers wildly, its form blurring, deeply destabilized. Prioritizing the vampiress over her results, Ivo turns to attempt a running dive to attempt to catch Rui as she falls after rebounding off of sailcloth.
 "I've got--"
 Glancing sidelong mid-effort to check if Daiby is admiring his gallantry, he is cut off when Sombra, appearing from his shadow, steps on his face and uses it as a springboard to leap into Rui's arms as she falls, the shadowcat taking her with it briefly into the shadow of the mast before they bob to the surface of the deck as though floating up from watery depths. It seems that her faithful companion is able to use the shadows to break a fall. Ivo, collapsed belly-down the deck some distance away, looks equal parts annoyed and impressed.
 "Ah!"
 But after a moment, feeling a tremor, he remembers their adversary. Pulling himself up onto one knee, he looks over his shoulder at the corrupted elemental, which is practically pulsating now, bulging in various places.
 "The core's breaking down!" Ivo calls. "Take cover -- it's gonna blow!" There's no time for any of them to do any more damage to it and safely dissipate it now, given that they already took their best shot at breaking through the winds. Within moments, the elemental will erupt, and once it does, they may just have to hope that the sand sledge endures.
 There might be time for Daiby to mix some drinks, though. Plenty of coconuts to go around, after all.



  There is something seen over the horizon. It's shaped like a V sign that appears to be in some sort of formation. As the presence passes through the volcano, the formation grows closer until it casts a shadow over the group.

Flap. Flap. Flap.

  It is a kettle of vultures, all strangely formed in a formation as their presence loom over the group. Ruidosa and Ivo may see that the large vultures are approaching them. However, they are not alone. The kettle are holding onto their passengers: a boy, a large-sized marmot, and a tortoise.

  "There they are! Let's strike!"

  As if on command, the vultures dive down in a swoop in their descent. A few of them break away from the kettle to dive closer towards the commotion with the vehicle and the corrupted wind elemental.

  There is anther set of party.

> Reize
> MegaMarmot (Margaret) [Guest]
> Tortoise (Tortor) [Guest]
> Vulture (Volt) [Guest]

 The boy calls out in the middle of his descent, "Volt! I need your help! Let's do it!" His body is glowing with a light as energy emanates from his body, forming small balls of light around it. As if attuned with the boy, the vulture is experiencing the feeling of unleashing its aether.

 Link Art: Reize (Sky Raider) + Vulture (Sharp Divebomb) = ....

 "VULTURE VAULT!"

The two break off to a distance and then both of them commit into a divebomb towards the wind elemental. The boy and the vulture move down towards the wind, the aether forming into a gust around them both as they both come down like a storm to overtake the corrupted elemental's core.

  Landing on the ground, the boy appears before the group, looking mostly the same except there is a large feathery cape around him. It is a cape made of the vulture's feathers, but it seems to have some aether emanating from it, as if it's an artifact, or an Aspect, itself. "Oooi! I made it back!" He gives a cheerful smile.
 

Ruidosa La Crima grabs onto the mast as she grips onto the sledge and---

Instead of massive destruction there's.... Reizey!?

"Reizey!" she says, using his pet name instead of his normal name and leaping off the sledge to try to leap into a hug at Reize. "We found you! and you're okay! And I'm gonna shove all the vultures into my mouth for taking you away from me!" she says as she rapidly rattles that all out!

  • Character: Daiby
  • 9 months, 2 weeks ago


In the interim, Daiby had only had time to get out some of their precious reserve of ice in order to put it into a carved-out coconut and arrange the tiki-umbrella when

THE DESCENT COMES!

Her mouth hangs open slightly, as do the ones of all of the caged-up snakes for marmot-goading, which all were getting pretty nervous about the situation. And then!

HE IS HERE.

"Do you want a drink!?" she asks Reize. (Dust got into the one she is making now though. She has not noticed.)


 Ivo braces himself, instinctively reaching out to attempt to embrace Daiby and protect her (and her half-finished drink) with his body, for an explosion that never comes. Looking over his shoulder again, his bafflement only grows at the motley assembly that has appeared to vanquish their foe. Reluctant though he may be to release Daiby if he has succeeded in taking hold of her, he will eventually approach the driftwood railing of the deck and grin down at Reize affectionately.
 "I know you have an affinity for birds," he says, "but this is ridiculous."
 To think that the megamarmot and tortoise had not simply gotten lost or fled but had gone in search of Reize without even waiting to find water. Not that Ivo has any regrets about his decisions, but still, their devotion is almost humbling. Well, maybe devotion is not the right word for whatever the tortoise feels.
 As the last of the violent wind disperses from the fearsome Vulture Vault, wisps of their remainder sketch distinctive images in the air, as though the corrupted elemental were a palimpsest bearing traces of its authors. On one side, the form of a small elderly man in long robes; on the other, a playful-looking woman bedecked in extravagant accessories. Their images, seeming to dance violently in the passing winds, fade, swept away like dust, and the dangerous creation is no more.
 "I think we've gotten a glimpse of those responsible for this," Ivo murmurs, before looking back to Reize and grinning again. "But I want to hear your tale first, chief."
 He eyes the flock of vultures.
 "How exactly did you so impress our new feathered friends?"


  After the landing, Reize turns to see that Ruidosa is running twards him. He spreads and extends both arms out, catching Ruidosa with a spin and he embraces her cose. "Oooi, Rui!" He offers a wide grin, which soon drops when she mentions about shoving all of the vultures in her mouth.

 Volt squawks in alarm and moves back up to join with the rest of the kettle. All of them gather some distance away from Ruidosa, flapping their wings as a massive cloud of birds.

 "Wait, Rui! There is no need for that!" He waves his hands in front of him frantically. He rubs the back of his head nervously. When Daiby greets him with a tiki-umbrella covered glass, the boy brightens, "Sure! I'd like one, Daiby!"

 The young man gestures to the cape, "This lets me call upon the vultures to help us." He brightens

 The megamarmot joins back with her brethren, now that the boy had been brought back.

 The images displayed by the vanquished core is not lost on Reize. In fact, he frowns as he runs a hand to the back of his head. "Those two have really been causing a huge mess here." His head hangs low, antenna hair drooping. Ivo's question, in fact, earns a faint smile from the boy.

 "The reasons are all related."

 He closes his eyes, "In short, the vultures asked for my help because the winds have been very horrible for them. To them, the winds have been angry. The cause had been between the two figures that you just saw. The old man's Wuther..." Reize makes a face, "Who's pretty cranky."

 He muses, "...As cranky as Tortor..."

 PLINK! A rock hits Reize on the head from the tortoise's position. "OW!" PLANK! PLANK! PLANK! "OW OW OW!"

Ruidosa La Crima narrows her eyes as she huffs. "If you say so..." she trails off as she ''eyes'' Volt so hard, and points at her face, and then at the bird.

'I'm Watching You.' she mouths.

Still, Ruidosa La Crima frowns a little. "So if we stop them this wind stops?" she asks.

"I mean at least these dangerous winds."


 Ivo watches as Margaret the megamarmot rejoins her three fellows, who sniff at her in curiosity and concern as she squeaks to them, as though also retelling the adventure. He briefly has a mental image of the megamarmot and tortoise pair trundling across the desert in search of Reize and feels somehow moved.
 "If we retold this story with them as the protagonists," he murmurs to himself, "I bet it'd be very popular..."
 But he is interrupted in this thought of profiting from the license of serialized animal adventures when Reize names one of their alleged antagonists.
 "You make it sound like you're already acquainted," the Cosmopolitan notes. "You've already met this Wuther, then, I take it? If he and that woman have been at war for some time, it's possible that the corrupted wind their battles have spawned is already beyond their control."
 He thinks for a moment, nodding to Ruidosa, then startles.
 "You don't think," he then says, "that these malicious winds have been disturbing more than just the vultures... like, say, that restive sea monster that wrecked the SaGa and stranded us here in the first place?"
 Either way, the ore they'll need to begin to repair the engines is going to be found in the depths of the volcano, if it will be found anywhere. But this would give them all the more reason to continue their venture inland.
 "Did you encounter the other elemental responsible as well, chief?" Ivo asks Reize. "Or do we need to seek her out? Could your vulture pals fly us to her?"
 It would certainly beat finding a way up the cliffs.

  • Character: Daiby
  • 9 months, 2 weeks ago


Daiby, having poured some juices while Reize was explaining and then gave everything a little bit of a muddle, says, "Wave surface conditions can be very important for all kinds of creatures. Even if a single burst of heavy wind might not disturb a giant beast like that serpent much, it could easily change the quality of the water, or its aeration, or change what prey animals are in the area!"

"Here you go," Daiby concludes, handing the beverage to Reize with both hands. "Did they grant you that cloak or did you forge it yourself...??"


  Volt and the rest of the kettle eye Ruidosa suspiciously while maintaining air distance

  With a grimace, "... Yeah." He is rubbing his head after suffering multiple pelts by the tortoise. He looks back at Ivo.

  "The other one is Scirocco." He tries to recall the tale, "... Wuther, after I fought against him, calmed down enough and expained that the wind elementals lost their leader some time ago. Scirocco wanted to lead the wind elementals, but they had a dispute. It's too late for Wuther to calm them, so we'd have to find her."

 He furrows his eyebrows, "We'd have to get into the caldera." He furrows his eyebrows, "... The vultures won't make it, so we'll have to go on foot." Speaking of, he glances back at Daiby, taking the offered juice with a smile and a small bow. "They granted me the cloak! With this, I can call for their aid and they can carry us." He pauses, "But we need to guide them to places that we know."

  He gives a thought, "For now, we better make a small camp and rest before we continue"