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Under the Sea-tlan

Scene details

Setting: With the aid of the sapient wind elementals Wuther and Scirocco, the Star Chasers seek the Tempestquell, an ancient beastkin relic sunk beneath the waves centuries ago that could at last dispel the terrible Infernex within the volcano caldera and so appease the restive sea monster that prevents their departure. Featuring the Shadowcat Bikini Set!

Log


 On a warm day like this, in this tranquil cove, one might truly believe that the Isle of Blessed Winds is a tropical paradise, so long as one ignores all the shipwrecks. The breeze is gentle, far from the tempestuous slopes of the central volcano and the Infernex it houses, faintly stirring the draperies and repurposes fabrics that our heroes have employed to make this place like home. Colorful fish may be seen darting through water crystalline in its transparency, vivid coral further below. The air is one of excitement. The mysteries of the depths beckon.
 "As anticipated!"
 Ivo, the legs of his by now repeatedly patched trousers rolled up high and standing knee-depth in the clear water, exults as he cracks a carefully formed wind elesphere in the water and produces a stable bubble. Dunking his head briefly, he may be seen breathing from the bubble, and then emerges, hair wet and tousled, and flashes a grin back at his friends.
 "An emergency contingency plan," he explains, "in case our primary plan misfires."
 His gaze searches for the wind elementals. Doubtless Scirocco wouldn't want to miss this, but Ivo has been in the laboratory working on ensuring he could create a refined elesphere with his improvized equipment, and isn't sure if they were able to successfully recruit Wuther or how. Curiously, in the distance he can spot the two members of the Catgirl Mafia observing, or at least lounging. Likely they have been trying to depart the isle in their own way and haven't yet succeeded. But the Star Chasers have a relic to hunt that will finally make that possible.
 It's just a matter of taking a little swim.



  Earlier, Chibi Theater of the events..

Ruidosa: Reize, time to take your medicine!
Ivo: Wait-wait wait, hold off on that for a bit.
Ruidosa: ...Why?
Ivo: Trust me. This will go in our favor.
...
Reize: RAAARRGGHH!!!!
Wuther: "HEEELLP! GET HIM OFF ME! I'LL HELP YOU! I'LL HELP YOU! GET YOUR RABID BRAT OFF ME!"
Ivo: ..Just as anticipated.
Ruidosa: ... *PUNTS IVO*

 After the group make their way to the water, Reize lets a sigh. "...Okay, I can do this." Reize is doing better now. He shivers, letting out a sigh. He's ready.
 


Ruidosa La Crima is here and ready, and is wearing special gear for this event.

* Shadow Cat Bikini Set. (Complete!?)

She is standing waist deep in the water and says. "I sink to the bottom of the lake all the time back home, this'll be easy for me." she says as she wiggles and gets ready to dive.

Wiggle goes the cat tail!


 Ivo watches Ruidosa's twitching cat tail with a look of a crafter's pride, nodding slowly before gazing off into the horizon. At last, his genius has been given form, and someone has recognized his brilliance. One might even say that the true quest of the Isle of Blessed Winds has been accomplished.
 Now there's just the business of the main plot, or whatever.
 In the background, it's likely that Scirocco and Wuther are not having the easiest time in the world getting along. But Wuther is unusually compliant today (who can say why) and the fickle Scirocco is appeased by the various luxuries that residents like Laineth and the Lady La Crima have assembled in the party's time here, such as surprisingly functional reclining beach chairs. Truly, the priorities of our heroes are an inspiration.
 Eventually, the adventurers will feel an invisible but steady gust of wind begin to circulate about their faces until it acquires a kind of stable density. A wind shield that contains an impressive supply of circulating air while also protecting the face, keeping the eyes clear, allowing speech (if muffled), and even helping to regulate buoyancy, it will hopefully be useful in various ways depending on the needs of the recipient.
 Ivo pats at his own face with interest, feeling the subtle pressure push back against his palm, before looking to his fellow explorers.
 "While I can't assemble an aetheric sensor here that would allow for a proper preliminary survey," he says, cheerfully enough, "I think I was able to pinpoint the general location of the underwater beastkin ruins. There's a large object that seems too tall to be just a shipwreck, to the west, at the edge of where the water gets choppier." He pauses and then shrugs. "Though, if we do find a shipwreck underwater, searching it wouldn't be the worst idea either, now that we can."



  As the boy glances towards Ruidosa, his eyes pop up. He cannot help but to admire Ruidosa's attire. A blush forms along his cheek sight of his partner's attire. "...That look nice, Rui." He looks a bit nervous, running a hand to the back of his head.

  Reize's own attire is muted, shirtless and with swimming trunks. He has managed to get a floaty around his waist. He hates swimming. He hates water.

  As the invisible gust of wind circle around their faces, Reize takes in the sensation of the wind around him. He lets out a deep breath, exhales a sigh. He feels the pressure around his hand pushing back. "Hmm."

  With a nod towards Ivo, "Let's get to work!" He walks towards the shore and they start pushing through the water. As he makes his way down, preparing to sink into the water. He is fearful, but he wants to deal with the objective.

 

Ruidosa La Crima has a bubble of wind around her head and she presses against it oddly. She needs it's speech capabilities. Everything else is varying degrees of useful/non-useful as she hrms.

"I hope you're right! I'd hate to be down in the dark, only to find a big boat." she says tersely.

She gives Reize eyes and wiggles her tail again, as to cause him to have a nosebleed. "I'm glad you like jt." she says. "I can't wear a dress underwater afterall!" she says.

She then sinks further into the water finally, letting herself just get overtaken by water finally.

  • Character: Daiby
  • 2 weeks, 1 day ago


Daiby has joined with several notable pieces of equipment.

ONE: Bathing suit. It's actually less formal than the bikini set that Ruidosa has put together - it seems as if she may have sacrificed a tunic into a tied-up top holder and a pair of (extremely high) cut-off leggings.

TWO: A strangely shaped snake with black and white stripes that is currently coiling around her right arm.

THREE, and probably trivial: a few small but visible bite marks.

She also has one of those little air bubbles. Occasionally her new snake friend dips their head into it, but it really is quite occasional. "An undersea boat?!" Daiby says, looking towards Ruidosa with wide, slightly dark-circled eyes.


 Ivo grins at the charming interaction between Reize and Ruidosa, keeping silent for long enough to give Reize a chance to embarrass himself-- er, to be considerate, rather. But when their fearless leader pulls himself together and nods to Ivo, the deuteragonist claps his hands rousingly in response.
 "Let's!" he exclaims. "We'll find this beastkin relic and we'll celebrate with a Shadowcat Bikini themed party! I think I might just be able to approximate some fireworks, if it would delight the lovely Tranquila and the Madam La Crima."
 It seems that Ivo has found some extra motivation as he follows the assembled party into the water. The wind elemental Scirocco waves lazily from her borrowed beach chair, looking highly entertained, and the curmudgeonly Wuther looks relieved to see Reize go as they disappear beneath the placid surface.
 The initial descent suggests that if this isle were safe to visit, it would be a compelling tourist attraction. Shy but curious brightly colored fish swim close, at times swirling about the swimmers before darting to hide amongst the coral again. A swimming turtle passes by at one point, ignoring them, perhaps a distant cousin to a particularly surly tortoise with whom the party is acquainted. As our heroes swim further out and descend and the water darkens, as though a gentle shroud of night were falling, the wind buffering their faces takes on a slight mysterious glow, lending the whole affair a soft ethereal quality.
 Ivo swims close to Daiby, as though to give Reize and Rui a little room amidst this date-like atmosphere, or to take advantage of it himself. But when he speaks to Daiby, he does so quietly, and sounds unusually concerned.
 "Daiby, are you, ah, feeling alright? Sleeping well?" he asks. "Those bite marks... those are from snakes, right? Not... anyone else?"
 He's silent for a moment, glancing nervously at Ruidosa up ahead.
 "You look great, by the way," he adds.



  As they start to descend, they find themselves at a nice environment. Reize is quite impressed at how nice the place looks. It's rather compelling. The young explorer looks around, noticing a turtle passing by them. Well, at least it is not the annoyed tortoise. Reize lets out a sigh of relief.

 As they continue to swim, Reize swims over towards Ruidosa's side while Ivo is close to Daiby. The explorer looks at the vampire while he reaches for her hand. With a grasp of Ruidosa's hand, Reize is just taking the moment to enjoy the swim and the peace.

 He is nervous, he hates the water, so he is holding onto Ruidosa's hand to help calm himself down.

 

Under the sea. Under the sea! Darling it's better, down where it's wetter, take it from meeee. 
Ruidosa has obviously done this before, but in fresh water. Salt water feels a little different, like she's more buoyant.

She takes Reize's hand and smiles. "Lots of pretty fi---CRABS." she says as she tugs Reize along suddenly, chasing a few into a coral reef as she huffs.

She gets back on track however, down as she watches Ivo and Daiby ahead if them.

  • Character: Daiby
  • 2 weeks, 1 day ago


Down, down... Daiby looks at the turtle with a smile, the striped snake with her curling up in the long trailing strands of her hair, which is, for a wonder, untied. She may regret that later. Her head turns towards Ivo and she says cheerfully, "Oh, I'm fine! I just had a few love bites from this charming fellow here, and you know, it does wear on you a bit. But I should be fine!" The black and white striped snake swims over - yes, swims! - in order to nose at Ivo affectionately.

Ivo will know that thing is hella poisonous.

"Ooh! Crabs! Are they big?" Daiby says, turning her head. But Ruidosa is swimming towards it.

Ivo Galvan rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Stay calm, stay calm, it's a friendly sea snake
Roll(s): 17. Total result is 17. This is a success (by 7).


 Ivo's expression is oddly ambivalent as he is reassured by Daiby that her bite marks are courtesy of what would be a typically quite lethal serpent. Mostly, he seems relieved, confident in her poison resistance and less so in her resistance to being turned into a vampire or ghoul or something. That said, Vampire Daiby is not an unappealing prospect...
 It's perhaps for the best that the Cosmopolitan's wandering mind cannot dwell on that thought as Daiby's deadly snake friend approaches. Ivo goes resolutely stone-faced for a moment before, heroically, managing a friendly and diplomatic smile. The snake might not care, but he is ever determined to show Daiby how fine he is snakes and, really, what a cool and gallant guy he is overall.
 "Hello, friend," he says, not even stammering. He looks over to Reize, as though in hope that his pal will praise Ivo for pulling this off so well, but most likely Reize is getting dragged along to examine crabs who, if they know what's good for them, are scuttling into hiding amongst the coral and sands.
 Crab-hunting means descending, and descending means, even if incidentally, approaching their goal. There are indeed shipwrecks in various states of disrepair here, sometimes just piles of moldering driftwood that now serve as abodes for peaceful sea creatures, though more extended investigation might turn up some unexpected prizes. But, as hoped and anticipated, in not too long our heroes will come across the remains of a stone tower, somehow rising from the sandy sea floor itself, that seems to have collapsed in on itself long ago, no longer rising from the sea surface and invisible to all save those who descend beneath the waves.
 "Looks promising," Ivo will say, though his tone is more thoughtful than enthusiastic. "The question is, if I were a beastkin relic sequestered in a tower, where I would be..."
 There doesn't seem to be a proper entrance at the base. Though the aquatic beastkin who once constructed it presumably did so underwater, it likely was not built to be entered underwater, but simply to support some sort of complex aetheric artifice.
 "It might make most sense to try to enter from the top," Ivo guesses. "If this relic, whatever it is, tamed the winds, it was likely exposed to the air... I assume."
 There might be some gaps between the stone, if one looks closely, or perhaps, with the benefit of being underwater, some of the collapsed masonry could be moved.



  What was intented to feel closer to Ruidosa and calming himself became a trip to hunt for crabs. The young explorer blinks, yelping as he is dragged along. Crab-hunting it is. As they descend through the underwater sea, they find sights of the shipwrecks. Peaceful sea creatures.

 Upon seeing a stone tower, he blinks while he takes in the new sighting. "Whoa..." The explorer is rather impressed with the surroundings, happy to see that they are able to find a great treasure: the structure of the shipwreck.

 "Yeah, let's look around!"

  As the group swims, Reize tugs Ruidosa, as if reminding her of their objective. He swims over to see a few stones. He tries to reach out with his boomerang to tug at any stones or collapsed debris. Maybe they can find something.

 

Ruidosa La Crima pouts when she's put back on track. But she follows along to the tower as Reize pokes stones and debris, she considers blasting a hole in the wall.

But no that's a bad idea. Instead she helps Reize poke at the debris and stones, hrming.

"We should check out the top in a moment if nothing is down here." she says.

  • Character: Daiby
  • 2 weeks ago


GOOD NEWS, IVO: There are fewer than six confirmed cases of snakebite-induced zombification and fewer than three such cases involving vampires! Indeed, vampires can be helpful if you get a snakebite, as they are quite adroit in sucking out the poison!

iykwim.

The snake studies Ivo. It seems oddly enthusiastic, insofar as snakes go, but seems content to swirl in Daiby's flowing black hair, like so much glamorou seaweed. But still. Deeper. Deeper yet. Deeper...

"Oo! Well that's got some kind of subtle information to it," Daiby says as she sees the thing. She continues with good cheer. "Do you think the sea rose? I wonder if it was a case where there's some great reserve of ice that's melting slowly due to something changing, or if it was more that there was a great reserve of ice that /froze/ due to something changing. Or maybe the island sunk? What do you think?"

Reize and Ruidosa are going on ahead. Daiby, for her part, heads for the 'roof' of the tower, looking around. So does her snake friend, who in fact wiggles forwards, to -- oh, no, he was grasping a small colorful fish. At least it isn't THAT gruesome in the water. (There are no fingerprints underwater. Nothing to tie one to a crime.)


 At this point in their friendship, Ivo is more or less resigned to Ruidosa blowing up random things so long as he is not *inside* them, as per their previous boss fight. Typically, he himself goes for a subtler approach. But in a twist today, it seems that Ivo has had a similar idea to the vampire girl, if perhaps a bit more carefully considered.
 "I wonder..."
 Swimming to the top of the crumbled tower along with Daiby, the Cosmopolitans examine the remnants of the edifice that allegedly once regulated the winds that now rage unpredictably and impassably. But wind well-managed is indeed a boon. Scirocco and Wuther's enchantments hold steady, supplying air and facilitating communication.
 "Given the time that's passed, it's possible there was a shift in the surrounding landscape," Ivo murmurs, Daiby's grand ideas not having occurred to him. She always thinks in terms of a bigger picture, it has long seemed to her younger admirer. "I wonder if there are any maps of this place remaining somewhere in Aurita Meloda's underground remains." Now that might be a fun sidequest. "Or kept by the so-called 'Beastkeeper' faction with which our catgirl acquaintances are allied." There's still lots to fill out in the lore Glossary about them. "If I had to pick a single guess, I'd presume that over time and without maintenance, the relic destabilized somehow and brought down the tower that supported it. After all, wind untamed is a powerful force. ...Actually, on that note..."
 Ivo has swum close and is attempting to place one of those well-crafted wind elespheres beneath a promising-looking piece of masonry. If all goes well, a big bubble will help to lift the stone out of the way and expose what remains of the interior. If not, well...
 Ivo will probably be fine.

Ivo Galvan rolls 1d20>=10.
Comment: Using a wind elesphere to clear the path!
Roll(s): 11. Total result is 11. This is a success (by 1).



  At this point, Reize will continue to look aorund. He looks back at Ruidosa as she suggests the top of the shipwreck. "Yeah, let's go there!" Given that they aren't finding anything useful, the explorer starts swimming up to reach the ship and try to take within the entry at the top.

  As they go back up, he starts to swim down and try to look around the surroundings for a clue on the artifact.

Ruidosa La Crima..... looks up.

"Oh right. No soul. I just sink." she says bluntly as she waves back up to Reize. "Reiiize I need you to carry me up, please? Vampires don't swim we just sink!" she explains.

She'll wait to piggyback on Reize to get up to the top of the tower. Or for Reize to just leave her there. That's an option too. At Reize's own peril.



  Reize is totally giving Ruidosa a piggyback ride. "Right, right!"

 


 Ivo, successfully moving a sizable chunk of masonry as it rises expertly poised on a big rising bubble, turns with a satisfied smile to see Reize now carrying Ruidosa piggyback through the water. He thus doesn't notice the rock narrowly passing by the back of his head, just barely not knocking into his skull, courtesy of his rolling an 11.
 "Clearly, our Shadowcat Bikini Celebration party should involve a piggyback race," he jokes, grinning. "I'll have to practice." He's sure he could convince Tranquila to give it a try. Daiby would also likely accept, he thinks, though she'd come with passengers that could quickly spell the end of any race, or frankly, his life. But if he could carry Madam La Crima piggyback... focus, Ivo.
 Some seafloor-dwelling fish and crustaceans can be seen scuttling into the shadows of the masonry as the glow of their wind shields illuminates what lies within. There do not seem to be any predators here, as though the sanctum of their peaceful cove extends into the waters nearby. Most likely the flying sea serpent that prevents their escape has scared off any smaller predators from the vicinity.
 "This is..."
 Though the plinth on which it stands is damaged, the heretofore unknown relic is unmistakable: a cloudy green orb, like seaglass chiseled with intricate runes that once channeled a perpetual flow of aether. There is an circular opening at its top, looking like a kind of funnel, and as Ivo descends to try to lift it, it detaches from its stone stand with an audible click, though nothing happens. Curiously, he turns it about to examine its base. There, there is another opening, but more oddly shaped, like the inside of a lock.
 "A port for aether fuel, perhaps," he murmurs, "and some sort of... opening for a key to activate it." He looks up to his allies. "We've got the fuel, at least. Let's return for now and see if we can sort out an equivalent to this key."
 After carefully removing a portion of the top of the plinth, as well, in case it can give some clues about the nature of the key needed to activate the orb, our heroes may return, their rising to the surface aided by their wind shields, which seem to increase their buoyancy when the enchantment senses that they are trying to rise. Right now, it seems that just one more puzzle must be solved before the Star Chasers may bring this relic to the Infernex and quell this raging tempest once and for all.
 Little do they know that the key they need is closer than they think...