Seaside 2: Rising Tides

[Earl of Purple]

Ship of Safe Landing

Well, I did say 'maybe' about the kidneys. I don't actually know these things; I thought the bone marrow just made the white blood cells.

The woman smiles wider when she sees the chrono-grenades and figures out what they're going to be used for. Even better, the medic's able to fix the most of the damage. I don't know if he can sew her face back together or save the loose fingers, but those injuries are, whilst contributing to the overall blood loss, minor when compared with some of the other wounds.

[Recaiden]

[Ship of Safe Landing]

Hunter hovers about nervously while the medic works.

Face being fixed, probably. I mean, there's going to be a lot of scarring, but he should manage it. And it looks like at least two of those fingers are lost despite his attempts. But the blood loss should stop.

Better to be alive though.

"Really ought to get her somewhere better than a damaged bathroom to start recovering. Go get the stretcher, Hunter."
And so she does, for when it's safe to move the only? survivor.

[Earl of Purple]

Ship of Safe Landing

She is the only survivor. Eight beds, seven bodies. Oh, and the lizard-thing that has adopted Hunter.

"Thank you. My name is Doctor Hannah Aster. The ship's called Queen Marie III; we were en route to Kent. We'd just surveyed a system with three life-bearing planets, including two categorised as Near-Earth, and were returning with local life-forms for study, but we underestimated the Tripartite Ape." Scarring she can live with; she has a whole face again. And two fingers lost is better than the total of five across both hands.

[Recaiden]

[Ship of Safe Landing]

"I see. You've been landed on Nexus, might not be on your maps. But maybe you can get this ship running again and find out. Ape ate the other subjects, it looks like."

Hunter looks around for the lizard thing, hoping it stays out of sight.

"No hurry. You're going to be in bed recovering and making sure you've not picked up any infections for a good while."

[Earl of Purple]

Ship of Safe Landing

"A pity. One of them, a Furred Lizard-Snake, is naturally empathic. Not unusual; we've classified nine thousand such, including eighteen Earth-natives. There's symbiotic bacteria in its mouth and brain, however, that grant it full telepathy, making it the third true telepathic species discovered within the British Stellar Empire." They're spread through bites, travelling to the brain where they help grow new connections and synapses that provide the telepathy, though it's limited to other telepathic creatures.

[Recaiden]

[Ship of Safe Landing]

"A real shame, yes. Can they survive in other host creatures?"

Hunter sets her gauntlets back on.

"Are you going to need any more help, Hannah, besides the medical attention?"

[Earl of Purple]

Ship of Safe Landing

"We don't know. But their brain chemistry is very similar to that of a human's, so we were very interested to get it to our facilities on Kent, where we could investigate it properly. And because of how the bacteria are created, it should have been safe to proceed straight to human testing. It would either work, or not. No... No nearly working and wiping memories, or causing intercranial ossification or anything like that." Hannah won't resist, incidentally, though she's pretty sure she can walk. "No, I don't think so."

The creature- the Furred Lizard-Snake, as Hunter may have guessed- is hiding and watching, emitting slight amounts of fear towards Dr. Hannah.

[Recaiden]

[Ship of Safe Landing]

Hunter nods, and they go to take her over towards the teleport beacon, where she will be taken off to rest up and be healed before being brought back here.
"Then would you maybe like your ship's data back?"
Hunter holds out the USB, since Hannah is alive to use it and all.


And then Hunter attempts to leave with the snake. It should be free!

[Earl of Purple]

Ship of Safe Landing

"Oh, could you give it back, briefly? I've got an empty Library in my pocket; I'll transfer the scientific data over. I don't have anything better to pay you with, but hopefully it should sell or be useful. You said this world is called Nexus? I can't say I've heard of it, but that doesn't mean much. The British Star Empire is huge, and so are the other realms. The only reason you won't be on a relevant map is if it's an illegal colony, but I know all the uninhabited life-bearing planets in this stellar coordinate." Though she doesn't, she's entered the Nexus and the British Star Empire has no hold at all here.

[Recaiden]

[Ship of Safe Landings]

"Sure thing."

Hunter waits for her to copy over the data.

"I think you might be further afield than you think. We might be on another brane of reality, not just in another Realm, from the one you hail from."

[Gullara]

Coveside - In the Hatch

Sure, I think we could have fun exploring it, and I can probably crack that vault door if it gets shut behind us, with enough time. Hydraulic punches that execute the same force as a pistol shrimp on a much larger scale have become Misha's favorite means of digging tunnels, which she's been doing often through their home in Summit Springs. But if it's resistant to impacts, she can always just scoop up some grit and grind a hole out of it, though that takes much longer, especially underwater.

The stuff under us might be drainage for an airlock? If it still works, it could probably suck the water out of this room and fill it with air, but I don't know how to get it working at all. And that sums up the extent of her knowledge. It's probably an airlock, but beyond that, who knows?

What will you use to reset the spell though? If we're going in further, there may be closed off rooms that would break it again.

[Coveside - Through The Hatch]

"The same method I used when I first showed you, of course. I couldn't exactly do that when you were just floating around earlier." the muse sent back. "I think I've come up with a way to improve it so as to keep it going longer too so you shouldn't need to worry about being suddenly cut off because of that either." she added.

It seemed like they were all in agreement, however, so Riss moved back to the entry hatch and pulled it shut; twisting the wheel until it was fully locked in... Though, the last twist she gave it triggered some kind of *click!* from within the inner workings of the room and streams of bubbles began issuing from the holes in the floor as water slowly took it's place. It might seem as if it was draining at a slower rate than the gaps allowed, though... Although it did mean that what pressure there was slowly equalized as if it were some measure to prevent discomfort when returning to a more normal atmosphere. It wasn’t exactly in a spot deep enough to explicitly require it but perhaps it was just some kind of mechanism that was installed by default? That didn’t quite make sense to the muse to have it for that reason given how this didn’t seem to be... Of sufficient technical advancement for there to be a modular design but she allowed for there possibly being alternate explanations as to why they would have to wait about ten minutes for the room to drain. At least the gauges on the wall made for something to watch as they slowly moved to indicate what was now clearly the room's pressure even if the metric that they used was not particularly intuitive to the layman.

Once the room had completely drained with a last lame *Blurble,* a similar click as before came from the door on the opposite end of the room although the lighting situation still hadn't improved. The air that the room had filled with was a bit chilly and while not necessarily smelling of rot, it would bring to mind the organic smells of a drying out tide-pool. Spinning the wheel and opening up the hatch would greet the fey with less fetid but somewhat more stale air issuing from a room lit now with greenish glows and something that looked to be a console of readouts over which hung numerous handles of differing grips and materials. It seemed to be more of a corridor than anything although the floor here was covered with dark, ankle deep water that had the faintest sheen of what might be some kind of oil atop it; Something Misha could attest to the moment she set foot inside it. Following the corridor down, it slowly seemed to curve so that the end couldn't be seen although every so often what appeared to be an emergency seal could be seen in the ceiling.

[Coveside - Through The Hatch]

Ten whole minutes! It's a wonder Mimi doesn't go mad! At least she has good company, and she can peer at these meters she has no idea how to read.

In any case, soon that unfathomable amount of time passes and the door opens! Mimi is the first through. It's a relief to be able to fly again, even if swimming was okay. "Everything stinks in here." She states as they get the first look inside. At least it's not as bad as the last room. "No one's been in here for ages, have they." There's something very dead about how the air smells and feels.

[Hattish Thing]

Scouting - For Spain

"As you wish sir, even if your companions comment was unnecessary." Vallery says with a glance at Cristoval as she starts walking in the way directed without any protests. But as the soldiers rush to engage the yet-to-be-seen enemy, the rustling around them suddenly comes to an abrupt halt. Perhaps the natives were scared away by the soldiers?

The group of Spaniards will lead the woman through the path they made, the scouts leading forward with the soldiers in the back, looking about constantly. Cristoval would occasionally bark quiet orders in Spanish towards his fellow men. He was a confident and well-trained individual, but this was still quite frightening. It was dark, strange beings lurked in the jungle, and who knew what horrid things lurked in this new world. At least the beach camp was close by. After a few more minutes, they will arrive with their prisoner.

So, the group will make it to the beach, and the woman will be able to gaze down upon the sheer size of this operation. There were bonfires lighting up the beach, patrols of men armed and clad in steel walking the perimeter, lanterns at their belts. Many, many tents, countless even, were built into the sand. There must have been at least five thousand men, most armed and well trained, cooking and working at the beach. Ships can be seen, proud Spanish galleons, bobbing in the warm waters beyond.

Cristoval speaks to a few of the patrolmen who come close, instructing them to gather extra men to continue the watch. Now, at least the Spaniards knew that they were not alone, and that hostiles certainly existed in the damp, dark jungle. She will be lead forward, until she comes to a very large tent, clearly the place of a leader. Cristoval nods towards his men, before pushing the stranger into camp roughly and moving off to join the patrol. His two companions will enter the tent.

Inside, a large figure can be seen, his back towards the stranger. He's poring over a fine table absolutely covered in maps, clearly a bit frustrated. A heavy steel breastplate, well-made and quite solid hangs over him, along with a large red cloak. A steel helmet, topped with two bright red feathers covers the back of his head. His form is quite powerful, and the man is clearly muscular and military-trained. Within the tent, several elite looking guards stand by, watching what is to occur.

Captain Lucero, for that was who this figure was, speaks to his prisoner. He keeps his back to her, however. He speaks fluent English, having been taught long ago. "Speak, prisoner. Tell me, what is your name." His voice is husky and deep, belonging to someone who spends much of his time yelling and organizing an extremely large fleet.

[Shadowcaller]

Scouting for Spain!

Julio hurries the woman along, quite perturbed that she understands Spanish but refuses to speak the honorable language.

{Faster, woman! To the ship we go...}

They should arrive in a few minutes, unless stopped by natives.

The group of Spaniards will lead the woman through the path they made, the scouts leading forward with the soldiers in the back, looking about constantly. Cristoval would occasionally bark quiet orders in Spanish towards his fellow men. He was a confident and well-trained individual, but this was still quite frightening. It was dark, strange beings lurked in the jungle, and who knew what horrid things lurked in this new world. At least the beach camp was close by. After a few more minutes, they will arrive with their prisoner.

So, the group will make it to the beach, and the woman will be able to gaze down upon the sheer size of this operation. There were bonfires lighting up the beach, patrols of men armed and clad in steel walking the perimeter, lanterns at their belts. Many, many tents, countless even, were built into the sand. There must have been at least five thousand men, most armed and well trained, cooking and working at the beach. Ships can be seen, proud Spanish galleons, bobbing in the warm waters beyond.

Cristoval speaks to a few of the patrolmen who come close, instructing them to gather extra men to continue the watch. Now, at least the Spaniards knew that they were not alone, and that hostiles certainly existed in the damp, dark jungle. She will be lead forward, until she comes to a very large tent, clearly the place of a leader. Cristoval nods towards his men, before pushing the stranger into camp roughly and moving off to join the patrol. His two companions will enter the tent.

Inside, a large figure can be seen, his back towards the stranger. He's poring over a fine table absolutely covered in maps, clearly a bit frustrated. A heavy steel breastplate, well-made and quite solid hangs over him, along with a large red cloak. A steel helmet, topped with two bright red feathers covers the back of his head. His form is quite powerful, and the man is clearly muscular and military-trained. Within the tent, several elite looking guards stand by, watching what is to occur.

Captain Lucero, for that was who this figure was, speaks to his prisoner. He keeps his back to her, however. He speaks fluent English, having been taught long ago. "Speak, prisoner. Tell me, what is your name." His voice is husky and deep, belonging to someone who spends much of his time yelling and organizing an extremely large fleet.

Scouting for Spain!

Once the guard attempts to push her he can't feel the fabric of her coat, as if he was pushing empty air. Still, the woman falls forward as if she had been pushed so maybe he's just imagining things?

In either case, Vallery follows along without any protests the entire way and even politely bows before the commander with an elegant flourish of her slouch hat. "I'm Vallery Jarven sir, an adventurer of some renown back in my homelands. I simply came wandering through when your men apprehended me."

[Hattish Thing]

Scouting for Spain!

Once the guard attempts to push her he can't feel the fabric of her coat, as if he was pushing empty air. Still, the woman falls forward as if she had been pushed so maybe he's just imagining things?

In either case, Vallery follows along without any protests the entire way and even politely bows before the commander with an elegant flourish of her slouch hat. "I'm Vallery Jarven sir, an adventurer of some renown back in my homelands. I simply came wandering through when your men apprehended me."

Captain Porfurio nods slowly, adjusting the thick cloak resting at his shoulders. He turns, his large nose and thick eyebrows giving him the appearance of a hawk. Long black hair, braided, falls behind him, and his small black beard scrapes proudly against his armor. Several pistols rest upon the table, but his oversized saber rests at his belt. He breathes in, a look of distaste on his face. Finally, the man takes a large sniff of the air, and speaks. "Can you smell it? The New World, they called it. Smells like brine, and dirt, and sweat." He moves to her now, and attempts to grip her chin. "Is that so, Vallery? An English name. French origins. Yes, you're just like one of them. Tell me, English spy, which colony are you from? Who ordered you to approach. Tell the truth, and I won't have to set you to work."

[Aric Kale]

Back at the Beach - For Spain!

Julio heads back to his own section of the camp.

Montae, The High Inquisitor slowly walks up the the captain, looking at the adventurer with obvious disdain.

{A spy...and a woman at that.} The English have no shame.

[Earl of Purple]

Safely Crashed Spacecraft

"Another... Plane of reality? You mean, like, that sci-fi crap the TV producers churn out endless quantities of for no easily apparent reason?" She's not a physicist; she's a xenobiologist. There weren't any physicists on the team, either; her, a xenoarchaeologist, a biochemist, xenobotanist, a xenozoologist, an engineer specialising in spaceships, a navigation officer and a translator so they could communicate with any other spaceships they encountered.

[Recaiden]

[Safely Crashed Space Rock]

Hunter nods.
"Basically. It's a generalization of points to higher dimensions. Everything one can observe in 4-dimenstions - that's counting time - is contained within a single world-volume. The other elements are extensive, most infinite;y so, and they spread across other-world volumes. Each of them has mass and other qualities, basically fully-normal spacetime as long as you stay in nearby worldvolumes, so in the right circumstances, information, even entire organizations like beings or solar systems, can cross between them."
If Hannah shows much interest, she will continue to blather on about brane cosmology.

[Earl of Purple]

Safely Landed Space Rock

Hannah shows no comprehension at all. Because I misread the first 'brane' as 'plane', which is a term I'm far more familiar with.

"I see." She really doesn't. Otherwise she'd know that the rock has an energy-intensive micro-reality drive, enabling it to travel faster than light. They still spend a long time between destinations, but it's mostly months, not years, spent between solar systems.

[Recaiden]

[Safely Landed Space Rock]

"Alright. Best of luck to you, Doctor."
The medic is off with Hannah, and Hunter will indicate to the snake that it's safe to come out, before trying to head outside the ship with it.
She's feeling quite happy and excited at this point.

[Earl of Purple]

Safely Landed British Space Rock

"Goodbye." Dr. Hannah waves as she leaves, though I know not her destination.

The lizard-snake thing comes out, too, replicating the excitement and happiness.

[Recaiden]

[Safely Landed Space Rock]

She's being sent off to a clinic to be watched over until she's able to return here. Skyside's are rather extortionist, for the most part, so it's in Inside, offscreen.

Hunter leads the lizard-snake thing back out of the ship, the way she came in. Now comes having to coax it into her arms to climb out the last bit.
Trust, safe, wanted.

[Shadowcaller]

Back at the Beach - For Spain!

Who, or whatever she is or is associated to, Vallery is fast. She simply moves away once he tries to grip her chin. Her expression suddenly blank and serious. "I'm not from a colony sir and wherever you believe it or not. You're not in your world anymore and I'm not associated with anything you're talking about. This place is called the nexus. Imagine all the civilizations you've heard about gathered in one place and multiply that a few hundred times. That's about the scale of it. You probably won't believe me but you'll change your mind soon enough." She states while staring down the gathered group.

[Slii Arhem]

[Coveside - Through The Hatch]

"The same method I used when I first showed you, of course. I couldn't exactly do that when you were just floating around earlier." the muse sent back. "I think I've come up with a way to improve it so as to keep it going longer too so you shouldn't need to worry about being suddenly cut off because of that either." she added.

It seemed like they were all in agreement, however, so Riss moved back to the entry hatch and pulled it shut; twisting the wheel until it was fully locked in... Though, the last twist she gave it triggered some kind of *click!* from within the inner workings of the room and streams of bubbles began issuing from the holes in the floor as water slowly took it's place. It might seem as if it was draining at a slower rate than the gaps allowed, though... Although it did mean that what pressure there was slowly equalized as if it were some measure to prevent discomfort when returning to a more normal atmosphere. It wasn’t exactly in a spot deep enough to explicitly require it but perhaps it was just some kind of mechanism that was installed by default? That didn’t quite make sense to the muse to have it for that reason given how this didn’t seem to be... Of sufficient technical advancement for there to be a modular design but she allowed for there possibly being alternate explanations as to why they would have to wait about ten minutes for the room to drain. At least the gauges on the wall made for something to watch as they slowly moved to indicate what was now clearly the room's pressure even if the metric that they used was not particularly intuitive to the layman.

Once the room had completely drained with a last lame *Blurble,* a similar click as before came from the door on the opposite end of the room although the lighting situation still hadn't improved. The air that the room had filled with was a bit chilly and while not necessarily smelling of rot, it would bring to mind the organic smells of a drying out tide-pool. Spinning the wheel and opening up the hatch would greet the fey with less fetid but somewhat more stale air issuing from a room lit now with greenish glows and something that looked to be a console of readouts over which hung numerous handles of differing grips and materials. It seemed to be more of a corridor than anything although the floor here was covered with dark, ankle deep water that had the faintest sheen of what might be some kind of oil atop it; Something Misha could attest to the moment she set foot inside it. Following the corridor down, it slowly seemed to curve so that the end couldn't be seen although every so often what appeared to be an emergency seal could be seen in the ceiling.

[Coveside - Through The Hatch]

Ten whole minutes! It's a wonder Mimi doesn't go mad! At least she has good company, and she can peer at these meters she has no idea how to read.

In any case, soon that unfathomable amount of time passes and the door opens! Mimi is the first through. It's a relief to be able to fly again, even if swimming was okay. "Everything stinks in here." She states as they get the first look inside. At least it's not as bad as the last room. "No one's been in here for ages, have they." There's something very dead about how the air smells and feels.

Coveside - Into the Tunnels

Misha makes a slight alteration to her genetics and allows her skin to begin to emit bio-luminescence in the form of swirling lines of pale blue all down her limbs and torso. Besides becoming their own private lantern, she'll also separate out the water from the oily substance atop it and scoop some up, holding the slick oil in a little floating bubble. Riss may want to examine it, and it barely takes a conscious thought to artfully manipulate so little water. She follows Mimi at a more sedate pace, just watching the flying woman carefully rather than taking in the tunnels themselves.

[Hattish Thing]

Back at the Beach - For Spain!

Who, or whatever she is or is associated to, Vallery is fast. She simply moves away once he tries to grip her chin. Her expression suddenly blank and serious. "I'm not from a colony sir and wherever you believe it or not. You're not in your world anymore and I'm not associated with anything you're talking about. This place is called the nexus. Imagine all the civilizations you've heard about gathered in one place and multiply that a few hundred times. That's about the scale of it. You probably won't believe me but you'll change your mind soon enough." She states while staring down the gathered group.

Captain Porfurio's hand wilts away as he approaches, his face twisting into one of anger. With a quiet grunt, he brings his hand up to smack the side of her face, a powerful blow that ought to slam her into the ground. "You disrespect me, and you disrespect Spain, and you disrespect God Almighty, woman. Keep your venomous speech in check when speaking to your superiors, or I will rip your little tongue out in His name, and give you to my men." There was a hatred there, a bitter but self-righteous hatred. "Now, with God's eyes watching down upon you, speak the truth, paganos." The Captain will stare down at her now, clearly not believing her obviously ridiculous story.

[Aric Kale]

Beach - For Spain!

Montae Benaventa moves beside the captain, beginning his own interrogation.

{Woman, do you believe in our Lord God and Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary?}

[Lost_Deep]

[Melon Quest]

As Kirin and Xavier strides forward, guided by their compass, they come across the first great obstacle on their quest. Namely a large body of water. They can see several smaller islands not far away from the coast however so it looks like they're near an archipelago. Question is how they're gonna take themselves to the other islands?

There seem to be a small shop nearby for paddle boats. Perhaps that's something?

[Melon Quest]

Xavier stops when they're startin gto get near the water and scratches his head. "I'd hoped that we wouldn't hit the shore." He admits. He definitely didn't plan for this. However, when he looks around he spots the paddle boat shop. "Oh, look over there. We could rent one of those. That'd be enough to get us to one of those islands at the very least."

Burglar Hunting

Kirin peers at the island and then the "You're expecting us to cross part of the ocean in a peddleboat? Not even a rowboat, a peddleboat? That's not a lake, that's part of the ocean, it has waves and currents, and we're already partially worn out from the hike." Kirin eats some granola. "We need bicycles."

[Terumitsu]

[Coveside - Into the Tunnels]

Riss chuckled a bit at the glow as she turned her attention to the handles hanging from above. "These look kind of... Well, I guess I'd be more used to this if these were buttons instead but I think I can guess what these do." she said, peering at them and the gauges nearby. She didn't mind the oily film on the water although it seemed to be some kind of lubricant rather than a fuel; something she could tell from the smell and how it's petroleum rainbow spread out.

Giving a gentle pull on a few handles, a quizzical expression appeared on her face as she began focusing on one in particular before turning to her fey. "I think.. I think this one might have something to do with something in the corridor. Could I get either of you to go look for me?" she asked. Should either or both of her fey go to look, after a few moments, Riss would call out "Okay! Pulling it now!" before one of the section seals came down. It wouldn't be fast enough to trap someone who was on their guard but it might be a surprise if one wasn't expecting it. After about half a minute, the seal lifted unsteadily back up as it screeched somewhat unpleasantly into the alcove where it rested. Of course, this was also the perfect time to look a bit further into the corridor where a similarly shut seal was blocking the way further in.. Although it seemed like the room beyond had something a bit different than just more corridor from the way it connected, at least. Perhaps there would be a way to go in further?

[Earl of Purple]

Safely Landed Space Rock

Not all of Skyside's are extortionate! Some give you extra limbs for free.

The lizard-snake (which needs a name, but can't speak) gladly hops into Hunter's arms and even wraps itself around her a little (if allowed) to ensure it won't fall off.

[Recaiden]

[Safely Landed Space Rock]

The snake curls up successfully.

Hunter whistles for the pterosaur to come all the way back, and starts taking off her armor while she waits. That stuff is heavy.
"What should we call you, little guy?"

[Earl of Purple]

Safely Landed Space Rock

The lizard-serpent hisses and squeaks, licking its lips as it does so. It's transmitting happiness and contentment, but also curiosity, especially toward the pterosaur. Such creatures aren't native to its homeworld.