genessia | Breach III: Expedition Log

Breach III: Expedition Log

JOURNEY TO THE MAW'S CRYSTAL CAVES

At this point, news had been spreading about the flowers- the ones that only grew near crystals in the Maw, that they were what Seek had used on Nova City back in January, even though they were Fayren-native. Those who have made it this far to The Maw and searched for some time will finally find themselves at a cave, deep within. The only light there is whatever they brought with them and the bioluminescent glow of some crystals and fungus within the cave- certainly not enough to guide the way without your own source.

Once the expedition party is deep enough into the caves, they'll likely notice that the crystals have shifted behind them and cut off the way that they've come in. They have to go somewhat deep into the crystals to get to the patch of flowers they’re looking for, a veritable field of them. Most of the crystals are white or a pale lavender in color, and once in deeply enough it will become clear that the crystals have been enchanted as they rapidly spike up from their spots on the walls and cut off the entrance, regrowing just as rapidly if broken. A character may be able to get out if they have teleportation or phasing abilities, but they will not be able to bring other characters with them.

The only choice is to go deeper, and some who do will begin to find crystals that look a little different- refined, not bound to the enchanted white and lavender ones, and they’re a vibrant green in color. Careful though- spirits still lurk around certain corners, and with the low light and the Maw's nature.. well, you may want to stick close to someone else. Those aren't the only monsters down there.

DIRECTIONS:
-If you were RNG'd to receive a green crystal, you received a notification last night. Reply with a top-level to this post to receive the content of that crystal. If you do not post a top level by the 17th, your memory crystal will get rerolled to go to someone else who has already posted a top level. The mod NPC account will reply to your post with the memory crystal contents so you will not have any way to receive them unless you reply to the main post. Crystal finders: Cassian Andor, Koishi Komeiji, Link, Kamille "Mobius" Rainer, Belle, and Major Lilywhite.

-Regardless of whether you were RNG'd, anyone who replies with at least 5 comments by July 4th will receive a Fayren charm.

-If you are one of the four people who get to participate in capture, feel free to assume that your person got separated from their group and ended up finding the other three who did as well. That way you can still have main threads with whatever group your character came in if you'd like while we can limit the thread to a semi-reasonable amount of people for a single thread because 5 people in a single thread is already a lot and we do want to make sure that this thread is completed. A specific thread for this will be posted in reply to this post for each of those who joined in to participate. Once again, if you do not reply by the 17th, you will just have your character dropped from the discovery so that we can move on. Because this is an active thread and not just an info drop, the role will not be replaced unless all four characters do not participate.

-Just replying may also give you a chance encounter for other neat stuff in the Maw. A mod may reply with something fun to interact with if it looks like your thread is active based on a daily RNG through the 17th.

-Please feel free to assume that characters eventually find a second way out. They can also take samples of anything they want with them- flowers, crystals, rocks, whatever they may find. If your character wants to do something with something they took, please ask a mod what they'll find out and include the method they are trying to analyze it with. (If you just say 'analyze it' that's not going to tell us whether you'll find something out- if your character says they're looking at something under a microscope or that they're running a test for something specific, however, the mods are more than happy to answer if there's relevant information that your character can discover.)

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Hamusuke made the decision to be more useful, and offered herself as a mount/beast of burden. Her main way of fighting involved her claws or tail, which would give the spirits more of an advantage. The electric attacks of her adopted child (Togedemaru) were more effective, but the little Pokémon was getting tired.

Having Koishi block her presence really helped. The horse sized hamster could not fly, but she could jump high. Luckily the part of the cave they explored wasn't too cramped for her.

"It does not look too different, that it does not," Hamusuke remarked. She moved closer to sniff at it. It reminded her of that noisy orb that her Master gave her.

"Did it do something?"

The travel here would be hard by human standards, yes. Such a journey was hardly a problem for Satori, whose so-called 'youth' with her sister was spent amongst caves and in the high mountains, where scenes like this would be commonplace. A campsite, a simple time for nourishment and gathering up one's resolve. She remembered this well. She had no fear of cave, nor of anything in such a dark and dank place. Even the crystal outcroppings and barriers binding the path didn't trouble her. Her most important priority was keeping Koishi and the others safe, if she could manage. But watching her sister intuitively wander about was, in way, quite engrossing. And even Satori, herself, would catch her own mind wandering. Even if she didn't find anything, she felt as if it might be best to stick together and try to piece this place's mysteries together, eventually. She was focused on staying together, on searching this place and understanding it. And most of all, on keeping her sister from coming to harm. Again.

Once Koishi had recovered the crystal, seemingly out of nowhere, Satori immediately decided to take a closer look at it just in case there was anything off about the bauble. "If it wasn't interesting or important, Koishi wouldn't have found it. The unconscious mind tends to pick out odd details that the conscious mind suppresses to keep itself from becoming overwhelmed." She looked curiously to the emotionless professor and the large hamster-creature. After a moment, she inquired to her sister...

"Koishi, do you mind if I take a closer look at that crystal?" Satori looked back towards their previous path. She was aware that both sisters and their companions would likely be stuck here for some time, if the barriers from earlier were any indication. Which meant this probably wasn't all that was going to take place in these caves. Unusual adventures and treasures like these often had a price to pay in return for curiosity.

"Something tells me that this isn't the end of it." She looks to the other members of the group, perhaps a little uncertain... "Or perhaps it's simple as it seems, and the real trial is escaping alive, at all. No matter. Once we leave this place, we may be able to bring it to someone who knows a little more about it."

Truly, Hamusuke had been a great help carrying the extra equipment and samples. With their arms free the group had been able to gather a great many more samples than they would otherwise been able to. And certainly it would have been a big loss to leave behind anything picked out by the professor's keen eye. Not that it would have been too heavy for the sisters. Rather it simply ensured that they had their arms free to defend the group if need be.

Fortunately it had not yet come to that.

"I dunno what it is..." Koishi was examining it, holding it up to the light and tilting her head this way and that. She paused, holding her hand up and summoning a proper light... though it was tinged pink. "It tickles my head. There is a great deal of investment in it." She meant emotional investment. Though only Satori would probably understand what she meant without elaboration. "It looks like there is a tiny person on the inside." Was the only response they got. But it certainly was unusual enough to warrant collecting if nothing else.

Koishi held the crystal up to her ear, shaking it, and trying again before pulling it back and glaring down at it. Her third eye seemed focused on it too as she attempted to probe it psychically.

She hadn't directly responded to anyone's questions or comments, though she did willingly hand the crystal over to her sister, still very focused, trying to make heads or tails of it.

Edited 2017-06-17 04:17 (UTC)

Considering that he still hasn't recovered his emotions yet, it makes sense why he doesn't understand why that green crystal is very interesting to Koishi's eyes. Though her explanation about it does give him another reason to take the sisters' word about it.

"A tiny person? Care to elaborate on that?"

However, once Satori mentioned about getting out of the maw, it gave him some concern regarding their current standing. He still got his Pokemon to defend himself, but he can't say the same with his Garchomp, who is still separated from him after his initial experience after being drained by an empty spirit. But having no knowledge about Fayren's crystals and fauna, it's best to risk themselves on escaping the cave rather on staying here and ponder.

"Is there a spell on it? Did the tiny person say anything?" Hamusuke asked. Her nose twitched in curiosity.

She followed the lead of the others. She had looked in parts of the cave when looking for a place to establish her territory, but she had never been this deep in it before. This part seemed less natural and more being made. She figured it would be too difficult to obtain food. Those weird flowers that matched the ones in some spirits did not smell edible.

"Nothing smells like the outside, so I do not know which direction to try, that I do not."

"It may take me a little while to get a grasp on what this crystal is, exactly." Satori admits with a shrug of her shoulders, handing the crystal back to Koishi for the meantime. "Whatever you do, don't lose it, Koishi. I trust you."

Looking around the cave, her third eye's psychic sense could pick up ambient thoughts around her - mostly from her allies excepting Koishi - and a host of other beings which she assumed were some kind of local wildlife. Their thought patterns matched things that would be found in somewhere like this. She expected these creatures to be hostile at best and a hindrance at worst. And this also included the odd spirits that were still about...

"Neither the crystal growths nor these flowers are very natural in any case. It can be assumed that this cave's definitely designed to trap us. But why..." She'd come to a similar conclusion as Hamusuke's thoughts had likely suggested. And the emotionless professor didn't seem to help too much, but his knowledge would be invaluable where hers failed. But the noise from whatever was down here and the largeness of the area had confounded even her tireless explorative senses. The mind-reader couldn't give up on trying to make it out of here alive.

Satori had assumed that whoever had shattered the barrier and caused much of the earlier disturbances could have also made their way here. However, Satori had found not a trace of anyone responsible. Just a forboding cave they couldn't escape from and their thoughts.

"Figuring out these mysteries can wait until we've secured a path out of here..." Satori added as she attempted to figure out which of the Maw's many passages might've been the way back. Or may be a new way out. Either one would be quite welcome, by now. "Since we'll be able to see in this darkness easier than you, you'd best keep close to us once we get going." Digging into her supplies, Satori produces a small bundle of kindling taken from surface twigs and wood outside the Maw. She also produces an unlit match, handing both to Koishi. "Koishi, scatter bits of it around the cave and light it. Watch the smoke and make sure the others don't fall behind. We'll follow in that direction and hopefully find a way out."

Edited 2017-06-22 19:50 (UTC)

Koishi took the crystal back, placing it into her pocket. "The nice lady in the crystal is talking but she goes through saying the same things over and over when you look inside. So we'll look more later when we get out because we need to focus." The statement was surprisingly grounded.

Brushing off the front of her skirt, Koishi flew up and did a quick circle around the room, dipping down, doing a little spin in the air, and flying back up to the trickle of water where she found the crystal and then floating slowly back down to where the party was gathered. Certainly it was not something that would further their progress of escaping the cave. But it did make her feel better. It's likely only Satori would notice that the little youkai was showing signs of psychic fatigue.

She did perk up as the match was offered though, righting herself in the air and taking it. And then the kindling. "Oh... Oh!" She quickly flew back up, placing the kindling in front of each possible direction and saving a stick in her hand.She paused a little, turning in the air, waiting to see if there was any air moving she could feel before lighting the first bit and leaving the tip of the stick inside the flame. When the first tiny flame yielded no results she used the stick to light the others, waiting at each in turn and using her magic to conjure light to watch the smoke.

"Hey! There's air moving this way." Even if it was only a little bit it meant that there would at least be a direction leading outward. If they could at least find a small hole it could be widened if need be. "Let's go! Let's go!" and Koishi was off. Best be moving before she takes her obfuscation aura with her completely.

He becomes curious regarding the lady in the crystal as well what she was doing over and over like Koishi said. While he doesn't know what it means, he feels that there's something more about her explanation. But like they said, they can solve this mystery once they get out of this cave.

Without any protest or words, Sycamore followed the two youkai in silence as he tries not to leave their side. Yet with any danger abound around the cave, he quietly takes out a Poke Ball and prepares it in the case of any attacks from the spirits or something else.

Yet once he sees Koishi went off to follow the smoke, he quickly tries to pick up the pace to follow her. But considering the crystals below them, it may have a chance for him to trip if he's not careful.

Edited 2017-06-24 10:09 (UTC)

"I have no trouble navigating in the dark. I rely more on my sense of smell, that I do. Though it appears the senses of satori youkai are better than mine. I did not think of using smoke. That is smart."

Hamusuke notices that the human seems to have trouble keeping up. Humans can't see in the dark, and there are crystals in all directions. She follows the youkai, but tries to keep track of Sycamore.

Satori is correct in them focusing on escape over learning about the crystal. Unless it's a clue for escape. Hopefully, following the air flow will help and they won't need to use the crystal.

"If anyone is tired, they can ride me, that they can."

"It must be some sort of recording, then..." Satori surmised from Koishi's description so far. It was a curious object, indeed, but she couldn't quite gain anything from analyzing it with her powers - after all, it was just some sort of storage device with that message attached. "I can't seem to find anything else special about this crystal, but the message it holds is no doubt a useful find."

Her passive scanning for anything with a mind only turned up some creatures, the odd spirit or two and a few unusual carnivorous plants intent on snacking down on whatever came by. So, nothing sapient seemed to be following them, in any case. That said, while she could probably fight off a monster that wandered its way into their midst, she hoped it wouldn't come to that.

"Do keep your guard up, Hamusuke, Sycamore. We aren't quite alone down here. It's best to stick together." She lifted a piece of kindling up to serve as some extra light and followed Koishi's path, keeping an eye on her obfuscated presence for the time being. Satori could easily follow Koishi from the trail of silence she left more than anyone else could, but she kept it a little slower than her younger sister to allow everyone to keep in step.

"My sister's quite a handful, but the pair of us know our way around a cave well enough. Once we escape this place, I hope we'll bring our discovery here to someone's attention. There ought to be somebody in this world who knows what this all means."

Edited 2017-06-28 22:47 (UTC)

Koishi was swaying lightly in the air, occasionally turning and shying away from shapes in the dark. Ones that were likely the carnivorous plants Satori had detected before. More than once she paused, using her danmaku to fire in a direction, followed by a scampering sound. Although...

"Sis? Maybe you should collect some seeds of these plants. They look fun to have." But then again Chireiden was usually lit by lamplight so it might be a bit harder to keep them...

Koishi pressed forward, flying up near the ceiling and then back down again. All the while she was using her hand to keep the moving air from putting out the little flame on the stick, pausing here and there to, again look at the smoke. Eventually though she was flying more and more slowly, settling down on the giant hamster's back. The mental fatigue from keeping the group hidden was probably worse than she was showing. Hopefully the ball of fluff didn't mind.

"Sis. If we need more smoke we might be able to take some plant leaves. They're a bit damp but they'll for sure burn smokey."

While he declined Hamusuke's offer since he's not very tired yet, he does seem curious regarding how Koishi's crystal has somehow recorded some kind of message from Satori's theory.

While he tries not to leave their side, Sycamore grips his Poke Ball very tightly. He wants to look around to see if any spirits will attack them, but he doesn't want to lose sight of his group at the same time.

"I understand. However, we need someone to keep an eye on the spirits. We might never know where they will make an ambush."

Hamusuke is fine with Koishi riding her, otherwise she wouldn't offer. None them would be a burden to her. She's even being careful, so that the youkai doesn't fall off. At least it's easy for Hamusuke to listen to directions.

"They are difficult to sense for me, but I shall be on guard, that I shall. Wouldn't it be harder for a human to see?"

Humans can't see in the dark and their sense of smell is weak. They also tend to be rather fragile by Hamusuke's estimation, considering how easy it was to vanquish trespassers.

"Can any of your Pokémon alert you? My child is exhausted."

Hamusuke sees herself as a mother to her Togedemaru. Her Pokémon had to do most of the fighting.

"Don't strain yourself too much, Koishi. Save your strength and let me handle it, for now."

Her voice was surprisingly calm as she urged the now-resting Koishi to take it easier. Satori's already looking to collect up fuel for the fire as Koishi mentions it and she's aware that they have to keep that fire going by whatever means necessary to escape this place properly. The elder youkai keeps watch out for anything that might jump out at them, though Koishi seemed to have the carnivorous plants from earlier under control. Every once in a while, she'd stop to collect some of the seeds. Perhaps, she thinks, they'd serve as an interesting curiosity and an unusual sort of pet.

"I'll keep an eye out for spirits as well as I can manage, for now. Our priority should be to avoid them. As I can see better in the dark, I may have to pull double duty in keeping you all on the path." As she's doing less of the mental "work", she also happens to be more free to take a closer look around and strategize. She doesn't take a ride on Hamusuke, though the offer is a bit tempting. "You have a point about the Pokemon. It'd do to have an extra few pairs of eyes watching out for us. I'll see who I have to help us..."

Edited 2017-07-04 12:55 (UTC)

Koishi was very light on Hamusuke's back, occasionally reaching down to scritch behind the giant floofball's ears. She was holding on pretty well for now too so not much care would be needed.

"Don't worry Mister. I'm sitting down but I have my eyes open too. Kinda." She was rubbing her eyes at the moment. "I'll keep you all hidden if I can, okay? But its hard because its been awhile. But I'll be okay. So don't worry!"

As for the pokemon though, Koishi frowned a little bit, reaching onto her belt. She knew they were going to be in a cave. And so. "Haunter. We could use some help, okay?" She tossed out the pokeball, the ghost type appearing and immedeately went over to Satori to ruffle (and mess up) her hair. The little shit.

"Haunter nooo. We need you to help keep watch for any bad things. You can play with sis later."

A second pokeball went out. It was gallade. "And another psychic type so that you can have a connection sis. It will help you spot things."

The smoke seemed to be leading them all in the right direction but there were also some strange noises starting up. The sisters didn't seem too concerned. Perhaps it was from moving air or water? Either way it was a good sign they were headed in the right direction.

Well, he wasn't directly suggesting to use their Pokemon as their extra eyes, but at least most of them agreed on this. At least this trek will be easier with their Pokemon helping out.

"All right, Koishi. We're counting on you But just in case..."

Other than seeing her Haunter messing with Koishi's sister he remains unfazed at the scene as Sycamore then throws his Poke Ball, which releases his Shuppet out as he says to him, "Noir, make sure to check around the area for any signs of the spirits. When you do, just use your Will O' Wisp to signal us."

His Ghost-type Pokemon nods before he left his trainer's side to do so, which the Pokemon Professor then continues following the group on their way out of this cave.

"That feels nice, that it does. Master would sometimes pet me."

Hamusuke liked the scritches. She had to concentrate extra hard not to be distracted by them.

The other Pokémon seemed unruly compared to her child. At least, the haunter did.

It appeared as if they were getting closer to outside. The sounds and smells were less stuffy. Following the smoke and Satori helped.

"There's faint smells of outside, that there is. We appear to be getting closer to freedom."

Satori's a little relieved and bolstered by Koishi's tactical deployment of her Pokemon. Thankfully, Koishi's Gallade would indeed be helpful, likely giving her more effective range through its own abilities. As for Haunter, it wasn't as helpful, and Satori ended up flailing a little to get the Ghost-type off her back. She offered the trouble-making ghost-mon a glare as she kept following in the direction of the sound. Satori reached to her belt and released her Typhlosion. "Keep watch for anything suspicious. If a hostile creature or spirit attacks us, let them have it."

She strained her own hearing to possibly figure out where the sound was coming from. "We may very well be closer to leaving, but that doesn't mean we can let out guard down, either." Hopefully, they'd find out exactly what it might be, soon enough. For now, it was enough of a hope of an exit to matter to the group.

"My Typhlosion should provide us with a bit more light, as well. Something like that's hard to miss." On the other hand, the flames along its back might invite some unwanted guests, she thought. Either way, the quicker they got out of here, the better.

Edited 2017-07-14 03:42 (UTC)

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Breach III: Expedition Log

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Pardon the slowpost.

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Pardon the slows once again. x_x

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