DUNGEON LOG: KEYSTONE REEF

[phantasmods]

Expedition day dawns, as usual, with an android mass text -

Okay, so, this time we're aiming to go out and stabilize the Fissure in the reef you can see up a little to the north of here. The waters are usually pretty calm this time of year, so if you can swim instead of needing to take a boat, that'd be a great help. We only have a few of them.

Also, I know that last time was a mess, so I'm just gonna say this: If you need to get out for any reason, just send us a message and a picture of your location. We'll get a drone out to you as soon as we can and bring you home. No questions asked.

( ﾟ▽ﾟ)/ Stay safe out there! When you're ready to go, meet us down at the beach. The rocky, sparkly one, not the sandy one.

Unlike previous expeditions, this time there's no rooftop sendoff - instead, as Charm noted, the tables are set up on Glitterstone beach, along with a series of boats pulled up on the sand. Two rowboats that could maybe sit six people but probably better suited for four, a trio of inflatable rafts (with motors attached to the back, all mismatched) of about the same size, a two-person dinghy and a long canoe that could hold two or three.

Besides the little fleet, there's also the usual bagged lunches (in gallon ziplocs this time, and other such watertight containers), and every boat is equipped with a large number of those chepa dollar-store water bottles, all with their airtight store seals. There's also a selection of life vests and other floatation thingies in a box next to the table. Strange hovers over the setup, checking watertightness of a handful of first aid kits with a spritzer and a bucket to submerge things in. They give a little wave to anyone passing by headed to the boats.

For those who opt instead to swim, everything seems perfectly normal until you reach the border of the Fissure... When, very suddenly, it isn't.

Comments

[nojohnyouare]

[Mai nods and slashes at the webbing immediately.]

The monsters here... Dangerous. Is there air for you nearby?

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Haha, of course it's going to be. Still, Junpei's content enough as he helps Yuuri into the dinghy, which is one of the least romantic words ever, but he's got to work with what he's got.]

Here you are.

[He pushes the boat most of the rest of the way into the water--still technically in the stable area of Glitterstone, so no shenanigans yet--hops in himself, and pushes off with an oar. Away they go.]

Don't plan on swimming today, huh? [Junpei himself is in swim trunks and a T-shirt.] Boooo.

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Junpei may not be able to talk underwater like everyone else, but he's a resourceful otter. After a pause, Uncle Tentaweasel gets a text.]

What've you got?

[Curiosity > the Family Feud.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

Huhn?

[His cute li'l otter whiskers twitch as Junpei wakes and blinks at Soma, and then he shakes his hair out like a dog. He sounds like Noctis as he yawns.]

Soma? What's up?

[He doesn't afraid of teeth. He doesn't afraid of anything.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

I have no goddamn idea and it's driving me nuts.

[He waves her over and points at its mouth.]

It ate my stick!

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Wow. Well, he's impressed. He sits back on his haunches and nods, scratching behind his ear a little more quickly than he would fully human.]

No kidding. Thanks for the light, Miss...? Wait, no. You're the doctor, aren't you? Doctor Ziegler? Do I have that right?

[He's sure he does, but not everyone makes a dossier on everyone else in these situations.]

Junpei Tenmyouji.

[misanthropicprinciple]

[He nods again and Armigers his tablet out so he can tap her a waterproof text.]

I can hold my breath for about twenty more minutes too, I'm good. Thanks for the help, these things are obnoxious. Who the fuck waterproofed spiders?

[blackestwitch]

....I'm not sure if that's a compliment, an insult, or just an observation.

[serrata]

And they definitely still work here, don't they? Have you managed to try them out?

[serrata]

[ An EVEN MORE SUSPICIOUS SQUINT THAN BEFORE. It's incredible that's even possible, but here we are. ]

What kind of weird little fish?

[ She's starting to cotton on, what with the weird psychic jellyfish but... well, it can't be. Can it? ]

[myocordial]

Hmmm, these sort of... small, orange fish? They had little heart-shaped tails. And they kept kissing me?

[A slight headtilt as he thinks back. Hmmmm...]

Oh, that's about when I started feeling really great. [What is putting two and two together when you're in a big ol' haze?] ...I kind of want to go find something big and fight it.

Okay with anything not permanently disabling or death

[dragonmouth]

[She's made her way below the water, her sword in a leather sheath strapped to her back. It'll need some TLC after this dungeon, but Tali's fought and slain aquatic beasts before.

She draws her sword and begins with the compelling strategy of... Looking straight at it, her gaze unwavering.]

please don't kill her in front of ardyn that would be cruel and unusual

[daughterofthemark]

[The feeling is less familiar to Arianna, but it feels like a status ailment trying to happen, and that's really all she needs to know. Whatever it is, a Prevent Order should stave it off for a moment.]

Everyone! Maintain your focus--don't let it affect you!

[nojohnyouare]

[Mai takes this in and nods.]

Unsure. They look like crab-san. Edible, maybe. I wonder. Where all of these came from. What kind of world.

[nojohnyouare]

Not an insult. You seem strong. Even looking ordinary. In your world... Things must be like that.

[serrata]

[ It's romantic enough for Yuuri, it seems – she's got a smile on her face and the tense line of her shoulders eases into something a little more relaxed. Maybe if she just concentrates on the nice weather and the being at sea, she can forget they've been kidnapped for five minutes. ]

If we were staying in the shallows, maybe. But I'm not a good enough swimmer to chance it while we're all the way out to sea.

[ She gives him a little grin and then lifts the sides of her skirt a little, like she's giving a curtsey from where she's sat. ]

Besides, the last thing I want to do is get this nice dress soaked.

[misanthropicprinciple]

Lucky for them they ended up somewhere wet, where they can survive.

[Junpei thinks about it, looking around at the boat he's currently investigating, and then sends a second text:]

There must be a connection. We only turned up in a fissure when someone was there to pick us up; these boats ended up in a fissure in the ocean. They can't all be from this world.

[misanthropicprinciple]

It's a really nice dress. Guess I'll have to try not to tip the boat over.

[He's not really worried about it, though. Off they go, with Junpei cheerfully rowing.

It's honestly almost like he's been more upbeat since they arrived than back home in Japan; it's not that he's happier, necessarily, and he was definitely keyed up in their first couple weeks, but for a while now, his energy's just been higher. Like he's more engaged. More alive.]

Think we'll find somewhere to stop for a picnic, just the two of us? Or everyone else, too, if we can find them. It's hot enough I think most of us want to swim.

[nojohnyouare]

When we first got here. We talked about how so many were from our group. And I thought it was something we all had in common bringing us here.

Aquatic monsters. Shipwrecks. In an ocean. But us in a dream forest? The pattern breaks. If it had been space, or a mansion, or a computer, that would make sense. But it wasn't.

[misanthropicprinciple]

The commonality was the other people, not the place. The guys who were brought here before us. They're (mostly) strangers to us, but even without the weird cross-time, cross-world connections, we share that worldhopping experience.

Then the question is what brought the first ones here a couple months ago. Do we know where the first group turned up?

[daughterofthemark]

[Arianna has been promoted! (...?)]

Thank you.

[...and she reaches up and pats Mai on the head.]

[makejapangreat]

[He isn't sure what to expect when the laser sword comes out— honestly, he's so mystified by it being real that he doesn't have the chance to think that maybe Akechi is just going to slice off his tail before he's already used it.

... the gentleness with which Akechi lifts his tail off the metal is, quite frankly, baffling... and the shock of it is enough to distract him from the actual pain of him removing his tail from the spike.

... he's actually being healed? Very cautiously, he moves his tail a bit. Incredibly, it's only somewhat sore...

He draws in a breath, then slowly sits up. Akechi didn't have to do any of that. While he suspects the summoning was very much intended to spook him... he didn't have to help Shido. He could've left him to slowly bleed to death here and no one would be the wiser.]

... thank you.

[Yet he doesn't dare look Akechi in the eye when he says it. The words are quietly spoken, almost afraid as though they might aggravate the teen further.

For now... he'll just keep his head down, like he knows Akechi wants him to. Is this for what he said earlier...?

... needless to say he won't be making that mistake again anytime soon.]

[daughterofthemark]

Not all of them, but I was able to use several of them shortly after we arrived.

[founderinglight]

[And Izunia is not completely lost in his own head, so he sees Junpei pull a phone and immediately pulls his, lazily holding it in one tentacle so he can see the screen and still mess with his hands.]

Not overly much. It's a different system than what this world uses - it's got a more elaborate hexagonal base.

[With a wave of his hand, he highlights the way the hexagrid is laid out over top of the nearest handful of hand-spread-sized runes, using his own blue light.]

[foolishjustice]

Just...don't mention it.

[From his tone, he's just as confused as Shido. His ears are lowering and flicking intermittently, as if trying to make sense of something he's hearing...or maybe just something he's thinking.

After a moment, he shakes his head and bends down to wash the eel slime off his hands. He doesn't know it's venomous, but it's still gross.]

Can you...travel, I guess is the right word here?