phantasmalrift | DUNGEON LOG: KEYSTONE REEF

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Jetshard's staying out of the water, though she's keeping an eye on the area near her inflatable raft. Not that she particularly knows what she'd do if someone did need immediate aid; she can't swim, which is a big part of why she's sticking to the boats in the first place.

But the flash of pink in the water below definitely catches her eye, and she leans as far over the side of the raft as she feels safe, trying to catch a better look at whoever or whatever's down there. The broad brim of her sun hat may obscure her silhouette somewhat, hiding her horns from below.]

[Astolfo happens to catch the silhouette from the water. It's attached to the larger one of the boat, so he has no hesitations in swimming up towards it.

With as much speed as his fishy form is capable of, he breaches the water's surface with a light splash, not likely to soak Jetshard to any great degree.]

Hi-! Are you thinking of coming in?

[Ah. Yes. Of course, she should have figured that that much pink in one place was Astolfo, shouldn't she?

Jetshard pulls back a bit as he surfaces; enough to avoid the worst of the splash, although not to stay entirely dry. It's not enough to bother her, though, especially in the morning sun, and she's perfectly cheerful as she answers.]

I think I'm going to stay in the boat for now. At least until we can see if there's any above water areas that we might need someone with legs to go into.

Aren't you a little curious what kind of fish you'd be?

[The ever-so-slight demand in his voice suggests that, even if Jetshard isn't, he definitely is.]

Come to think of it- do you have fish where you come from?

The sorts of fish my world has are part of the reason I've never learned to swim. [Along with the threat posed by seadwelling trolls and a simple lack of opportunity, but... Alternia's seas are as full of things that will attack an unwary troll as its sky or landmasses.]

[That definitely gets his interest.]

Really? What are they like?!

[How many teeth? Spines? Claws? LEGS?!]

If you got in here, I wonder if you'd become like one of them, or a normal fish?

The largest marine superpredators are the size of a small city, and there's plenty of creatures big enough to keep those fed, and a lot of those are predatory as well.

[She smiles thinly.] I think I'd really rather not find out what the fissure's magic would make of me.

[He eases on that front, at least - he's not about to force Jetshard into doing something she'd rather not.]

With sea monsters like that, there's gotta be some interesting stories about them, right? Heroes valiantly fighting on the high seas and all.

Oh, there's a few. [Fewer than there are of great hunters of land-bound beasts, but it's not like Alternia doesn't have its share of tales of high-seas adventure.] Many of them featuring gamblignants - I suppose the insistence on using chance-based weaponry makes for particularly good stories.

Chance-based weaponry?

[You have his interest even more.]

How does that work?

Usually it's a weapon with multiple possible attacks, keyed to some kind of randomizer - the traditional form is dice. I think the theory's that it avoids overloading the quantum generator that creates the effects, but there's a certain kind of glory-hound who appreciates the dramatics of leaving the details of a fight up to chance.

Granted, the dice mostly fell out of favor centuries ago, partly because they're so unreliable. I've only ever actually encountered one person who wielded them, and I have no idea how she gets them to work as well as she does.

[His eyes sparkle at the prospect of such a thing.

He is that certain kind of glory-hound who appreciates the dramatics of leaving the details of a fight up to chance.]

That kind of weapon is still out there? Did you get to watch her use them?

[Jetshard grins - she's not the sort to take the risks directly herself, but, well, she's inclined to stand a little too close for the sake of watching the fireworks.] I hadn't thought there were still any around, but from what I gather, the set Lightweb uses are an ancestral heirloom. I've seen her in action with them enough times to be very glad to be able to count her as an ally rather than an enemy.

[Every dramatic risk-taker needs someone to stand by and watch, and possibly enable them too.]

I hope I might be lucky enough to see them in action, someday. Or better yet, have the chance to wield something like that myself.

[It'd obviously be a great idea.]

[Look, it's what happens when you're raised by mothman, you develop a taste for watching disasters happen.]

Well, if I ever find anything of the sort, I'll pass them along to you. I've already got one card in my strife portfolio I'm not sure how to use, I don't need to add dicekind to the mix.

I knew I could count on you!

[Thumbs up.]

By the way- you'll have to explain to me how your weaponry works.

[Cards?? Portfolios??]

How - oh, no, the weaponry's pretty straightforward, it's just the inventory system I use to keep mine at hand that's complicated. [Weaponry, medical sharps, a fucking clarinet. Same difference.]

Oh- so you can have one without the other?

[Not that he'd object to a complicated inventory system.]

Have you seen me using my sylladex? The strife portfolio is part of that - it's a shortcut that lets me retrieve weapons without going through the whole fetch modus interface.

Aah, I see. [Nodding.] It's like that, huh. I understand everything now.

[Doesn't get it at all.]

DUNGEON LOG: KEYSTONE REEF

early dungeon

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