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

[theosophomoric]

[Sonja's ascent is more consistent, but still a bit clumsy, tentacle over tentacle up the side of the hull, until she can pull herself over the edge of the somewhat tilted deck. At least the decaying ship provides plenty of purchase, but really. This brush with bonelessness is really giving her a new appreciation for her rubbery companions back home.

From there, it's easy enough to find an opening into the interior of the wreck, a door that's loose in its rotting frame.]

I wonder where this one came from - it's not much like any of the ships I've sailed with.

[fistsofchange]

I've never...oof-

[She paused to focus on climbing, and was able to reach the deck of the boat.]

I've never seen ANY ships before. Is something weird about this one?

[theosophomoric]

[She raps a knuckle against the smooth, pale-colored wall of what appears to be some kind of cabin rising from the deck near the stern of the ship.] I haven't a clue what it's made of, for one thing; most of the ships on the 'zee are steel or wood. And I can't tell from here what power it goes under. I wonder if the engine's still in anything resembling functioning shape...

[fistsofchange]

After sitting down here for so long? Probably not.

[She felt the wall.]

Feels like plastic to me.

[theosophomoric]

Ah. That'd make sense. We don't use plastics where I come from, but I suppose with all the things the station uses them for, you could make a ship from the proper kind, too.

[fistsofchange]

I don't think anyone back home actually knows how to make plastic anymore, but you still see it around.

[theosophomoric]

I'd never even heard of such a substance before I came here... I mean, I knew the word "plastic," but just in the sense of "able to be molded."

[fistsofchange]

What's your home like? Compared to here.

[Lin poked through the ruins of the boat, looking for anything interesting while listening to Sonja.]

[theosophomoric]

Deep. Dark. Marvelous. [She says it almost like a mantra, or a slogan.] The Neath is... well, it's not a lawless place, the laws of man still hold so long as someone cares to uphold them, and London's never quite forgotten how to be the seat of empire. But the Laws of Nature are spottier - death is often reversible, and if you know what you're doing you can easily bodily cross over into the dream-realm of Parabola, or into Hell itself - although coming back from Hell is an entirely different matter - and the rats can speak and create the most fascinatingly intricate mechanical devices. [As she says that last, she absently runs a hand over the tattoo on her right upper arm, which depicts a rat brandishing a tiny pistol.] At 'zee, odder things happen. London's steam ships visit islands where everything has a life and a voice, or where every person there has died so many times that they've had to retire from polite society and tend to the preservation of their damaged bodies, or ports along the shore of the Elder Continent in the south, where there are vast jungles of giant mushrooms and our sapphire mining operations are dependent on the good will of the tigers.

But the city's still... fundamentally, it's a city, for all that it's a mile under the earth. It's lit by gaslight and candles now, rather than the sun, and we eat a dreadful lot of mushrooms. Drink 'em, too. But folk still study, and pray - even with Hell's embassy right there in the city - and do business, and create art, and commit crimes, and love. In all things, they love.

[fistsofchange]

Wow...That sounds incredible.

Do you mean that people who died can come back to life in your world?

[theosophomoric]

Not always. And we must be careful to stay out of the sunlight afterward. But yes, as long as the body's reasonably intact and the person wishes to return, it's usually possible.

[fistsofchange]

Wish people could do that back home.

Though...now that I think about it, Wei probably wouldn't have wanted to come back.

[theosophomoric]

...I'm sorry for your loss. [She's never really been sure what to do in the face of true loss; she might not admit it, but that was part of why Sonja had sought out the Neath in the first place.]

[fistsofchange]

It's a hard world. People die sometimes.

[Big sniff. She's fine, she promises.]

But...thanks.

[theosophomoric]

Of course.

[She's still not quite at ease, out of a combination of embarrassment and concern. Good job bringing up the creeping inevitability of mortality and making the cute girl sad, Advocate.

Still, there's other adventures afoot, and she continues poking through the wreckage, occasionally scooping something up in a tentacle to pass up to her hand to take a closer look.]

What's your home like? Besides having not a great deal of water.

[fistsofchange]

Yuxi valley is one of the safest and most prosperous places in the land. You'd probably find it backwards and quaint, though. Peaceful farmland, black earth, quiet days. The temple kept us safe.

[theosophomoric]

It sounds like a good place to be from.

[fistsofchange]

I'd like to go back some day, but there's just so much to DO in the rest of the world. It's a mess!

[theosophomoric]

Still, it's good to know there are good places, eh? Makes the rest of the mess feel less hopeless. [Her own good places aren't really her home, although she kind of distantly intends that Tanah-Chook might be, one day. She's still too vital to seriously consider it, but someday.]

[fistsofchange]

Yeah, I guess...

[She trailed off a bit, remembering how trouble had come to Yuxi eventually.

Not so much trouble that it was gone, though. Somewhere, her home was still standing strong.]

...Anyways, finding anything good?

[theosophomoric]

Mostly scrap... ah, what's this? [She turns a plastic-wrapped case over in her hands, peering at the label on the back] Oh, they're pens! I hope the wrapping's actually kept the water out.

[fistsofchange]

Well it's not glittering gems or gold coins but pens are still useful.

Actually now that I think about it, what would we even do with gold and jewels out here? It's not like we need money for anything right now.

[theosophomoric]

[Just gonna tuck those pens into her bag for now!] Well, the more traditional sort of treasure is pleasant to have around. But there's only so much of it you can pile up before it starts to get in the way. Our lodgings ain't exactly spacious around here.

[fistsofchange]

I bet I'd look pretty good with a crown. Do you see a crown?