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

[foolishjustice]

[He definitely seems to have better maneuverability than is normal for feathered wings, showing no problem hovering or slowly drifting.]

More or less. It's object storage only, though. And the wings are really just for show, my actual flight is telekinesis based.

[have_hat_will_travel]

... That means a "Perfect" fly speed, doesn't it.

Now I'm jealous. No having to think about how you turn, for one...

[foolishjustice]

It's much easier to learn than normal winged flight, too. I've only had these since a little under a week before I got here. I'm...not sure I'd be able to fly at all yet if I was relying on just the wings.

[have_hat_will_travel]

Perfect fly speeds usually involve some sort of crazy magic, so yeah, it tends to be very... Shortcutt-y.

[foolishjustice]

Technically a crazy psychic ability, I don't actually have any magical ones. It seems to be a standard part of being a shinigami of the sort I've become, though.

[have_hat_will_travel]

Magic, Psionics, Psychic Magic, Incarnum, Akasha... Different systems, different rules, but usually, you just sum all of it up as "Magic" to save time.

Trying to include all the rulesets without a broad umbrella term just kinda sucks, yanno?

[foolishjustice]

They both fall under the umbrella of supernatural, but magic and psionics are actually very distinct. Magic, according to everything I've read, is a manipulation of energies relying on specific conditions, whether they're thought processes or external catalysts.

Psychic powers are much more innate to a person's mind, always relying on one's own spiritual energy. They're a very simple imposing of your desires or expectations onto reality, or attunement to signs of fated events. They're also much more heavily determined by a person's nature and mental horizons, rather than magic's root in research, environmental factors, or other conscious or external influences.

[have_hat_will_travel]

Accurate descriptors, though where I'm from, you gotta split 'Psionics' and 'Psychic Magic'.

And more importantly, there's the Law of Transparency. Most of these myriad abilities will still fail against a well-cast Dispel Magic - and conversely, a Psionic equivalent to Dispel will work against magic.

Theoretically, even certain forms of martial arts are vulnerable to this, if they carry supernatural effect to them. Never studied that book properly to get the details, though...

[foolishjustice]

I do know that a Persona user's attacks are empowered by our abilities, although that's more passive. An existing Heat Riser effect doesn't go away if the caster is inflicted with Forget. Though, since my world doesn't have actual magic, I don't know how they'd interact...well, I have been wanting to look into things related to transparency. Particularly if a psychic could use the same sort of energy to fuel genuine magic, or if magical and psychic energy are two distinct things and being able to use one doesn't guarantee you could learn the other.

[have_hat_will_travel]

Well, where I'm from, they're distinct but you can learn multiple - it just means you're multiclassing. Worth it in some cases, though I didn't mess with it myself.