DUNGEON LOG: KEYSTONE SHORE

[phantasmods]

The morning of the 9th, everyone will get a message sent to their communication devices -

Okay, guys! I think we have enough stabilizers to try and get the shoreline stable. If you want to help out, grab your supplies and come on up to the roof!

When characters arrive at the roof, they'll find Top - with a wheeling table full of many copies of the same odd-looking device - the two exploratory drones, and a ramp down off the roof to the ground. (The latter looks a little hastily constructed.)

"Okay," Top says, picking up one of the devices. "Here's the stabilizers. Stick them to walls and stuff - mostly out of the way places where they're not going to get knocked off - and then press the buttons along the side."

They demonstrate, unfolding the set of legs at one end of the device before showing the buttons to anyone who's close enough. "Go ahead and take a couple, especially if you've got one of those space-saving inventories going on, I know there's like four of you with those? Strange got some first aid kits together, too, if you want."

Sure enough, another table nearby has the med kits... As well as traditional paper bag lunches, courtesy of Bottom. Don't question it too much.

"We'll be staying back here to keep track of the stabilization progress and work the drones," Top says, "but don't hesitate to call if you get in trouble! We'll send one of these guys down to get you an evac if you need it."

And with that, you're free to go down the ramp... Or to make for the beach however else you might choose to go.

Comments

[photoshooter]

[The resemblance is enough to make Prompto shudder for a second, but being able to talk one on one like this, not held at anyone's mercy, has allayed some of Prompto's immediate terror over the last few weeks.

Still, it's a while before he says anything.]

I see.

[In a way, Ardyn did the same to them: helped when it pleased him and played them all like penny flutes.]

I'm sorry.

[founderinglight]

The Bladekeeper can burn for what he has done to me and my family. If I ever have any say in it, he will.

[He can't stop. He shouldn't unload this on Prompto of all people, but he just... can't stop. The rage blossoms like flames, crackles like lightning - ]

He made the Oracles a line of healers and though it burns their lives out quickly, it does them no harm, to remove the Scourge with that light. Not like it did Ardyn. Not like my brother, who healed by taking the Scourge into himself -

There was no reason to make my brother a monster. He only ever wanted to help people.

[ - and chills like ice, the Glacian's frigid touch, smoothing over like a frozen pond, until only sorrow remains.]

No reason to make my brother a monster, no reason to bind my children and grandchildren and all the rest to the ring, and no reason to make Noctis die to end it all.

[rhododendronhoney]

I don't think so. She says that even sugar is rare there. [Cori does smile a tiny bit though.] Seeing her reaction to tasting it for the first time made things worth it, though.

[rhododendronhoney]

[Oh, that makes her shudder a bit.] Yeah, that would definitely be a liability then. Still, none of them have popped up here so far, right?

[rhododendronhoney]

[A raised eyebrow.] ...are you sure this place works by those mechanics though?

[photoshooter]

Stop--stop.

[Prompto's on his feet, pacing the gravel beach in the dark until the waves wash over his boots, blanket an abandoned heap next to Izunia. He stands there, gulping down the sea air, then turns around, colorless without a light in the night, just a dark shape with fair hair.]

It doesn't have to be that way.

[He presses lips together stubbornly.]

Noct's not dead yet.

[riderofcharlemagne]

[He swaps one precious baby for another, thrusting the crab at Prompto in exchange for holding the camera. Going through the pictures, the ones of the animals get various "awws" from him, and the selfie with the napping Izunia elicits a snort of laughter.

Getting to the older photos, Astolfo's curiosity is piqued. Some of the people there look similar to those in Izunia's drawings. Still holding the camera, he shows the screen to Prompto.]

Hey, who are these?

[riderofcharlemagne]

[The princess carry gets an reaction of bemusement, but when they're in the air, the look on Astolfo's face radiates joy. Flying is something he's used to, but it'll never stop being fun for him. Being able to experience it in a different way sets his heart racing in excitement.

As they make their approach, Astolfo's eyes dart around the horizon and the ground, not sure where to focus his gaze but not wanting to miss anything at the same time.]

Goro, are you getting this view?

[photoshooter]

[Prompto smiles, too.]

She liked it?

[photoshooter]

[Prompto is absolutely smitten with the crab, cooing and baby-talking to it, when Astolfo asks the inevitable question.]

Hm? Oh. [His mood drops for a moment, but then he shakes his head and puts on a smile.] Those are my friends back home.

[He points to a href="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aSksBMc5yFo/maxresdefault.jpg">each young man in the photo in turn.]

That's me, obviously. The big, beefy guy, that's Gladio. Mr. Dressed-for-Success is Ignis, he's the smartest guy in probably the entire universe. And that... that's Noct.

[The dark-haired one in the middle.]

My best friend.

[riderofcharlemagne]

[So these guys all knew each other. Small world. Small worlds.

The drop in Prompto’s mood doesn’t go unnoticed, but Astolfo figures it’s most likely out of longing to see them again.

He responds with a gentle smile, upbeat as ever.]

They all must be pretty special, huh? Especially that guy- Noct. He’s gotta be if he’s your best friend, right?

[photoshooter]

Uh-huh. He's basically the best. Uh, don't tell the others I said that, obviously, but they'd probably agree with me. Secretly. So he doesn't get a big head.

[Prompto Argentum love him friens.]

[founderinglight]

[Izunia isn't even looking at him, the light instead reflecting off the waves.]

...Sorry.

[photoshooter]

If I get back in time, I--I can save him.

[He stares down at the chocolate in the mug he's still holding until he can't make out the shape of it anymore, eyes stinging with salt. Time to squeeze them tightly shut.]

I know what's supposed to happen, so it doesn't have to happen that way.

[founderinglight]

I hope so.

[Even knowing what he knows... What's the worst that could happen, from trying?]

I didn't mean to turn things I that direction. I'm sorry. I just...

[Fuck Bahamut.]

[have_hat_will_travel]

...

[Pidonus pauses, scratching the back of her head a little.]

Right.

Still. Future trade. That's still possibly a good idea, so.

[scarsolderthanyou]

[He waves that off, but he does sip at the chocolate.]

I'm fine. Most of the time out here so far I've had scales, and there's not much I've found yet that can get through those. Thanks, though.

[photoshooter]

[Prompto turns his face away then, fighting to get a hold of himself, to stop freaking out every time this comes up. The water splashes against the backs of his calves.]

You have no idea. How the rest of us have suffered.

[Izunia only sees what the Ring sees. What the chosen see when they put on the Ring. The line of Lucis. The people sworn to them. Prompto's lungs shiver as he breathes in.]

Lady Lunafreya and her family. The people of Lucis and Accordo. And... and Niflheim. I don't know if anyone's left alive in that whole country.

[Did Lunafreya ever want to do anything but help people? Did she ever have a chance? What about the millions, millions of infants Izunia just told him all had souls, sent to their deaths against gods, against kings, against him?]

Don't say it didn't do anyone else any harm.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Since I'm trying to catch sharks, I don't have any problem with that. They make good eating. Look out," he warns, stepping a few paces back, before changing shape: the old-man-shape disappearing into a dark cloud of mist that expands and reforms into a large, black-scaled, spiney creature that looks half dragon and half man. He drops to all fours, peers around the beach-- he still has one bad eye, the same one as in his other form-- and then picks his spot and starts to dig.

Having claws, and hands big enough to stay on top of shifting sand, makes it go faster than if he were digging with human-sized hands.

Lighthouse, March 10

[scarsolderthanyou]

[The familiar scent is what has Stone peering over the broken edges of the lighthouse, in his giant winged form, flicking his tongue out to catch where exactly in the unsteady stairwell leading down the other gray person is. His shadow blocks out any light, momentarily, which might well be enough to wake her up.

Of course, a spiny black monster looming over the top of the lighthouse's crumbling walls might not get the best reaction... unless she spotted him hunting sharks the day before, and knows who he is.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

Stone settles back down on all fours again and folds his wings, smoothing down the spines on his neck and head so he doesn't look quite so threatening. Fish hunting can come later, he supposes. He lowers his head in a carefully exaggerated nod, so Prompto can't take it for something other than what it is.

Because yes. This is, indeed, Stone.

[scarsolderthanyou]

"I have stories you would be amazed by," he answers confidently. "And not only because I come from a very different planet than you do, I think. But that will probably help."

[photoshooter]

"Oh. ...Hey, big guy." He waves a little weakly, but when he recovers himself and smiles, it's bright and genuine. "How's it going? You can't talk in that form?"

[founderinglight]

I never would.

[Perhaps he didn't see everything. But he saw enough - the fall of Insomnia, the ruins of Altissia, the empty hallways of Zegnatus. The ruined world after ten years of night. Insomnia, Insomnia, the corruption of the Wall...

And yet.]

I don't know if anyone can understand that amount of suffering.

[photoshooter]

...Probably not.

[He finally wanders back out of the waves at a diagonal to Izunia to crouch in the sand once more, away from him and his light, clinging to the chocolate for warmth and feeling alone.]

I think Noct tries, though. To understand. Or to take it all, somehow. Stupid.

[Stupid like Ardyn was stupid, taking the Scourge into himself.]

None of this is fair, but we can still save him.