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

OTA

[scarsolderthanyou]

March 9, Day: Bloodsands Beach

The very first thing on Stone's agenda: food. With there not being a lot of red meat in the station, he's determined to eat a couple sandsharks to hold him over for a while, and then kill a couple more to save the meat. He sits patiently at the shoreline in groundling form, all gray and old and human-looking, until a sandshark attacks... then he shifts back up into the big, black, winged creature he also can be and pounces. He picks up a scratch or two, but the sharks' teeth aren't as effective against scales as they would be against skin, and his claws and teeth are very effective against sand-encrusted hide. Plus, he's bigger than they are.

He wolfs one down, still in the big black dragon-form... then shift back to groundling form, scrubs the rest of the blood off with sand, and settles in to wait again, a little further down the beach, occasionally making little splashes in the waves with one foot to at as a lure. This will be an all-day affair, and he justifies it by setting one singular stabilizer down over by the cliffs. Even once he's done, he half-buries himself in the sand and dozes in the sun to digest.


March 10, Day: Skyclimb Cliffs/The Fingers

Cliffs aren't much of a detriment when you're a winged creature, and they're even less of one when you're a winged creature with an 80-foot wingspan. Stone hardly even bothers with his wings, he just uses his claws and it hardly takes any time at all before then he's at the top, perched there like a gigantic scaly crow, looking out over the ocean and down along the clifftops. He plucks out one of the bottle crabs after setting in a stabilizer or two, pops it out of its shell, and crunches it down, claws and all. If anyone needs a lift up, he's happy to carry them.

Once the clifftop is secure, he shifts back down to groundling form again and wanders down the cliffline to the Fingers-- tripping here and there en route by the tangleweed, which then gets a taste of his teeth so he can free himself. He chews on severed pieces idly as he walks, because hey, he needs his vegetables, too.

Once he gets to the edges of the Fingers and sets down another stabilization device, he shifts again, mostly so he can try to pounce and eat one of the nearest drifting Helios fish. Eating is pretty much his biggest concern, right now, okay.


March 11, Day: Lighthouse and Tempest Seacaves

Today is not all about eating, for once. Stone climbs into the top of the broken lighthouse to investigate and descends the stairs down into the caverns below. This time he has to stay in groundling form-- his other form literally won't fit-- so anyone else down there gets the dubious benefit of his conversation while he finds places to leave more of the devices and prods at crystals curiously.

And gets zapped by one or two, though he doesn't generate a lot of the emotional wind himself-- not until he gets zapped and that ratchets up his annoyance level.

March 10, the Fingers

[photoshooter]

Prompto's just taking pictures of those Helios fish, minding his own business, when the noise of something humongous behind him makes him turn.

"Wh-whoa!"

Maybe he ought to reach for his gun--who knows what that thing is, or if it's friendly?--but his first reflex, his forever reflex, is instead to step back so as much of Stone is visible as possible, raise his camera, and take one hell of a picture.

"Got it!"

[scarsolderthanyou]

Stone pauses, wings spread, in the moment of being about to leap into the air. The flash startles him, and he blinks, spines all lifting along his head and neck, making him look like a slightly affronted porcupine.

There's something in his face, if Prompto can get a good look at it, that reminds one of a certain gray-skinned old man, and he has the same bad eye.

[photoshooter]

"E-easy. Nice... giant spiky guy."

Carefully, he lowers his camera once more and lifts his empty hands, but then he squints through the glasses he's been wearing in lieu of spare contacts.

"Wait. ...Stone?"

[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.

[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?"

[scarsolderthanyou]

He shakes his head, again slowly and deliberately, but that's the extent of speechlessness he is going to tolerate for now. He shifts, disappearing in a Stone-sized cloud of dark mist, which then condenses down into the more familiar gray-skinned old man. "I can communicate some in that form, but not in ways you'll recognize." He holds a hand behind his head, tilting it up and down. "The position of the spines says a lot."

Mar 9

[riderofcharlemagne]

Not too far from where Stone is hunting, Astolfo stands, watching. For once, it seems he's rather speechless. When he settles down into the sand to wait, he takes it as an opportunity to walk up a little closer to him. He manifests his lance in hand as he approaches, mainly out of anticipation of shark attack.

"Hey-" He starts, "I didn't know you could do..." He waves his free hand around in a vague gesture to communicate what he means, "...that."

Sure, he had seen Stone around the station once or twice in passing, but this is his first time ever seeing him like this.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Stone is licking the last bit of blood and sand from one finger as Astolfo approaches. He eyes the lance, speculative more than wary. "I'm a shapeshifter," he answers evenly. "A Raksura. Most of us aren't quite that big in our other forms, but we keep growing as we get older, and I'm very old."

There's a reason Astolfo hasn't seen him like that: he literally doesn't fit anywhere in the station except the cargo rooms or the roof, in that form. Plus, you know, it scares people sometimes.

[riderofcharlemagne]

"Oh, cool." Astolfo nods, settling down to sit beside Stone. He plunges the lance into the sand to keep it nearby in case of sharks. Looking over at Stone, his face glitters with expectation. "Hey, if you've lived so long, you must have some interesting stories, right?"

[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."

[riderofcharlemagne]

His eyes light up as he shuffles closer across the sand to Stone. He gives him an encouraging nod. "Go on!"

[scarsolderthanyou]

Stone considers what story to tell, and goes with Moon's. It's one with a happy ending. "My people are called Raksura. We live in colonies in the mountain-trees of the western Reaches-- a thick forest where life exists on the ground, and in a second world up in the canopies. There was a time when many of our colonies flew east, searching for new ground-- some of those colonies were destroyed. One of them left behind a boy, still young enough to live in the nurseries. His name was Moon."

March 9, afternoon

[founderinglight]

[Morning, Stone, you know your buddy who you casually fall asleep on at the station all the time?

It's time to return the favor. When Stone wakes up from his digestion nap, there's just. Izunia. Leaned against his side in the sand, fully asleep, a feathered hat low to keep the sun out of his eyes.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Stone lifts his head from the pillow of his arms as a cloud passes over them long enough for the warmth of the sun to wear off. He still has sand half-covering his legs, and some across his shoulders and arms. The arrival of another person apparently, this time, didn't elicit him rolling over and curling around the newcomer. Lucky for Izunia.

He is ready to move, though, and find a better patch of sunlight, so he makes a rumble in the back of his throat-- it's quite deep enough to be coming from his other form, rather than a skinny old man-- aiming to wake him up without prodding him. If that doesn't work... well, Izunia will find himself prodded.]

[founderinglight]

[It does take a gentle prod, but luckily at that point Izunia makes a faint 'mmm' noise and pushes himself up on his elbows. Okay, okay, he's awake.

The hat vanishes in a sparkle of crystal and he blinks against the still-bright sun.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

[There we go. Stone rolls out from under him and gets up, brushing sand from his clothes. When he speaks, his voice is dry:]

I'd ask if you were digesting, too, but I'm pretty sure you weren't eating the sand-fish.

[Izunia's mouth is too small to even properly take a bite of one.]

[founderinglight]

[That's what the have knives for, Stone. And swords, occasionally, but mostly knives.]

Mmm? Oh.

[Forgive him, Stone, he's a little slow to wake up.]

They're called sharks and they're perfectly edible.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Of course they are, I already ate two. I just didn't think you could. Humans usually cook their food first, and doesn't that take a while?

[The other reason he didn't think Izunia had been eating sand sharks.]

March 11, Seacaves

[byanyother_name]

"Ah! I should have realized someone else was here when the wind shifted... It didn't zap you too hard, did it?"

Kurama doesn't generate much emotional wind either; not when he's here alone. By himself, it's easy to bury everything that might set the wind off too much. His control of his emotions might not be what it used to be but it's still more than good enough for this.

A glowing plant finishes growing at his feet where the redhead just turned a corner in the caverns, holding a mid-sized wind crystal in one hand.

[scarsolderthanyou]

Stone picks himself up, looking irritable. "I'm fine. What happened? There's nothing here that could hit me." The idea of electricity stored in rocks hasn't quite occurred to him yet. It did feel a little like a lightning strike-- he's been hit by that before-- but nowhere near as powerful.

[byanyother_name]

"Release of built-up energy, I think. The crystals have elemental properties and they're very thick in here. Why it's manifesting as lightning, I'm not entirely sure," Kurama replies with a small shake of his head. He tucks the crystal in his hand into a bag slung over his shoulder.

Unlike some people, he hasn't learned the inventory trick yet.

[scarsolderthanyou]

It's okay, Stone doesn't have an inventory trick, either. Or, well, he has something like it... but it requires shapeshifting, and his other form doesn't fit in a lot of places, so it's not very useful. "Maybe lightning is an element, too." Stone has no idea. He gives the crystals a wary look, then gives them a wide berth, approaching Kurama instead.

[byanyother_name]

Kurama's other form is not quite as big, thankfully. Though most doors are not designed for someone seven feet tall in places built for humans, so... It's not entirely unrelatable.

"I believe it is, from things Izunia has mentioned, but I'm not certain any of these are lightning-aligned. I know the blue ones are water, and from the state of the caverns I would hazard a guess that the green crystals are actually wind. Perhaps some sort of interaction... Wind and water do tend to be considered the primary elements that make up storms... I'm sorry, I'm picking up a very unfortunate habit of thinking out loud."

He is pretty sure he knows who to blame for it, too. Kurama offers Stone a small smile and gestures at the plant by his feet, still glowing away industriously.

"I've been using these to mark where I've been so if you see them you can assume I've already placed a stabilizer. I've also been trying to place them in spots where the crystals are thin and the build-ups are less likely to strike."

[scarsolderthanyou]

"Do you think the build-up might be related to this instability... thing?" Stone guesses. "Or is it normal to this place?" It's hard to guess what counts as normal around here, since Stone has in fact seen weirder things.