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

[dubiouslychthonic]

[Honestly, she'd had a bit of a rough start this morning - she's gone without sleep much longer than this in the past, when necessary, but not after a month of restless and un-sopored sleep, and very rarely by choice - but on the other hand, like hell was she going to let all these diurnal folks get out ahead of her. So she performs something of a dramatic reorganization of her sylladex - formal clothes, malevolent roombas, and random brickabrack left safely in her room, medkit and food and water refreshed, plenty of room freed up for stabilizers and whatever she happens across in the fissure. And then, well, into the abyss, as it were.]

March 9, Afternoon - Night, Glitterstone Beach
[And by the time she's made it down through the caverns and out onto the beach, she's more or less got her second wind. And what a beach - much less ominous than the one she'd originally found herself on, several weeks before.

She's got stabilizers to place, but maybe first it's time to investigate the contents of that bagged lunch she picked up on her way out this morning. So mid-afternoon, the troll can be found well back of the tideline, sitting crosslegged in the gravel and peering thoughtfully under the top layer of bread of a cheese sandwich.

That night, she's further along the beach; she's also completely without any kind of artificial light source. Between her dark coloration and her darker clothes, she's liable to fade into the shadows, at least as far as most people with day-acclimated eyesight are concerned. Not that she's trying to sneak up on anyone, of course. It's just a thing that might happen given how ridiculously night-blind most humans and similar are.]

March 10, Morning, Lighthouse
[She's not ready to head back entirely but... maybe just take a few hours to regroup in relative safety, huh? Grab a powernap. Which is why anyone back at the Lighthouse mid-morning on the tenth may find Jetshard sitting curled up in an out-of-the-way corner.

Unfortunately, napping had sounded good but it's proving not to be that simple, and she's not actually that soundly asleep. In fact, the footfalls of anyone approaching are enough to rouse her; she looks up, pushing her glasses back into place, and offers a smile that's only slightly bleary.]

Doing alright out there?

March 10, Evening, Bloodsands Beach
[She'd gotten maybe a third of the way along the beach - she thinks, anyway, it's hard to tell with the fissure messing with things - when the sun had dipped below the line of the cliffs entirely, and -]

Damn it.

[She'd had a run-in with the blood water on her initial trip to the beach, when she'd first arrived; she has no intention of a repeat performance. But she can already feel the nagging... curiosity, anxiety? Need to go down to the water and investigate, and even knowing why that's a bad idea, it's still much stronger than it had been during the day. Time to head back, she supposes.

And to keep an eye out for anyone else she sees straying toward the bloo- the water, on the way. Anyone she spots out here on this stretch of beach, closer to the water than she is or moving in that direction, is greeted with a shout -] Hey! Careful, there!

Glitterstone, 9 night

[founderinglight]

[It is, indeed, nighttime.

Which tends to make some people a bit more jittery than normal. Good thing the stars are bright enough to see that the figure is humanoid...

Also, a good thing that Izunia still has Prompto's button flashlight clipped to his scarf at the neck. He still really obviously jumps at the sound of Jetshard's footsteps, whirling around with his rapier coming to hand in a gleam of blue.

Then the light falls on a familiar outline of horns, and he relaxes and sighs.]

I'm starting to think I shouldn't be out here at night, that's the second time I've nearly jumped someone.

[dubiouslychthonic]

[Jetshard takes several very quick steps backward as he pulls the sword, lifting her hands to show them empty. As he relaxes, she lowers her hands, releasing a breath she hadn't been consciously aware of holding.] Shit, Izunia, that is one hell of a startle response. Remind me never to try and sneak up on you.

[founderinglight]

My apologies. It really is a nighttime problem - I'm far more secure in places that are well-lit.

[At least he didn't actually stab her. The rapier vanishes in another sparkle of blue.]

[dubiouslychthonic]

[She appreciates not being stabbed. She would greater appreciate not having had to wonder if she was about to be stabbed, but not being stabbed is in fact a positive outcome.]

...is that why you keep sleeping in well-lit public spaces up at the station?

[She'd wondered, but hadn't quite figured how to ask.]

[founderinglight]

Part of the reason, yes. The other part is simply the nature of the chronic fatigue that runs in my family due to our magic. We all tire more easily than average as a result.

[So he just... keeps gear to nap wherever, rather than forcing himself to return to his room.]

[dubiouslychthonic]

I see. [Her professional side wants to press more on that front - dietary supplements? Hormonal support? There are ways to mitigate burnout and fatigue in psychic trolls, she wonders if there's similar for magical humans - but her diplomatic and cautious sides agree that needling him over it on a dark beach is pretty much the worst choice.]

Well, if you're intent on defying your own circadian rhythms, do you want to explore together a bit? My vision's more than sufficient for these light levels.

[founderinglight]

[Hey, at least he's not doing anything with it that would actually have a worse effect than some fatigue. Also it's not like he ever minds talking comparative biology with her.]

Humans are remarkably flexible in that regard. Prompto lent me his light, so I'm happy to explore if you are.

[dubiouslychthonic]

I'd argue the point, but I was up well before noon today, so I don't really have a walkstub to stand on here.

[She's starting to feel it, but on the other hand, lately she's spent as much time staring at the ceiling - and listening to the knife roomba rattle around inside the cabinet she's shut it up inside - as she has sleeping, and being outside and moving around is enough to keep her alert for now.]

Just tray and keep the light out of my eyes and we'll be good.

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.]

[dubiouslychthonic]

[If she'd been fully asleep, she might have slept through this, but she's really more just dozing. The troll scrambles to her feet, shaking off sleep with remarkable speed; there's really nothing to fully rouse a person like the sudden appearance of something large, winged, and quite clearly predatory. And unfortunately, while she had seen him in this form earlier, it had only been at some considerable distance and Jetshard had absolutely not made the connection to the man she'd spoken to up at the station.

She doesn't even try pulling a weapon; nothing she carries in her strife deck is going to do more than annoy something of this scale. The creature is between her and the outside exit, and honestly she wouldn't like her chances out in the open anyway. That leaves one instinctual line of action, taken before she's even fully aware of discarding the others: down toward the seacaves, and hope that she can descend an uneven flight of stairs faster than creature can dig her out.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

[Oh. Well, shit, he almost forgot that he's a big scary monster here, didn't he. Stone hisses through his teeth, then climbs up onto the lighthouse itself... and shifts down to his groundling form, landing halfway down the stairs. Then he calls down:]

Hey! You okay? Sorry about that!

[dubiouslychthonic]

[She's paused a bit before the entrance to the caves proper - and with them, the fissure - to catch her breath and gather her wits. Standing with her back flush to the wall, taking advantage of the minimal cover provided by a turn in the staircase, she tries to listen for sounds of pursuit over the pounding of her own heartbeat in her auditory ducts.

And, well, it's not pursuit that Jetshard hears, exactly. She hesitates a long moment, as alarm wars with confusion, before calling back - ] Stone?

[scarsolderthanyou]

Yeah, it's Stone. The big, spiny monster was me, too.

[He leans over the edge of the deteriorating stairwell, looking down in search of her.]

I promise I won't eat you.

[dubiouslychthonic]

You - what? [Ok it's not the most coherent reply, but come on, that's a lot to throw at a person. Especially a person who just woke up. Especially a person who just woke up in mortal terror.

She is, at least, reassured enough to start climbing the stairs again, cautiously at first, more confidently when she can see that it is in fact just a roughly-troll-sized figure silhouetted against the light - although coming out of the dark stairwell into the daylight, she squints a bit against that light.]

[scarsolderthanyou]

I promise I won't eat you.

[Might as well repeat the important part. He starts coming down to meet her, and adds,]

I'm a shapeshifter. I have this form, and the other one.

[dubiouslychthonic]

Well that's a hell of a thing. [Now that the adrenaline rush of fight-or-flight is fading, she's thinking more clearly. On the other hand, while she's wide awake now it'd be a stretch to say that she's rested, and she rests a hand on the wall next to her to steady herself.] You just about gave me a bloodpusher episode, looming like that.

March 10, Lighthouse

[fantasykiller]

I've been managing somehow.

[Unlike some people, Touma doesn't have an extradimensional space to stuff items inside. He had to settle for using a fairly mundane bag to carry all of his essentials.]

What about you? Do you need a party member? The monsters out here can be pretty troublesome to deal with. They might even be more powerful than that blood-lusted robot of yours.

[dubiouslychthonic]

I'm sure they are. Among other things, the Martinet is pretty poorly equipped for uneven terrain.

I'll probably find someone to go back out there with later this afternoon? Right now I'm running on well over thirty hours without sleep.

[fantasykiller]

[He gives her a concerned look.]

I hope you're not planning on sleeping in that dusty corner. The station isn't too far away from here so why don't you just go there to rest? This isn't exactly the safest place to take a nap in.

[dubiouslychthonic]

I'm clear of the fissure's effects, and if there's an emergency I don't want to be further out of reach than I have to be. [Grump grump why are you questioning her sleeping in a musty old ruin.]

[fantasykiller]

I see. I guess I have no choice then.

[Touma surveys the surrounding area for a moment before sitting down near a relatively stable wall.]

I'll stay here with you.

[dubiouslychthonic]

[She sighs.] ...and I have a feeling that trying to convince you that's not necessary's just going to be annoying and undignified for both of us, isn't it.

[fantasykiller]

[He frowns.]

Am I really that much of an unreasonable guy? Since I don't feel comfortable leaving you here to sleep in a crumbling ruin and you don't want to move, I figured me sticking around is a good compromise.

[dubiouslychthonic]

I'm a grown woman, Touma, I don't need grubwrangling.

But if you want to stay, you can.