phantasmalrift | DUNGEON LOG: KEYSTONE SHORE

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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.

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.

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."

"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.

Yeahhhh.... Kurama has seen weirder things, too, which is part of why he gives an uncertain shrug.

"I haven't asked much about what this world was like before the Fissures, so it's very hard to say. I'm hoping it's related to the instability because that will make these caverns much safer after we finish."

"We probably ought to ask that sort of thing," Stone realizes belatedly. He's not a scientist, he's an explorer; he's not used to people possible knowing stuff like that ahead of time. "So we know what to expect and what isn't supposed to be there."

"Yes, I definitely agree, since I assume we are going to be making something of a habit of expeditions like this one."

Kurama is neither scientist nor explorer, really. He's a thief, a fighter, and a strategist, and knowing what he was getting himself into has saved him from dying far more times than he probably has any right to. So he kind of regrets not thinking to ask before this little adventure.

"Apparently. Until they figure out a way to send us home." He's a little salty about that. Not as much as he could be, but a little. Mostly he just wishes it hadn't happened at all, though he doesn't blame the robots here for it all. Well, not much. "Though if you're working the caves, I might not bother. Last thing I'd want is to get zapped harder and accidentally shift forms." That would... hurt. A lot.

"Or we figure out our own." Not that Kurama blames the androids, either. He doesn't even dislike them. But he also considers that maybe their first priority could be saving their world over returning their new assistants.

Which he also wouldn't blame them for, but he has his own priorities.

And he coughs a little at the last thing Stone says. Yeah, that sounds familiar. He's definitely changed forms a time or two as a reflexive defense when something hit him hard enough. "I can imagine. I did catch sight of you on the beach, you're quite a bit larger than any of these tunnels. At least the worst I would manage is to hit my head on something."

Stone is probably a little meaner than Kurama is, which doesn't help matters in the blame game, or the saltiness. "Usually it happens in reverse-- you're hit too hard in the bigger form, and it knocks you down into the smaller one, to conserve energy. But I've never been hit by anything like that before, so I don't want to take any chances."

It's not actually hard to be meaner than Kurama. He's ruthless and a goddamn troll, but not actually mean. He hums thoughtfully.

"Understandable. I've gone both ways, to be honest. Knocked down to conserve energy, or up as a defense mechanism. If I were in your position, I wouldn't be eager to test it, either."

He sighs and glances off to the side, in the general direction of 'out'. "I don't doubt we still have enough ground to cover outside, even with all of us working on this."

DUNGEON LOG: KEYSTONE SHORE

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