I want to be somewhere, I don't care much where.

[Radiodragon]

==> STRONG!LAND

[Quakerlol]

==> STRONG!LAND

Ordinarily that would be a very sensible suggestion, but at the rate at which you're falling (you must have reached terminal velocity by now!) just landing on the hard stone floor would break approximately ALL THE BONES IN YOUR BODY. Looks like you're going to have to think fast!

You have an idea. You call up your MINECRAFT MODUS and get out a block of soil. In less pressing circumstances you would have chipped carefully away at the block to preserve the thing inside, but you really don't have time for that right now! You just punch through the block and rip out its contents: a long coil of rope! It pays to be prepared. You tie a loop, your fingers fumbling, wrap a few feet around your arm, and toss it up at the closest lantern protruding from the wall. It rips the lantern out of its sconce, obviously, and nearly rips your arm out of its socket, but it slows you down a little. More importantly, it changes your trajectory, so now instead of plummeting straight down you're falling towards the wall. You only have a few seconds to get your ADAMANTIUM ROCKSPLITTER out of your strife specibus and swing it into the wall, giving yourself enough space to not get smashed into jelly and slowing your descent considerably. The dense metal digs into the rock, sticking there for half a second before your momentum catches up to you and you start descending again. You scrape down the side of the dome, feet braced against the wall and both hands clinging on to the pickaxe for dear life, ripping a jagged gash in the stonework for a good twenty or so feet. Luckily this thing cuts through stone like butter. Finally you come to a halt, dangling from the pickaxe fifty feet from the ground. Okay. That worked.

You make a couple more loops out of the rope (which you somehow managed to hang on to) and attach it to a couple of lanterns. You tug a bit to make sure it'll support your weight, and start rappelling down.

Finally your boots touch sweet, blessed ground again. Well, that was a failed attempt. You have no idea what you're going to do now, and your arm hurts like heck. Maybe you'll just sit here for a bit.

[Shipfish]

==> Try to contact someone for help!

[Quakerlol]

==> Try to contact someone for help!

Good idea! After a bit of fiddling you find the GROUP MESSAGE button (you've never had occasion to use it before, but right now you need all the help you can get) and send a message out to all your fellow players.

[02:59] -- philosophersBones [PB] began pestering eldritchTransmission [ET] at 14:59 --
[03:00] PB: Hello?
[03:00] PB: Is anyone there?
[03:00] PB: This is a group message!
[03:00] PB: I need some help!
-- eldritchTransmission [ET] is an idle chum! --

[02:59] -- philosophersBones [PB] began pestering naturevsNurture [NN] at 14:59 --
[03:00] PB: Hello?
[03:00] PB: Is anyone there?
[03:00] PB: This is a group message!
[03:00] PB: I need some help!
-- naturevsNurture [NN] is an idle chum! --

[02:59] -- philosophersBones [PB] began pestering anonymousWavelength [AW] at 14:59 --
[03:00] PB: Hello?
[03:00] PB: Is anyone there?
[03:00] PB: This is a group message!
[03:00] PB: I need some help!
-- anonymous Wavelength [AW] is an idle chum! --

[02:59] -- philosophersBones [PB] began pestering sadisticSylph [SS] at 14:59 --
[03:00] PB: Hello?
[03:00] PB: Is anyone there?
[03:00] PB: This is a group message!
[03:00] PB: I need some help!
-- sadisticSylph [SS] is an idle chum! --

[02:59] -- philosophersBones [PB] began pestering salientStrategist [SS] at 14:59 --
[03:00] PB: Hello?
[03:00] PB: Is anyone there?
[03:00] PB: This is a group message!
[03:00] PB: I need some help!
[03:00] SS: Stebia?
[03:00] PB: Oh thank goodness!
[03:01] PB: Hi Kyanas!
[03:01] SS: Hi.
[03:01] SS: What do yyou need help with?
[03:04] PB: Okay so are you in any position to get to my land?
[03:05] PB: I sort of fell down this big ro(--k wall and I think I dislo(--ated my shoulder
[03:05] PB: And I got some bumps and bruises but the point is that I (--an't get out of this big (--avern pit thing!
[03:05] SS: Oh no! I wish I could help, but I'm grounded on myy land right now.
[03:05] PB: Oh darn.
[03:05] PB: Well, sorry for bothering you then!
[03:05] SS: Is there anyything else I can do?
[03:05] PB: I think I'll figure something out!
[03:05] PB: Probably.
[03:06] SS: I hope so.
[03:06] PB: I'm just hoping those ogres outside don't break in, I'm not exa(--tly in a position to defend myself.

Suddenly you hear a noise, like a bit of rubble being kicked over. You swivel your head to the source of the noise, but you can't see anything yet. Uh-oh. This could be bad.

[03:06] PB: Oh wait hold on
[03:06] SS: Hmm?
[03:06] PB: (--rap I think I hear something (--oming!
[03:06] PB: I think it's an ogre
[03:06] SS: Oh no.
[03:06] PB: I'm going to have to talk to you later, bye!!
[03:06] SS: Byye!
[03:07] -- philosophersBones [PB] ceased pestering salientStrategist [SS] at 15:07 --

You close the pesterlog window to see better. Still nothing discernible. You shakily get to your feet (ow ow ow everything hurts) and hold your ADAMANTIUM ROCKSPLITTER at the ready. If this thing wants a fight, then it's going to get one.

[Shipfish]

You appeared quietly in the dark tunnel, letting just a hint of strange light escape. With a soft click, you opened your glasses and put them on, watching those soft lights highlight everything in your vision.

When your eyes adjusted, you checked your position on the map, and slipped down the correct direction of the tunnel. You practiced not making a sound, soft shoes not making a whisper, smiling to yourself and absorbed in your thoughts. You made sure to avoid any vague readings your glasses barely picked up through the earthen walls, which you suspected were ogres or, the larger ones, basilisks and liches.

A faint orange tinge on the edge of your vision slowly solidified into a loose orange spot that seemed close and when you checked, it was only about fifty feet away. You hoped Stebia was still laying near her mobile computing device, otherwise you would have more trouble finding her.

As you progressed further along the tunnel, the spot moved almost out of the range of your vision, when you finally found an entrance that seemed to point more directly at the orange mark. By entrance you meant gaping hole. There was more than enough light in the room to see by, and you made sure your glasses tuned down the light-enhancement so you would not be blinded.

You stepped through, and accidentally disturbed a piece of rubble. You glanced down, your glasses highlighting the moving piece of rock and tracking it for you. As the piece of stone came to a clinking halt, you heard a scraping noise and a quiet sound of pain; possibly involuntary.

You gazed at the orange dot, which was now raised a bit higher than it was, and shaking slightly. It was around a slight curve in the wall.

You, with little cautiousness, walked to the orange dot, and were happy to see your friend Stebia, hurt and in need of help that she may be.

"Stebia, need out of here?" You called out to her, ignoring the glasses' observation of Stebia's weapon and defensive posture.

[Quakerlol]

As you stood up, wincing in pain, a strange troll stepped out from behind a bend in the wall. She (you assumed it was a she) was wearing a loose pyjama-like outfit, probably for fighting, and a smooth black band over her eyes. She had outward-curving horns and messy black haystack hair. She was also carrying some sort of staff. "Stebia, need out of here?" the troll called. You tightened your grip on your weapon.

"Who are you?" you asked warily. "How do you know my name?"

To be fair, an unknown troll is definitely better than a lumbering ogre or an even worse monster. Then again, this could be a monster too. You wouldn't put it past the game to put a shapeshifting enemy in dark caves or something. Besides, how could any of your friends even be here yet? This is probably a threat. And any troll carrying a staff like that, like a trained fighter, is definitely a threat, considering that you are injured and your fingers are starting to tingle in a way that is probably bad. Even if that troll is also a shapeshifting monster. Man, games are weird.

[Shipfish]

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" Her tone was wary and guarded.

Oh. Ok.

Stebia didn't trust you? This observation was distinctly puzzling. Slowly, non-threateningly, you pushed your glasses up to rest against your horns, blinking a few times to clear the residual images of the overlay. Maybe if she saw your eyes she wouldn't be so worried?

"Heyy, it's Kyyanas. YYou pestered me for help?" You couldn't help but notice how she weak she seemed, and how she was shaking, and how her weapon was drooping in her grasp. It was imperative that you tend to her and let her rest, and soon.

As an additional gesture of peace, you put your staff back into your specibus. By the Battlefield, you hoped she would back down.

[Quakerlol]

The troll pushed up her eye-covering and blinked at you.

"Heyy, it's Kyyanas. YYou pestered me for help?"

She popped her staff back into her specibus as you watched warily. You supposed that was a gesture of non-threatening intent. She did look a bit like Kyanas, you supposed, at least from what you knew of what Kyanas looked like. She had the martial arts getup and the horns, and the stitching on her outfit was the same color as Kyanas' text. You could feel your pickaxe drooping in your hands. Maybe it was okay to trust her. But Kyanas had told you she couldn't get to your land! So who was this?

You looked skeptically at her. "Kyanas told me that she (--ouldn't get to my land about two seconds ago. You have the same amount of time to explain, if you are her, how you got here and why you said you (--ouldn't!"

[Shipfish]

"Kyanas told me that she (--ouldn't get to my land about two seconds ago. You have the same amount of time to explain, if you are her, how you got here and why you said you (--ouldn't!"

Stumbling over your words, you spouted, "Time travel! Time travel! I could prove it but yyou need to layy down and rest!" It was incredibly irritating to not be able to do anything for a friend who was in trouble, especially because they didn't trust you. All of this had been fixed days and days ago from your perspective! It was an itch under your skin!

You unintentionally took a step forward and immediately regretted it.

[Quakerlol]

The strange troll started yelling in response to you. You felt a bit woozy, so you didn't catch all she said. Something about time travel? That couldn't be right. The one thing you did understand, though, was when the troll lurched forward at you. She may be unarmed, and she may claim to be Kyanas, but when a strange troll makes a sudden move towards you while yelling there is really only one response. You tightened your grip on your weapon and swung. Just a warning swing, mind you, there was still the tiny possibility that this was actually Kyanas. But it still had considerable force behind it, because the pickaxe is made of adamantium and you are strong enough to regularly punch your way through cavern walls. You didn't hit her, thankfully. You could have broken something vital if you had. The blade of the pickaxe whiffed through the air in front of her and tore a small hole in her shirt. The momentum of your swing twisted your torso a bit.

You set your pickaxe down on the ground (it was starting to get a bit heavy) and took a moment to breathe. You could feel your arms shaking. The arm you dislocated was a dull throb in your shoulder. You need a rest, badly. But that troll could still be a threat, even if she has now backed off. You don't think you can let your guard down just yet.

"Look, just stay over there, okay?!" you yell at her, trying to warn her off with your tone and keep her from noticing how your grip is slackening on the handle of your rocksplitter. "What do you want?"

[Shipfish]

Mere moments after you half-shouted your answer to her query, she swung her pickaxe at you. The swing was much slower than normal, and clearly unbalanced, but still very dangerous with Stebia's ridiculous strength. You saw her begin to swing, and stepped back, but not quite fast enough: the edge of the pickaxe caught a loose fold of your shirt and tore it. When you settled back on the balls of your feet, you looked down and grimaced at the new opening your skin had, which felt weirdly cold.

You returned your attention to Stebia as she rested the head of her axe on the ground, shaking, and visibly favoring one of her arms. She was slightly turned from the wild rotation of her barely controlled swing. She managed to turn her head towards you and force out at an extra-ordinary volume: "Look, just stay over there, okay? What do you want?" You noticed her grip on the rocksplitter was slackening.

"Stebia, please trust me, or I'll be forced to... well... please trust me." You slowly inched your hand towards your strife specibus, in a very surreptitious way. You really didn't want to.

[Quakerlol]

The troll assumed a placating stance and said something. She said your name, and something about trust, but the pain in your shoulder had not been helped by the swing, which felt like it had torn something important. The dull throb had turned into more of a low roar, and dark orange was beginning to creep around the edge of your vision. This was not good. You were breathing heavily. Your bloodpusher was pounding. Your legs were shaking. You started to lean on your pickaxe to stay upright. You knew that if this troll tried to attack (and some part of you noted that she was inching towards her strife specibus, like she thinks you wouldn't notice) you would fall almost immediately. You could feel adrenaline rushing through your system, trying to keep you from blacking out, and that was also not helping your ability to listen to her. For all you know, she could have just proven her identity beyond a doubt. It wouldn't have made any difference.

You swayed a bit on your feet. "Just... just go away, okay? Don't mess with me! You'll lose, I'm stronger than I look!" Technically true, but an empty threat in your current condition.

[Shipfish]

"Just... just go away, okay? Don't mess with me! You'll lose, I'm stronger than I look!" She was swaying and her grip on the weapon was as loose as it ever was, and she had gotten a far-away look on her face that made it seem like she was about to fall.

Well, unless you wanted her to pass out on the hard ground... This was a perfect opportunity but you hesitated a little in a sort of pre-activity shame that you resented. You quickly equipped your flying device's trigger to its place on your neck. With a short sigh in preparation, you were readied to move very fast.

You lunged forward, swiping your staff in from the side to dislodge the pickaxe from Stebia's grasp. Unfortunately, you miscalculated quite widely, expecting Stebia to have at least a little bit of a grip on the heavy weapon. Thinking curses in the half-second you had to make them, you instinctively turned the lunge into a roll.

You had another split second to think about the dust getting in you hair, and then you were crouched right in front of Stebia, who looked to be still processing the fact that her axe was on the ground. Your hand was on that, actually, and with a spare thought in was in your sylladex, though you had a feeling it was going to be a pain to get out.

Before she had a chance to do much of anything, you rammed your shoulder into her chest (it wasn't going to hurt her, Stebia seemed almost to be made of iron), which had the predictable outcome of leaving her out of breath. You used the upward force of your attack to power the first flap of the device's wings, ethereal metallic things you could see on the edges of your vision.

You felt a few feeble (read: quite hard and leaving substantial bruises) attempts at beating your back, but you cradled her head and pressed your thumb to the bottom of her skull, giving her a few seconds of unconsciousness.

Two, three and a half wingbeats brought you to the top of the chamber, and you closed them tightly together to fit through opening at the top of the chamber, zipping through with great enough speed to blast fifty feet or more above the ground. It was a trifle to open them back up, gliding serenely for a second, before spilling air and dropping closer to the damp grass. You rapidly backwinged to a stop, letting Stebia down softly as you were able.

Before you put away the flying device, you cushioned Stebia's head and waited for her to wake up, preferably in a less angry mood than before.

[Quakerlol]

You saw the troll move her hand up to her neck, and what happened next was a bit of a blur to your pain-clouded head. You saw her move forward, you felt her hit your pickaxe out of your hand, but you didn't hear it clatter to the ground. You felt her shoulder drive the breath out of your chest, and you thought you saw metallic wings materialize near her back. That was probably your imagination, though.

You hit her a couple of times on the back as she lifted you off your feet but you could tell your strength was ridiculously weak. She wrapped an arm around your head and you saw sparks at the edge of your eyeballs before passing out.

You dreamed of floating, and flight, and a dark ocean that you sank into and that cradled you away from the pain.

You blinked blearily as you regained consciousness. As soon as you were all the way awake, you decided that it hurt too much to be awake and closed your eyes in an attempt to get back to that lovely warm ocean. No such luck. You groaned and tried to sit up, then collided with the troll, who was bending over you. Ow. You fell back on the ground and rubbed your temples. "Owwwwww."

You rolled over, and were pleasantly surprised to note that you were outside, on the grass. The dew in the grass made your various nicks and bruises feel better, for some reason. Your shoulder still hurt like heck. You slowly opened your eyes. The troll was still there, even if she didn't look happy about being collided with. You didn't feel like pushing yourself into a crouch, or any other sort of defensive position. You supposed that if she was going to kill you she would have done so already. Beleaguerdly, you decided to trust her. Who knows, she might even by Kyanas, thrown here through some weird game thingie.

"Who are you?" you asked guardedly. "What do you want? And how did I get up here?"

[Shipfish]

You were leaning over Stebia's mostly still body to glance at the other side of her head, which you were inspecting for bruises or cuts. You had already looked over her arm, which by the odd angle at which it was laying you suspected was dislocated or broken near the joint. Hopefully dislocated, because you could fix that quite easily and mostly painlessly.

She started up after she blinked her eyes open and closed, and solidly connected her head with a portion of your ribcage partially cushioned by a fatty deposit. It still hurt though, because Stebia could exert a lot of force by accident. You refrained from complaining until Stebia woke up a little more thoroughly.

She rubbed at the sides of her head, and rolled away from your kneeling form, letting out a groan. After a moment, she opened her eyes again and looked at you. You almost felt awkward but then she spoke. "Who are you?" she asked, with an oddly closed tone, "What do you want? And how did I get up here?"

You let your hands wander over your neck for a moment, a tic you had developed when you wore the flying device. With a thought, you made the wings collapse back into nothingness and reassert themselves as abstract designs below the thin band circling your neck. You were trying to think of a way to say these things which should be so obvious but were apparently not.

"I alreadyy told yyou, I'm Kyyanas. YYou know, greenblood with a nutbeast lusus who trains with a staff and has a complex for beating people at their own games. I just wanted to help yyou, reallyy. YYou called for help to me a long time ago, weeks, and I was just then near yyour phyysical location to help... so I came to help yyou. And I flew yyou up here."

You thought. You had some local anesthetic wipes and pain-reduction pills somewhere in your modus. If Stebia was done asking about yourself, you would get those out and help her.