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Post by Shipfish on Dec 5, 2012 20:53:14 GMT -6
"Well, the only gates I've seen were over my hive, so I guess I should go through those?" You immediately shook your head no. "There is a gate somewhere nearbyy that will transport yyou to Kratus's hive. I couldn't tell yyou were because I actuallyy don't know." You reclined back into the grass to rest your back, which was just now starting to feel strained from the effort you put out carrying Stebia out of the chamber. It was an adrenaline thing, you mused.
"Do you have a map that I (--an follow ba(--k home or something? I've got a map fun(--tion on my helmet thing but I think it only shows pla(--es I've been." A smirk crept onto your face. Having your map would ruin her whole game process.
"We each have maps, but having myy map wouldn't be fair to yyou. I have, so far, been on yyour land longer than yyou have, going from myy current perspective versus yyour current perspective. It would be cheating." You laid your hands on your stomach and closed your eyes. A nap would be good, a dreamless one if possible. Too much was going down on Prospit for you to deal with right now. Idly, you wondered if you had any Dreamless Sleep still in your bag. You thought not, for some reason. An idea occurred to you.
"Here, I'll see if I have yyour next gate anyywhere on myy map and I'll point yyou in the right direction, but not the exact location." You fished your tablet out of your bag, balancing it on your knee while you flicked around the map.
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Post by Quakerlol on Dec 6, 2012 7:24:44 GMT -6
"There is a gate somewhere nearbyy that will transport yyou to Kratus's hive. I couldn't tell yyou were because I actuallyy don't know."
You saw her lean back and wince a bit. You figured that was because she had to carry you all that way. You're going to have to make it up to her soon! Which you guessed would be her past? Hmm. So that wouldn't make sense. Maybe you'll ask her when she's from so you can repay her for helping you after she's actually done it.
"Here, I'll see if I have yyour next gate anyywhere on myy map and I'll point yyou in the right direction, but not the exact location."
She pulled out a shiny technological thingie and started poking at it. You guessed that was a computer? You thought for a little bit more. You can't ask her when she's from, since that wouldn't make sense to you and you'd forget about it. You have abetter idea, though!
"Hey, uh, when you get ba(--k to your present, (--an you tell me about what you just did? Just, erm, that you just got ba(--k from saving me. Just for reasons!" You smile brightly at her. You're going to have to think of something nice to do for her! Or get her something cool. You don't really know what she would want, but you bet by the time it's her present then you'll know just what to do.
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Post by Shipfish on Dec 7, 2012 7:48:23 GMT -6
"Hey, uh, when you get ba(--k to your present, (--an you tell me about what you just did? Just, erm, that you just got ba(--k from saving me. Just for reasons!" You shook your head absently; just then you had found the gate and were trying to find out which real direction it was in.
"Oh, I'm not sure I can take messages. YYou can set a reminder on yyour computing device. Well, I can set it for yyou, as a variable, translocation and jump based function... yyour next gate is that wayy." One of your fingers pointed unerringly into the ground, at a small angle. It was pretty far away.
"I'll set the reminder. YYou want it for when I am next at what I would call current time?" You put out your hand for whichever device she wanted the reminder on.
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Post by Quakerlol on Dec 7, 2012 9:05:20 GMT -6
"Yyour next gate is that wayy." She pointed down into the ground. More underground time! Cool. You guess you'll find another shaft down, when she's done here.
"I'll set the reminder. YYou want it for when I am next at what I would call current time?" Um.
"Sure?" You hand her your helmet, assuming she has some sort of idea for how to work it. She probably has future knowledge. You'll figure out what to get her when it's time, you guess! You're sure you'll find just the thing eventually.
You look at her. "Um, was there anything else?"
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Post by Shipfish on Dec 7, 2012 11:08:08 GMT -6
You took her helmet, and didn't even have to put it on to fiddle with the functions you needed. Not even a half-minute later you handed it back to her and answered her question.
"No, nothing else. I might go kill some of the ogres yyou had trouble with if yyou think that will help yyou. I need the grist, anyywayy." You stood slowly, stretching out and cracking a few of your joints, exploring how sore you would be that night. You might want to take a free day tomorrow. Or a free week. You had all the time you wanted to take breaks from saving people's butts.
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Post by Quakerlol on Dec 7, 2012 17:13:34 GMT -6
Your face brightens. "That would be really gneiss! I (--ould probably use some help. Don't take all the monsters for yourself, though!" You grin and pop up into a standing position. You brush dew off your overalls and take your helmet back. As you do, you notice that Pesterchum is blinking at you.
[03:00] AW: hey stebia
[03:01] AW: you okay?
-- philosophersBones [PB] is an idle chum! --
"Oh, looks like Aruale pestered me! Would you mind if I answered her?" Assuming Kyanas would answer yes, you get to answering.
[06:06] PB: Hey!
[06:06] PB: Yeah, I'm fine, I just got res(--ued.
[06:07] AW: oh that's good
[06:07] AW: wait by who
[06:07] PB: Kyanas!
[06:07] PB: But Kyanas from the FUTURE!!!
[06:07] PB: She (--an time travel!!
[06:07] AW: yeah i know
[06:07] AW: )erena and i jurst met another one
[06:08] PB: You're with Lerena?
[06:08] AW: yep
[06:08] AW: went into her )and, we hung out, then kyanars showed up and hea)ed my arm
[06:08] AW: whi(h got hurt in a fight with a monster
[06:08] AW: you sure you're okay?
[06:08] PB: Yep!
[06:09] PB: The Kyanas I met healed me up too.
[06:09] AW: oh that's (oo)
[06:09] PB: Yeah!
[06:09] PB: I gotta go now though, she's still here
[06:09] PB: Bye!
[06:09] AW: okay bye
[06:09] -- philosophersBones [PB] ceased pestering anonymousWavelength [AW] at 18:09 --
You look up from your helmet. "Okay, just had to talk to Aruale for a bit! Are you ready to go?"
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Post by Shipfish on Dec 13, 2012 9:52:16 GMT -6
You nodded. It was time for you to go, and a quiet brush of your hand against your collarbone with a spare whisper of directive thought made wings of impossibly light metal weave themselves in the air behind you. Unconsciously you stretched them and checked the sense-feedback, feeling the air between the feathers.
With an authoritative chorus of muted clicks, you shut them behind your back. "Here," you said to Stebia, "I'll clear out the area around the mural room, and yyou can range out from there until yyou find something. I pointed, oh, a few points south of west didn't I? So tryy to stayy heading that wayy. YYou have a compass in yyour helmet." You slipped the glasses back on and let them start up, nodding to Stebia and spreading your wings out slowly.
A quick crouch and jump gave you the space to flap once, twice, and you were away.
Someone with discerning eyes could have seen you dive headfirst with folded wings into the ground, pale staff in hand.
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Post by Quakerlol on Dec 14, 2012 21:40:20 GMT -6
You stood, mouth open, as Kyanas summoned her impossible wings. That... that really shouldn't be possible. To have wings like that? To be able to fly about at will? And to summon them, apparently out of nowhere? It was beyond your comprehension. Kyanas gave you her directions and you did your best to remember them and not be distracted by the wings. What kind of metal was that? It would have to be a fantastically light alloy to be able to get off the ground at all in that volume, but it would have to be ridiculously strong to create enough wind resistance to lift two trolls (especially you, you know you're not the lightest troll around) and not crumple! You sort of want to ask Kyanas what the heck the wings are made of, but she jumped up, flapped her wings, and dove into the ground before you had a chance to ask. Wow. Huh.
You supposed you'd better find a way to get down to the mural room. You check your modus. Looks like you left that loop of rope down in the room. Dangit! Luckily you always have a backup option. Because what kind of doofus doesn't? You extract some bungee cords gently and carefully from your modus, chipping away at the block containing them so as not to damage them. You've only got a few, but together they should stretch about fifty feet. You tie them together and go over to the mouth of the entrance to the mural room. You peek over the edge. It stretches down a long way. More than two stories, you think. No wonder you couldn't jump all that way! You can generally only jump two, maybe two and a half stories straight up. You guess you should have looked before you leaped!
You giggle a bit to yourself, then punch a hole in the ground to anchor the bungee cords. You pat the ground down over them, then go looking for a big rock to hold them down. You don't want another fall! You can't find much of anything, just a medium-sized boulder that's still damp and dewy. You place it carefully over the buried bungee cord and tug experimentally on the cord. It seems stable enough. You take a deep breath, hope for the best, and step off the lip of the entrance.
You freefall for a few sickening seconds before the rope snaps taut and you dangle in the air. You slide down to the end of the rope and start a swinging motion, building up enough momentum to reach the wall at the end of a swing. You grab on to a lantern and make sure you have a good hold on it before yanking on the bungee cords. They stretch and stretch and finally come free, pulling out from under the boulder. Looks like you yanked the boulder free too. It tumbles over the edge of the hole and falls past you, landing with a CRUNCH on the floor below. Whoops.
You wrap the cord around the lantern one-handed, hoping you don't lose your grip. You tug on the cord, nod, and rappel down another fifty feet. You repeat this process a few times and finally reach the ground. You captchalogue the bungee cords, and then find the rope you left and get that too. Looks like you made it! What now?
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Post by Shipfish on Mar 18, 2013 9:33:13 GMT -6
==> Ky probably cleared the tunnels by now. Go exploring!
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Post by Quakerlol on Mar 18, 2013 13:35:34 GMT -6
==> Ky probably cleared the tunnels by now. Go exploring!
Good plan! You kick at the boulder that you dropped down here. It rolls for a bit and then stops, leaving a path of smashed paving stones. Man, you're really going for the perfect score in ruin desecration, aren't you?
You give the chamber a quick glance, but nothing's changed since the last time you were in here. Well, the smear of orange blood on the stones where you were being rude to Kyanas is there. But that's not that interesting. You decide to head back out!
You climb over the pile of rubble you created when you busted through that wall and re-enter the corridor. A few feet from the opening is a pile of cave ogres, groaning and nearly dead. The STATS function you have equipped on your helmet tells you that they're nearly out of health. Wow, that sure was nice of Kyanas to leave you with a bunch of monsters to kill! You'll probably get a lot of experience for it. What a good friend! You don't waste any time dispatching the weakened monsters and collect the crystally things (your STATS function calls it grist. Whatever!) that they turn into when they die.
You inspect the walls again. You were too busy running for your life the last time you were down here, so now it's a good idea to check stuff out. There's not much that hasn't gotten smashed/desecrated in here, but you see that repeating motif of the swirly wing icon. What could that MEAN? There's also some more murals, mostly depicting hopbeasts doing cute hopbeast stuff. Adorable!
You continue on, past the hallway you came in through initially, and into the bit of hall that was formerly infested by ogres. There's still a few monsters that Ky left for you, and a lot of grist. You take care of all that. It sort of feels like cheating the system to get all the glory for killing stuff when you didn't do most of the work, but then you remember that you fell over two stories onto cold hard unforgiving ground and managed to not die, so you figure that you deserve a break. And it's not like the game police are gonna get you in trouble! Probably.
You take a moment to check your surroundings for game police. Hopefully those are not things that are real in this game! Luckily, you appear to be safe for the time being.
At the end of the corridor, you see what looks like a big stone door. On the door are carved words in Old Alternian. Well, crap. You can't read that! Time to outsource this particular puzzle to one of your more scholarly friends. You have every intention of solving it yourself, of course. You just never bothered to learn the Troll Daedric alphabet.
Who should you ask?
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Post by Shipfish on Mar 25, 2013 6:25:48 GMT -6
==> The internet, there are plenty of translation softwares out there for people like you.
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Post by Quakerlol on Apr 9, 2013 8:21:55 GMT -6
==> The internet, there are plenty of translation softwares out there for people like you. Huh. You're actually not sure if you have a browser in this helmet! You check, but no, your THEIA browser is missing. Dang! Oh well. Maybe there's something in the program list. There wasn't before, but you never know, maybe you just didn't look hard enough. You're confident that you'll find what you need. And look, right there under STATS is a TRANSLATE function! Huh, you must have missed that. You decide not to think too hard about it. You boot up the program, and the Daedric resolves itself into something you can understand. Thank goodness. COUNT THY ASPECT
COUNT THY HOPE
IF YOU WISH TO PASS
NUMBER THE SIGILS
NUMBER THE SIGNS
THEN TELL IT HERE AT LAST Um. Okay! You guess this is a riddle. You inspect the door again. There's what looks like a number pad, nine buttons plus one at the bottom for a zero, except it's made of rock and carved into the door. You... guess that's how you're supposed to put the thing you're supposed to count into the door? But what are you supposed to count? Sigils, signs.... hmm. You were never big into archaeology, besides what you happened across in your digs. You guess you're supposed to count some sort of repeating motif. Ummm. Suddenly you have it! Duh. Those swirly wing things! You're supposed to count how many of them are in these hallways. Ok, you can do that. You're not sure what the deal with talking about aspect and hope is though? Maybe one of your friends will know better. Maybe Lerena, she seems to know a lot about this game, and she's pretty smart. You start back down the hall. You suppose you're not supposed to count the symbols in the mural room, since you kind of busted into there. You go down the hall, counting symbols on pedestals and the wall. You trail your hand along the wall to make sure you don't miss anything. One, two, three... you go on and on until you have made a full circuit and are back at the door. Forty-two sigils in all! You press the four and two on the number pad, and wait for something cool to happen. And wait. Nothing seems to happen. Dang. Did you miscount? You were very sure that you counted correctly.... Oh. You remember the wall you busted through. Oh. You must have broken some sigils when you went through that. Well now how are you supposed to get through this door? |
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