Midna rode in Mao's shadow as they zipped through town, and was pleased that her exposition skills were still up to snuff when all her talk went down smoothly. It was even a little nostalgic, though as she’d find out the overlord was cut from far different stuff than her Link.
”I haven't been able to observe/analyze the difference in depth myself, but they are more or less who they are, and they go about their lives as they would if they were home, though I imagine the cognitive dissonance between where they actually come from and Galeem’s adjustments to make then think this is where they are from has its influences on how they do thing, as well as the whole inability to back down thing.” She added a bit more about the Gleeming, but this was mostly speculation on her part, and then listened with interest about the nature of the Resistance.
They were a mixed bag apparently and apparently this “number two” had brainwashed the good eggs and made them fit in with the bad ones. That was interesting. Maybe it had been a mistake to blame Galeem directly for the resistance’s methods, though, of course, it was because of them that this number two could do this in the first place. Plus, if people couldn't back down, then would it force people who wouldn't kill to do so to end fights? And then warp their understanding of themselves in the process? Make moral people into killers? It was a disturbing thought, and it matched the little girl’s horrified response to being asked if she wanted to blow people up.
While she tried to psychoanalyze the more indirect effects of Galeem’s influence, Mao had easily managed to work out on his own why they had gone nonlethal, but she added a bit more context just because she could.
”We’re not above killing on principle, there's plenty of monsters out there that it’s best to just put down for everyone's safty, but yeah, the resistance is salvageable, so if we can avoid landing any killing blows here, that’d be for the best. If some of them are like you, tough, and able to see the bigger picture, then we want their help. This quest we’re on can always use more heroes after all” That would still leave the issue of the Grimleal. She didn’t really trust that they wouldn't get up to something evil once they were in uncontested control after all, but maybe they could snag some during the fighting and get them to see that same big picture too? She had her doubts, but there was only one way to find out if they could be on-boarded or not. Integrating them could maybe allow them to insert mercenaries from home-base into their ranks to act as moral compasses.
While she was theorizing their rush to the shop paused suddenly, Midna not needing to be told to wait because, as she was in his shadow, the Overlord was doing all the work moving them and, as a result, had complete control over their pace.
”Oh, goddesses” she sighed, rather exasperated, as she saw who it was who had caused them to stop. It was Lahral and, apparently, these two had a connection of some kind, being from the same world and having some power that was distinctive enough that even the Gleeming Laharl could pick up on the connection. What followed was a round of bickering, boasting and chest puffing, the context of which went over Midna’s head. What she did get was that, like Crow, Mao self identified as Evil and, by the fact that they shared a title, the other overlords probably also did? Midna asked herself if that was better or worse than the Grimleal’s lies/lack of self awareness about that fact, but if they were working with the seekers they were working with the seekers. She’d just need to keep a closer eye on them from now on.
”So yeah, as you can see, we do work with Gleeming people other than just Band... probably should do something about seeing as he’s not going away any time soon. Maybe it’ll do something about his rotten attitude” she said just to Moa, before pulling herself out of his shadow and then leaning an elbow on his shoulder while telling Lahral that ”Yeah, you 100% arn’t killing anyone on my watch Lahral. That goes for the people we’re about to fight too. Speaking of which, the hourglass is running low, so let's keep moving” before jerking a thumb back the way they had been heading. ”You two can deal with whatever this ‘Overlord’ business is when lives aren’t on the line”
Midna gave the slightest sigh of relief, both because that her idea was being taken onboard on a provisional basis, and that she wasn't going to have to be the one putting it into practice. Her little speech had been about the limit her wounds would allow, and so she gratuitously settled down on the ground and let one of the clerics tend to her while the more intact Tora and Poppie did the example freeing.
As said clerics' worked their magic (Or faith? She wasn't quite sure, but either way they put parts of her back together with pulses of power, which, as with the Medic, was a far better option than risking bleeding out or getting infected by something even if she didn't know how it worked) the pair who’d shared her concerns stepped forwards and got to work freeing the girl and the teen (or at least that's what she guessed his age was?).
The results were dramatic. Far better than she had expected even, considering her encounter with Crow. Yes, the little girl was still concerned about her former boss (which was ok in Midna’s book but maybe not in Kan-Ra’s) but the horror she expressed about using bombs on people showed that Galeem’s twisting went even further than Midna had expected. Maybe these were just good people who had been driven to cruel ends by Galeem’s wretched influence, she thought? Their cause was, when it came down to it, just, but maybe they’d only gone too far with what methods they’d considered reasonable because of the Gleeming?
This line of thought gave her a fundamentally incorrect impression of Mao, who’s practically jumping at the chance to sell out his former comrades she took to be a result of him also being horrified at what he had done, rather than being horrified about having done those things in the name of someone else’s cause.
”Seeing as this was my idea, I’m sticking with you” she told him, adding herself to the team that would be raiding the store he’d talked about. She wondered which one it was. Had they been meters away from a hideout and not even noticed? That was very briefly going to get awkward if it was one where she’d dealt with the owner at all.
Before they headed out however, there was the sudden arrival of Primrose and company (who Midna was happy to see where all in one piece) to briefly deal with. The dancer noted rather bluntly that they’d made contact with the resistance in perhaps the worst way possible. Minda wondered if she was annoyed about not having a say in how this had gone down. Probably yes. She knew she would be, and in fact still was with how things were getting out of hand and having to be reigned in.
”You could say that, yes” Midna replied, rolling her right arm, now wonderfully free of claw gashes thanks to the cleric’s work, before adding ”But we didn’t even get to introduce ourselves before they threw this welcome party for us” jokingly.
Part of that they could at least change now with at least one, former, member of the resistance.
”I’m Midna, good to meet you. Also yeah, I can answer some questions while we get going” She introduced herself to the newly freed bleach haired, grey skinned, hylian-esque person, and then nodded her head towards the exit for him to lead the way. They didn't have a lot of time. One of these resistance members had escaped, and the fights around the other bases were sure to start as soon as the news of the failed ambush got out, if not sooner. When he did she followed him or, more specifically, his shadow, while giving him (and Band, if he went with them) a quick run down of their quest while hitching a ride to the store.
”If you want to see who’s fault this all is, just take a look at the sun,” Minda said, entirely unaware that this was a bad idea for lighters under normal circumstances as it was for her all the time ”and, I’m told, you’ll see the winged being known as Galeem”
”It dismantled all worlds with that light basalt you just remembered, and stitched everything back together in the mess we are now living in, and finally blinded everyone to the fact that that had happened. It also is the reason everyone else has red glowing eyes. Be careful around them. They're mostly themselves, but Galeem’s power means that once a fight starts, they won't stop fighting till they’re dead. Plus I think we’ve just learned that they’ll go to greater and worse lengths to achieve their goal than they would if they were able to remember themselves” They saw plenty of such individuals as they rushed through the city, the eyes of every member of every crowd glowing an unnerving red, the new theorized facet of the influence adding an extra ting of danger two each and every one.
”Long term plan is that we, and a few other groups of other freed people, travel round this round island we’re on to gather spirits and allies in order to gain power, and then use that power defeat the rest of these Guardians that dotted around the land which are shielding Galeem from harm. Then last things last we head to the center to take down that glowing pain in the ass once and for all in order to set the world back to the way it once was” she continued by spelling out their long term goals before moving on to the more immediate goals.
”Short term, if we can free both the resistance and some of the Grimleal we might, might, be able to resolve this civil war without any more death and get a bunch more allies in the process. We can only free people when they’re beat up, you see, and because of that whole, fight till the end thing, we can't just go around picking fights and freeing people without causing ourselves a whole heap of trouble. Don’t exactly want to try and take on a whole town after all. ” this was very much in line with Fox’s thinking, but after that she deviated back to her own
”Also, obviously, people who were evil before will be evil after, so there's always a risk involved with freeing people. If you're in a tough fight, free your opponent and they still want you dead? Well you’ve just freed them and taken off a blinder that might have been holding them back. Think that’ll be an issue with some of the others?” she asked their newest member, in case he had some insight about the general gist of the resistance. She didn't think it would, but best be safe rather than sorry.
Like Ms Fortune Rika didn't actually know how to handle Sakrua’s emotional plight, but that didn't stop her from doing what she could, which was hugging her friend back when Sakura gripped her. Doing so was made a bit awkward by her gauntlets, but she did her best to be a comforting presence anyway.
The ship girl didn't really get it. The heart had practically made her into a person, but here it had made the robot not a person? It was confusing and painful and she didn't know how to handle that either, which made her grateful that, while Sakura’s way of dealing with the situation was bizarre, and honestly a little traumatizing in and of itself (Rika was very alarmed when the schoolgirl smacked her head against the metal floor) it also let Rika deal with it by association. It was Galeem’s fault. Simple as.
Thoughts of revenge really were a great way to handle pain, be it hunger or death!
“It’s ok. You helped me too”, she told Sakura when her friend thanked her for being there, as little as she had actually done to help, and then headed into the com’s room with her friend.
After the debacle with the bloated fish guy she went to take a look where he’d gone, once again showing that Jr was overthinking things when she simply pushed open and then stepped through a gate in the fence without a thought in order to look down at where the old guy had gone. According to Blazermate he was apparently still down there, which meant that somehow, against all odds, Bowser had been right.
Picking up on the fact that people were weird out by his prediction, Bowser defended it by saying ”What? It’s the worst thing that could happen, so of course it’s going to happen in this weird nightmare of a place. Have you guys never watched a horror movie?” and planted said prediction firmly in the dumb luck category.
”You never let me watch horror movies… wait they’re like this? Yeesh. They sound really lame then” Jr complained, before quickly getting over his own complaint. Who in their right minds would have anything to do with this stuff for fun, he thought. Either way, they had other things to worry about. Like the wet guy pulling some kind of dry Bowser move on them as soon as they went down there.
Rather than keep staring down into the murky water waiting for that to happen, Bowser wandered off to start rifling through the guy’s stuff. There was a doll (creepy), a key item (which the king held onto) a bunch of toys and games the guy had presumably used when not staring at the tv (based on the abandon nature of the jigsaw the tv was probably his favorite pastime by far), a crummy looking fishing rod and a bunch of jars of stuff. Bowser took a sniff of the labeled one, went ”Blech” when it reminded him of Bracus and promptly left the rest alone.
All except the last jar, which had a very gross looking thing called a “Cadou” in it, which Bowser had the displeasure of having a hungry stomach growl coincide with him looking at it. Which made him feel sick. What kind of monster would… Bowser glanced at the fishing rod, then back to the disgusting thing and had an idea.
He hooked the jar and fishing rod under his arm and rejoined the others, now rather loaded down with stuff.
”Ok, don't look at the thing in the jar, but for distractions, I bet we can use it as a bait on the end of this fishing rod or something” He suggested, responding to an earlier comment by Peach about finding ways to buy the sub gower’s time to sneak down to the water controls.
“I can go down and scoot around and shoot to make some noise? If I stay close to land and Blazermate acts as a spotter she can probably make sure I don't get got by a big fish right?” Rika suggested in line with that idea
”Just as long as your safe kid” Bowser told her, which got him a confident nod in affirmation.
”We’ll have mirage’s sub robot thing too… we could chuck that in to make noise and be a distraction. Or maybe even just have it do the thing?” jr suggested, seeing as he was assuming he’d be the one doing the submarining. Then he had another thought, based on how Mirage was acting while wearing the fortunately not dangerous robot control system and suggested that ”Do you think Carl was just some guy plugged in like Mirage was then? Somewhere else though, and for like, way too long?”
“Hey, yeah. Maybe you just got him to get out of his own chair thing? That would be nice” Rika said to Sakura, accidentally punctuating how much wishful thinking was involved in that with her final comment.
”Maybe. Well. Even if we do just use the robot, we still want to get the sub down as like, more bait. And if we do go, like if we need to do land stuff down there, then I can drive it and I think Mimi can do her shadow thigh through the glass? So we are not 100% defenseless” he said, getting a nod from his pokemon that that would work. Whether it would be enough to hurt anything down there was debatable, but it was a reassurance to not be entirely helpless.
As for getting the sub down, Nadia’s strategy of just climbing up there didn't yield any internal release mechanism, but it did find a wire leading from it down somewhere that might have a release mechanism on the other end.
In response to this info, Rika and Jr both took up their respective strategies for getting in the cage again. The ship girl went looking for a door or hatch or something, while jr followed the wire itself and then tried to claw open the panel it led into to try and follow it. Unfortunately it was way up there in the ceiling.
”Give me a hand getting up, will you?” jr asked generally, but Bowser was more than happy to help, putting down his many gubbins (hammer head, mutant containing jar, fishing rod and key) before joining his son in his mission. First they tried forming a two Koopa stack and, if that didn't get them high enough, the king would casually wander over to unplug the annoying staticy tv so he could move it over to use as a footstool.
Minda’s tossing of her foe had the intended effect this time, with Koga hurtling through the air and bowling over the other masked ninja in the group as he tried to rise, collapsing both in a heap. Unfortunately the toss came too late to bail the big man out of his battle as he and the punk that was boxing him had both knocked each other out while trading blows in what she was sure had been an impressive bout. It was a shame she missed it trying to avoid being shot, which went for basically everything else going on.
Fortunately the others had similar or better luck as she had with their dueling opponents, and things were gradually coming to an end as Midna pulled back to nurse her wounds. Then things came to a very abrupt end as everything exploded. Fortunately for her, while Sectonia’s shield hadn't helped against the bullets or energy claws that had been involved with the fight she’d just had, it was a goddess send against the magical explosions and it being still around probably saved the princess’s life. That, and the distance she’d been putting between her and the fight due to her wounds, meant that Midna was merely blown out of the warehouse rather than to pieces, the princess landing like a ragdoll and then rolling over the sand outside. She lay there for a moment, before intentionally rolling over this time to get into a shadow she could hide in to avoid being taken down while she was, well, down.
Fortunately for them, while the blast had hurt them plenty, it had also been very indiscriminate. In fact it had hurt the rebels more than it had the seekers, some of who’s bigger and tougher members were even still up and kicking. Not that being down stopped the rebels from trying to keep up the fight, Galeem’s influence really showing its true colors to them for the first time as it seemingly prevented them from even considering surrender.
”No, stay down” Minda said, moving back out of the shadows once she saw the state of things and using her shadow hand (The only thing she trusted to use, as the rest of her body hanging rather limply in the air. She wasn't sure if she’d be able to stand if she tried, and her arms where either a bloody mess thanks to Koga’s claws or a bruised mess thanks to the pummeling her shield arm had taken. How Link had managed to keep his arm intact while blocking far heavier hits she could only wonder) to press Koga back to the ground when he tried to rise and keep fighting and then carefully bumping her feet into his dropped smgs to send them to the Twilight realm for good measure ”Give up. Its over”
She was hoping they could just wait them out, let the passive healing effect slowly stitch them back together while they decided what to do with the rebels, but unfortunately their battle, and the explosion that had ended it, had drawn the attention of the local authorities. As to be expected really, but it did complicate things. As did the fact that they’d apparently triggered the other raids by doing this, complicated things even more. The whole affair was rapidly escaping their hands and things were in motion whether they liked it or not.
Midna winced at the implications of what was going to happen to the rebels as she drifted over to where Band was, mind racing at how they should handle this. She didn't like the rebels, but she also didn't like the idea of the Grimleal being in power uncontested either, which was exactly what was about to happen. She didn't exactly like the implications of “drastic measures “ and “interrogation” being inflicted upon anyone by the cultists either.
While she was thinking, she tapped her chest and pulled out a friend heart, then moved to clap Big Band on the back with it. At the very least they could get him on board, in fighting shape and, hopefully, get some input from him on how to handle this situation.
”Here, this will help your wounds, and as a bonus it should clear up that little blind spot you’ve got” She said after the deed was done. It also gave her an idea, which she turned to propose to Kan-Ra.
”That ‘bloodlust’ you mentioned.” Midna began to say, still a little strained by her wounds even as they gradually closed back together ”I’ve seen it before. It's not natural or part of them. There’s a curse inflicted upon them by a false god that, among other things, prevents them from surrendering despite it being in their best interest. We can clear that and, in doing so, we can make sure this ends without you having to take such ‘drastic measures’. Something I think the Vizier would like considering his son’s one of them?”
It was best to try and do something to prevent unnecessary deaths first, Midna reasoned, and then, depending on how the removal of the Gleeming affected the rebels, then they could figure out what to do about the political situation and how it affected their greater cause.
”Once we’re fixed up by these clerics, we can see about helping clean up the rest of the curse at the other hideouts?” she added, more as a question/suggestion to the others this time.
Kamek gave a sigh of relief when the troop made it to the end of the aerial obstacle course after their brus with the collapsing platform, and then shook his head saying ”ah, one of those days those two will be the death of me” to himself, but the smile on his beak chased away any gloom or doom in the statement. A reckless pair they might be, but they were also survivors. The mage assured himself they would be ok, and then also reassured an equally worried Tyrant of the same.
”Don't you worry, little one. You’ll get used to their antics sooner or later. The young master was climbing up the walls and along banisters since he could crawl after all. You have to trust them to take care of themselves eventually.” Wanton disregard for the dangers posed by gravity was an incredibly stressful habit of the young prince and, as he had said, at a certain point he’d had to just leave Jr to it and trust he knew his super-koopan limits better than the plebeian mage ever could.
While the rest of the troop busied themselves upstairs, mainly with recovering from self inflicted bruises, the mage had been expecting to just take things easy down by the water side (unless some monster came along that is, so it was safe to say the mage wasn’t spending his wait right next to the water, not by a long shot) but it turned out there was something he could do to be helpful. Somewhat. Namly answering the person who had been Frog’s question regarding his once and future curse.
”While you might say that I am familiar with curses, its more with the casting than the curing. Also I have to say this is a… rather amusingly poor time to ask about this considering you are not presently a frog and my magics are rather lacking at the moment. Nevertheless I can give you what I have in my noggin and we can think about what we can do if- no when- we are back to our old, older selves” The mage replied at length when asked if he thought he could help, before shutting up and listening to the brief tale of the former Frog’s quest against the the Fiendlord Magus and how he had been turned into a frog by said fiend.
”Ah, frog polymorph. Something of a classic that, though not really my style. Regardless, without my sorcerous power, or any lab equipment, I can't exactly offer any specific solutions to your plight right now… well, other than getting issued by a princess, I think that's the equally classic solution to the curse. Other than that, finding some magical spirit, fairy or purifying hotspring of some kind known for breaking curses is one possibility, though if any exist at all in Galeem’s new world I do not know. Then, of course, there is the bluntest solution. Find your curser and force them to undo it. Or kill them if they don't. Not exactly easy either seeing as, I assume, you have no idea where they are.” Kamek shrugged, knowing that none of this was very... Specific. But he did have one last suggestion.
”Really, when it comes down to it, your best bet isn't me (though don't worry, I will see what I can do once we are free) but the mercenaries in Alchamoth. They have a whole host of knowledge and experience from dozens of worlds between them and even if they can't solve your predicament themselves, they might just be able to track something down for you. Some magical cure all or defrogifying spell. Galeem has toyed with all realities, something along those lines must have slipped in unless we are very unlucky.” he concluded, waving his hand around in a circular etc. motion when talking about the possible solutions that might exist in Galeem’s mixed up world, just waiting to be found. Those, he thought, were the boy/man/frog’s best bet.
Up top, the rest of the troop slowly pulled themselves out of the pile they’d fallen in after their failed attempt to force the ocean pressure proof door that was sealing them out of the control room. Much grumbling was had but, fortunately, no one was seriously hurt by the attempt. Nor where the troop hurt when the door into the maintenance room sealed shut right after they stepped inside. Sealing the Koopas in at any rate. Rika had had other concerns, namely shuffling over to Sakura and asking both her and the unresponsive helper bot “Are you OK? What happened?” regarding the depersonifying effect her friend heart had of the robot. Part of her sensed that her friend might need some comforting after the unexpected effect her kindness had and so she was there to provide if need be.
Inside the machine room the Koopas got to work trying to help find a way out, which resulted in very little help actually being provided. Bowser reacted to seeing the freaky fish person hybrid thing's picture by burning it, and then claiming the hammer head (and promptly ditching the magnet half for someone else to use once he got a few practice swings with it, using the fork on the back as a pair of handles and wielding it a bit like how a wrestler would wield a folding chair) while Jr had a nose around the printing machine to see if it was usable and if there where any templates around to be used in it.
Without their help, the room was reopened and power routed to the command center. The troop regrouped and left the machine room behind for the moment to seek out the foretold submersible bay. Said bay’s singular nature turned out to be disappointingly literal. There was one bay, which contained one very small submarine. Also a bunch of wet suits too big for them would fit in and, considering the suspicious goop content, even if theory could use them it would probably have been a very, very bad idea.
The limited submersible supply presented a question of who’d be daring the deep in it, but before it could be answered the group encountered a rather sad and useless looking/sounding old man who, after floundering on whether he should try and stop them or not, tripped and fell into the water. It was only after that that Rika asked herself why she hadn’t just shot him
”So. I don't know if that was kinda a funny way for him to go or just as sad and pathetic as he was?” Jr said after a moment's silence, which was followed by Mirage speculating that they hadn't seen the last of the sick looking codger.
”Yeah... Knowing this place, odds are he only looked sick because he was in the middle of turning into some freaky sea monster or something” Bowser suggested. Still, he was gone for now, so they were free to snoop around his room without consequence. Rika and Bowser took it upon themselves to take a look down into/guard the water the old man had fallen into, just incase they could see what had become of him/he came back and also to see if theory could see what lay ahead of the sub’s journey, while Jr looked for some saner way into the sub than what Mirage was doing with the freaky looking chair.
”You sure you want to be doing... whatever it is you're doing with that? For all you know it’s some kind of mind control chair or something.” he asked, as he looked for any kind of door on the cage, or a way to break/drop the sub down into the water, or even climb up into it first. With any luck all this would be far more forcible than the metal door that had kept them out of the room in the first place. ”Like maybe we can use your scissors to just cut through the fence or something?”
“Or I can just shoot it?” Rika offered from where she was peering down into the old man’s drowning spot, after which Bowser, who was wandering off to look through the old man’s personal belongings also offered to ”give it a good hammer whack. Or burn it all down!”
”Maybe. Hey, you know, maybe we can rip up some of the posts to use as a handle for your hammer? Or melt it down in that printing thing...” before shaking his head and resuming his investigation of the cage ”No, focus. We can do other stuff after the sub’s down.”
The snapping jaws of her wolfos might not have caught anyone, but it’s shaggy hide did make excellent cover for Minda to get her groove on. The princess rapidly tapped out a duo of dragon dances to amp herself up, though she had to weave her steps to and fro to avoid the bomb lobbing punk’s indiscriminate hail of explosives.
When her dances ended the princess was pumped with power and speed. She’d need more than that to help win the day however, because when her wolf went home she immediately became the target of smg fire, forcing the princess to hunker down behind her new shield to avoid being perforated by bullets.
Acting fast before Koga could switch tactics or overwhelm her metal shield Midna summoned her shadowhand and made it grab at the sandy ground, hauled up a mass of it and hurled it at Koga. The sand and soil failed to stick together and strike him, but the disintegrating mass made him flinch as it flew at him and it also obscured his vision for long enough for Midna to dodge out of the way and slip into the shadow of the building itself to get out of his line of fire.
A quick glance from her shadowy hiding spot got her a good assessment of the situation. Band was still slugging through despite taking one hell of a beating as a result of drawing most of their foe’s attention. Fortunately his call for aid had been answered, and, though things went rather poorly for Yoshitsune as rushing in ahead of everyone else (or had he already been following them before the signal had been called?) got him a similar reception to Band but, unfortunately, unlike the big man himself the swordsman was less set up to just tough it out.
Midna winced at the sight, but also saw that it looked like Tora had that handled, and that Sectiona wasn't far behind him and ready to throw all kinds of magical aid. As the Queen added her absolute bevy of support to the mix, with elemental slinging minions, magic shields and healing auras being the least of it, Midna appeared on the side of the garage door furthest from their reinforcements. There grabbed the edge of the wall with her shadow hand and then slung herself around, using the mag-lev effect she had to slide along the floor low enough that her round shield could cover her whole body. Her unorthodox insertion into the fight was proven wise as she slid under the smg fire of Koga, who’d assigned himself to stopping her from getting the drop on them again, the lower reaches of the spread pinging off her shield and gilded helm.
When Koga paused the futile hail of fire to readjust his aim and strategy Midna lashed a hand out around her shield, hurling a spray of sand from the twilight realm at him. The Ninja guarded his eyes with a wrist, giving a moment for Minda to pivot her slide and then lash her shadow hand round in a low sweep at him. Koga’s guard had, however, prevented anything beyond a momentary blinding and so rather than flattening him Minda gasped as the Ninja pulsed with a little power and then leapt straight over the side sweep.
Dragon claws flared on her toes and gripped the sand, halting Midna’s slide and then letting her throw herself to the side as Koga took aim as he fell back down and rained fire down at her, shots clipping past her hasty dodge and ill practiced guard, and slashing at her skin, leaving a light gash on her arm and thigh.
The princess hissed with pain even as the minor wounds started to close back up thanks to Sectiona’s healing. She slid along the ground, keeping the momentum from the dodge going and portalled out her Twilight Vibrava to buy herself time and space. The enlarged bug buzzed out and tried to crunch Koga in its jaws, only for the Ninja to dash a short distance in the blink of an eye to dodge out of the way before turning and pumping the rest of his clip into the pokemon, forcing it to flee back to the twilight realm.
As the ninja dropped the clips from his now empty guns Midna rushed forwards, winding back a hand with dragon claws primed and ready to end this, only for the ninja to switch things up, dropping the dual smgs to their holsters and then flaring up three long energy claws of his own on each wrist and then counter charging her in turn.
The surprised Midna blocked the leading right hook with her shield, but the left claw slash outperformed her own, leaving the princess with an ugly bleeding gash on her right
”Goddesses” she swore, but unlike Koda she had an extra arm left. Her shadow hand slapped straight down in front of her, forcing Koga back and preventing him from finishing the job. As the Ninja backed up his claws flickered and died, whatever power had been fueling them running out for the moment. He grabbed for his empty smgs, but while he was trying to reload them Midna gripped the ground with her shadow hand where she’d slapped it down, and then hauled herself up and around and smashed both her feet into his chest in a colossa twinl kick.
The blow knocked Koga flat on his ass. The princess gave him a blast of sand as she retreated, but her shaky arm meant it went all over rather than mostly at his face, allowing the man to finish clacking two fresh magazines into his guns while he was on the ground and blaze fire after her.
Minda pulled herself behind her shadow hand, pumped up the size, and then advanced, using the magical limb as a shield this time. Koga tried to quickly push himself up in response but in doing so had to stop firing with one gun, giving Minda just enough space to shove the guarding hand forwards.
Koga got to his feet just in time and then looked and dashed to the side to avoid the backhand. Minda slid again and hauled her shadow hand after him, blocking the shots from the one still full smg with her shield again, and then finally managing to grab the slippery Ninja with her shadow hand. She gave him a crushing squeeze in her grip before hauling him round in her giant orange glowing grip and throwing the man at one of Band’s attackers.
She didn't immediately follow up the throw however, and instead moved to try and find some space to let Sectiona’s passive healing do something about the three large gashes crippling her right arm and slowly oozing her life out of them.
”Come on already, pull you stupid thing!” Bowser yelled at the magnet half he was using to try and pull a platform dangling from chains closer, the red beam from the bar he was holding like a rifle wiggling and wobbling over a bit of rusted metal but failing to have enough heft to move it. If it was just weak he could have just ditched the thing, but the king got the impression that it could be stronger if something was different, and the fact that he had no idea what that difference needed to be was incredibly frustrating.
”You ok over there dad?” Jr called back from where he, Rika (and Mimi) were making their own way across with a fair bit more speed thanks to their cooperative method of traversing the path.
”Bah. It’s this stupid magnet. Just ain't working right” The king replied, giving a harrumph and then giving up on the route he was trying to take and then yelling ”Hey, if any of you are still coming up, grab the other half of that magnet. Maybe they work better closer together or something” down at the stragglers.
”So what you gonna now do dad?” Jr asked
”urg, guess I’m going that way” Bowser replied, pointing at a much more rickety looking platform than the one he had been trying to move closer
Jr looked skeptical, but did not question his dad’s plan, which turned out to be a mistake. The King’s claws hit the deck and immediately an awful creaking started to echo from the rusted bolts holding the platform’s supports to the ceiling.
”Ho boy, that does not-” Bowser began to say as he took a careful few steps forwards, only for a dreadful snap to resound as the back most support bucked free, causing the back of the platform to jerk down towards the water below and almost tipping the king down into it. ”-sound good” he finished after just barely managing to recover.
”Dad! Run!” Jr shouted, though Bowser really didn't need prompting. Caution was thrown to the wind as heavy clawed feet pounded along the platform, followed by creeks and snaps as the entire rusted assembly came apart behind him, rust and metal splintering apart and falling to the waters below. As the last bolt slipped free the king leaped, arm outstretched for the next. Grasping, failing, and then finding living metal instead of dead.
“Eek!” Rika cried out as the weight of the king clinging to her outstretched and offered gauntlet dragged her down, only Jr’s on grip on both her and the platform they had been using preventing all three from plummeting down from the sturdier platform they’d rushed to and Bowser had leapt for.
It was a stressful few moments as first Rika and then Bowser were slowly hauled back up onto semi solid ground, the three (plus mimi who could do little to help) flinching at every groan and shudder of metal.
”That was close” Bowser noted matter of factly.
“Mmmf” Rika agreed, too stressed and out of breath to form a proper response, an attitude shared by Jr and Mimi, who both just nodded and, down below by, Kamek, who was quite sure he’d have suffered a heart attack if he wasn't so thoroughly de-aged.
The fact that they were so close to the end, and the concern that staying on one platform to long wold invite another collapse, got them moving soon enough and in relatively short order the four of them clambered up the ladder and reached blessedly solid ground which they all took the opportunity to just sit or lie down on for a few moments.
“I really hope that's the last of the jumping. How can you live in a world where this reminds you of home?!” Rika asked the two royal Koopas from where she was lying on her back.
”You get used to it” Bowser explained, before asking them both ”You both OK?”
”Yeah, you get used to it” Jr echoed as an answer, forcing the bravado just a little.
“Yeah. I think I’ll be ok. Just give me a few more moments, ” Rika replied. She was, at the very least, doing better than Carl, the legless robot that thought it was human. Or the human that looked like a robot? None of them really got it, probably because none of them (including Rika, despite her appearance) were human, so any real psychological importance of the term went right over their heads.
”If he wants to be called a human, he can be a human” Bowser decided after mulling it over for a bit.
“So can I be a human too? Instead of an Abyssal?” Rika asked, having got something of the wrong impression of the poor man’s situation by relating it to her own identity issues.
”If you want” was the rather simple answer she got from Bowser.
”Why not be a Koopa instead, we’re way cooler” Jr suggested instead
“Hmmm. I’ll think about it?” She replied honestly.
Either way, Carl’s identity dilemma was Sakura’s problem now as she decided to see if freeing him from Galeem’s light would help him out. While she was at it, they had to find a way through that didn't kill him. To this end, the Troop had a very, very, very simple plan.
”Troop! Square up. On my mark! 3. 2. 1. Charge!” Bowser commanded, and then with a cry of ”WAAA” “YAAAH” “MIMIIIII” ”RAAH” the three + their hanger on charged the heavy metal door in a collective shoulder-barge.
”Best not do what a curse wants you to do after all” Kamek added when his advice they not eat was met with begrudging acceptance ”So if this wretched place wants us to eat, then I can only speculate doing so will have dire consequences”
That knowledge was all well and good, but it didn't make the sensation of steadily building starvation any less wretched.
There was a little more pep talking and amping up by the party, from people with both greater or lesser skill for it, before they got up and got back to the task of getting the heck out of the mess they were in, with Sakura taking the initiative on getting them moving. First thing’s first, was clearing the door so they could move on. Jr peeked Mimi through the little gap they had to work with at first to make sure there weren't any surprises behind and, once she gave the all clear, which consisted mostly of her not freaking out, the troop put their backs into helping shove the boxes aside.
Soon enough the way was clear and they entered into the room from which the watery sounds were emanating, the source of which turned out to be a fair bit more water than any of the troop had been anticipating.
”Geeze, how big is this place?” Jr complained as they all looked out at the vast expanse of water flooding the vast room before them. Rika’s brief excitement about being able to skate across that water was rapidly shut down by the Nadia’s guess that it was full of monsters
“I mean, we don’t know that...” Rika tried to suggest before sighing and, along with the others, taking a look around for any other way through. The person that succeeded at that was Peach who found a map and used it to outline a four step method of escaping their current floor. First, up to the control center, then to the submarine bay and finally down into the probably monster infested depths in some pressurized tin can or cans to the sunken water flow control and then, finally, up via a de-flooded elevator.
”Things can't ever be simple huh. Oh well, more platforming here we come. Almost like home really heh.” Bowser commenced as he started plotting a route across the sky obstacle course that would get them to the control center.
”At least we don't all need to go this time? I could just stay down here with the pigs and then you can come pick me and them up in a sub? Much less of a hassle for everyone.” Kamek suggested, having had quite enough of putting his life in other people’s hands and more than happy to sit this one out.
”Yeah that'd be a load off my back. You’re gonna so owe me for lugging you around you know” Jr told the mage
”Think of this as paying me back for carrying you around that floating spa after your run in with the giant scissors” Kamek retorted, which got a grunt of acceptance out of the boy before he turned his focus towards sizing up the platforms as the humans started making their way up them. From them they got some unsettling news.
Mirage’s comment that they’d probably not be able to navigate the rickety platforms if they were all grown up was meant to be a joke, or an attempt to make the best out of their situation, but for the two royal koopas, who, with all their scales and their shells were a fair bit heavier than the average human 4 year old, it frankly just made the whole thing more daunting.
Not that either of them were the kinds of people to be daunted.
Bowser grabbed the red half of the magnet, hung it over his back, which was apparently a thing you could do with them, and then gave the rickety platform gauntlet a go anyway, scrambling up Mirage’s pegs and then making his way onto the first platform. The way it creaked under him was not promising in the slightest.
”Urg. I think we’re gonna have to go separate ways, son. You're gonna be good? or you could stay if you want?” Bowser said back down, it been quite obvious that two of them would be far too much for some of the platforms.
”I’ll be fine, jeez. Get going. I’ll catch up” Jr retorted, getting a thumbs up from his dad before Bowser headed out, picking only the sturdiest of platforms to use, while also utilizing his magnet half to pull or push them around where he could to give other people or himself better or easier routes.
“Oh. So. I have an idea that might help you?” Rika said to jr as the boy prepped to head up too.
”I’m listening”
“So I’m using my gauntlets to lighten myself to walk and jump by making myself lighter, right, because I've got kinda weak legs still. And you’ve got strong legs but you're pretty heavy. Well...”
A few moments later, the pair had formed a (slightly precarious in the eyes of the nervously watching Kamek) looking stack, with Rika riding Jr’s shoulders piggyback, while Mimi had popped herself on Rika’s head just because she could.
”This was just an excuse to not walk wasn't it.” Jr complained as he realized he was playing people carrier again.
“Nooooo,” Rika replied convincingly “I’m still going to have to hold you up! Now give this a go. We’re gonna have so much.. Uh. ups-ness. Jumpyness? Floaty bouncy- eek!” Rika’s word fumbling was stopped as Jr moved up Mirage’s steps in rapid step and then took a leap from one platform to another. The koopa’s little legs had a lot of oomph behind them, bringing them high, at which point Rika ramped up her gauntlet’s anti grav and, with Jr gripping onto her legs and said legs gripping onto him, the three of them practically glided down across the gap and then landed far more softly than their combined weight should have allowed.
”Woo!” “yeah!” “Mimi!” went up three cheers, followed by a slight wobble before the trio looked for the target of their next great leap.
”How abooooout, there!” Jr suggested, pointing at a platform that would require an even more daring leap.
“Let's do it! But, ah, be careful with the claws this time please? Some of us aren't covered in scales” Rika asked.
”Ehh Blazermate can always fix you up” Jr insisted, getting a little kick in the chest for his efforts. ”Alright alright. I’ll go easy on you.” Jr relented ”Now let’s keep moving!”
Midna gave Band a smile and a nod when he approved of her plan to accompany him, before slinking down into his shadow to, well, shadow him. Finding out about the progress of the scouting party would have to wait, they had a trap to spring.
Tagging along with the detective was quite the enlightening little experience in how not to investigate things, the man stomping his way back to the scene of the crime and making a big ol show of sleuthing the place and looking for criminals that should have been long gone. Yet, lo and behold, there was a suspicious looking character just hanging around, observing the scene of the foiled plot.
Midna thought this was a stupid move on the rebels part part, only to turn around and get the fact that this was bait a few moments later. Maybe if she hadn’t been shadowing a professional she would have taken it before thinking twice, but there was no accident in how Band stepped up and prompted the man into running. His too easy comment earned a giggle from the princess, as much as a way to reassure him that she was still there as it was a genuine laugh at how thoroughly he’d outsmarted the rebels.
Big band gave chase with Midna coasting at his coattails in his shadow till they ran into an alleyway which, as Big Band predicted easily, was the spot where the ambush was going to be sprung. So with utmost calm, calm Midna did not quite share (she had no way to know what these people were really capable of after all), the man stepped right through the jaws of the trap before they could be sprung and found the rebels sitting around rather casually, likely assured that they had the upper hand.
They certainly were a fine gang of toughs, Minda thought as she gave them a quick appraisal, but she didn’t note any obvious magical abilities or items among them, which bolstered her confidence a whole deal. These thugs didn't know what was gonna hit them.
To an extent neither did Midna, because after trading a short series of barks and bards and one hell of a verbal smack down it was time to dance, and boy, did Band’s performance show him to be quite the maestro of mayhem. The man moved swift as fiddle and hit as hard as a gong, taking out one of the gang with such speed and force that he took even Midna by surprise.
If that first blow wasn't her cue, then Band’s order to take out the purple punk who’d been tracking them certainly was, and Midna had no disagreement with the target. She was covering his back after all and here this stealthy sneaker was, ready to fill it with lead.
Good thing the girl in purple hadn’t realized she wasn't the only one shadowing the one man band.
Midna rose out of his shadow, a grayscale outline of the impsh princess rapidly materializing from the dark before the bright green and red of her new outfit shone true as she dropped to the ground. Dragon claws flared over her skippered toes and dug into the sand for a second before the princess used the grip they provided to launch herself at miss invisible woman. She summoned a massive shadowhand as she flew, aiming to snatch the woman up and then to pivot in-order to throw her at one of her allies inside the garage using her tail and levitation to flip her body around while it was still in flight to add extra momentum to the throw. Then she’d use her new shield as an air/sand break while free hand lashed out, pointing over her defensive bulwark at the rebel closest to the garage’s door.
”Fetch!” she’d bark as the up-scaled wolfos she had at her disposal burst from a portal, and then shoved its snout into the garage it wasn't going to fit in, jaws snapping as it tried to snatch up one of the rebels in its jaws in order to grab and pull them out into the alleyway for Midna to deliver a follow up blow on. Or at the very least it would make people think twice about trying to move towards the alleyway to flank Big Band, or to leg it to try and get away/help.
Through all this, Midna was trying to hold back enough to not straight up kill anyone, and keeping an eye out for targets to free. They needed people alive to question after all, and there might, might, be people worth salvaging from the rebels for their own cause. But if someone (except the kid) needed to die so that a seeker could live though?
Minda led the way to the office and, after which the ever helpful lady there pointed them towards a local cafe. After scooting through the steamy interior of the store they found the man and, a little surprisingly, found him bear faced. Part of Midna had just assumed that the mask he’d worn was his face as part of his semi-mechanical nature, but it looked like that wasn't the case. He was in fact rather handsome under there, but that wasn't the most important thing at the moment.
First thing they found out after taking a seat at his table was that they were being followed. Midna’s court intrigue honed senses stopped her looking before Band even suggested it, or so she told herself anyway. Either way she didn't immediately blow their cover. After that she sat quietly and listened to the train of events that had led to him preventing the bombing of the job office, though she couldn't and didn't stop herself from looking physically ill upon finding out that the rebels had used a child to place their explosives.
”Goddesses, scratch the surface and you find this town is rotten to the core.” she muttered in disgust. Part of her wanted to just wash the hands of the whole place and move on. Once they dealt with Galeem none of this would matter anyway after all. But they were knee deep in the thick of it now and, though the two sides might be various kinds of trash, the locals themselves seemed fine.
”The people deserve better than this… ” she waved her hand around generally to indicate to, well, everything wrong with the town’s politics and rotten underbelly ”mess”
After that Band said he’d be going out to act as, well, bait for the rebel’s scouting force.
”I can hide in the shadows. Physically I mean, completely undetectable. Could ride yours or the slink around the surroundings if you want someone to watch your back without drawing more attention” Midna offered, though she was aware that her vanishing from their party’s numbers might also draw attention. She wasn't an expert at this kind of thing, whereas Big Band clearly was, so it was very much up to him. If not, she was broke, so no tea for her, but she could chat with the others about stuff till the big man’s trumpet called them to war.
Like checking in with how their minion’s desert rescue mission was going with Sectonia.
”Or we could build a giant slingshot and-” the Koppa prince was saying only for Rika to yell “Jr! It’s time to go!” at him as she ran back to them from her firing position and then past him to hop onto Nadai’s fan before soaring upwards to the vent. She landed in the vent, wobbled a little, and then moved to the side to again, try and cover people as the last of the party rushed to the exit that Blazermate had drop-kicked open for them like the badass robot lady she was.
Said dropkick had also inadvertently resulted in a crushing blow to cyclops chasing them, and a near death experience for Kamek, who was still pressed up against one wall of the vent where he’d narrowly avoided being run down by the deadly giant fan, his breathing slowly stabilizing from the panic and fear nearly being blended into a fine past had caused.
Down below Jr finally pulled himself out of his elaborate planning spiral as his dad’s ship crested the shore and its people rapidly unloading and started also being fan launched up into the vent
”Come on son, let's go” Bowser said, pushing him to go before him.
”Shoot. Right. Going” the prince replied, grabbing both his minions and leaping into the jet-stream with them in tow, after which the king followed suit and the pair found themselves staring the long dark metal hallway of the vent
In front of them some of the crew were already moving forward, while others were waiting to make sure the rest of them made it. Jr dropped Tyrant to the ground and then moved to collect Kamek and kept moving, while Bowser joined in with the rope team, helping bail Nadia out of trouble and giving the one eyed jerk a mini fireball for good measure before joining the others in legging it down the vent-way and into the depths of the ship.
The dark vents felt like they went on forever, and only a scant few light sources, like a little wisp of fire-breath Bowser kept going as much as he could while running, lit the way and kept them together till, at last, they dropped down into a dark but rather normal looking room. There, unsurprisingly, everyone rapidly found somewhere to take a load off, the troop finding walls or boxes to lean or sit against while they all caught their breath. Then the hunger set in, which was a lovely added bonus to proceedings.
Supernatural hunger perhaps some hypothesized. Kamek would not be surprised if that was the case.
”If I remember rightly, our oh so helpful adviser from the 13 that said this was the best way to go mentioned that the food in this place was bad somehow. Cursed probably. So as much as this is, frankly, the worst, I highly advise against eating anything.” Kamek recommended, not remembering he specifics if there had been any, but knowing that there was definitely something wrong with the food intended for the diners in this accursed ship
”Uuurgh, for real!?” Bowser complained ”Easy for you to say, freeloader, I’m starving here. And real thirsty too”
Kamek shrugged, what was he supposed to do about his crummy little turtle legs after all, but he did suggest ”Well, we could see about getting water from wherever that sound is coming at least? That might not be dangerous. Might.”
”Gimmy, like, five more minutes. Then maybe we'll take a look.” Jr insisted, which was more than fair.
Things were looking rather bad but, as Mirage pointed out, they were at the very least still alive.
It was something.
”We are indeed, each and every one of us. I’d say you’ve all quite thoroughly beaten the odds to make it this far, but then that is what heroes do, yes?” Kamek suggested, trying to add on a little encouragement to Mirage’s statement of fact, ”Quite an infuriating habit most of the time, but more than welcome given the circumstances.”
”Tell me about it” Bowser grunted, but he was smiling a little
”Bet that jerk lady thinks she’s already won and we’re done for. But we’re not and that means we’ve got the element of surprise for when we find her, kick her butt and then blow this popsicle stand!” Jr concluded, which got a little chorus of affirmations from the troop. The thought of vengeance was a poor substitute for food, but it would have to satiate them for now.
Having bid farewell to the Nomads and left them to explore their newly revitalized land, the Explore set off into the wider world once more. A lot of time had passed, or it felt like it anyway. Exo knew that on most timescales, even a human’s, it hadn't been long since they met the Nomads and started traveling with them, but so much had changed. Both within Exo themselves, the machine had grown as a person a great deal as it discovered what being a person even meant, and without in the wider world. What had once been barren now was green. Where the end had once loomed, a new beginning seemed to be dawning.
Though they were tired from their act of creation, the divine machine would not be stopped from exploring all that had been written across the world by the self proclaimed gods. The question of where to begin had an obvious answer. It could have simply went next door to the land that had been named as the Gateway Steppes and explored either what had become of the land around Uwné’s anvil or headed north into the wild woods found there, but the center, ah it called to them.
There, atop a mountain from which great rivers flowed, sat a city. Up until now Exo had only heard of such things from the tales of the nomads, how once upon a time humans in their hubris had built entire environments of stone and steel to call their home, places that had now become those human’s tombs. Scattered here and there the god could see those tombs, desolate and overgrown by the new life sprouting up everywhere, and yet there, atop the hill, a city stood once more, proud, new and true.
It seemed like an odd place to put one, the machine mused based on what it knew about mortals. Where did they get food from? How would people reach it? Its central location was a selling point certainly, and it would make a great jumping off point for further exploration, but the question of how it worked was enough of a draw of its own. Traveling in their true form, the titanic diamond followed a vein of smaller mountains leading from the steppes to the central mountain, ignorant of how provocative this might appear to any living upon it.
It did not take long for inhabitants within the mountain city to take notice of the approaching entity, in particular, the current divine who had accidentally made herself the steward of the location. I’Iro was quick to take flight on the back of Nalmepror and go directly to the meeting of this new god.
Greetings. she said, while rapidly circling the other god, her tone and facial expression, if observed, were impressively neutral for the current situation. May I inquire you about some personal information? It is just the common protocol when first arriving here at the City of the Gods. You are not being discriminated against due to your massive size or geometrical shape.
”The City of the Gods?” the term given/taken by the entities wielding the power they did still didn’t gel with the machine. ”I suppose that would explain why it seemed so inaccessible. But I see there are mortals, how did they-” It began to ask, before catching itself and recognizing it was being rude.
”My apologies. I am simply an Explorer, but you may call me Exo. A pleasure to meet you both” The machine bobbed slightly in the air in greeting before adding/asking ”Is massive size and/or geometrical shape something that might be discriminated against by others?”
Well. It can lead the mortals to have existential crisis and most gods seem to prefer face-to-face conversations and as such the lack of a face might lead to some issues when parlaying. she stabilized her flight pattern and started to hoover instead of circling the newly arrived god, having done enough scouting as far as she cared. These are merely observations of the city’s behavior. Do not take them as personal censorship as all gods are welcome within the city.
Then she gasped, bowing slightly as she had been standing up in her mount. I forgot my own introductions. I am I’Iro. Functioning as the goddess of dreams. It is nice to meet you Explorer. A very fascinating realm indeed. The acquirral of information is the noblest of goals after all.
Realm. Dreams. So many questions. But those could wait, Exo decided
”Well met I’Iro, and you’ve made several good points, so let me set down right away so that we may be more personable and your steed need not waste its strength.” Rather than barge past and into the city that they technically had not been invited into yet, Exo instead lowered itself to the end of the chain of lesser mountains it had been following to reach this pinnacle.
The bottom point of the giant diamond touched the stone and then the space it occupied shifted, leaving only the humanoid form of Exo standing on the earth, dressed in a traveler's cloak. The hood of this they tossed back, revealing an androgynous face with the bronze skin of the nomads they’d spent so much time with, along with long dark hair done up in a braid and, a little bizarrely, a patch of coin sized black scales with gold patterns swirling through them that surrounded their eyes like a mask, while they eyes themselves had a soft blue where most humans had white. A mimicry of the nomad’s new tendency to casually modify themselves with polymorphine for athletic purposes.
”There we go, much better” they said to themselves, before waving up to I’Iro.
The goddess jumped down from her dragon and landed near Exo’s humanoid form, she bowed. Sorry for any inconvenience caused by the local expectations. she added before turning towards the central mountain. Hmm… calculating a path from here might be tricky.. she added with a small sigh.
”Why calculate when we can just go? Let’s walk and talk. If you have the time, that is?” Exo replied, briefly scratching their chin while sizing up the mountain before deciding on a possible way up it, ”Because I would love to know more about this place, and, if it’s not too personable, you?”
I’Iro did not understand the point at first, but it seemed the other deity was confident enough in this undertaking that she could assume they thought it would be beneficial. Very well. We may walk and talk then. It indeed would likely be a good social setup for conversation… however I still do not understand exactly what you wish to know.
”Oh I’d like to know everything” Exo said simply as they set off at a steady pace towards the base of the mountain, their way winding through the sparse vegetation and rugged ground surrounding the more gentle slope that approached the more unassailable heights that began further up the accent.
”But I understand that isn't particularly helpful when it comes to starting a line of conversation. I’m sure we can speak of the city once we get closer, so how about yourself. You described yourself as ‘functioning’ as the goddess of dreams, which I find an interesting way of phrasing the claim to godhood that seems the norm among those which hold the power we do,” Exo asked as they walked together.
At that moment Exo was likely the first being to ever question I’Iro’s raison d’être, and there was no way to hide that it caught her off guard completely, the goddess taking more than a few moments fully dedicating her mind to the question as all her go-to answers felt too basic, forming logical loops and saying it is because it is. Well… That is what I do no? Gods are gods and there does not seem to be a rule of what makes a god as we all share very diverse and random origins. We also all know we have a certain purpose. In other words a function. From that perspective it is my belief that this is what I am… An entity functioning as the goddess of dream. I do not believe the other gods are that different however I think this wording of mine might greatly hurt their pride and sense of self whereas in my case it does not.
”Considering all the additional cultural context the word god is saddled with I am not be surprised to hear some would react poorly, though I am saddened by this knowledge. Personally I do not particularly care for the destination, considering the entity or entities that held it before us were far stronger than we are, judging by the size and scope of what once was against that which has been just barely maintained,” the Explorer left the point that they thought a claim to that word was arrogance in its extremes out.
”That said, this is the first time I've heard of another existing with a purpose already built in, so to speak, though that may be because it has simply not come up in my two prior interactions. Then again Ze’kelia did designate herself as Goddess of light, but I assumed that was a self designation based on her creation of the Su’une. That was my mistake, or so it seems. Regardless, mine was simply that I should ‘explore, survey and document’ everything there is to be found. Might I ask what functioning as the goddess of dreams entails?” they asked, as the vegetation slowly petered away and was replaced with the bear rock of the mountain, gentle slope replaced with craggy rock and winding trails climbing higher above the treeline and towards the towering peak far above.
I’Iro shook her head. Communication truly is a complicated endeavor. I guess the biggest source of noise in our attempt to understand each other’s words comes from the use of purpose. What is the purpose of the animals that are born imbued with the directive to survive and reproduce? To eat; breed and die? It might sound wrong but at the core yes. Yet that is an unsatisfactory answer as well meaning that nature alone does not explain our reasoning. as the god asked the next question the dream goddess was once again caught by surprise but better prepared than she was for the first question.
Initially it was my vision that I was similar to you. To witness and record dreams. However it soon became clear that things are perhaps not that simple. Only a small fraction of my actions ever delved in the realm of dreams or even the nearby topic of the mortal mind. Nevertheless. No matter how much I am distracted, the calling I always return to is to safekeep the mortal mind. To understand it. And to protect it from manipulation. Dreams being the moment where the mind is at its most free.
She lowered her pace as she spoke, averting her eyes from the explorer to instead look at the horizon stretching as far as the distant ocean. And yet as a goddess I do very little. I do not seek out the gods manipulating dreams. I do not think it's my place to deal with mental afflictions such as dementia. I guess from an outsider perspective one might think of me as an entity with too much power for very little purpose. Perhaps that is the true noise in the communication between I and the other gods.
The machine matched her slowing pace, and their gaze out to the waters also ”We are, at the end of the day, just people. Powerful people, but people nonetheless. We have limited time, energy and focus, so it is up to us where we direct it” they paused for a moment, and then asked ”Do you regret the other things you have done that are independent from your purpose?”
Regret? Why would I feel regret over it. Well… perhaps I associated more than I desired and this may cloud my judgement later yet at this moment I do not feel regret. the goddess answered.
”Then there is no need to worry about what the others think of said deviations” Exo suggested ”If those endeavors resulted in good outcomes, then they were worth doing, even if they weren't related to your, rather restrictive I feel, purpose.”
The goddess stared at the god at first looking confused, then she smiled. Oh. I see. You assigned a sense of self doubt to me. Worry not. I was never concerned for myself. Perhaps it is something we are all too young to understand. There are mortals older than gods still walking this earth after all. she accelerated her steps now, stepping over the snow without ever sinking. If my information lacework is correct… You have mostly spent your time in the west. Interacting on a very personal level with humans. It is curious that some of the least-human like gods are also the ones less demanding of human worship.
”Ah yes” the machine stumbled in its words and steps a little as it recovered from its poor social interpretation of their travelling companion’s mood. And the revelation that it had been spied on. ”That is the case. The spending time with the local people part, that is. Can’t say much about the relationship between worship demanding and form part, though I can confirm that certainly don't” They said as they hurried to catch up, the machine not benefiting from the same light-footedness the goddess was, and seemed to make no attempt to gain that ability.
”I never considered it in the first place, but riding in someone’s saddle teaches you a lot about them, or so the saying goes” they added as they built and pulled on a heavier fur pelt based jacket in response to the wind picking up as they climbed even higher, the slopes steep and pathways they had used at the beginning long gone now. ”Though I am yet to experience what it feels like to meet one with power far beyond my own. It is not a situation that is likely to occur, unless the old gods return one day, or the layers have their own entities that wield a force similar to ours. But I can't imagine it is a particularly enjoyable experience.”
The goddess seemed to be very conscious of what she was doing as she moved lightly across the snow, at this point it was clear that going down and picking the mortal path from the swamps and jungles would be easier, yet perhaps it was in the nature of the explorer to trace a new path across the mountains. That works on the assumption that there were other gods and that said gods were of greater might than we were. It is a possible scenario however it should not be taken as the dogmatic truth. There is as much evidence of it as there is of us being a foreign invading force into this world much like anything else that walked past the portals.
”True. However if they did exist, and did create what was, then the stories I’ve heard about that world and and the ruins that can be found of it paint the picture of something far grander than what remains, the creation of which would require far more power than we have individually. Possibly even collectively? That is difficult to quantify considering I do not know how many there are who hold this power.” Exo said, pausing for a moment at a natural fork in their path and then, as if to prove her theory correct, forging their own path straight down the middle by clambering up the small cliff face that had formed the center of the fork.
”As for whether we are a foreign invading force, well” Exo continued as they dusted off their hands atop the cliff ”On that I might be able to add a datapoint. I can't say that we ourselves did not come from other worlds, but what I can say is that this power we hold? It is of this world and this world alone, for it cuts out completely if/when we leave. If you ever want to truly know what it is like to be as mortal as a human is, then you must simply take a stroll through one.”
I am afraid that for me the barrier of mortality runs far deeper than just the divine power. That statement concluded I must show my surprise in hearing that you did cross into the adjacent or connected universes. This topic is one very much of my interest. In fact I have started to catalogue elements that originated from such lands and foreign to our reality and I am trying to teach mortals about the topic.
”Is that so? We will have to compare scrolls on that... Ah but one moment” Exo began to say, but paused as the narrow pathway they were following, on that likely dated to before the first embers of the apocalypse, came to an abrupt end due to a section having collapsed, leaving a gap that dropped down dozens of meters. Some distance across that gap the path resumed. The Explorer sized up this gap, took a few steps back and then took a running leap and... Entirely failed to reach the other side.
A impact of metal rather than flesh resounded some way below, followed by the hiss of gasses, another impact, more gas emissions and then the Explorer reappeared in their mono-eyed android form as they jumped off of the far wall, fired a number of maneuvering jets scattered across their body to push himself back into the wall higher up so they could jump again.
Once they had wall jumped all the way back up to the other side and had their feet back on solid ground they noted ”Well that’s one death so far. Whether it be your mind or metal you consider as an additional divider between you and mortality, staring death and the unknown in the face as they do greatly reduces the significance of such differences, or I’ve found” before returning to both too their human form and the topic of conversation that had been interrupted.
”Now where were we? Ah yes. Layers. Also a topic of interest of mine. Those nomadic people I was spending time with? They had developed a culture of raiding those other words for resources to survive the apocalypse. I joined them in this and while doing so, acquired the raw materials with which to perform the natural rejuvenation you can now see” Exo pointed back to the Western Wilds from which they had come, with its vast plains of pink, purple and orange ferns and dense jungle valleys teeming with life ”and when I say materials I mean both the raw hydrocarbons and the blueprints of the life forms themselves. I have a complete library of all the specimens, even those that were not used to populate that land, which I think you might find interesting.”
The robot goddess, as deadpan as she was, her expression typically blank even when she was seeing her travel partner tumble down a mountain path, could at the moment not hide her clear interest on the topic. Your assumption is correct. I cannot lie and deny that hoarding all sorts of information is one of my favorite actions.
”Then that is something we have in common”
I had collected some information on the nomads from the Lacemeisters I sent that direction. But their methods are too… inflexible for proper surveyance. I had merely assumed those tales of other worlds were merely popular memory corrupted into myth. she closed one eye and touched the metallic antenna on her left ear. Though since you have shown such willingness to share information I too would like to showcase the same open mindedness to you. All of my work and observations as well as those belonging to those who study in my Academy are open for you to inspect.
As she finished the words, the duo passed by a series of pillars. It is curious that the mountains around the Mons Divinus are so rich in ruins, yet the core mountain itself is not.
Exo had no such self control, their eyes quite literally lighting up at the idea of getting access to more information ”I’m looking forward to browsing through it all already. Or learning about it. Or however you have stored it. Hmm. I will have to think of a way to properly compile the information I’ll be providing into a usable format” Exo said, before filing that task away for later and taking a look at the pillars.
”That is interesting. I’ll admit, I haven't paid much mind to the ruins. Yet. The wilds were rather sparse, perhaps due to the terrain not encouraging settlement. Perhaps I should run around taking a look before people inevitably start reclaiming them for the resources found within.” Exo said, making another note and adding it to the growing list of things to investigate, ”As for why, I can only speculate that the core of the mountain was to inaccessible for it to be considered an area worth settling in?” they still had a fair way to go, and the terrain only got more and more un-human-friendly the higher they went ”Or perhaps was it destroyed before we arrived? It is at least nice to know that that absence means your new structures have not leveled anything of historical interest”
The goddess looked around, observing the sides of Mons Divinus, notably plants and animals were already adapting to create optimal paths through the stone, she had no doubt that mortals too would create their route. Personally I have been using black scrolls filled with a code that allows me to store information far more efficiently than words can. And of course I have enough domain over dreams to transfer information to others… though I only really do it for gods.
Hm. That is possible. My scanning of the mountain has not been proper yet so far it seems to be a land untouched by non-natural processes. You should truly go out and explore more of the world while it is untouched. Especially the edges that seem to have some of the most peculiar constructs and portals. For example I once found a building that seemed to have originated in another dimension. the goddess had jumped up a cliff and had been waiting for Exo to catch up, notably, he was taking a far longer time with his self-imposed limitations.
”I’ll be reading then. Learning the code will let me provide my data in the same format you use anyway” Exo said up to her while examining the cliff she’d jumped up for a way up, glancing up at her and becoming aware that that their self imposed challenged was slowing her down to an extent that might be considered worrisome and then glanced over at one of the creatures, a mountain goat, that was busy trying to make the area its home.
”I mean technically it a thing that mortals can do now so...” they said to themselves, before flicking a beam reclaim at the goat, dismantling a number of strands of fur, before re-materializing them and then, in rapid fashion created a small vial of polymorphine and then downing the concoction and rapidly gaining the hooves, legs and horns of the goat in a satyr like configuration. With their new specialized legs and instincts the Explorer rapidly ascended the cliff with an inhuman but still entirely natural speed and grace.
”There we go. Now what was this about an extradimentionaly sourced structure?” they asked once they had caught up
Alien chemistry applied on the biochemical system… peculiar. she whispered to herself as she saw the polymorphine in action, before sighing at the Coilbrywen-like Exo caught up to her. I am afraid I cannot direct you to the building as it is long gone. It held at its core a sort of crystal that did something completely anathema to the rules of this world… it created coldness. Analysis of the structure showed the stone used in the construction to not be galbar-sourced and it seemed Galbarian life could not survive within its vicinity. I… accidentally turned off the system of the structure thinking it was creating the anomaly. Then quickly discovered it was containing it as it brought the whole south to absolute zero temperatures. I have since corrected it and contained the cold crystal core in the south pole yet the structure itself quickly collapsed into gravel during this incident.
”Ah so that is why that part of the disk is cold, and here I thought it was a deliberate design decision. Well no matter, it was still convenient for creating a weather cycle in the wilds. It is unfortunate that the machinery was destroyed. And slightly concerning that something so dangerous came through. Dangerous on a regional rather than individual scale I mean, like the near ubiquitous monsters are.” Exo replied, keeping up a much better pace now with their new modifications.
”I’ll have to keep an eye out for such things on my future travels. If there was one such oddity there might be more, just waiting to cause all sorts of trouble” they noted, before veering back to the unaddressed topic of the transformation that they’d undergone ”Oh and if you were wonder what gave me these new legs, that would be Polympohpine, a drug I have invented and aught the recipe for to the nomads. It allows the drinker to take on desired attributes of a life form, be it native or alien. Its intended use is for making exploring new environments easier by co-opting native species’s pre-existing adaptations to said environments, though as you can imagine it has a fair number of other uses as well”
The goddess nodded with enthusiasm at the explanation. Oh! That is what it is called? Very interesting. It's a clever invention and it gives mortals some way to overcome their limitations by doing things themselves that otherwise would only be possible through the intervention of gods. as they travelled upward, the air became even more humid as the mountain thinned and the waterfalls congregated, meanwhile, the cordgrass and similar plants that grew in the region were becoming increasingly annoying.
The goddess' temporary amusement gave way to more serious worries as her mind traversed back to the topic of portals. While portals are becoming rarer. Especially the massive ones. Possibly thanks to the restored stability of the world. I worry about what will start to happen once mortals occupy more space. Portals can be very small and the things in portals can be very sensible to human interaction. Furthermore. It seems to me that while the big portals tend to lend to worlds conceptually similar to ours… the smaller ones don’t seem to be quite as bound to that rule. she looked upward, towards the approaching light of the godly city I have been thinking of how to best approach this. A heavy handed inspection of people’s homes for potential hidden away portals seems too likely to just antagonize mortalkind.
”Closer inspection sometimes shows that even the ones that look similar hide strangeness all of their own.” Exo noted, but otherwise agreed. It was going to be a problem.
”Also as the population increases it seems like it would become an untenable task. Or at least a very dull and time consuming one. Plus as you’ve pointed out, such direct meddling is unlikely to be welcomed. It might be best to delegate such a task to the human’s themselves?” Exo suggested ”I and Ze’kelia have done a great deal of research into more nuanced portal manipulation on that new north western island. Which we made. You should visit it some time. Anyway, we've acquired quite the volume of data about how to close, open, hold open, detect, etc. these gateways. I’ve been looking into ways to hand down those findings but, well, the research has all been done with rather high end and energy physics, and translating that into something humans can actually do has been proven. difficult.”
”I mean yes, we could make tools and machines and just... hand them out. But I think self reliance is beneficial both for them and for us in most cases. They get control over another aspect of their lives and we don't have to worry about maintaining, replacing or manufacturing more machinery for them.” They said, as they approached the summit of the mountain, and the city that was only moments away.
My solution is far more organic. See. I think acts such as housekeeping and gardening are a good way to keep the mind clear and grounded before acts such as research. As such I have divided a group of students at the academy as something called custodians. Well… turns out ever since a lot of mortals have been asking me over and over if they could hire them to work on their homes. as the mountain path started to become increasingly easier to traverse as the mountain peaked. Astella said I should do it. At first I did not see a reason but now talking to you… I guess they could provide a very discreet way of keeping an eye on portals hidden away in the urban environment all the while providing a service mortals would be interested in without suspecting there is a god behind them. Of course this is far from the only solution to the issue. But it will likely be my own approach
As they stepped into the boundaries of the city, now already looking quite majestic in all directions as more and more embassies were made, two women of appearance similar to I’Iro, the automatons called Lacemeisters, arrived. One of them carried a small reel of a black substance.
”Hmm. I suppose you could even classify dealing with these micro portals as a form of tidying up, so they wouldn't even really be lying about what they are doing. I can see some gaps in their coverage already, but for keeping the large population centers clean, it seems like an excellent plan.” Exo agreed, though they were noticing a pattern of... Benevolently intentioned privacy violation at this point, which was mildly concerning. They were, however, perfectly distracted from that concern by the arrival to the city and of I’Iro’s mimics.
”Oh is this the scroll you mentioned. And are these… hmmm. Interesting. Were these designs based on something? Or did they come built in? There’s certain features that seem familiar to me? Also Sys... my internal system is rearing up and making a racket about those parts being ’stolen’ for some reason.” Exo said, cringing a little as if they had a headache for a few moments before they managed to clear up the alerts they were getting about copyright infringement and a failure on their part to safeguard assets and technological secrets
Indeed! I integrated in them some new techniques to transfer memory as such you will not only find raw information but also some recordings of my senses when I experienced certain areas such as that alien structure I mentioned. at the comment on her Lacemeisters she was more than a little surprised Ah. Are you familiar with Uwne? They are based in part on some of the mechanisms I noticed in their Golems. Though they were also made by repurposing my construction spider machines which were used in the foundation of this city of embassies.
”Uwne’s golems had those parts in them? But how did they get in... ahhhh” Exo slapped their forehead with their fingertips ”I forgot to clean up those half built mechs from when we fought by accident, and he must have used them as a basis for these golems. Or at least taken some components from them. I can see why the system was complaining about having allowed designs to be leaked. Not that I mind either of you having them. But it is something to take note of, not just leaving things lying around like I did. Or then again maybe I should, it seems to have worked out this time.” They said, mostly to themselves, before shaking their head and trying to get back on track.
”Ah, sorry, where were we? Ah yes, the scrolls! Quite the versatile medium you have created here. I don’t suppose you have one for detailing how to make more of these? I owe you a library of biological blueprints after all. And I could throw in some Layer expiration recordings while I am at it, oh and the various gateway experiments too. I’m sure those could come in handy. A few interesting elements too, the magic repelling and attracting ones of course. Oh and the polymorphine recipe too. Hmm. Yes. Oh wait. Sorry I’m rambling again.” they finally caught themselves ”I just do so enjoy new places and knowledge and both you and this place are proving an excellent source so far. For that you have my sincere gratitude.”
I’Iro smiled. Very much interested in every single thing offered by the fellow deity Hmm. It is a bit complicated. So far I have not figured out yet how to create these without godly intervention. However... this Lacemeister here. she pointed to the second one behind the one who held the scroll. Is ready to transcribe information into a blank scroll if you broadcast your thoughts to it.
”Ah, shame it’s not easily replicateable. Oh well. Let’s have a look and see how this thought broadcast revival works” they said, before a purple beam glowed out from above Exo and onto the head of the Lacemeister. It wobbled erratically for a few moments before steadying into a soft waving motion. ”There we go, that was simple enough. Beginning transfer.” Exo announced, causing a stream of pulses to flow down through the beam and into the head of the Lacemeister.
While the flow of information would likely overwhelm a mortal, as if a whole library was being read aloud per minute, to the machine mind of the Lacemeister there was little doubt of what to do, she merely converted what was being transferred, holding the black scroll against her fingers and sliding it as the information was transcribed. Still, by the end of it, they sighed and fanned air to their bodies with her hand. {Operation concluded. System in almost critical temperatures. Initiating cooldown}
You did well 26. Rest easy. I’Iro picked up the scroll and nodded. Seems like there is nothing compromising this. So yes. Thank you very much. Before we distract ourselves by taking in years worth of information. I would like to say there is a special section in the scroll I gave you detailing the embassies and how they work and my and Astella’s vision for this city. I would be nice if you could join us with a facility of your own there seems to be a technology and culture focused sector growing in the south as you will see.
Exo flicked their gaze away from the start of the scroll that they had already begun reading and rapidly skimmed down to the section about embassies. ”Interesting. I imagine I won't be around or back here too often. There is so much to see and do after all. But it is centrally located, so it would be good to have something here. hmmm.” They thought for a moment, then produced a satchel bag and carefully stored the scroll inside it before asking ”Might as well take a look and see what there is before committing to anything. Would be nice to find a place to sit and read this” they patted the bag containing the scrolls ”while I’m at it”
I’Iro nodded and bobbed her head to the side. Let us go to my academy then. It is the closest location to here and it should be comfortable enough for you. with that she turned around and started moving into the city.
Soon they would walk into the artificial hills of the academy, the walls and architecture clearly unlike anything a human could even imagine much less build. The best spot to rest was up a green ramp, atop one of the slope shaped structures, with a bench beneath a large tree and surrounded by a garden and flowing water.
Exo gave an impressive whistle while taking it all in ”Now this, this is architecture. The way you’ve woven structure and landscape together? Just lovely.” Not only was it a wonderfully peaceful place, perfect for absorbing vast amounts of data as the machine was about to do, but it also gave a nice view of the other areas, both filled and unfilled with structures made by the city’s divine patrons.
”I’m having ideas already”
I’Iro smiled It was my objective to have an ambient that was both harmonic and did not imbue the students with a sense of lesserness or hierarchical inferiority. It was a bit hard considering most data on architecture I collected comes from a monumentalist mortal perspective but I enjoyed the result. the goddess force once was slightly distracted only returning her focus when the other god mentioned his ideas. Ah. Excellent. Let us take a break to discuss these then. Do not worry about resources and I have my own workforce to help you if you need one.
”Your help would be most welcome. Materials mainly, but architectural advice would be most helpful. Not exactly the concern of the nomads, nor of what or who ever filled my internal construction catalog. Almost everything in there is mobile to a greater or lesser degree.” Exo replied, before going through his ideas. An archive, a mobile observatory, and a home that wouldn't pointlessly and emptilly occupy space when the machine was out of the city 99% of the time.
After some discussion to refine the ideas, and a great deal of consultation on construction techniques, the machine, with the help of I’Iro’s own mechanical work force, added onto the academy, planting a few open flowing parks underneath which they buried large archives curated by floating drones, the contents in which could be accessed from a number of small information mounds scattered around the academy, and a few more in the city propper that generally specialized in tourist information, again crewed by those same drones that acted as cheerfully helpful clerks and curators of the knowledge buried beneath the city. Over the years Exo themselves would use the archive as a place to store maps and travel guides created by them during their journeys across the world, as well as research notes and thesis made by them and the odd interesting document or trinket they thought the central city would benefit from having access too. The rest of the archived would gradually fill with practically anything and everything as Exo’s insistence that anyone could and should be allowed to contribute to it resulted in all manner of things being stored there, from scientific information to poetry, propaganda, art, various gubbins put in as practical jokes, cursed tombs, personal items stored and then forgotten, historical records, illicit substances stored under code names, legal documents, culture artifacts, message boards, quest requests, buried human remains, religious scripture and so much more being stored within, rendering it a fascinating and deep if rather difficult to use repository of far to much information, all accessible by request on the surface. The most famous and probably actually useful usage was the creation and subsequent careful curation of a section dedicated to the storage of detailed articles on any and all knowledge, no matter how mundane or fantastical, known as the endless encyclopedia of everything ever, or the 4E section. The small but highly dedicated scholarly order that founded the archive put a great deal of effort into monitoring and curating the contents of the 4E section, striving to maintain the quality and accuracy of the information held within.
Secondly Exo built their own completely unique structure, not on the mountain but instead hovering around it. The floating observatory circled the mountain, its vast and multi-sensory telescope gazing down at the shard or up at the heavens. The structure allowed visitors to scry far off sights not only through that lens, but also upon an incredibly intricate and detailed three dimensional map found in a central chamber, the projection updated each time the siphon moon skimmed across the sky. The final feature of the system was an elaborate contraption that ended up working as a glorified trebuchet that could throw entities capable of surviving the flight on a one way trip to far off lands. A subsequent invention of specially built gliders made the celestial trebuchet both somewhat mortal accessible and resulted in fewer impact craters benign caused by powerful beings falling from the sky.
Finally unlike some of the others, the god did not set up a large and permanent home, instead preferring to live in a simple yurt in one of the city’s fields or parks whenever they were visiting, if they weren't crashing at the home of whatever person they were here to see or vanishing back into the wider world before they needed to spend the night in the city. Interestingly, no one ever saw the yurt being set up, it was simply there whenever Exo, or anyone else considered worthy, needed it. A second entrance could also sometimes appear within the yurt, leading out from the physical location and into a small peaceful wilderness that could be found nowhere on the shard and yet, because the gods still had power there, was simultaneously not of another world either.
After the work was done, the god had a lovely time exploring the city, getting to know its people and places, but all too soon they’d plumbed the depths of the mountain’s heights and found themselves in their new observatory, a map of the entire shard splayed out before them. Hundreds and hundreds of little lights marked on it, each and every one a point of interest to the Explorer. So many that it would take centuries to sift through them all.
”Now then,” the Machine who refused to be called a god said to themselves ”Where. To. Next”
Set pre-timeskip. A few days after they revitalized the Western Wilds/Gateway steppes, Exo heads back out into the wider world.
They decide to see what is up with the city on the central mountain first. Approaching it in their true form they are stopped by I’Iro just before they arrive, who politely asks them to not roll around in their true form as it may upset the locals
Exo complies and lands at the base of the mountain in their human form, before inviting I’Iro to go for a walk all the way up the mountain to reach the city. They go and talk as they climb.
Exo jumps straight to asking why I’Iro describes herself as “ functioning as the god of dreams” and from there they discuss the old gods, layers, the ruins of the old world and the issue of micro gateways. I’Iro describes a ruse she has fashioned to provide a cleaning service to the natives of large cities that will covertly check for these micro portals. The pair also agree on an in good faith information sharing deal, Exo learning I’Iro’s alien alchemy while they provide her with the archive of layer life they have collected, some exotic materials also discovered in th layers, along with their research on gateways and how to make polymorphine.
They reach the city and are met by some of I’Iro’s androids, who Exo discovers are partially based on components from their space mechs by way of Uwne’s golems. Then they trade information. Finally Exo gets a little tour of the city and finally creates 3 things
A buried archive accessible via information booths run by small drones which can be added to by everyone without much in the way of curation.
An observatory that hovers around the outside of the city, and who’s telescope can be used to view far of lands or the heavens. It also has a 3d map, updated whenever the Siphon moon flies overhead, and a celestial catapult, which can launch people to locations on the shard (mortals require some kind of magic or machinery to survive this yeeting).
Finally, they set up a Yurt that only appears when they, or someone else, needs it but can also appear on basically any open space. This Yurt also has a second exit that leads to a pocket dimension containing a small peaceful wilderness.
After that Exo spends some time exploring the rest of the city for a few days, before heading for the observatory and planning out all the different places they want to visit on the shard, something they’ll be up to for a long, long time.
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