Level 9 - EXP 60/90
The Frozen Highlands
Warm Up Party
Midnight Walk - Frozen Campsite
Featuring: Ramattra, Edward, and Mokou
Word Count: 3247 // +5 EXP
Ramattra’s breather didn’t last long as he joined the rest of the group on the lift, taking refuge inside the safety of the stagecoach to see what he could do to manage his wounds. Surely he could find something among Edward’s armory to at least slow some of the bleeding. While potions would be rendered useless due to Ramattra’s inability to consume items orally, there were plenty of small medical packs he could use until he could seek proper treatment for the lacerations. It wasn’t hard to needle and sew through the decaying flesh because of the pain he couldn’t feel, but rather how coarse and thick the skin on his tentacle-like appendage was- and how difficult it was to pierce with such a small needle. Regardless, the wound was amateurly dealt with and would need to be resewn in the future without medical aid, but he wrapped it with bandages inside the kit, and chose to worry about it after they found shelter for the night.
He was relieved to hear that it was their next objective, as it would give him much-needed time to rest and confer with his party members about the final stretch of their journey. In truth, their quest brought him to levels of exhaustion in his circuitry that he had not faced- not even as a nomad. While Ramattra had no intention to rush their pace, it was becoming increasingly clear that his place among the Seekers was as a tanky counter-attacker, a role that meant the path ahead was filled with more damage sponging for his allies. All he could think about now was how nice it would be to spend a day in solitude strictly for meditation.
Once the lift had reached the top of the structure, it allowed the Seekers to forge ahead, and for once, Ramattra remained within the confines of the Stagecoach’s protection from the harsh elements of the cliffside. It was a lot more bumpy than before, now that they were moving uphill, but the Omnic simply wanted to rest for the remainder of the ride so that he would have strength to help set up camp once they had found suitable shelter from the snow. Fortunate to have such a talented scout on their team, Ramattra was pleased with the size of the cave, as it would allow for a lot of room for comfort.
Deciding he had finally rested enough, the Omnic would catch sight of the Phoenix, Mokou, a Seeker he had very little interaction with, but more than anything was curious to make her acquaintance. While she was human in appearance, something about her abilities and the way she carried herself brought Ramattra to the haphazard guess that she was some kind of deity or supernatural being from her world. In any case, it was in his best interest to be friendly with the Seekers in order to understand their strategic value. “I’ve seen a lot in my days, but these past two days have completely shattered all my beliefs about reality.” He spoke solemnly, approaching his fellow Novice Seeker from one of the icicle columns he had leaned on. “Though, maybe you could say the same, yes?” The angry flare in Ramattra’s voice seemed to have dimmed down to a collected wisdom. Maybe that fight had resolved some boiled-over frustrations that living in Galeem’s World had caused his mental state.
Mokou had found a small spot away from the rest of the group, having begun practicing with the lyre given to her by Venti several days ago, a tune that was clearly out of practice but not quite bad. Her eyes flicked up when Ramattra spoke up, the Phoenix giving a slight shrug, “I’ve been around long enough that it’s hard for me to start questioning. These last few days have certainly been a bit… New, however” she comments, plucking another string, “Figured you folks had your own issues climbing up the mountains. I had to take out a few cultists.”
“Interesting, so the cathedral was not that monstrosity alone? I… Took quite some damage, admittedly. Edward and I went below the structure to investigate the lift. We got separated, and after that, I plunged deeper because I was foolish and desperate for an answer.” The Omnic thought for a moment. He did find the medallion himself, no? Without assistance, Ramattra was able to slay a perfect equal of himself, and perhaps, that was something he could be proud of.
“I assure you, though.” Ramattra waved his hand, summoning a glob of silver goo, the striker he earned from slaying the Mimic Tear. In a matter of seconds, it began replicating Mokou’s appearance perfectly, giving a curt bow, before fading back into its bind with Ramattra. “It was quite worth it.”
Mokou’s eyebrow rises slightly at the sight of the Mimic Tear, a small smile forming at the same time, “Hm, a mimic of some kind. Been a long time since I’ve seen something that could recreate someone else’s form” with that, Mokou disperses the lyre, turning slightly to face Ramattra whilst putting her hands into her pockets, “I’ve seen you around a bit, but not quite sure what you are. My home never had something like…” the phoenix trails off, taking a hand out for a moment to gesture at Ramattra’s form.
The Omnic chuckled. Of course, his appearance would be deceiving about his origin, thanks to his multiple instances of fusion with acquired spirits. “Before I was traveling with the Seekers, I used to be what is called an Omnic. I’m not very sure what I am anymore, but my core is that of a sentient being of technology.” He had no qualms with his origin. He accepted what he was, even if the vocabulary was more rudimentary than what he said. He was, simply put, a robot.
“Actually, if you wouldn’t mind, might you help me with something? I’ve noticed that you have quite the control over fire. Perhaps you and I could arrange a large fire pit together for our allies? Our friend Tenna has prepared stew for us tonight.” He invited Mokou, his curiosity encouraging him to learn more about the Phoenix.
As luck would have it, fuel for that plan was just arriving, in the form of the chopped down remains of the scant
withered trees that ‘grew’ around the lake. These were hauled in by Edward’s Bronze Golems, whose helbards had done the lumbering
The man himself arrived a few moments later, riding atop the back of his Reaver striker. In its tendrils the large aerial beast hauled a suspiciously familiar looking giant carrot, one which it then deposited on the icy floor before fading away as its 30 second usage timer ran dry.
Noticing the harvested logs among the man’s arms, Ramattra hailed his attention by waving his arm high, signaling for him to come close with his haul. “Sandaphlon is asking we clean this place up for comfort's sake. Personally, all I need is a place to meditate for the night. I have much to contemplate after today.”
“Hm. Sure, guess I can do that. Might help with the cold” Mokou responds to Ramattra’s request, rolling her shoulders and then snapping her fingers, a small burst of flame appearing over her now open palm, “A bit of fuel is all I need. Otherwise I’ll just provide something else.”
Ramattra piqued at her mention of fuel, something he was unsure was in their possession. Maybe there was something in the Armory that could assist Mokou in fueling the flame. “Ah! Edward, do you mind parting with some fuel from your armory? It would certainly help the fire burn brighter and longer.”
”By all means. It's the team’s armory after all, not just mine. I’ve simply made a link from us to the ship it is physically located on for expedient retrieval and storage of resources” Edward replied verbosely.
He looked through the items kept in the Dreadnaught’s Armory. One thing stood out: a canister of diesel fuel, which was meant for a vehicle, but surely could help them build a suitabl fire pit. “Would this work?” The Omnic collectively asked Edward and Mokou.
Mokou looks at the canister, tilting her head slightly. Despite her long life of immortality, diesel fuel was not a thing she was actually familiar with. But, at the same time, if they were sure that it would, then who was she to decide otherwise. A life spent in exile had prevented her from catching up with more ‘modern’ inventions, “Let’s find out” she states, taking the canister from Ramattra and beginning to walk over to the designated fire pit.
While the three had been talking, Edward’s golems had been hard at work. The carrot had been dragged off for the impossible creatures to start chomping away at, while the withered trees had been further lumbered, and the resulting logs dumped into a large squat pot that could take the place of the pit part of their fire pit.
The creation of the fire was not a particularly exciting affair. Once Mokou had poured the gasoline onto the fire pit, a quick snap of her fingers resulted in a small spark, which shortly ignited into a raging fire thanks to the abundance of fuel.
The Omnic gauged that his companions were getting prepared to rest soon, now that they were comfortable in the makeshift settlement. If he and the others wished to complete any other tasks, they had better hurry before the late-night storms picked up. “Actually, Edward… I’ve taken quite a fascination with these… Pokémon creatures that we have come across. I believe I saw some down the hill a little by that… horrifying snowman sculpture. Maybe it would be helpful to collect their samples and data?” Ramattra hoped the two would accompany him on the trip. “It’s best I not go alone. Even I am wise enough to admit that.”
”I’d be happy to oblige” “Hm? Oh yeah, the Pokémon. Got Keine here, but guess I can go any tag along if you’re looking at a few more,” Mokou replied, patting the lone Pokeball at her waist before pocketing both of her hands again.
”I have also… picked up those two, though I am not sure if they are of the same species group as these pokemon” Edward added, gesturing over to his Traffikrab and Lunarpup companions as they ambled over to the fire to warm themselves in its glow.
“Hm… they do look of the element! This machine can tell us if they are not. It only holds the capability of scanning Pokémon at the moment, but I have been considering what can be done regarding upgrading it.” With that, Ramattra stopped the trio for a moment to flick out his device and scan the creature one after another… “No. It does not appear that my device recognizes their biology. They must be something other than a Pokémon.”
“Ah! But I almost forgot Edward, you asked me about my travels aboard that rogue space station, yes?” Ramattra chirped in, before resting himself upon his staff slightly. His injuries made him quite weak, but his stubbornness refused to allow him to lie idle for too long while his allies prepared to sleep. “We can discuss while we walk there. Tell me, what questions did you have?”
”Well, I suppose the simplest one would be what it was like?” ”Oh, but before we go, let me just set this up” Edward said, as a squad of golems finished filling up another pot with chopped up ice. Towards this he strode with an armory screen open, with which he summoned an entire barrel with of Emberbrand Wine which he nestled in between the chopped ice.
”It took quite a few golems falling into a pit or breaking apart on impact, but I managed to send some back down into the crypt to input that passcode you found. Seems to have been a larder, though the wine was all that had survived the ravages of time” He explained as he did this
”A little inebriation should help make up for the lesser conditions of tonight's rest”“Ah, that old key? I’m glad you found some use out of it, though I obviously cannot participate in the rewards. The whole lack of mouth and whatnot.” Ramattra did not feel envious of their human celebrations, but sometimes he was curious what consumption was like… He did not need to eat to reserve energy, but sometimes those simple human desires felt so foreign to his mainframe. The Omnic nodded for Edward and Mokou to follow him outside of the cave.
“It was… Well, in all honesty, space was almost what I expected, though to someone like you, the idea of space travel must seem alien. It was emptiness, save for the common rock or space debris that hit me on the descent back to earth. I was lucky to have Mokou’s spacesuit to protect me while I saw the cosmos with my own eyes. Stars as far as your eyes could see… but everything else was obstructed by the space station… and that abomination that clung to it.” He shook his head. In his world, a threat like that would have been impossible to eliminate, yet Adam was able to destroy the Alpha Naytiba swiftly. “An odd mass of flesh, feather, scales… It was not our enemy to fight. Much power still exists in this world that is still beyond our strength.” Ramattra concluded his story with an air of genuine caution in his voice. Maybe with their collected forces and some sort of spacecraft, they could have defeated that monstrosity, but from a hindsight glance, Ramattra accepted that they would not have defeated the Naytiba without Adam’s assistance.
Edward, naturally, took notes as Ramattra spoke about space itself, but paused and thought for a moment regarding the Alpha Naytiba and saying
”I wonder why it was not used as a Guardian then. Logically, if Galeem made everything, and decides what defends its rule, it would pick the most powerful of its creations to do so. Perhaps there was some trick to it, same as the one we seek to slay has a weakness to exploit to make him far more asailable” The Omnic shrugged, just as confused by the world’s logic. “Perhaps Galeem thinks he can keep his unwilling denizens content by providing them with fools' errands. It would be difficult to realize you’ve been brainwashed if your view has been narrowed to such minor conflicts.” Ramattra was unsure, but he traveled the frozen wastes for weeks in search of the region’s monastery before interacting with the Seekers. In truth, he doesn’t remember much before that and after being zapped into Galeem’s world.
His foot steps crunched oddly on the snow behind him as he left hundreds of 3-legged tracks towards the green-eyed (and now noseless) snowman that resided near their camp. “We’re here. Play it safe with the structures here… I don’t trust that snowman’s friendly expression.” The lake was completely frozen over, leaving zero signs of immediate wildlife underneath without drilling below the icy layer. Sliding over wet patches of ice,
odd-looking penguin-Pokemon were playfully bumping into each other, while foolishly protecting their snow-crafted head. Ramattra stroked his chin at the collection of creatures. Was this a Pokémon? They shared a lot of the magic-creature motif that defined other Pokémon biologically, but was his assumption correct?
Carefully treading over the ice, Ramattra brought his dex out and carefully tapped the ice with one foot before each step. The creatures didn’t immediately start fleeing; however, they clearly became unnerved by The Omnic’s presence. He approached as quietly and slowly as he could, reaching a hand out to collect a handful of loose feathers from the ground of one of the curious beasts and scanning them into his pokedex. Perhaps this could come in handy to craft more creatures, and once Ramattra returned, he offered them to Edward. “These beasts come with such unique appearances. It looks like they just
built a snowman on top of that penguin Pokémon.”
Edward, interestingly, seemed a little unnerved himself, his hands resting on the hilt and handle of blade and pistol. Still, he did move one, cautiously, away from his weapons to take the feathers for use in creature creation, while explaining that
”Dire Penguins are a blight upon many worlds in the astral sea" Ramattra chuckled at Edward’s comment. It was a weird prospect for the Omnic needing to be wary around penguins. “I cannot say I share that sentiment in my world. Penguins are quite… boring in my home. Just flightless birds that live in arctic wastelands like this.” He carefully stepped off the ice as he guided the others slightly up the mountains incline, where a brush of trees concealed a group of
small, rambunctious ice creatures that clambered together in playful battle.
“Ha! Look at the spunk on those little devils! It may be slightly difficult to get samples from these ones… Unless I could persuade them with a treat?” He had no more berries to give from his earlier collection, but Tenna had found food earlier, stashed away in abandoned suitcases… perhaps one would take interest in a granola bar?
Ramattra examined the group from afar, looking for any easier-to-attract beasts among the group. One stood out from the rest; an exceedingly aggressive-natured one that was now sitting, grumpily huffing towards a group of lone trees. This was the universal sign for “time-out”. The Omnic made a clicking noise to attract its attention, extending the snack out for the creature to examine. Skeptical, the creature sniffed the air slowly, skittishly approaching the Omnic with a curious, yet defensive “Daruuuu…”
“Yes, yes. No funny business. You get the snack, I scan you with my odd device, okay?” The creature seemed to sense a basic calmness from Ramattra’s speech as it grasped the bar. Ramattra clicked the device open one last time for the green beam to hover over the creature and input its data. “Darumaka, huh? Like Chinese good luck charms? Can’t say I see the resemblance, but oh well.” The creature scarfed the offering down chaotically, aggressively giving into its gluttony. The Ramattra chuckled at the scene before patting the creature on the head calmly, resulting in the Darumaka’s large eyes staring up at the Omnic, as if requesting more food.
“Darumakaka…” The creature threatened, stepping closer to Ramattra’s legs as it pawed at him impatiently.
“I like your attitude, little brash ice-thing.” As the Omnic shuffled away, shooing the creature, with the other two Seekers, it didn’t take them long to realize that the trio now had a friendly stalker, who crept into the cave unannounced and began warming its frigid body by the newly forged campfire.
Ramattra didn’t even realize they were followed until he turned in to meditate for the night atop one of the company’s sleeping bags, where the creature began imitating Ramattra alongside, waiting for the chance to be fed delicious adventure scraps once again… “Oh dear. It seems I brought along a straggler.”
Level 8 - EXP 67/80The Midnight Walk - Moon Mountain
Word Count:345 // +1 EXP
While the rest of White Team explored or made preparations for the night, the lonely TV-host and his henchmen assisted in setting up camping and nighttime gear to assist with the comfort of the living situation. As he collected lanterns to post around the cave and rolled out sleeping bags, Tenna came to a crushing realization… The gear the group purchased in Snowdin only accounted for three-fourths of the group. Maybe some members didn’t require sleep to function, but a soft place to rest would surely help group morale?
It didn’t take the knack of adventuring knowledge to know how dangerous traveling this late would be. Tenna wasn’t as aware or prepared for traveling out of the cave’s safety as the rest of the Seekers were, but seeing some of the Seekers lying on the floor to rest for the night without at least the comfort of a sleeping bag was unbearable for the CRT. There had to be something more he could do. “Shadow Guys! At attention!” Tenna commanded as his minions huddled around their boss. “We need to search the area for sleeping supplies. We can’t have a proper sleepover without all our guests having sleeping bags!” The TV host wept playfully, guiding his henchmen out of the cave and down the hill of the mountain ever so slightly until they spotted something.
One of his Shadow Guys was the first to scout something out, alerting his boss and peer to an important landmark that may help them! It was unimpressive, but not too far from where the Seekers made base, a
abandoned tent lay nearby, which had mostly been looted, as evident by the empty storage containers inside the camping structure. However, left behind were three tattered sleeping bags, matched with extra pillows and blankets… Along with a collection of abandoned straw that the missing travelers planned to use as bedding.
It wasn’t much, but it was sure to, at the very least, bring a bit more comfort to the cold, icy floor of the cave.
DracoLunaris
Neziul
darkred
Not a Sayan
kaikaikai
Simply Not Real
