After a tough fight, Grayson and Aeronia continue their exploration of the Aurora Ascendancy vault.
3/9/2022
INITIALIZING STATUS CHECK...
GRAYSON DACKERMAN "Grin" | AERONIA MITHORNE |
Health 5/5 Spirit 4/5 Momentum 5 | Health 3/5 Spirit 4/5 Momentum 8 Firebrand 1/5 |
AZUREBOLT 5/5
TOTAL SUPPLY 4/5
LOCATION Aurora Ascendancy Vault, Sulaco Maze, Outlands
VAULT PROGRESS 5
Investigate the vault and bring back valuables to the Scarlet Flames. PROGRESS 2
Grayson and Aeronia continued to pick their way through the pods looking for a new path.
“You have training,” Grayson stated.
“We all do,” Aeronia replied.
“Everyone on The Valiant does?”
Aeronia paused to consider what Grayson was getting at. “We all do.”
Grayson stopped to give Aeronia a puzzled look. “I don’t think we’re understanding each other. I mean combat training.”
“I understood. I’m saying that we all have combat training in some form or another. All of us.”
Memories rose to the surface of Aeronia’s mind. She could vividly recall the years of training she underwent to fortify her body and mind. She could recall throwing herself into it every time a mission or battle failed, especially when the people around her fell. She would train until she collapsed and when she woke up, she would do it all over again.
It was never enough.
“Back where I come from, there is… was a war.”
Aeronia had the look of someone that had seen horrors.
“At first, most people believed it had nothing to do with them. They watched as others fought and died. Before long, the first world fell. In a cascade, other worlds were ravaged and felled in rapid succession after the first.
“It didn’t matter if you ran or retreated, before long, the war would reach you. We had no choice but to fight. It was a fight for our very survival: humanity’s survival.”
Aernoia paused. Then met Grayson’s eyes, “We call them the Rupthoir. They’re enigmatic entities that corrupt everything they touch.
“The Valiant is the last of us. The mission is to warn others of the impending threat. To buy time to rebuild and find more effective ways to fight them off.
“And now I’m here. Alone. The Valiant’s fate, unknown. And all proof of the Rupthoir lost with it.”
The cradle of humanity, wiped out? The shock had frozen Grayson in place. He couldn’t even begin to fathom the devastation. There was nothing he could say to Aeronia.
Aeronia had a troubled look given Grayson’s silence. She broke the silence first, “If we keep moving, there might be clues about The Valiant.”
She started moving forward without another word.
5/11/2022
Grayson shuffled behind Aeronia, feeling like he’d messed up.
[Aeronia - undertake an expedition (+wits)
7, 6 vs. 2+3 = miss: burn momentum = weak hit
momentum reset = 2 momentum
-1 momentum = 1 momentum, -1 spirit = 3 spirit
+1 progress = 6 boxes]
Aeronia stopped at a sheer drop-off. A chasm stretched into the void before them. Huge crystal pillars jutted out of the darkness. They were spaced irregularly and too far apart from each other at certain junctions to be able to traverse over them.
After everything she’d been through, the void before her was a perfect analogy for where Aeronia was in life. She was at the bottom, desperately stumbling through the dark, searching for anything to guide her.
[Aeronia - gather information
7, 1 vs. 3+3 = weak hit
+1 momentum = 2 momentum]
Movement caught Aeronia’s attention. She spotted one of the gas bags gliding across the chasm over a floating platform.
“Should we look for another path?” Grayson asked quietly, awkwardness coming through in the question.
“There are platforms that float across.” Aeronia pointed out the distant gas bag. “Let’s try to find one.”
Grayson joined Aeronia in the search for a platform or some way to summon one.
[Grayson - aid your ally (+wits)
8, 2 vs. 4+3 = weak hit
+1 to Aeronia’s next move]
[Aeronia - explore a waypoint
4, 2 vs. 5+3+1 = strong hit
+1 progress = 7 boxes]
Together, Grayson and Aeronia found a docked platform. Aeronia breathed an internal sigh of relief at the sight of it.
Grayson was the first to step onto the platform. Nothing happened.
“Now, how do we get this thing to move?” Grayson asked aloud when he didn’t see any obvious controls.
Allow me. The voice crept up inside Aeronia’s head. Step on the platform.
Aeronia followed the voice’s instructions, gingerly stepping onto the platform. As soon as her foot touched it, the platform hummed to life, with a pulsing light emanating from beneath it.
The platform coasted out over the chasm smoothly.
“Curious,” Grayson said. “It didn’t react to me at all.”
His gaze told Aeronia that he expected some kind of answer from her.
But Aeronia didn’t have an explanation for it. She found it unnerving herself. The energies she’d felt. The blue energy she unleashed on the creature from before.The presence she felt was simultaneously her and something apart from her.
Grayson and Aeronia stood quietly on the platform. It safely glided past monumental crystal spires. An aberrant energy started humming and became more pronounced the further they went. At times, the humming energy seemed to turn into dissonant whispers that they couldn’t quite make out.
Grayson moved closer to Aeronia. The pair kept watch on either side of the platform as their surroundings shifted around them.
[Aeronia - aid your ally (+wits)
3, 2 vs. 6+3 = strong hit
Grayson +2 momentum = 7 momentum, +1 to next move]
[Grayson - undertake an expedition (+wits)
3, 1 vs. 4+3+1 = strong hit
+1 progress = 8 boxes]
Grayson spotted an ascending shaft. The platform shifted directions to start floating up the shaft. As they ascended, the sides of the shaft showed signs of scarring.
“It looks damaged,” Grayson reported over the whispering hum. “With the high energy and this… we should be careful.”
Aeronia nodded.
[Finish an expedition
6, 6 vs. 8 = strong hit with a match
+1 box discoveries legacy track]
As they ascended, an unbelievable sight appeared overhead.
Rippling light, like water, stretched out overhead forming a dome. A crystal ring encircled the monumental dome, buzzing with energy.
“Beautiful,” Grayson said, enraptured by the sight.
A gateway. The voice whispered to Aeronia.
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