middleofsomewhere | Adventure On: Finale and Conclusion

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Adventure On: Finale and Conclusion

Blue

The Mountain

Once they get close enough everything is storm, ice swirls around them, stabbing them like knives. Winds seem to be actively pushing them away, no matter what direction they approach from. Still the crystal wolves walk on, heads down, paws silent, climbing upwards.

The higher they climb the colder it becomes. So cold that ice forms on eyelashes, that air seems to freeze as it leaves their mouths. So cold their chests hurt. They would not be wrong to assume that the only reason they can withstand this at all is because of the SCA around their wrist.

Ice tumbles down around them often, shaking the ground. The crystal wolves know the way and they keep going, steady on the path. They have spaced themselves out, to be in sight of all those who follow.

The Summit

As they finally reach the top of the mountain they reach a calm space, outside of the swirling storm. Domed across the summit is a fire cage, larger by far than any they have seen before. In the middle of the giant fire cage sits a dragon. White and blue, scales that look as if they were made of ice themselves. Their head was bowed, eyes closed but they are breathing, breath escaping in clouds of freezing mist that evaporated in the heat of the cage.

Around the cage itself are ice elementals, outside the storm these can be seen by the snow they whirl around inside them, each is about three feet tall but fly in a whirlwind as they attack. Like those in the storm they try and push people around and attack with shards of ice. These corrupted spirits seem to have no reason to their attacks, they are just as likely to push a combatant closer to the cage then they are towards the raging storm.

They can be fought, fire works well against them just as ice and cold magic works well against the fire cage itself.

A Sovereign Freed

Eventually the cage stops fighting, fading away into the snow before them. The crystal wolves spring forth, nuzzling at the dragon until they raise their head. Piercing blue eyes look over the group and the dragon bows their head once. They take a deep breath and breathe out over those assembled, cold fire washes over them, healing any hurts that they have, easing their fatigue som

The crystal wolves bow their heads too, a thank you. Aerlie flaps their wings, rising high into the air. Another breath of cold fire flies out around the area, clashing with the storm for a moment before overtaking it. Around the mountain the storm calms, the ice elementals stop and seem to sink into the snow or fade into the air. The mountain descends into a calmness.

The crystal wolves will approach all those who helped free them, nuzzling into their hands, a personal thank you before a shimmering gate opens for the adventurers to step through.

Red

Final Siege

It’s been a tiring three days of protecting the crystals from the creatures that sought their power. But now, as their power is fully recharged it is time to return them to the border. That is going to be a tougher job than getting them to the volcano’s heart in the first place!

They thrum with power and that power is a siren call to the creatures of the area, fire dogs, lizards, fire sprites. Just as the mountain attacked inside the heart, here the spirtes join with the rivers of lava to flood pathways, block routes, making it harder to cross already treacherous territory, or even driving them into traps of waiting fire dogs.

The heat is oppressive, heat from around them, heat from the crystals seems to sap the energy from those carrying them and so the duty is best shared.

Eventually though they arrive at the border, a mess of melted ice and frozen lava. Each of the crystals need to be replaced.

Restoring the Border

Replacing the crystals is a little more complicated than taking them was. Each one needs to fuse with the holder it sits in. It doesn’t take any skill, just someone to hold it in place for a moment whilst the two fuse together and the magic is channelled into the ground.

Holding a crystal in place is a little more difficult when being attacked by the creatures. The fire creatures keep up the attack until all of the crystals have been replaced.

The Land Repaired

When the last crystal is in place there is a ripple across the land. An invisible line, an ancient magic, connects the crystals, seperating the two lands. Ice recedes from lava and the melted snow refreezes. The borderlands of slush undergo transformation as the two elements separate from each other once more. A land of fire and a land of ice, with a pulsing magic separating the two.

The firedogs and lizards retreat, fire elementals calm and join with the lava streams once more. A shimmering gate opens.

Orange

An Important Message

The Huma birds have been carrying crystals and helping the harvesters, protecting them from the blighted birds and encouraging them to work hard.

But those returning to the floating islands on the afternoon of the eleventh day of Horseshoe come bearing black cloth bags in their talons, each has a scroll attached. The Huma birds will make it very clear they are to read the scroll first.

DO NOT OPEN THE BAG UNTIL NIGHT FALLS

Inside this bag are rare crystals. When they are exposed to the light of the sun they will cause the islands to sink back to the ground. After the sun has set tonight please distribute these evenly around the islands and then depart back down to the land below before sunrise. The lands natural magic will do the rest but we do not recommend being on the islands when they fall.

Thank you for your hard work.

The Adventurers Guild

With a long night ahead they may wish to rest for the remainder of the day.

Distributing the Crystals

If they do as they are asked then it will be a long night, there are many chunks of islands and a lot of crystals to distribute. The darkness makes it harder and the blighted birds seem even grumpier in the cover of darkness.

The wind sprites also are not resting and indeed seem delighted that playtime has been extended into the hours of night. Placing crystals is difficult when the Voidtreckers find themselves swept up into the air to dance around the trees.

Getting down by sunrise may be a little trickier than placing the crystals, especially if they have used up their flight potions, but hopefully there are enough people to help everyone get to safety.

Islands Fall

The sun rises, as the first rays of light hit the island they begin to vibrate, shudder. Then one by one they begin to fall, rapidly and chaotically. It is perhaps wise to not be anywhere near the crater as they do so.

They land in a crash of dust, which obscures the area. When the dust clears however they will see a perfect undamaged land. The pieces have fit back together, exactly where they should be, despite the chaos. The land is repaired and whole once more. Huma birds call excitedly as they dart through the air, their land restored.

A gate opens, for them to step through if they wish.

Purple

A Cure

It is day ten of Horseshoe when the first Huma birds fly into the village, they carry crystals either in bags in their talons or in their beaks.

The villagers clearly know what is going on for they welcome the birds and take the crystals thankfully. Anyone not currently fighting or purifying crystals is brought in to help distribute cures.

Actually curing someone is easy, it just requires the crystal to be touch an affected person or creature. The crystals are only good for one cure so those curing the blighted will be required to carry a few and run them to the villages.

Others can take crystals out into the woodland, looking for blighted animals to help.

A Final Fight

All but one of the golems have been found, defeated and restored. The final one has been elusive, not approaching the village or even the nearby woodlands.

The restored golems are back to standing vigil in each village, ready to deal with any attack that may occur.

But when an attack comes, it is not on a village, but on the shrine in the centre. A golem, three trolls and a host of animals, some blighted, some just angry. They attack in the early morning, the villages awoken by shouts and sounds of battle.

Luckily the blighted creatures can be healed, angry animals can perhaps be soothed. The trolls cannot be soothed though and will indeed try to rile up the animals again, to cause as much chaos as they can.

Peace Once More

Once the final golem is taken down, the crystal restored and the trolls defeated there is a quiet comes across the villages. Those who were blighted are cured, the golems are back in their place as guardians of the village and thanks to the adventurers the villages have gotten through this time with minimal damage.

The villagers thank the adventurers, tell them to come and visit whenever they are in the area. A gate opens, for any voidtreckers who wish to return to Royal Lake Hill.

Royal Lake Hill: All Teams!

They return to the tavern, each to the inn that they set off from. The town is a little busier now, more areas have recovered from the blight and it has brought more trade into the town. Everyone is still relatively elderly or young, non fighters. But the market is bustling, there is even a puppet show going on in the square.

Around midday a beeping of their SCA will show a dot on their map where the Voidtrecker Express has landed, not far out of town, and a message. You may remain here until sunset.

It is up to them whether they wish to return to the train or spend the rest of the day in the town. For those staying in town they will find word of their deeds have preceded them and they will find no end of young, wide eyed, budding adventurers ready to buy them a drink or two in exchange for stories.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Geez, geez, alright already."

But despite the way he says that and sighs, Inigo doesn't seem genuinely bothered by the pushiness. If anything, it's a good thing right now. No matter what kind of front he may put up - sometimes more convincingly, sometimes less convincingly - Inigo needs this sort of thing. Being bossed around a bit, having it that heavily confirmed that it's fine, that he needs to stop listening to his worries and just go for it.

So he does. A small smile appears on his face as he starts tugging Tidus along through the crowds. His steps may be a tad more hurried than usually, since he really doesn't want to run into anyone they know, but thankfully the place Inigo was thinking of is nearby enough that it's not a real problem.

And inside it's fairly busy too, but as Inigo quickly scans the room he can't find anyone they know from the train. Good.

That makes all hesitation disappear for the moment as he still tugs Tidus along through their held hands towards a table that's very close by the fire that's burning in the hearth.

"You go sit here," he gestures at the seat closest to the fire, and finally - slowly - lets go of Tidus's hand. "Then you can completely warm up. And I better not hear any complaints lately over me not treating you like a prince! Look at all I'm doing for you!" Inigo takes the seat next to it - slightly further away from the fire, but still close enough to also feel its warmth. "You still want that stew? I was thinking something with a bit more meat.."

That's more like it. More life. He's dragged and he lets himself be dragged, though Tidus walks with enough speed to not be done so literally, their arms loose at the elbows as Inigo leads him. For a moment he wonders if to let go once they enter, the business not cramped but still busy, except-

Inigo gives him no choice, taking him over to his seat, and then doing it himself. And for a moment again, in an utter contradiction, he finds it bizarre that Inigo would. Nevertheless, his brows raise at being treated like a prince-- a point he'll be sure to comment on later.

For now, he waves his hand.

"Get what you want! I'm fine with stew, I want some soup too. Get a whole--troll if you want."

Yeah he took a second to think of an animal(???) there.

Inigo gives Tidus a look that's so wide-eyed that for a moment it almost looks like his eyes are going to pop right out.

"I'm not-- I'm not going to eat troll!" At least it sounds very much like the usual Inigo. Dramatic over absolutely nothing. Over just a dumb, hypothetical scenario. Like it deserves his full offense. "Did you see those things? I'm pretty sure I saw one scratching its butt!"

Don't ask Inigo what kind of habits he thinks regular animals he does eat have. Okay. Please.

But he does at least call out their order for the two of them - apparently Inigo himself decided on just getting a meat skewer. Not troll though, okay. Thanks. He isn't sure if people eat that here, and he doesn't want to find out.

Tidus laughs, light as it is, before- "You were checking out its butt?"

Griiin. No, he absolutely knows Inigo wasn't, but maybe he wants the easy tease and he thinks it's harmless enough to go for. He takes off his cloak, trusting the warmth from the hearth to be enough soon, letting it drop somewhere on the back of the seat, half-trapped under his butt.

"Please tell me you don't seriously think I find trolls attractive."

This time it's said with less panic and a bit more exasperation, because Inigo is pretty sure Tidus is just teasing about this one.

.. hopefully, anyway. But after that other conversation they had, the one that feels so long ago now, with both of them lying on the floor of the gymnasium and talking about Tidus's weird obsession with boobs, nothing would surprise Inigo anymore.

The true sign that Inigo doesn't mind their usual dumb semi-bickering in the slightest though is the fact that he keeps looking at Tidus. Despite them being in a full tavern in a place that's still fairly new to them, he only seems to have eyes for the other guy sitting here with him.

"I can't think of anything that turns me off more than those things."

Didn't know there were any other troll butts in this tavern with them, pal!!

Tidus's brows raise though to the dare of his authenticity, betrayed by it at the same time, the smile on his face that grows wide into his cheeks. This is dumb, but he started it, and he enjoys that Inigo's giving him all the room to keep it up.

"Geez, that's a pretty big stance to take. You sure? I mean, yeah, but there's gotta be uglier out there."

Tell Tidus all your opinions on trolls.

How about he tells Tidus his opinion of the one sitting next to him right now?

"Nope. No way." Exposure to all the modern people on the train has made him fall back into speaking more the way they do than the formal way Inigo was taught to speak when he grew up whenever things get like this. And 'like this', I obviously mean 'dumb'. "Have you seen those things up close? It's awful! Can you even imagine how bad their breath must smell?"

Edited 2020-09-28 17:32 (UTC)

"Did you miss out fighting the trolls? There was more stinking than just their breath! And they kept throwing slobber around if you got too close to them! They're not fast, but geez they didn't like to go down."

They were a pain. A pain that Tidus is glad to see the back of (but not the backside), and he's comfortable getting to complain about the hassle of them.

"You have those things back home? We mighta had fiends that looked like them, but most of them looked more animal than-" he waves a hand, "-that."

"I tried to avoid most of them."

With the fake excuse he uses to still sound so casual about it being that they weren't worth the effort when he was trying to hunt something actually edible - shoving the truth that he had only barely been able to over focus on hunting to keep his body and mind moving when he just didn't want to do anything anymore down as far as possible.

"But no, we didn't have those back home." Which is why the trolls had been particularly disgusting. At best he could compare them to some of the more monstrous-looking of the Risen, the people who had been Risen for so long that they just mutated into something nearly not human anymore.. but that's not exactly a great thing to be compared to. "It's so strange too, since the rest here is all too familiar to me. The wildlife, the cities.. even the magic isn't that odd. But I suppose even a slight difference like that is just proof that this is definitely a different place than Ylisse."

That was a fairly big comparison to make, wasn't it? This to Ylisse--Inigo's kingdom, or homeworld. It inspires Tidus to take another look about the interior, the people and the atmosphere to take in. The stone underfoot and the crackling of the fire beside them, the not-quite comfortable seating.

"Does this feel like home?" He shifts his back against the seat, as if getting more comfortable. Wonders out loud in no more than a beat, "Can another world feel like home?"

Maybe a question more for himself. He's known so little of Spira, and the difference between Spira and Zanarkand was enough that he'd never mistake the two.

It's a very loaded question. Maybe a little too loaded for the scenario they've chosen for themselves. Especially since Tidus isn't the only one who has special feelings about the question. It's something Inigo has thought about before. Trapped in a past Ylisse that should by all accounts be his world, yet it made him feel like a stranger all the same, somehow.

So he answers, "I'm not sure," with a small smile on his lips and a shrug of his shoulders, obviously trying to keep things light. Their food arrives too, being put down on their table. "Though it's a little nice to not feel like I'm struggling to keep up with all that-- that modern tomfoolery for once."

It might be loaded, and Tidus doesn't--or hadn't--thought any deeper about it. But then the food arrives, and whatever thoughts he should be having are distracted by that first, an energised 'Thanks' given as he pulls his bowl closer to him. Tidus picks up his spoon, swirling the broth inside to eventually scoop up some.

"You're not used to it?" But nevertheless, Tidus is listening, lifting the spoon a few inches out from the bowl. "I went from that to... nothing! Now we're on a crazy train?" He shrugs. "I like running hot water whenever you want it."

"I guess I'm more used to it now than I thought I was."

If Gerome's arrival on the train had made anything clear - other than how much Inigo had missed him when he hadn't been there before, a feeling that's starting to set in all over again now - it was that fact. Even though everything on the train had been new to Inigo when he first showed up, he was the one who had to explain showers to Gerome as if they were just a normal thing.

"But it's still strange!" Inigo grabs his meat skewer, tearing off some of the meat with his teeth and chewing on it thoughtfully. And - yes - actually bothering to swallow the bite before he continues. "Not in a bad way, since I definitely don't want to go back to bathing in a river ever again, but it still feels like I find out about new things I never heard of before every other day."

"That's the same for me," Tidus remarks; a point, even from the different sides of technology they apparently come from. And in manners, Tidus chatting as soon as he's taken his sip. But then, it's easily swallowed. "I mean, you knew more about different worlds than I did coming here - you had that over me. And now we're meeting people from all over..."

But this is a conversation getting way too close to the train, and it's not bad, maybe, but Tidus decides to pause from those thoughts, bring them back to where they are.

"I wouldn't mind a place like this. It's got a lot more towns than Spira did." Did that make it better? Worse? It's hard to make a comparison. "It doesn't look bad--but I spent more time in the snow than anywhere else."

It really is hard to tell where the lines are. What is too much to talk about right now and what isn't. Inigo's stomach feels like it's cramping up a tad at the very mention of Spira, too worried that it might make Tidus think of Yuna a little too much. Thankfully Tidus seems pretty alright as he says it, but Inigo's initial instinct is to try and steer the topic away from Tidus's home as much as possible.

"A guy like you in the snow, huh? It's hard to imagine." Look, Tidus just seems like the sunny island type! He's proven as much with his enthusiasm the last time they went to a sunny island.. ~~Not to mention it's a federal crime to hide Tidus's body underneath thick, warm clothing.~~ "You didn't get too cold, did you? Need me to come cuddle up to you tonight to warm you up?"

Look, at least he's just joking this time!

.. Not that he'd mind. But that's not the point.

"Are you hitting on me?" he asks with a dubious undertone, put on, a look to it, asked as he chews a piece of meat from off his spoon. It's more meat than veggies in this stew. The tavern knows its customers. "I'm gonna cuddle up with my blankets, thanks. And a hot shower. And not think about anything else."

Because he's not even trying to think about the train now as he speaks about these things, though he doesn't even know if this world has showers.

"But I wanna think about more than bed. We should look around and see what else is in town. We can buy a souvenir. How about we see if there's any flowers around?"

At least he knows that particular interest of Inigo's.

"You're so cold!" Inigo whines, though his particular way of expressing it right now seems more like exaggerated dramatics rather than him genuinely being upset about what Tidus is saying. It still feels like a miracle that the other is actually willing to talk normally with him again like this, so it's not like Inigo is going to push his luck further into something he knows isn't easy or normal for Tidus to begin with. Like cuddling. "No way you went over to all that snow, you fit right in there!"

After letting out a slight huff, he tears another chunk of meat off the skewer, chewing it. At least it tastes good - or maybe that's just since Inigo hasn't exactly had the most healthy eating pattern the past few days. Hunger makes anything taste good.

"I doubt you'd find any special flowers here though."

Inigo gets the eyerolling he deserves, as dramatic as Inigo is giving, since that's the mood. Tidus lifts his bowl some more, blowing over the top; willing to risk soon drinking from it, but not in too eager of a rush. But some.

"They gotta be special?" Well. "If you want special, we can see if we can get to the place Orange Team were. With the crystals in 'em? Some guy was trying to get one, but the birds kept pecking him. I might be able to put them to sleep."

Which was an offer Tidus couldn't make Senku before, since he wasn't there with him. But if Inigo wants special -- what's more special than that?

Well, if there's one way to get Inigo to stop being - dramatically - pouty, it's this. His eyes grow a little wider as he looks over at Tidus with obvious and genuine interest.

"Do you think we could?"

He hasn't been anywhere away from the area the purple team was carrying out the mission in, so he hasn't assessed what the situation for the orange team was like at all - especially since there were so many depressing things distracting him.

"I kind of wanted to see those.."

"All we need to know is where they went, right? And find out how far it was. It sounded like they were near a forest..."

So they just had to figure out if there was any particular large forests around, or if anyone in town had any idea of where it was. Tidus remembers the large map in the Adventurer's Guild, and he figures they can ask there even, bringing the edge of his bowl to his lips and beginning

to slurrrrrrrp.

"I'll ask the guy if he got one," he pauses to say, but without lowering the bowl--because he's got a few more slurps to take.

At first Inigo doesn't notice. He's too busy in the thought of maybe being able to actually see those things, being able to take them back on the train-- it'd be great. He's already imagining what they might look like, and..

And then his thoughts are rudely interrupted by a certain person without manners present at this very table. Rather than saying anything, Inigo is just staring over at Tidus.

And giving him A Look. Really, bro? Really, pal?? You're going with that one, bud?

Tidus is the one not to notice anything next. His face in his stew bowl, he's rather preoccupied at the moment, taking a flicker of a look in Inigo's direction that doesn't come back again when he lowers the bowl, wiping his mouth with the back of his wrist.

And he catches Inigo staring at him. Tidus stares back, not getting to the drop of sauce on the tip of his nose.

"... What?" Huh?? "Right now?"

Inigo wants him to get things sorted right this second???

Inigo isn't even touching his own meat skewer anymore for the moment. It's that bad. This matter requires his entire attention.

"No." That's not the problem! Somehow it's even worse that Tidus doesn't even realise what he did so wrong that he's earned this Look from Inigo for. "That's not why I'm looking. What was that just now?"

What.

"What?" He's confused, rubbing at the end of his nose to get rid of the broth there, hard to miss with how wet it is. Waiting on some further explanation.

"What was what?" What did he even say...?

Does Tidus genuinely not understand?

Inigo holds the other's gaze for another moment or two, as if this is some sort of prank on Tidus's part that Inigo is determined to not fall for. Surely he must have known what he was doing just now, right? Especially since he was literally trying to get the soup off his face like a barbarian!

But a quiet moment or two passes, and it seems that either this is very real or Tidus is just not giving in.

Inigo isn't sure which is worse.

"Seriously? You just slurp like that all the time? Regardless of who's around you?" Inigo sounds so incredulous. He can't believe this is the reality he's found himself in.

But after staring at Tidus for another moment, it hits Inigo just how dumb this situation is. It feels so banal. After everything they've gone through, after them having the dumbest yet most painful "fight"-- they're just sitting here, talking about this of all things.

It makes an odd fondness grow in his heart, and he reaches out to roughly ruffle Tidus's hair.

"I take back what I said earlier. Guess I'm the prince here after all."

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