Adventure On: Finale and Conclusion

[voidtreckermods]

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.

Comments

[light_of_willpower]

"I mean, I want to buy a whetstone at least, since I have a sword I need to take care of now. Beyond that I was just going to see about food." Lowering his voice so only she could hear, which meant needing to move closer to her as well. "I have my mini-fridge capsule in a pocket, so keeping it fresh isn't too big a concern. I'd use it away from others though, since it's above the tech level here."

[nutkrusher]

"It must be pretty fuckin' sweet to have, though," Cassie says. "You can crack open a cold one whenever you want. 'Cause you've got a fuckin' pocket fridge."

[light_of_willpower]

"Provided I have space to unencapsulate it yes." Trunks agreed with a hint of laugh. "But I wouldn't here, I'd try to move away from town--less questions we probably shouldn't answer, since they want us to kind of blend in."

Trunks was making a note to see about ordering Cassie a mini-capsule fridge of her own in his head.

[nutkrusher]

"Yeah, the aluminum can would probably be enough by itself to freak 'em out."

They head through the front door of the general store. There are goods of all sorts arranged around the store, with some in shelves along the wall. The proprietor is clearly very busy right now, with the town returned to its previous level of liveliness, plus a few Voidtreckers on their way home.

[light_of_willpower]

It was a bit more crowded than when Trunks had peaked his head in before. Fortunately the whetstones were not as in-demand and it was easy to wind his way over to where they were stored. Picking up 3, just to be safe, he headed for the line to pay.

"Were you still uh...still interested in perfume?" He's trying very hard not to blush. "We should ask where that might be, if it's not here."

[nutkrusher]

Cassie smiles - a warm, soft smile distinct from her usual teasing smirk.

"Yeah. Let's see if we've got enough. If not, we could always just get a couple new outfits."

[light_of_willpower]

"You mean clothes that either aren't our train uniform, or work-out clothes?" Trunks teased back, with a grin. "I'm not sure I know you anymore, Cassie." But he reached out for her hand to squeeze.

[nutkrusher]

Cassie crosses her arms and gasps in mock indignation.

"Honey, I've got a wardrobe the size of a small warehouse back home that says you've got me all wrong."

[light_of_willpower]

As usual, with the teasing, she wins again. He blushes, but also chuckles. "Makes me wonder how you adapted to being on the train with its lack of options." Still trying to tease, but she's likely to keep on winning.

[nutkrusher]

"Most workdays I'm only allowed to wear one outfit," Cassie says.

"Means I've gotta wear the hell out of that outfit."

[light_of_willpower]

"You and my mother would get along so very well." Trunks said, entirely sincerely. Conceding the game of teasing to her, especially since they were getting close to the clerk so he could pay.

[nutkrusher]

Cassie chuckles and runs a hand across the back of her head. "Well, she sounds like a woman with great taste."

Beat.

"Have you met my mom yet? Because I could see her going either way."

[light_of_willpower]

"Twice. Blade is an interesting woman." Trunks replied easily, reaching out to once more, and this time hopefully successfully, taking her hand. "I talked with her in a tavern here too, asked her for tips for a successful mission."

[nutkrusher]

"Well, she'll probably call you by the wrong name when she brings you up to me," Cassie says.

"She's done that with everyone I've ever dated. Kind of a tradition for her."

[light_of_willpower]

"Good to know." Trunks replied, squeezing her hand. Then it was their turn to pay and Trunks showed the whetstones. "We were also wondering where might be best to buy scented oils, or perfume?" He asked the clerk, trying not to blush, as he paid for his whetstones. Mostly he wasn't sure if perfume had been a thing in medieval times.

[nutkrusher]

Cassie squeezes back, smiling as the clerk, slightly bemused, directs them toward a corner of the shop containing a few jars.

She makes her way over and takes a sniff. Her nose wrinkles.

"Hmm. Might hold out for the train store for this one. I think we could find something cute to wear, though. Something to make me look like a 'proper lady.'"

She twirls in place and puts on an affected voice at the last two words.

[light_of_willpower]

With his sensitive nose, he'll let Cassie choose the perfume or oils.

"For what we've been doing, you already look like a 'proper lady'." Trunks tried to imitate her affected voice on the last two words. "But shopping might be nice, for once." Careful of his whetstones as they're placed in a pouch, Trunks waits for her before they head back into town.

[nutkrusher]

"Yeah. It would. You got enough left over to get some clothes for yourself?"

[light_of_willpower]

"I think so." Trunks murmured. While reaching for her hand once more--he liked holding her hand, okay?

[nutkrusher]

"Let's look at the clothes, then."

She smiles as he takes her hand again. She's certainly not going to complain about it either.

[light_of_willpower]

There was the Sew Lovely Boutique, which seemed to have a lot of nice and fancy hats, as well as more practical gear like snowshoes, and fire-resistant boots. Next to it were some smaller shops, selling a variety of clothes, so that was where the pair headed. One shop seemed slightly fancier than the other, but all of them seemed to hold a variety of basic shirts for men and blouses and gowns and shirts for women as well. Clothing for the legs seemed to come in either skirt (of various length) type, close fitting leggings, or truly baggy and designed to be cinched at the waist and ankles.

It was nice, but none of it was really calling to Trunks in particular for himself.

[nutkrusher]

Cassie spends about fifteen minutes browsing their selection before she holds up two matching dresses and lets them drape down beside her body.

"What do you think? Blue or burgundy?"

[light_of_willpower]

"Uh...." Trunks blinked as he turned to look at her, with the question. Both colors seemed to suit her honestly. "I'm not actually that good at picking out clothing? Both look nice." He's trying so hard to not blush.

[nutkrusher]

Cassie beams. "How about I try 'em both on? Then we'll see if we can work together to find something that looks good on you."

[light_of_willpower]

"That, uh, sure." Trunks wasn't sure how or what to respond with but then Cassie was vanishing into a changing room. Now he could feel the blush coming. It wasn't like he'd ever had a pretty girl care about his opinion before. Not that he really knew that many pretty girls, or girls in general, to begin with.

This whole being a boyfriend was a new experience--but he was game to try.

Trying to take his mind off of his blush, he browsed the racks.