Seaside

[bc56]

Ruins
"I guess. It doesn't make them any less of one to their worshippers... until they die. But not always even then." Sele is just talking about killing gods casually. Like it's something she just does. How does this not ping as weird? Well, she won't look a gift unflappable person in the mouth.

[Earl of Purple]

[Port Valdez Noodle Stand]

Stephan waves a hand around in the general proximity of Harry and seems to be content with whatever it is that he finds. "Well you aren't putting out as much radiation as a evo-stone so I'm going to say I should be fine."

Even if he already evolved when he was a kid. It's something of a rite of passage where he's from. A whole ritual slash party when someone hits thirteen. Then you're 'culturally' an adult. Just... not really. There's still another five years of learning to adult before you're legally considered one. Either way, if the radiation is less than an evo-stone then it's no big deal.

"I'll just make sure to stay clear if you get upset," he concludes, continue to work on his noodles.

Also?

The explanation on falling into gods really doesn't make much sense, but then again it sounds like Harry doesn't really know what happened, either.

Oh well.

The soup is still good.

"I don't know what an evo-stone is. And I'm trying to stay calm and collected because I'm in town. I've been trying to avoid places like this, because I'm hazardous to be around, but... I'm hungry and need to stock up on some supplies. Which is also why I'm looking for jobs." She needs money to pay for goods and services, so she needs a service she can fulfil to get money in turn. "Where did that ship scuttle? How do ships scuttle? I didn't think they had legs." But the only proper ship she'd seen before entering the Nexus was in a blurry photograph, so there's a lot she doesn't know.

[Thursday Violist]

"I don't know what an evo-stone is. And I'm trying to stay calm and collected because I'm in town. I've been trying to avoid places like this, because I'm hazardous to be around, but... I'm hungry and need to stock up on some supplies. Which is also why I'm looking for jobs." She needs money to pay for goods and services, so she needs a service she can fulfil to get money in turn. "Where did that ship scuttle? How do ships scuttle? I didn't think they had legs." But the only proper ship she'd seen before entering the Nexus was in a blurry photograph, so there's a lot she doesn't know.

[Port Valdez Noodle Stand]

Otto is about to answer, when he suddenly realizes what she's saying about scuttling.

"Oh, that's the funniest joke I've heard today," he says. "Scuttling is when a ship is intentionally sunk by its occupants."

He points off in a direction out into the ocean: "Ship was nearby Ganymede's Reef, off yonder. If you want a more precise location, I'd suggest talking to its survivor, he should be just outside the nearby bar at this time."

[Keeper]

June nods, then gives a thumbs up to show she understands what he's saying.

The crystal-tunnel path is fairly large at first, but gets a little smaller over time, causing the crystals that jut out to be able to scratch someone if they're not careful. As they travel along it, there's several offshoot paths as well, but all of them are too small or have too much crystal growth for someone to easily make it through. Of course, Henry could easily get through there with his ability to phase through things, but that would leave him alone, as June couldn't follow.

The main and largest path continues at a slight upward angle, passing several crystals that actually look pretty interesting and could be sold for a small amount if broken off. June does get a few small scratches on her arms and hands, but they're pretty minor.

The tunnel squeezes such that it's not easy to get through, but immediately after that it opens up into a large, bowl-shaped chamber. And! Up above them, there's actually air! They're still in the cave, though, and to continue along this pathway would require climbing up out of the water and up the wall a ways into another tunnel with more crystals.

But this room is pretty impressive. It's large, and has several crystals of various types. Some of them even have a gentle glow coming from them, so the lighting is similar to night-time. Some of them are even magic, too, but unless one can see magic or something then it'd be hard to distinguish which are which.

June takes a moment to take out the map again and draw what they just went through, and then swims up to the surface. She lets the mouthpiece fall out of her mouth, and says, "Wow."

Port Valdez

Henry could get through by passing through things but then he'd be naked and nobody wants that.
"Aw, this is nice. Definitely worth the trip. Are you okay? I think I smelled you get cut back there." Which is a weird thing to say but he's a shark after all.
"Do you want to take a souvenir? Or are we leaving the place unspoiled?" He doesn't really mind either way.

[Thursday Violist]

Port Valdez

Henry could get through by passing through things but then he'd be naked and nobody wants that.
"Aw, this is nice. Definitely worth the trip. Are you okay? I think I smelled you get cut back there." Which is a weird thing to say but he's a shark after all.
"Do you want to take a souvenir? Or are we leaving the place unspoiled?" He doesn't really mind either way.

[Port Valdez]

Henry just needs to find a ghost suit.

"Yup, it is pretty nice. Yeah, I'm fine, it's just small cuts," June says. She lays on her back in the water, looking up at the sparkling roof of the cavern. "Hmmmmm...."

Honestly, she's just glad to have the scuba mouthpiece out of her mouth, so she takes a while deciding on whether to take anything or leave it all. "Might as well take something, right? If we had a large group or this were an easy-to-get-to location, might be best to leave it all, but just taking one should be fine, I think."

She starts looking at the wide variety of crystals, judging which one would be the best to take.

[Keeper]

Port Valdez

Henry wants a ghost suit but he hasn't been able to acquire one that's also waterproof. Or that looks flattering on his shape.

"Sounds good to me. No need to get greedy, but we can take a thing or two." Henry reaches over and goes to break off a piece of one of the glowing crystals.

[Thursday Violist]

Port Valdez

Henry wants a ghost suit but he hasn't been able to acquire one that's also waterproof. Or that looks flattering on his shape.

"Sounds good to me. No need to get greedy, but we can take a thing or two." Henry reaches over and goes to break off a piece of one of the glowing crystals.

[Port Valdez]

The crystal is pretty tough, but with enough strength it can be broken out of the stone it's attached to. Having picked a glowing crystal, Henry manages to avoid the crystals that have the stronger and more wild magical effects, in exchange for one that's just a little magical but also really cool.

Which is fine. The crystal he picked makes a pretty great night-light. Or, alternatively, a decent flashlight when you don't want to wake anyone else up.

June picks another one. Having no way to distinguish between the magical and nonmagical, she ends up picking one that has no magic whatsoever in it. Which is also fine, because it looks pretty cool. After chiseling it out (which she brought since, in caving, she figured there was the chance she would get stuck and needed to break something apart), she puts it with her other things.

She looks around the large cave opening they're in to admire it more, and then notices the smaller cave opening up above the surface of the water, leading further in. She quickly notes it on her map, and then asks, "Hey, looks like this path continues on, up there, out of the water; think we should continue on?" She glances at Henry. He's a shark-guy so maybe a cave outside of the water wouldn't be the easiest to traverse. Besides, it looks like there's still all sorts of crystals along the walls. "I'm leaning towards 'no' unless you think there'll be something amazing there, since the only thing I've got for protection against cuts are my scales."

[Keeper]

Port Valdez

Henry does have a kind of electro-chemical sense that some sharks have but that would not let him identify a magic crystal unless it was charged somehow. Some of the crystals might make his nose tickle if he gets up close to them but he wouldn't be able to identify precisely which ones.
"Um. Well. I'd have to climb up there. And it looks a little tight. And I'm. Well. Uh. Wide." Henry had to squeeze through a lot of the spaces that June had trouble with. He only was fine because he can make parts of himself pass through things if he's very careful and his hide is pretty tough.
"So it might be a little hard for me. Sorry."

[Thursday Violist]

Port Valdez

Henry does have a kind of electro-chemical sense that some sharks have but that would not let him identify a magic crystal unless it was charged somehow. Some of the crystals might make his nose tickle if he gets up close to them but he wouldn't be able to identify precisely which ones.
"Um. Well. I'd have to climb up there. And it looks a little tight. And I'm. Well. Uh. Wide." Henry had to squeeze through a lot of the spaces that June had trouble with. He only was fine because he can make parts of himself pass through things if he's very careful and his hide is pretty tough.
"So it might be a little hard for me. Sorry."

[Port Valdez]

In that case, like quartz, the crystal Henry grabbed produces opposite charges on each side of the break, right where the break happens, and this is in addition to the magic glow it has - or, rather, it'd be more accurate to say it has a causal relationship with the magic glow. It's a small enough charge that only someone with an electro-chemical sense would be able to notice it without extensive testing.

Kinda cool.

"Yeah, you're right," June says. She flexes her six arms, and then flips the tip of her long tail. "I'm not so much wide as I am long, but that does also limit where I can go, too. Guess someone else would have to find what, if anything, is through there."

June lies on her back and relaxes. It's nice, considering how the water here is still, so she doesn't have to swim against it or hold onto the wall or anything. "There were several other paths, anyway. Going all-in on the crystal one wouldn't be that exciting."

She starts thinking, and realizes that there hasn't really been any chance for her to talk - considering they've been underwater - so she says, "Sorry, probably should've asked before we came down here, but...you're a shark and a ghost? Does that mean you're, like, dead and a ghost? Or do you just have ghost powers? Because, if so, that's pretty neat."

[Keeper]

Port Valdez

Henry plops himself down onto a nearby slightly-submerged crystal big enough for him to sit on without getting out of the water.
"I got cursed into a shark guy and then died. I MOSTLY came back. So I've got one foot out the door, really. It's fine, really. The house cursed the rest of my family worse, really. A lot of them don't even have hands anymore." Henry drums his clawed sharky-hands against his belly, which he often does when talking about himself. He's unaware this is likely drawing attention to it for June.

[Thursday Violist]

Port Valdez

Henry plops himself down onto a nearby slightly-submerged crystal big enough for him to sit on without getting out of the water.
"I got cursed into a shark guy and then died. I MOSTLY came back. So I've got one foot out the door, really. It's fine, really. The house cursed the rest of my family worse, really. A lot of them don't even have hands anymore." Henry drums his clawed sharky-hands against his belly, which he often does when talking about himself. He's unaware this is likely drawing attention to it for June.

[Port Valdez]

June is pretty sure that he's completely aware that he's drawing attention to himself and that it's intentional.

"Huh, that's actually pretty similar to what I went through," she says, before quickly correcting herself with "Well, I mean, only cursorily similar, I guess. I didn't actually die, I just got really close to it," she says, "and my family didn't get cursed, either. So I guess it's not actually that similar, now that I think about it."

She sits up, and says, "Not having hands must suck. I mean, sure, I've got a bunch of them, but better to have too many than none." Six hands is a little too many, since there's basically no situation where one would need six hands at the same time. Four, maybe, but not really six.

She takes in a deep breath.
"Okay, so while we can talk, let's decide on our plans to go next." She pulls out her map and looks at it. "Oh, wait, when we get back to that big chamber I need to mark off that we already went this way. So back in that main chamber, looks like there were four other paths we could take. First of all, there's that one that was straight ahead," she taps on the map, "that looked like it also had a current. Looked a little narrow to me, but regardless I think my arms are too tired right now to swim farther up the current. If we choose to go that way, let's put it off for last." She glances up at Henry to see his opinion on that path. "Second, the path downwards. Looked like there was a lot of space, but might be easy to get lost because the water was murky. Underwater caving in the dark is one thing, but add murky water to a large open space and I'm worried it'd get really easy to get lost. None of my equipment would really help with that, I think," she says. "And that leaves the other two on the other side from here. They both seem equally fine to me. What do you think?"

[Rebonack]

[Port Valdez Noodle Stand]

Okay Stephan is pretty glad he finished eating his soup a few moments ago otherwise the scuttle pun probably would have left him snorting soup out of his nose.

And can you imagine how embarrassing that would be?

No one wants to be caught snorting soup out of their nose in front of mercenaries. Even if they're odd radioactive mercenaries.

"Thanks again for the tips, Otto," Stephan says, placing a bit of an extra tip for the tips on the counter. "Soup's good as ever."

Then?

It's time to head over to the bar and have a chat with this survivor. The mecha pilot knows where the reef is, but it's a pretty big place and trying to trawl the whole thing would be time consuming. Someone else might find the sunken ship first.

"If you're planning on taking this job you're going to have do to something about the lack of gills," Stephan comments, pointing at the gill-ruff around his own neck.


[Ruins]

This is the Wood Between the Worlds, remember?

There's all sorts of weird stuff going on here. If someone is talking about killing gods then Dizzy is just going to be assuming it's like the Bel and the Dragon incident. You feed a fake god until it explodes! Easy. Just people people think something is a god doesn't actually mean it IS one.

Honestly Dizzy's god criteria are pretty stringent.

Anyway!

Stretching those wings come next. They're pretty big wings and stretching them properly is important. Don't want to cramp up, after all. What if Dizzy has to wing-slap some jerk in this cave? Wings need to be in top condition.

"Well, sounds like we really need to make sure there isn't any trace of this fake god left for people to be duped by. Where's this cave at?"

[bc56]

Ruins
"It's down there." Sele points to the water at the base of the cliff. A narrow rocky path cuts back from that point to the beach. The cave is barely visible as a dark spot below the water line. "In a few hours the water will be low enough for us to go inside." Sele doesn't stretch her wings. It would look weird if she spontaneously had them just in order to stretch them. Instead she retrieves a loaf of bread from nowhere. She breaks it in half. "Hungry?"

[Keeper]

[Port Valdez]

June is pretty sure that he's completely aware that he's drawing attention to himself and that it's intentional.

"Huh, that's actually pretty similar to what I went through," she says, before quickly correcting herself with "Well, I mean, only cursorily similar, I guess. I didn't actually die, I just got really close to it," she says, "and my family didn't get cursed, either. So I guess it's not actually that similar, now that I think about it."

She sits up, and says, "Not having hands must suck. I mean, sure, I've got a bunch of them, but better to have too many than none." Six hands is a little too many, since there's basically no situation where one would need six hands at the same time. Four, maybe, but not really six.

She takes in a deep breath.
"Okay, so while we can talk, let's decide on our plans to go next." She pulls out her map and looks at it. "Oh, wait, when we get back to that big chamber I need to mark off that we already went this way. So back in that main chamber, looks like there were four other paths we could take. First of all, there's that one that was straight ahead," she taps on the map, "that looked like it also had a current. Looked a little narrow to me, but regardless I think my arms are too tired right now to swim farther up the current. If we choose to go that way, let's put it off for last." She glances up at Henry to see his opinion on that path. "Second, the path downwards. Looked like there was a lot of space, but might be easy to get lost because the water was murky. Underwater caving in the dark is one thing, but add murky water to a large open space and I'm worried it'd get really easy to get lost. None of my equipment would really help with that, I think," she says. "And that leaves the other two on the other side from here. They both seem equally fine to me. What do you think?"

Port Valdez

"Yeah, I mean. One of my siblings is a slime, and one is a giant spider with a human face. And my stepdad is a talking painting. Compared to that, being a fat shark is winning. Even if I did die once." Not that he'd say that to any of their faces.
"I don't like the idea of swimming through murky water. Sounds dangerous. We should probably try the tunnel that had the fish. Just be careful of things that could bite."
Which includes anything that looks like Henry but is not Henry himself.

[Earl of Purple]

Port Valdez Noodle Stand

"It... wasn't exactly a plan. I thought it'd gone somewhere dry. I grew up in a Vault, a literal hole in the ground under a literal rock. Well, several thousand tonnes of concrete. I don't know a lot about ships." Harriet blushes in embarrassment as the others laugh at her mistake. The ticking of her PipBoy increases as well, slightly, but she takes a deep breath and it slows again. "Although finding some... gills, you said? That might be an idea. I know there's suits of power armour that can operate underwater, and they're sealed so the wearer doesn't drown, but I don't have one. Or know where to find one." It'd be useful too because they block radiation, which might keep those around her safe but then also get in the way of her own supernatural abilities. Something that doesn't block radiation might work better.

[Rebonack]

[Ruins]

So Dizzy is left squinting off into the distance trying to decide if that dark spot over there is actually the mouth of the sea cave or just a patch of dark colored kelp. Considering the fact that it doesn't APPEAR to be swooshing then probably the cave?

Being so intent on something else is a good reason not to notice people pulling loaves of bread out of nowhere.

"You know what, sure. I'll try some bread," Dizzy replies, content to stand and continue staring. "So how did you get mixed up with this former cult, anyway?"

[Thursday Violist]

► Noodle Stand Quotes

[Port Valdez Noodle Stand]

Okay Stephan is pretty glad he finished eating his soup a few moments ago otherwise the scuttle pun probably would have left him snorting soup out of his nose.

And can you imagine how embarrassing that would be?

No one wants to be caught snorting soup out of their nose in front of mercenaries. Even if they're odd radioactive mercenaries.

"Thanks again for the tips, Otto," Stephan says, placing a bit of an extra tip for the tips on the counter. "Soup's good as ever."

Then?

It's time to head over to the bar and have a chat with this survivor. The mecha pilot knows where the reef is, but it's a pretty big place and trying to trawl the whole thing would be time consuming. Someone else might find the sunken ship first.

"If you're planning on taking this job you're going to have do to something about the lack of gills," Stephan comments, pointing at the gill-ruff around his own neck.

Port Valdez Noodle Stand

"It... wasn't exactly a plan. I thought it'd gone somewhere dry. I grew up in a Vault, a literal hole in the ground under a literal rock. Well, several thousand tonnes of concrete. I don't know a lot about ships." Harriet blushes in embarrassment as the others laugh at her mistake. The ticking of her PipBoy increases as well, slightly, but she takes a deep breath and it slows again. "Although finding some... gills, you said? That might be an idea. I know there's suits of power armour that can operate underwater, and they're sealed so the wearer doesn't drown, but I don't have one. Or know where to find one." It'd be useful too because they block radiation, which might keep those around her safe but then also get in the way of her own supernatural abilities. Something that doesn't block radiation might work better.

[Port Valdez Noodle Stand]

Otto smiles. He always enjoys getting a compliment for his food. And receiving extra tips, too.

"Lucky for you," he tells Harriet, "I know a gal who runs a scuba rental shop. Tell her I sent you and she might give you a discount, too." He gives her directions to the scuba shop, which is to go out onto that pier over there, and the shop is just ahead and easy to pick out; it's one of the buildings that's half-underwater. If they're going to take a boat to the reef, then they might as well just stop the boat by there, too, on the way. There's a place to tie boats to the shop, too.

Or...Stephan could give another suggestion, as an alternative. But that means Otto won't get a commission from recommending a new customer to the scuba shop.

Well, anyway
Golden Jellyfish Pub

The survivor looks like he hasn't taken a bath in a week, and is sitting just outside the pub. Just asking anyone around would point their way towards him.

The guy is wearing a pretty dirty physician's outfit, and the strongest smell coming off him is alcohol. He's also dazed, just staring up at the sky, while he lies between the wall of the building and a crate.

Port Valdez

"Yeah, I mean. One of my siblings is a slime, and one is a giant spider with a human face. And my stepdad is a talking painting. Compared to that, being a fat shark is winning. Even if I did die once." Not that he'd say that to any of their faces.
"I don't like the idea of swimming through murky water. Sounds dangerous. We should probably try the tunnel that had the fish. Just be careful of things that could bite."
Which includes anything that looks like Henry but is not Henry himself.

[Port Valdez] - undersea cave

"Oh, wow. Being a talking painting sounds really rough," June says.

She strokes her chin, then nods. "Yeah, sounds like a good plan."

She takes a deep breath, and then puts the mouthpiece for her scuba gear back in. She dives down, to return.

The way back through the tunnel is pretty much the same as it was coming in, the only difference being the direction the branching-off cave tunnels go. Once they swim across the large cavern, they arrive at the two other tunnels on the other side, the ones that had life living in them. The slightly-larger one goes at a slight angle upwards and appears to have more fish and crabs and other creatures, the slightly-smaller one goes at an angle downwards, and has a few animals that hide from the light. They'll have to swim past a bunch of fish (that dart away into smaller branches and holes in the wall).

Assuming they go up, they'll eventually reach a branching pathway - one that goes further up and appears to have a small amount of natural light coming down it, and the other one is dark and has lots of branching caves. Assuming they go down, they'll eventually see some creatures with bioluminescence as the cave widens up.

[bc56]

Ruins
Sele hands over half the loaf of bread and starts on her half. "I didn't pet a lamb," she says, and chuckles. "Sorry. Uh, it's an inside joke. Actually, I just was walking along this beach when a storm started, and I had to take shelter in the town. Of course it was the night before the big ritual to awaken Neshiyahel and take over the world. They did this siren song thing and got all the visitors in town to walk into the ocean. I, uh, survived and with the help of a few other people went to stop the final ritual." She doesn't open up about what she did between those two points, or what happened to her during the ritual.

[Earl of Purple]

Port Valdez Noodle Stand

"I think most of the jobs here might need a scuba. And this job might be best with regards to what's around. The bounty targets could be basically anywhere." And some of those are wanted alive, which Harriet can't really guarantee once they've been hit with enough radiation.

Not that Harriet knows what a scuba is, or how to use it. It'll be a learning experience, she'll be fine.

[Keeper]

Port Valdez

Henry lets June take the lead navigating the caves so that Thursday doesn't have to retract descriptions and write new ones.
He gives a very sharky grin at the glowing animals. His own glowing stripes almost seem to flicker. Though given his nature maybe he's more ectoluminescent than bioluminescent. He swims around a bit, both looking for their next passage forward and enjoying not being so tightly packed into the passage. It's a really good thing he's not claustrophobic because he's really having trouble fitting in these. It's also good that the shining sockets he has for eyes have perfect vision in the dark.

[Rebonack]

[Golden Jellyfish Pub]

Stephan offers a wave to Otto and heads off to the pub since that's going to be the most sensible place to start for sure. Once they have an idea of where the ship is out on the reef that'll inform their next choice. Rent a boat, maybe? Or something else. Harriet will need a scuba setup for sure.

"Sounds like a fallout shelter," Stephen replies thoughtfully. Then adds with a wry smile. "Though it didn't do a great job if you're irradiated."

She said something about gaining that power after falling into a god (whatever that means) and he does indeed recall that, but it seemed like too great of a joke to pass up.

"We can check in with the survivor. Then you'll need to figure out what you're going to require to get the job done. I'm hoping you have something to foot the bill with."

Asking around at the bar for a few minutes quickly gets them pointed in the right direction. Stephen will approach with a full bottle in hand. "I heard you've run into a bit of ill fortune recently, friend."


[Ruins]

The animal petting comment gets an eyebrow raise.

Dizzy isn't sure how trustworthy someone is if they don't pet animals given the chance. That's just what any sane, normal person should do.

So!

Story time!

Out for a walk, hemmed in by the weather, and then dealing with trouble. Sounds like a pretty standard call to adventure, right?

"Did you have any prior experience with this sort of thing? Or was this disaster your first time?" Dizzy asks, taking a bite out of the bread.

Behind the scenes, Dizzy is making mental notes one what sort of nonsense might be encountered around here. Thus far it doesn't sound terribly fun.

[bc56]

Ruins
Sele would've pet the lamb if it had been there in her timeline. But it wasn't, so she didn't and now she exists.
"No, that was my first time," she answers. She's done similar god-slaying feats twice now, although the moon god was really pathetic. "It was terrifying, really. I, uh, can't believe I just do that kind of thing now." Sometimes. When she's not helping tend the bar.

[Earl of Purple]

Port Valdez Golden Jellyfish Pub

"It was. I was born in it, as were my parents, and their parents too. Maybe their parents as well, I was a technical serf not a royal historian or acolyte of the tome." Vaults have experiments. Hers was feudalism. "I told you, I stole fire from a god. Just... atomic fire, and radioactivity's a side effect." Which isn't entirely accurate, but Harriet likes being a modern-day Prometheus. Not that she knows who Prometheus was.

She stays back a little from the madman as Stephan starts to question them, willing to let the guy who knows more nautical stuff take the lead.

[Rebonack]

[Ruins]

"I think I know what you mean? Maybe. I've always been kind of..." Dizzy pauses, stretching out that tail that looks like some medium between a scorpion's and a lion's. "Well, not human. Obviously. Giants usually don't end up sitting around having regular lives. So it's kind of taken for granted that you're going to get mixed up in nonsense."

Dizzy heaves a sigh.

"Especially when you're one of the good guys. I have no idea how many people like me have actually thrown in on the side of heaven. But with all the nastiness standing opposed terrifying business is the norm. You just... get use to it eventually."

[Thursday Violist]

► Golden Jellyfish Pub quotes

[Golden Jellyfish Pub]

Stephan offers a wave to Otto and heads off to the pub since that's going to be the most sensible place to start for sure. Once they have an idea of where the ship is out on the reef that'll inform their next choice. Rent a boat, maybe? Or something else. Harriet will need a scuba setup for sure.

"Sounds like a fallout shelter," Stephen replies thoughtfully. Then adds with a wry smile. "Though it didn't do a great job if you're irradiated."

She said something about gaining that power after falling into a god (whatever that means) and he does indeed recall that, but it seemed like too great of a joke to pass up.

"We can check in with the survivor. Then you'll need to figure out what you're going to require to get the job done. I'm hoping you have something to foot the bill with."

Asking around at the bar for a few minutes quickly gets them pointed in the right direction. Stephen will approach with a full bottle in hand. "I heard you've run into a bit of ill fortune recently, friend."

Port Valdez Golden Jellyfish Pub

"It was. I was born in it, as were my parents, and their parents too. Maybe their parents as well, I was a technical serf not a royal historian or acolyte of the tome." Vaults have experiments. Hers was feudalism. "I told you, I stole fire from a god. Just... atomic fire, and radioactivity's a side effect." Which isn't entirely accurate, but Harriet likes being a modern-day Prometheus. Not that she knows who Prometheus was.

She stays back a little from the madman as Stephan starts to question them, willing to let the guy who knows more nautical stuff take the lead.

[Golden Jellyfish Pub]

The man looks at the bottle, sits up, and reaches out for it. A slip of paper falls out of his pocket.
Then, he appears to recognize the bottle as a trap, and pulls back away from the it. "Don't take me back," he suddenly declares. "No, no, no, I can't - I can't, don't do it, I need to..."

His voice trails off and his eyes drift off to look at the distance.

He blinks.
And then suddenly inhales, and says, "No, I - it wasn't my fault, I promise, just don't make me go back."

Port Valdez

Henry lets June take the lead navigating the caves so that Thursday doesn't have to retract descriptions and write new ones.
He gives a very sharky grin at the glowing animals. His own glowing stripes almost seem to flicker. Though given his nature maybe he's more ectoluminescent than bioluminescent. He swims around a bit, both looking for their next passage forward and enjoying not being so tightly packed into the passage. It's a really good thing he's not claustrophobic because he's really having trouble fitting in these. It's also good that the shining sockets he has for eyes have perfect vision in the dark.

[Port Valdez - sea cave]

So, it appears June has taken the smaller and thinner tunnel that heads downwards, rather than going upwards into the wider and branching cave tunnel. Fish dart away from them and hide as they swim past.

And, pretty quickly, the end up seeing the glowing animals. Most of them - the glowing ones and the even the ones that don't - hide away once they see him. After all, he is a large predator that glows. And he's large enough that if they hide away in little holes, they'll feel safe enough from him.

Anyway, the cave widens up large enough that they can swim around, a little. A small school of fish with glowing stripes watches them from a distance. Crabs with glowy claws crawl across the ground.

And, more importantly, the tunnel seems to split off into four different lava tubes - well, five, but one of them is far too small for them to fit in. Down the tubes, there's more fish watching from a distance, not wanting to get too near to the lights coming from them.

[bc56]

Ruins
"If you don't mind me asking, uh, what are you?" Sele asks. "You're not a demon, but you keep saying you're a giant despite not being very... gigantic." She hopes that isn't a grave insult. Seriously, Dizzy's like what, 8 feet tall? That's tiny relative to Sele's true form.

[Rebonack]

[Ruins]

That gets a snort of a laugh out of Dizzy, who finds this subject more humorous than anything else.

"I'm just compact," Dizzy chuckles. "I'm nephilim. My dad's a celestial. A guy named Abaddon. But nephilim isn't exactly a very flattering term so I usually just go with giant. People usually know what I mean. Or at least they do back home."

Dizzy then waves a hand up high.

"Usually giants are twelve feet minimum. I'm just a bit scrawny."

[Keeper]

Port Valdez

The thin tunnel was starting to really be tight for Henry so he’s pretty happy to be out of it. He might not be the right shape for this kind of work.

Henry sticks his head through the four tunnels to see if anything sticks out to him. If there aren’t any obvious hazards, he’ll point to suggest the first from the right.

[bc56]

Ruins
"Twelve feet isn't gigantic either," Sele says. That's at least twice her height. She just has a warped perception of "gigantic." If Dizzy saw Sele's unbound form, she'd understand. But Sele doesn't want to brainwash Dizzy, so that probably won't happen. "When I hear 'giant,' I think of something bigger than buildings." Anything substantially bigger than her, really.

[Earl of Purple]

Port Valdez- Golden Jellyfish Pub

Whilst she's leaving Stephen to talk to the man and try to get sense from his ravings, Harriet will bend over to pick up the piece of paper and read it. Hopefully it's not a map; she has no idea how to read those, except the stylised map of the Vault.