The Verdant Sea

[Gold]

[Falling down the Stairs]

Crap, she missed! That's bad. Also bad is the fact that the ape is aiming to smash her bones. Luckily, Ash came in with a plan B.

Ash swiftly holsters her sword just in time to turn to a spider and jump on top of the tree trunk, clinging onto it with the insect legs that can somehow adhere to any surface despite not actually being sticky. Then, moving evasively to avoid being smacked, she will climb up the ape's weapon and onto the ape's hand, where she will proceed to sink her fangs into said hand, injecting it with some deadly venom. Well, deadly enough to (slowly) kill a horse. Against something this big, it might not be as potent.

Anyways, after she's done biting the heck out of the ape, she will drop off the side of its arm, get back into human form, redraw her sword, and - if the monster doesn't try to retaliate - stand back in a defensive position.

[Earl of Purple]

Shallows

Well, that's... less useful. Adrie will press the square button, just to see what it does. If nothing, he'll press the triangle, then the two circle button, then the circle, before slapping them all at once with his hand if none of the buttons individually do anything.

The trilling getting louder means he's glancing a the door often, and hefting his rock with glowing phlegm on it. He could still be surprised, as he's paying more attention to the machine.

[Rebonack]

[The Shallows]

Adrie presses the square button.

Which... causes nothing to happen.

Pushing the triangle, however, DOES cause something to happen! A sheet of black glass on the machine suddenly lights up, displaying a field of blue with some kind of strange circular seal surrounded by a jagged, saw-toothed edge. Large letters at the top of the image ominously display the words-

FBI WARNING

If Adrie can read quickly, the screen will inform him that the unauthorized reproduction, exhibition, or distribution of this material is a CRIME.

It may not be immediately clear what this means. Shortly there after the WARNING is replaced with an image of the starry heavens, zooming in on a world cloaked in mist and covered in vast blue oceans. The word UNIVERSAL soon appears superimposed over the world.

Outside the trilling sound ceases.


[Falling Down the Stairs]

Ash skitters up the ape's arm and bites it on the hand! It doesn't seem very happy about this, trying to squash her with one of its huge fists right before she manages to leap away to safety. That worked out pretty well, right?

Then Kol finds out that his spear gun shoots spears.

Seriously, what else would it shoot?

There's an electronic buzzing sound and a burst of blue-white light moments before a little glowing white spear gets launched from the weapon and thunks into the side of the ape! The ape doesn't seem very happy about this development. So unhappy, in fact, that it rips a chunk of marble out of the ground and hauls back to hurl it at Kol!

Only for a nearby pillar to topple over onto the ape, knocking it off balance and causing the rock to smash into the ground a good twenty feet away from Kol instead of pasting him like a bug. The source of the toppling pillar appears to be a beast that is at once akin to a wolf, a raven, and a rat with a vaguely human build. Judging from the spread of its claws and those gouges Sune was making in the trees earlier it might be clear at this point what his deal is.

The ape is VERY unhappy about this. With a whoop it grips its tree trunk with both hands and LEAPS toward Sune to clobber him! Thankfully for the others this means the ape isn't focusing on them.

[Earl of Purple]

The Shallows

Adrie has little issue with crimes, though doesn't read it quickly enough anyway. He also doesn't know what the FBI are, and not being American, wouldn't be very threatened even if he did know. He'll glance at the Universal and then go check out the door, hefting his phlegm-spattered rock. The silence of the trilling bird seems threatening to him; like it's been startled or scared off, or else is a predator that no longer tries to scare him out of cover.

[Gold]

[Falling Down the Stairs]

Ash would be more excited about the pillar hitting the ape, but... "What!? I totally just bit him on the hand and it did nothing! Hmm... Looks like I'm going to have to apply some of that stuff nerds call 'strategy'."

Holstering the sword again and going back into spider form, Ash will dash towards the baboon and try to cover one of its feet in sticky webbing, as strong as any spider's silk but hundreds of times as thick to boot. (Basically, just imagine Spider-Man's web). Hopefully, this will trip the ape up, and Ash returns to human form with sword at the ready for when that happens.

[Keeper]

Falling Down the Stairs

Kol knew it! Totally a werewolf...thing. But that's not really a concern right now. He can ask Sune about it later.
For now Kol cycles the mechanism on the spear-gun and fires three more shots before ducking behind a tree so the ape can't tell where the shots are coming from. He'd hate to get pasted by a giant rock.

[Recaiden]

This is just a big forest. He thinks to himself, standing on a cliff, looking down at the rocks and saplings around the edge of this so-called Verdant Sea. What a disappointment.
Still, forests are alright. Could still make a nice place to visit.
And so the man starts hiking down to the trees and the fog.

[Rebonack]

[Getting Your Ankles Wet]

One might think wading into the Verdant Sea wouldn't get one wet since it's just a big forest, but such a one would be wrong. The fog that hangs in the canopy of the forest is dense and damp and does an excellent job of getting the explorer's legs wet. Small birds and the odd rodent scatter at his presence, hiding among the saplings.

Honestly this is probably more of a chore than walking in the deeper parts of the sea since there's space enough to walk. But here in the breakers it's a thick green wall to bushwhack through.

Hopefully the explorer had the good sense to pack a machete.

Whether tromping through wet fog and dense brush counts as a good place to visit remains to be seen. Though if nothing else the small birds following close behind seem happy about the insects he's scaring up.


[The Shallows]

Our 'hero' is met with a very unfriendly sounding voice when he sticks his head through the canvas door.

"Who the hell are you? Where did you come from?" the voice of a man demands. He doesn't make himself seen, though, and it isn't immediately clear where his voice is coming from. There are, after all, quite a few thickets nearby.

Maybe the owner of the mysterious voice knows where to find shoes?


[Falling Down the Stairs]

As the ape slams the ground where Sune was he's pretty disappointed to discover that there's no gooshed werewolves anywhere and instead a raven is flying away. The ape lobs another rock at the bird.

Sune feels like things are going well thus far. No one has been crushed yet and the ape has taken a few hits. That's a start, right? They might even manage to beat the ape on the first try. Sune circles around, lands on the ape's head, and begins pecking him.

Getting pecked by a bird isn't a huge deal.

Getting shot by a pair of spikes is, though. Kol's weapon doesn't fire a fourth time and helpfully informs Kol that it requires kinetic discharge to fabricate more ammunition. In other words? Go poke something with that spear!

The ape turns to go smash Kol, but gets his foot webbed to the pavement! Ooh he really didn't like that. The ape leaps free, taking web and marble slab and everything with him! Careening down out of the sky, the ape tries to crush Ash into jelly.

Even if he misses that block of marble is still going to explode and spray rock chunks everywhere.

[Recaiden]

[Wading into the Sea]

He's been in a not-quite-this-big forest, and knows how damp they can get, so this isn't really a surprise.
And yes, there's a machete in his pack of gear, and quickly enough it's in his hand, hacking aside branches and vines. If this place is completely overgrown, he will just have to blaze a trail!
For now, he doesn't pay any mind to the little birds. It's too early to start hunting them, for sure.

[Gold]

[Falling Down the Stairs]

"This ape is pissing me off!" Ash yells as said ape leaps into the air. Since most people can't reverse direction mid-jump, she'll go spider for the extra speed and try to swiftly crawl under it as it's in midair, meaning she'll hopefully be behind it when it lands. Her low profile while doing this also means she can lie flat afterwards to duck under any flying debris.

[Earl of Purple]

The Shallows

"My name is Adrie. I come from Antwerp, though I was not born there. Do you have any spare shoes? I fear I have misplaced mine." Adrie ramps up his presence, becoming supernaturally trustworthy and persuasive. He's not being subtle about it, either, so if the voice has any way of detecting such an influence upon his emotions, he'd notice. It coincidentally makes Adrie seem more attractive, if the speaker is likely to be attracted to him in the first place.

[Rebonack]

[Wading into the Sea]

Does he need to wait for the birds to get bigger first before he hunts them?

That's not typically how little birds work.

But here in this strange forest maybe little birds DO work that way? There's only really one way to find out.

By going deeper.

It isn't long before the saplings give rise to small trees and now the fog is well and truly thick. It clings to his clothing and obscures his vision, limiting visibility to little more than a few feet at most. He's entered the whiteout; a disorienting experience to be sure. This is why people exploring the Verdant Sea usually cast off from land a little bit before climbing down rather than simply wading in. There can be dangers even in the shallows of the forest and the thick mist makes it difficult to see them coming.

Though the question is...

What, exactly, is he looking for?

Great beasts to hunt?

Treasures to unearth?

Or a simple desire to discover what's in the forest?

Maybe all three?

Regardless of what he's looking for, there's a strong possibility he might blunder into a large spider's web thanks to its coloration matching the fog closely. Yuck.


[The Shallows]

There's a brief pause as the owner of the voice seems to be considering how to respond to that.

"No idea where that is," they finally reply, their voice softening a little. "My old shoes wore out. So did the couple pair I scrounged. This place likes eating shoes. All the sharp roots and things."

That's tragic.

"Had to make my own. If you-"

A beat.

"I can make you a pair? But that'll take time. And resources! A day or two. If you want help you better be able to pull your weight. The forest ain't kind to slackers and laybouts."

Oh!

That's encouraging, right?

[Keeper]

Falling Down the Stairs

Kol continues hiding behind a tree while the ape goes about flailing and throwing marble chunks everywhere.
One. Two. Three.
Okay, then he heads out with the spear with the intent to jab it into the ape's back. There's no point in getting crushed by a big rock just to poke something. Kol's never speared something bigger than a salmon but he at least knows how to hold and poke with it. You just bend your knees a little, hold firm, and thrust. And not die in the process.
Poke.

[Earl of Purple]

The Shallows

"Antwerp is a city. I guess it is quite far from here. Do you happen to know where we are?" Adrie honestly does not know, since he doesn't know where he was imprisoned. It was outside most conventional realities, which is one reason why just jumping from the walkway in desperation led him to the Nexus. "I am willing to pull my weight, yes. I am a jeweller by trade, so I fear I have much to learn." A job requiring a deft touch, rather than long periods of labour.

Earl has realised there's accidentally several anachronisms with Adrie, which are harder than usual to blame on the Nexus, given he's just arrived.

[Recaiden]

[Wading into the Sea]

Exploring the forest would be nice. Walking without a destination, seeing the trees and creatures and all this water - he thinks he'll never get used to how much warm water there is in the Nexus - that would be enough.

Unearthing treasures would be nice, of course, but you don't wander into the woods expecting treasure. You need clues for a proper treasure hunt.

This explorer keeps the machete out in front of him even as the plants thin out and get a little bigger, so the spiderwebs shouldn't-
Ah, it's caught in his antlers! Oh no! Now he's waving around trying to clear it away.

[Rebonack]

[Wading into the Sea]

Ah, just going for a walk then.

There are probably less harrowing places to take walks, but maybe he likes harrowing walks? Clearly he isn't a huge fan of walks with spiderwebs running into one's face. The web, as it happens, holds fast. Which is concerning. Usually when one encounters spider webs a good flailing is all it takes to dislodge them. Also concerning are the dinner plate sized spiders creeping along the web, their bodies glassy and white to render them nearly invisible in the fog.

This is, likely, another reason why people don't wade into the sea. No one is really a fan of large gregarious spiders that catch large animals in their webs. Hopefully he has a good way to dissuade four rather large spiders from nibbling.


[The Shallows]

"Never heard of it," comes the gruff reply. "And this is the Verdant Sea. Or just the forest. Me and me mates got shipwrecked here. Didn't spy a patch of deadwood and fell through."

Adrie might be wondering how one would sail on top of a forest, which is a pretty reasonable thing to wonder.

"All forests lead here, so they say. You get lost somewhere?"

A beat.

"How about you stop squatting in my home and come on out here? We'll have a look at you."


[Falling Down the Stairs]

Ash is getting pretty upset by the ape. That's understandable. It's quite durable and also really aggressive. She manages to skitter around behind it, which is good since getting stomped on would have been pretty bad for her.

Kol decides to go for his masters in pokeology! He jabs the ape in the leg, the head of the spear flaring with white light in the process and creating a wound quite a bit larger than one might have expected from such a small jab. At the same time one of the three white pips in a little triangle pattern on the spear lights up.

Ah!

That must be the ammo counter. Good to know.

Sune, meanwhile, is dislodged thanks to that ape-leap and is flapping around to try to avoid stalling out. He circles above, trying to position himself directly above the ape and once he's pretty happy with his position the big black raven is suddenly a big black werewolf dropping onto the ape from above. He digs his claws into the beast and tries to bite down HARD on the back of its neck.

And the ape?

The ape really isn't happy about any of this.

There's a dog biting him and a fisher-kid spearing him! None of these things are great. So he'll do the only reasonable thing for an ape to do. Start reaching back to try grabbing the bitey dog and pull him off! Which he does! Good for him. Then he'll aim to swat Kol with the bitey dog.

[Earl of Purple]

The Shallows

"Yes, I suppose I did. Alright, I'm coming out now." Adrie pushes the curtain aside and exits the shelter, still holding the stone in his hand. He'll have a look to see where the speaker is, and if they're alone. Perhaps some of his 'mates' survived the wreck as he did. The Dutchman finds himself wondering how they sailed atop the forest, but assumes there was some form of magic involved. They have that glowing Universal box, after all.

[Rebonack]

[The Shallows]

Outside the wrecked ship, wrapped heavily in animal skins such that not an inch of skin is seen, is the speaker. Their form is...

Human.

Roughly.

But there are some lumps and bulges that definitely don't look like they should belong on a human. Also?

They've holding a bow and arrow. Not drawn, but it IS notched. Seems like they figure is still being cautious.

Then?

The figure whistles.

"Well aren't YOU a looker? Jeweler, eh? There are some jewels to be found in the forest but not many folks out looking for things to buy just for the sparkle. Folk more interested in surviving. But I suppose you might do well if you can get out of this hole."

[Recaiden]

[Wading]

Just a walk.
It's hard to find a walk that's not harrowing, actually. As soon as you walk out on-screen, things show up to harrow you, no matter how nice the environment was before.

Anyway, this seems to be one of those spiderwebs, inhabited by serious spiders. The man takes a deep breath, and there's an outpouring of sparks and heat all around him; he fully expects this to boil away a bit of the mist, reduce the spiderwebs to crumpled dust, and probably not be great for any spiders. That's how this usually goes.

If it doesn't, then things will really be interesting.

[Keeper]

Falling Down the Stairs

Kol is whacked by a werewolf!
He goes flying several feet and gets several painful scrapes as he tumbles along the ground! He doesn't seem to be getting up right away.
Hopefully Sune is not an actual werewolf because getting smacked with those is probably bad for your not-being-a-werewolf-ness.

[Earl of Purple]

The Shallows

"Do you know how to get out? I am... not an expert on forestry, and no offence, but I am not used to such a humble abode as this." Being a jeweller in Antwerp's diamond district leads to wealth and opulence, which is one reason why Adrie infiltrated that level of society- though he does have some knowledge in jewellery, it's enough to socialise with the diamond merchants and legitimate jewellers of Antwerp to further his own ends.

[Rebonack]

[Wading]

That's true. The Nexus seems bent on making everyone's life more interesting.

Or exciting.

Or weird.

Or dangerous.

Case in point?

Really big spiders.

It turns out these spiders are not, in fact, supernaturally resistant to heat and find themselves cooked in short order. The web even catches fire and gets incinerated in a flash as webs tend to do. Even burns off the fog a little. This reveals several things at once. First? This web was VERY large and the flames race away to some distance. Second? It reveals more than a few desiccated husks in various states of decay. Mostly small mammals and birds, but a few larger things as well.

Like one human.

There isn't much left of them, just a blackened skeleton, mostly. But they're still wearing attire and a backpack suggesting they were out for a walk, too. Maybe even looking for something specific. And object is tightly clutched in the corpse's bony hands.

Our hero could investigate the corpse, but given the hissing sounds nearby it sounds like the spiders not bereft of their webs aren't very happy. Then again, they'll probably have trouble finding food without their webs. Or they could hurry down that embankment briefly exposed as the fog is pushed back. It looks like getting down just a little lower will get them out of the mist and into more easily seen surroundings.


[The Shallows]

"Out?" the mariner snorts. "Only way I know how to navigate is by the stars. Can't see 'em with the trees and the fog. No way of knowin' where the nearest mountain is. Now, if there were some way to get up above the fog I could chart a course, probably. But there are some nasty things that lurk up high like that and it's a good way to get ate."

No one likes getting ate

"We already tried it once. Was three of us that survived the fall. One of 'em got grabbed by one of those flyin' bears."

You know flying bears, right?

The bears that fly?

Those are normal things.

[Recaiden]

[Wading]

Oh wow. These spiders had quite an operation going.

The visitor will hurry over to the human-sized bundle and try to cut it down from the larger web using a knife from his belt. Even if the victim has been mostly eaten, better to get the remains out of here and down the embankment.

[Gold]

[Falling Down the Stairs]

It is time for Ash to do something awesome, she thinks.

"I call this one: your mother!" Ash turns into a spider and fires a strand of silk from her hind legs, aimed at the ape's lower back. If it connects, Ash will use it to zip herself onto the ape's lower back. Then, while still on the monkey's back, she'll turn back into a human, raise her sword, and try to sever the creature's spinal column. Brutal, but hopefully effective.

[Rebonack]

[Wading]

Big gregarious spiders can make some equally big webs! Unfortunately for the webs being big doesn't make them any more resistant to getting incinerated. The knife, however, proves to be far less effective at cutting through the drag-lines that are holding the mummified corpse in place. Trying to cut through the web mostly just causes it to stretch. No good! And the vibrations caused by pulling at it will no doubt attract other spiders hanging out on THIS web. It seems like all the webs weren't connected, preventing the flames from blazing through the whole colony. Or, at least, they're only connected tentatively enough to stop the fire.

Probably a good idea, even in a forest as damp as this one.

Getting the corpse down will probably require burning through the webs again. But whatever our hero does best be done quickly because more spiders are coming.


[Falling Down the Stairs]

Rebo would be hard pressed to think of any situation where someone become a werewolf because they got slapped by a werewolf being used as a club. Usually that requires bites. And Sune definitely didn't bite Kol. It's also questionable whether or not Sune is actually a werewolf in the Wolfman sense.

Regardless!

THWACK!

Sune really isn't very happy about getting flailed around and manages to catch hold of the ape's arm before CRONCH!ing its wrist pretty hard. The ape howls and releases the wolf, sending him tumbling across the paving stones and into one of the marble columns. Ouch.

Then Ash does some cool spider tricks! Web zipline! Sword attack! Smack that ape right in the back!

Turns out the ape's hide is obscenely tough and while the sword stroke does cause some injury it does NOT chop through the spine. Definitely a cool trick, though! The ape is getting REALLY fed up with all of these people leaping onto his back and proceeds to EXPLODE in a roiling blast of emerald green energy, the shockwave likely enough to launch Ash away. The blast is primarily concussive in its effect, through the raw primal power will likely leave Ash feeling uncomfortably tingle as if her everything had fallen asleep.

[Earl of Purple]

The Shallows

Flying bears. Well, sure. Who is Adrie to judge? Does make his chances of escaping much slimmer, though, so perhaps he won't find a nice settlement for his children. Still, this gentleman might at least be a start...

"And... your other companion? What happened to them?" Adrie looks around, just to make sure there's no one lurking in the undergrowth trying to hide. As Adrie's sight is roughly on par with an actual human's, this is not a perfect endeavour.

[Rebonack]

[The Shallows]



Standing outside the wrecked ship and peering around Adrie won't see the other companion. Mostly because-

"They're around. Got an arrow trained on you just in case you were a manticore," the figure states matter of factually. "But you weren't and all you got is that rock you're hefting so I imagine you aren't that much of a threat."

Hey!

Humans with rocks are still pretty dangerous!

Also why would they have thought Adrie is a manticore?

That seems weird.

Then?

The figure makes that trilling bird noise.

A few seconds later a similar trill follows.

"Ayup. She's still got an eye on things. Why don't you set that rock down, eh?"

[Earl of Purple]

The Shallows

"I can assure you, I am indeed not a manticore." There's another? Might make things trickier, for the seeming-human jeweller. Or it might be another opportunity. "Very well, I do not think I have much of a choice." Adrie crouches down and places the rock by his foot, before straightening up and raising his hands palm-out to show there's nothing in them. He might be disarmed, but he doesn't seem nervous at the prospect of perhaps getting shot by an arrow.

[Recaiden]

[Wading]

Well, he's a bit out of breath after burning the spiders the first time.
So what this guy does is try to pry away the item that the web victim had in their hands and then flee the web area, heading deeper down into the woods.

[Rebonack]

[Wading]

Prying the item out of the fingers of the desiccated corpse doesn't prove to be terribly difficult. It's a brittle, fragile thing and the object comes away along with a few fingers shortly before our hero goes scrambling down the embankment to get out of the fog. And what greets him once he stumbles to a halt?

Ruins.

But there are always ruins in strange places like this, right?

Pillars of brownish sandstone holding up a stepped roof bearing carvings that were perhaps once elaborate but have been worn away by time. The ruins have partly sunk into a boggy marsh, bits of stone sticking out of the long grass and mud. Water trickles from the mash, running UP a hill nearby and vanishing over its crest.

The object taken from the corpse?

A bit of brown sandstone about the size of one's palm, shards of glowing magenta crystal sticking out of one end.

There are several large stone boxes sticking out of the bog here and there. And the ruins themselves might have something interesting inside. And of course there's also the mystery of the water flowing uphill. What will our hero investigate?




[The Shallows]

Really there probably isn't a single person who likes getting shot with arrows.

It's all around an unpleasant experience.

"There you are, nice and easy," the figure says.

And shortly after that comes a TWANG from a bow as an arrow goes whizzing toward Adrie.

Recall that there were bones scattered about.

Including human bones.

These people, as it turns out, aren't nice.