etrayalogs | SOLMARA

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SOLMARA

⏵ LEAVING ETRAYA ⏴

Whilst most individuals will be making their way to Camp Etraya, the select few that have volunteered (and those who Aurora chose to be the fifteen she could support travel for) will be directed to come to the hospital, where a portal made of a swirling purple energy awaits. Aurora will meet them beside it, several backpacks placed by her feet by companion bots on their way out to their camp duties.

"I'm sorry I cannot be of more assistance," Her voice is soft, hesitant in a way Aurora generally is not. "I would send my back up in this body to accompany you, but I am... using an extensive amount of my own resources just to keep this portal open, and I want to ensure our city is safe, too." Each name has a name on it, or a symbol that represents the character it has been brought for. For those who do not recognize their packs, Aurora will lift them and offer them out herself. They all contain basic survival needs, including breather masks, modular tool kits, hydration capsules, thermal cloaks, solar-charged lanterns, ration packets, medkits, as well as items specific to them that they may require - medication they may require, sunscreen, anything Aurora could think of that they may need that she could pack away.

Once they've all gathered their packs, she raises a hand to gesture them towards the portal.

"Your earpieces will continue to function, but will not be able to reach outside of their protective barrier. I understand some of you may have the means to communicate over long distances without the assistance of technology or magic," her eyes linger on Nate Grey momentarily, before she addresses the group as a whole once more, "And I would, if you can, lean on that to reach out to those who remain behind. While they may be on their own mission, I have left it... open, as best as I am able to. I wish all of you the best of luck. And please do be careful - I cannot guarantee your return from death should anything happen to you on Solmara."

Lips press together tightly. Aurora hesitates, before offering, "I would, if you could, keep a look out for Ithaqua. He is still registering as one of mine, but I have not been able to find him within Etraya."

The portal awaits them. Aurora will still be beside it to answer any further questions as best as she can, but she cannot step through alongside them.

⏵ OUTSKIRTS ⏴

Once they've stepped through the portal, they will find themselves in a small forested area full of barren trees called the Mirkwood Strip. Even the air in Solmara smells different: stale, and musty, despite how dry the environment around them looks. Where Etraya was covered in greenery, Solmara is covered in sand. It's a ruin of torn up roads, steel skeletons where buildings had once been, and jury-rigged machinery can be found throughout the city bubble. Scorched earth beneath a blood-orange sky, it barely feels habitable, let alone like a place for those competing to save their own worlds. Its outskirts are near-empty, full of those who have left Alrys' good graces and a few patrols to keep the half-starved deserters from rising up against her.

There are a few individuals wandering among old buildings who may look a little less torn up: city bubbles are initially designed to suit those who will be arriving, after all, and some of these citizens look at home in sands and heat, even if the lack of nutrition is less than ideal. Some don't require it, but are fed by the bright light in the sky itself.

Everyone outside the large barrier Alyrs has put up around the hospital and the numerous buildings around it are either fighters, scavengers, or left over torn-apart corpses, waiting to be revived or worse: too torn apart to be revived in their original bodies. Either way: most this far out will know they aren't meant to be here if they blend in well enough: Alrys may have eyes on the hospital to look for any new arrivals, but outside of her scouts, who would know?

If they wander closer to the barrier surrounding the city, they may find small cracks in the shell that protects them from the planet's hostile environment - not quite big enough to fit an entire body, but big enough to pry open so one could make it out. Perhaps this is where the warning of the incoming Solmarans had come from: someone slipping out and trekking across the planet to leave behind the banner.

Where Etraya has wildlife, Solmara has predators. Large creatures hide amongst the dunes, in the trees, the caves, and mountains, just waiting for the opportunity to get a nice-sized bite out of an unfortunate traveler.

⏵ SOLMARA ⏴

But they didn't arrive here as tourists: the Etrayans came with a mission: figure out what's wrong with Borealis, and free the citizens of Alrys' control. And do so so - they'll need to get passed Alrys' defenses, break through the gates she and her people have put around the main buildings, and infiltrate the hospital.

This is where her defenses are strongest, where they will find multiple groups of her soldiers ready to take them on, if they aren't careful to avoid them. And just like Etraya: they have a varied bunch. Some are strong, powerful. Some may be able to see the Etrayans moves two steps before they decide to make them, may be able to easily remove them from the equation.

But the further they get, the more hesitant her forces may seem. Those who had been on Solmara previously will note: this isn't normal. Something's wrong here, different.

⏵ NOTES ⏴

This log is only for the characters chosen to visit Solmara, as discussed with Aurora.

Please feel free to reference Ashlee's map, as this is what we will be using to guide characters through Solmara!

As mentioned previously, we mods will be watching this post closely and will be guiding characters along to assist them in getting to their goal. Our intention will be to boomerang tags back as quickly as possible, until this mission is finished. To this end, we ask that any tag that you want the mods to respond to directly have "@mods" in the subject line, so we don't step in when it's not our time yet, and don't miss anything directed our way.

Feel free to respond to this log in any format that works for you! We would recommend breaking up into smaller teams to make navigating the city easier, but do ask that you keep to at least teams of two or more, to make it easier for us mods and allow your character to have interactions that aren't just against NPCs/mod tags providing guidance on moving forward.

If an OOC thread of what happens as characters move forward is easier for your group, please begin that in the mod queries comment on the Solmara Plotting Post. We'll get back to these threads as quickly as possible, too. This can be used to ask a question such as "What if Accelerator sneaks in passed the barrier and tries to blend in as a guard, what could he find?", "What monster is outside of Murkwood and how would they respond to intruders?", or something like "Max will be going up to some of Alrys' guard and reporting he was able to successfully complete the mission, how will they respond and can he get to Alrys directly like this?"

For all questions relating to this log, please refer to the Solmara Plotting Post. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ.

⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

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[Accelerator listens to the entire explanation quietly, committing it all to memory. It all seems a bit ridiculous, honestly. Is it just because things have gone so far south that even the environment has gone nuts, or is this just someone's idea of a joke? It's hard to tell.

When he speaks up he's sounding a bit irritated.]

That's a hell of a lot of dangerous animals for a place that isn't populated naturally. [Wildlife can be dangerous, sure, but this is excessive levels of "everything wants to kill us."] Even Eos' city wasn't this bad.

[Eos basically just had Im'mari to watch out for, which was bad, but it was otherwise a fairly normal place.]

Does the place have any extreme weather anomalies we should know about, too?

[Max shrugs, looking less than concerned with the amount of danger. He's so utterly used to a completely hostile landscape that it never once crossed his mind it was more insane than anything else he'd endured after the world had burned up.]

Was suprised by the state of Etraya. Cleaner, safer. Night and day difference.

[It's certainly one of the reasons he didn't want to return to Solmara.

But obligations. Even he commits to 'em, sometimes.]

Real cold at night, real hot in the day. Sandstorms on occasion, like with any place like this. And the water's no good in a lot of places. Marked on the map the best places to get it, but I'd recommend avoiding any still water unless you've got a way to test it yourself.

[From what Aurora has told them, the bubble cities should be safe. Unless the other AI weren't programmed to be caretakers like she was... but that would be strange. If Echo is supposedly testing them, then wouldn't they want them resting and regaining their strength in between missions?

He isn't sure at this point. It all seems unusual. At least the weather sounds like relatively normal desert weather, aside from the water issue.]

Great, we'll either need to filter the water, if that's even possible, or bring our own water with us. [What a pain in the ass.]

[ Dimitri hates to interject, but here he is: interjecting. ]

I believe Gore Gug mentioned he has flasks which refill with water each day among his magic items. I think they are meant for bartering, but perhaps we may want to utilize them as well…

[Accelerator pauses to squint a bit at Dimitri. Not because he's going to argue with him, but - he looks younger than the last time he saw him. It's a little jarring.]

.... Yeah. If we don't know how fucked up the water is, we might not be able to filter any of it. I can make it rain, but if that kind of weather isn't typical for the bubble it might alert those fuckers.

[ Accelerator’s gaze lasts long enough causing Dimitri’s eyebrows raise and wonder if the man needs glasses… but whatever it is the other seems to set it aside. ]

Indeed, we should take caution and assume we won’t have access to any drinkable water. If I were as cruel as the enemy is stated to be I would either have outside water sources watched or tampered with.

[ Especially since control and subjugation seem to be the name of Alrys’ game. ]

But we may be able to use that weather control [ he can hardly believe that is something a person can do ] as some sort of distraction/diversion tactic.

[Accelerator gives a small nod.]

A distraction won't be a problem. [Especially if Solmara is all desert. He isn't sure if gigantic supercell thunderstorms are the norm in that kind of environment, but probably not? At the very least he can make something that stands out.

Anyways, this is now bothering him, so he has to ask.]

..... Did you get younger?

[He's pretty sure the last time he saw Dimitri he was more adult-y, but right now he's barely looking older than himself.]

[ Dimitri nods and ponders if maybe they should set out barrels to catch the rain water for the civilians when Accelerator breaks his train of thought. ]

Uhm. I beg your pardon?

[ Not only does Dimitri look younger, he is a few inches shorter and seems to once more have use of both his eyes. Unless he had just worn the eyepatch for kicks… surely not during combat though. ]

[Accelerator waves a hand.]

The last time I saw you you were taller. People don't usually shrink unless they're super old.

[And Dimitri isn't quite that old. He inclines his head slightly.]

So what the hell?

I… [ he breaths out a single nervous laugh ] am afraid I don’t know what sort of joke you’re trying to tell.

[ Dimitri doesn’t think he saw Accelerator on Aphaia… and he hasn’t seen him before this meeting… It doesn’t seem like the man is making fun of him, but he’s been wrong before. ]

I'm not joking. Do I look like the kind of fucking person who makes jokes?

[Okay that's unfair, he does make jokes sometimes. Bad, groan worthy ones.

He isn't right now though, and he stares harshly at Dimitri.]

Did Echo kick you back to your universe?

[ Dimitri’s eyebrows raise once again, but he doesn’t look offended at all by the cussing and attitude. In fact, he’s temped to say yes, but feels like it might not be well received.

It’s all the same though, Dimitri really only laughs at the jokes that are so bad, so groan worthy, they end up being funny again. Surely this bright young man tells jokes more clever.

It seems like he is meant to not understand Accelerator because he keeps saying things which make no sense. Dimitri doesn’t even know who Echo is; lady Aurora didn’t have time to explain much before he was ushered into Aphaia. ]

…If they did would I be able to tell?

[Accelerator continues to stare, lips turned downwards in a slight scowl. If this is a joke then he's really, really bad at it. At least he's willing to explain a little? It's better than nothing.]

Not necessarily. I've talked to people who remember being here, got sent home and came back. There have also been people who were here but don't remember it, went home, and came back.

[He doesn't have enough data to tell whether or not it's a deliberate choice by Echo, some kind of pattern, or if it's just completely random.]

[ Dimitri gets a pensive look the more Accelerator elaborates. ]

Hm. Well, that’s fascinating. [ if a little horrifying in the scope of this Echo’s power ] So, I was here prior, yet older? [ and taller, apparently ] Meaning they can reach through the time stream and pluck us at any point in our lives then…

[ This is surprising news on all accounts as he didn’t imagine he would live that long. ]

.....

[So he doesn't remember being here before. That's unsettling. The same had happened with Connor when he came back.

Accelerator nods slowly, then asks a pointed question.]

Do you remember me at all?

Heard of special tablets. Something that purifies water.

We probably had something like that, back in my world. Long time ago.

[But he'd never really got his hands on anything like that in his life. You just kinda hope that the water you're consuming his safe, or you die bent over your steering wheel somewhere in the middle of nowhere from sickness. One of the two.]

[Huh, okay, he isn't a survivalist type so he's clueless here, but his best guess is that the tablets must cause some chemical reaction that kills harmful bacteria and the like without being strong enough to hurt a person. There could be some fancier method he doesn't know about, though.]

If that's the case we could try asking Aurora for some. It couldn't hurt.

[He folds his arms, rolling a small piece of chalk between his fingers.]

... Must be nice, having an AI that willingly provides.

[Can't relate. Totally bullshit, leaving them so high and dry.]

[Accelerator clicks his tongue lightly.]

We're lucky to have her.

[Not everyone agrees with him, and he finds that annoying.]

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SOLMARA

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