ximilia | Video | un: Stardust | another good ol' info dump :)

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Video | un: Stardust | another good ol' info dump :)

[Zigmal the Wanderer, little tiefling paladin, here to report her findings.]

I met Alena, one of the prior members of the Songbird Brigade —

And instead of being productive and explaining what happened to you guys, I decided to learn from teenagers that are more modern than me and record it all during the talk. It's just a little easier when you all have a first person view of what we spoke about.

[The video recording starts when Ziggy enters the remains of the Dwarven City standing in the tunnels — and then proceeds with her nearly falling off the crumbling bridge. Luckily, her tail catches her and saves her from totally splattering somewhere far, far below! But that's where Alena comes along, teleporting her out of the place and to some altar on the mountainside, where the remnants of a campfire had been left.

The conversation that follows is collected from Ziggy's point of view, looking toward Alena as they discuss the king's potential power trip, the discontentment of his people, the alleged betrayal of Ellia... and their conversation that seems to leave Alena somewhat enlightened, or at least thoughtful of what really happened all that time ago. Either way, maybe a useful dialogue for the crew to be privy to...!

The video ends with this scene:

"... I believe you," Alena says, her golden eyes just as serious. "I have been suspecting the monsters are not natural. And your information about the king — well. I've heard rumours that the discontent of the people of Alydhion was only spoken of once the heirloom was gone. Almost like the entire country suddenly woke to the real state of things overnight."

So if the king had been using the heirloom to make sure the people did not complain... Alena grits her teeth.

"Whatever the case, we must find Ellia, and we must find the heirloom. It may be with her, or it may not — but one thing is certain... an object of such evil can't be allowed to exist in this land."

Slowly, Alena kneels next to Ziggy, her armour seeming as if alight as the flames reflect off it. She reaches her hand to gently hold Ziggy's in her own. "I swear, I will not rest until the thing is found and destroyed. You have given me hope that perhaps we were not betrayed, after all. I will share this hope with my friends. If Ellia did take it, I want to think it was to stop it from ending back to the king's possession."

Then, she smiles — wide and radiant. "Blessed be Rahiel, for placing you on my path. You have given me hope, Ziggy. For that, I sincerely thank you."

Ziggy smiles in return, relieved in contrast to Alena's. Thank fucking god, she doesn't say out loud. She
replies, "My party has a way to remove it from here completely. This heirloom, it can't be destroyed, but it can be sent away somewhere no one in Alydhion can use it." A nod, and a squeeze of Alena's hands in return before she adds, "If you need any back-up, just reach out for me — I'll stick around The Endless Ballard. I know my party would offer any of their services if it means keeping the heirloom from being used again — and making the land safer."

Because really, a lot of them want that most of all. The orb is just some shitty orb. Sure, it's the first priority, but this is Degar's home. And for some people who aren't Ziggy Berman, home really can be a wonderful place. Ziggy says, "Is there somewhere you'd start? In looking for Ellia. Maybe I can do a little sneaking and find some clues myself."

"Cannot be destroyed?" Alena's voice betrays her incredulity, but then — it seems to be a magical object with near-unlimited power. It is not a surprise it would resist any attempts to stop it from existing. "Yes, I will. I'm going to talk to my friends. We tracked down the heirloom once already... we can do it again. I will let you know once we have any leads."

She rises again, heading towards the altar, and glances back at Ziggy.

"Hm... my suspicion is that if she remains in Alydhion, she is in disguise. Otherwise, I would look for her either in Ithrynne, where many Elves choose to live, or her homeland of South Naelor." She climbs to the altar, and bends her head, murmuring a prayer. "I will see you again, little Wanderer," she says with a smile, before a divine light from the sky envelops her — and in just a moment, she is gone.

After the video, Ziggy speaks up again:]

Apparently if we want to find Ellia, Ithrynne or South Naelor would be a good place to start.

She might not have the heirloom... but at least we could rule her out, right?

Maybe even set the record straight for the brigade. Either way, this — this is all good, right?

This is a step in a good direction?

[She did her best. Hopefully it makes a difference for the rest of you guys.]

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Joric said the animals sensed something unpleasant south of the forests of Gha'har. Which would put it near the border of both of those countries.

As for the king... It sounds like he had- or possibly has a bargain with the orb. The only question is what he payed for it, and if said bargain holds enough to interfere with our retrieval.

Then that's somewhere we should definitely visit, huh?

Nothing screams 'I'm an orb over here' like unpleasant feelings.

[At least the orbs give them something to track. Kinda.]

Kings are all about power 90% of the time, right? If he's not dead, I can't imagine he's the kind of guy who would have a bargain with an end date... but you never know, I guess....

If we're lucky, there's some condition or clause that can be used to end it.

If not... perhaps every bard can cast a charm spell at once?

... I didn't even think of that.

Our bards could literally just. Charm the pants off people.

Exactly. And there's another cantrip that might help as well.

A cantrip? Right, the little spells we can do, or whatever. I don't think I have one that'd do much good. One's an acid thing, one's a light thing, and one's a boom thing.

[#eloquent]

Well. All of those are useful. And we don't have a good record of ending missions without a fight.

It's rare that people aren't totally compromised in some way by the orb, yeah.

They'll fight for it tooth and nail. I can't always blame them, either.

True. For all that they're dangerous, part of the reason is that most of them will give people what they want in a way that satisfies them. Even if they make everyone else miserable.

[Not always though- there have certainly been cases where the orbs have been outright cruel.]

Yeah. But... how much slack do we give someone who risks everything for the orb?

Even the people around them.

There's got to be... I don't know. Some line you can't cross, or else you'll be the villain in the story.

[You could take full video? ]

This is so smart, Z, why weren’t we all doing this the whole time? Notes for next time, guys!

[ Finn’s interests had admittedly drifted more and more toward the mystery of the Songbird Brigade, and the strife between them that seemed as common as it was extraordinary. The orb…that mattered too, but. Well, he found it hard to ignore the more personal part of the mission. ]

I know the orb is why we’re here and all, but…I feel like helping these guys figure out what happened is also important. If something made this happen…got between them…maybe they can get some, I dunno. Closure? [ He didn’t need to be told that this was probably naive. ]

It feels like a step in the right direction.

[... Z????

... She'll allow it. It's too bad 'F' is a terrible nickname.]

Smart, lazy -- either way, it helps to just show you guys exactly how it went.

I feel like I'd have left something obvious out otherwise.

[She leans in on her hand, smiling.]

Heroic type, yeah. I like helping the people on the worlds we're in, too.

... Mostly. When the people involved aren't total assholes.

[Oof, she's got him pegged. Finn's grateful for the audio, 'cuz he suddenly seems unsure of what to do with his hands. Or face.]

Heh, yeah, well. Y'know. [Heroic type, like she said.] These people seem pretty non-asshole, though. Right?

[Aw, listen to you cuss. Keep it up!]

So far?

... No, they seem pretty clean. But not every nice face stays nice, right? We just have to be careful not to end up in a vulnerable spot, just because a local's being good to us. Not to mention, they might think we're here for some nefarious reason.

[He’s not the language police, it’s local culture!]

We’re not, NOT here for nefarious reasons. From a certain angle, we are snatching their orb for our own use. [A joke, truly. He doesn’t know what the other missions were like.] But yeah, careful. Seems like something this group excels at.

Trust me, the orbs tend to do more damage than we ever will.

[Even on Viv's planet. They killed some guards when they should've took the rebellion's lead, and they overstayed a welcome they didn't technically ever have, but it's not like they're the ones who poisoned the water supplies and had built up a dystopian society where people were put in explosive collars. Like. There are levels.

Orb and bad guy business, right there.]

I mean, I don't know if I totally trust the orbs to actually help us anyway.

But better a few of us on a ship get screwed over than entire civilizations.

Yeah, true. I mean, we at least signed up for this griz. [Moreorless. Certainly more than anyone on these planets did; they were just trying to go about their lives, totally unaware of any magical orb that might wreck their whole lives.]

So, uh. What if we don’t get the orb? Like what happens if we just can’t find it, or…I dunno. Can’t get it back for whatever reason. Has that ever happened?

Edited 2023-02-08 04:43 (UTC)

[A soft sigh.]

Well... It hasn't happened, no.

But if it did, I imagine we'd just... have to stay until we've got it. If they're still here, they're still in play. And we don't have a choice but to retrieve them. If even one of them gets left behind, the final big-ass orb or whatever can't complete our requests.

Dude, that’s kinda bunk. [ He thinks back on Sabriel, her injuries, how dangerous this place was turning out to be. Or maybe he was just frustrated he hadn’t been able to help more. It could be two things.]
We just stay here until we get the orb or we all die? That’s the big plan?

[ He feels a passing flicker of annoyance with Degar and Viveca. Perhaps a little misplaced annoyance, but who else was there to target? They signed up for this themselves.

A heavy sigh.]

I guess we have to make sure this happens. This place is fun and all, but I miss hot showers.

Edited 2023-02-10 05:45 (UTC)

Super bunk.

But we don't really have much of a choice. The orbs have to be retrieved. And as far as I can remember, I don't even think we can be taken off the planet without the orb. Something about the orb providing the tether or battery for the retrieval, or something...

[A pause.]

We're not going to die, though. We're made of tougher stuff than that.

[Even her.

She's learned as much all these months. That she's tougher than she looks.]

We'll get the orb. I predict hot showers in everyone's near future.

[Nothing like no choice to make the path forward seem clear. Finn offers a thumbs up, wobbling it a little for comedic effect.]

Let's get that asshole, homie.

[The... orb is the asshole. He's still working on the syntax. He'll get there.]

Nice job, kid.

Thanks!

I'd like to think I'm actually picking up some helpful skillsets on these missions.

... Though sometimes it also just feels like I'm learning how to be a decent criminal.

It could be a little bit of both. Know how to pick a lock yet?

I'm a little rusty at it, but I've done it before.

It's just a lot harder than they make it look in movies.

Can be, yeah. Just need the right tools.

Or just kick the door down. That’s pretty efficient.

Oh, it's easy for you to kick a door down.

You're, like, super tall and somehow keep muscle on with that diet!

I feel like you could kick a door down with those chicken legs.

It’s because of my diet I’m a meaty badass.

Right. So I should start basing my diet on yours.

And I totally don't have chicken legs!

Let me kick you right on the ass to prove it.

Obviously.

[ she totally has chicken legs ]

It's a compliment, kid. [ sorta ]

I'd hate to see what your insults sound like...

Just try not to insult the wrong person around here. For some reason I can envision you behind bars for bad behavior.

Me? I've never been behind bars in my life.

[ narrator: this was, in fact, a lie. ]

[ he just bursts into laughter, sorry yeah he's got nothin' ]

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Video | un: Stardust | another good ol' info dump :)

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