Starborn Oddessey (Mastergryph and Whitebrand)

[MasterGryph]

Something had to be up, but she couldn't tell what. In the meantime, she split the snake meat into separate servings and handed some over to him.

"...Thinking about it, hunger and tiredness are the only limits on our schedule we can measure," she says, "Hurrying so much that either of us gets killed is the worst thing we can do."

[Whitebrand]

Brand ate a couple of mouthfuls and immediately felt better.

“If you say so,” he said. “You’re probably right. I’ll rest up a bit then get you more stuff. I’ll use less of my magic from now on, I think. That should extend my range a bit.”

He sat, letting himself regain his powers.

“So...what are your hobbies? Favorite color? What keeps you from boredom?”

[MasterGryph]

"Haven't had time to find one," Celie responded, "Exploration and constant deadly risk keep boredom away so far. Favorite color... Orange?" she shrugged. "I'd like to take care of animals, If I find any that don't try to eat me."


As Whitebrand rested, he began to figure out why he wasn't able to draw mana from the world. He was familiar with how planes and demiplanes worked, but this place was not only pure artifice, but not a plane at all. It wasn't even inside one - though it clearly was able to maintain livable conditions in spite of that.

His last hop through the emptiness between worlds had never left it.

Furthermore, most of the life in this place was inside the forest. Not all of it, but there wasn't much to draw on where he sat (at least, not through the usual methods).

[Whitebrand]

Brand’s eyes widened as he realized the implications of his situation. Someone had created a space in the space between spaces! Someone very powerful and very desperate. Interesting indeed. And this poor girl was caught in the middle...so to speak.

“I like orange too,” Brand said. “Okay...ready for round two. I’ll do some more scouting around and see what I can find. Might need to bring down a tree or two...tools and resources...and doing a bit of mapping. I’m sure you’d like to be able to get out a bit more yourself into the safer areas so...”

Brand got up and stretched. It looked like he’d have to use the blunt force method for awhile...but as a dragon he had nearly limitless amounts of that. Not to mention a hide that could deflect the mightiest swords and spears. Anything that this place dared to throw at him he was sure he could handle.

[MasterGryph]

"Good luck. And don't get the tablet broken," She said, using the sink to wash up after eating.

Now, the forest was the closest to what Whitebrand was familiar with, but the side hallways and shut doors would no doubt have challenges of other sorts what would need to be faced eventually.

[Whitebrand]

Brand would spend the next hour tracing out the local corridors, trying to memorize their patterns and get used to the alien nature of the place. Here and there he would scratch a symbol into the metal to keep himself from getting lost. The dragon avoided rooms he found until he felt he could navigate his immediate area with confidence. If he had to chase something or retreat for some reason he had no intention to get lost.

[MasterGryph]

As his search progressed, he found what must have been one of Celie's predecessors lying dead of electrical burns next to some exposed wiring. Unfortunately, she had very recently lured in another predator. Midway through engulfing her was a large red ooze which had glued a collection of broken and mismatched metal parts to itself to form a kind of protective shell.

Oozes, no matter their nature, tended to have power matching their size. This one clearly outstripped anything else he'd seen in this place so far (besides himself, of course).

Scavenger Slime, O14, 145/145

Corna Dos, C1, DEAD/2

As the ooze decided that the new intruder was a threat, a cylinder built into its armor glowed and shot a bolt of energy at the disguised dragon.

[Whitebrand]

Brand couldn’t dodge an energy beam. The blast took him square in the chest. The result burned through his tunic and left a scorch mark on his skin. Brand’s eyes widened in outrage.

“I felt that!” Brand roared as he lunged forward to grab the deadly cylinder, meaning to tear it free of the thing. The dragon ripped the cylinder free and plunged it back into the story of the slime-thing like he might a dagger. Not content with that, he instinctively opened his mouth and fired a sizzling bolt of lightning into the metal, intending to cook the disgusting thing.

[MasterGryph]

The strange weapon wasn't built for direct slashing and stabbing, which meant it was easy to tear off and break compared to the rest of the armor. The slime boiled and shrieked under the electrical assault, but wasn't killed yet. Instinctively, it switched to a melee approach, protruding large pseudopods from under it's shell and smacking it's enemy with them.

[Whitebrand]

Brand took the pummeling with a couple of annoyed grunts. The dragon-man blasted the slime with his breath weapon again. The thing didn’t have any vital organs so he didn’t bother tearing into its main body. He swiped at the tendrils and tore a few free of the thing, scattering its mass around the hallway.

Brand quickly found himself caught up in the thrill of the fight, roaring as he slashed with his claws and electrifying the blob. He only got into trouble when one of the tentacles was mounted with a chuck of metal. The impact of that into the side of his head knocked a bit of sense into his head and he started fighting smarter.

[MasterGryph]

After a long and brutal struggle the slime died and collapsed into inanimate goo and debris. It was no match for the disguised dragon's superior resilience.

Now the question was what to do next. The slime had left a clear trail, so Whitebrand could investigate where it had come from if he chose to. The corpse of the previous investigator was still in good shape and might be worth a closer look. Or it might be better to retreat back to the bedroom as a reasonably safe place to rest.

[Whitebrand]

Brand decided to examine the unfortunate woman. The trail could wait. He suspected that the woman’s death was accidental, but he wanted to be sure. He wanted to see if there were any clues about what she had been doing and what had killed her.

[MasterGryph]

It seemed that she had been working with an exposed wall panel - still sparking even now - with some tools she found which were part metal, and part something else. It was no surprise that it had gone poorly. Yet, a miraculous success would surely have been worthwhile.

[Whitebrand]

Brand, of course, had no idea what she had been trying to do. It was something of a revelation to him that the wires in the wall channeled electricity. This led to all kinds of possibilities...that he might put to use whenever he escaped from this place. It must have been important...and the tools she had been using were poor choices to use to handle live electricity. Had he been here there would have been little he could have done to save her.

"I'm sorry, Miss," Brand said as he made sure her eyes were closed. He stood up and looked at the slime trail. The slime represented a threat, and Brand couldn't be sure that it had been the only one. Careful to mark his own trail, Brand began tracing the slime back to its origins.

[MasterGryph]

The slime trail led through a side hallway with a wide open door. Past it was a corridor with even worse lighting, where the pipes, wires, and support beams behind the standard walls were no longer covered up. It was clear that this wasn't a place where people were expected to go unnecessarily.

The slime had come from in there, and there might be something useful stashed away. On the other hand, he could close the door to make it less likely for another one to crawl out.

[Whitebrand]

Unwilling to leave the sole survivor helpless, Brand entered and mostly closed the door behind him. A sphere of light appeared in one hand as he looked around...careful to watch the ceiling and corners in case of more slime creatures. The dragon began searching the room, staying wary of exposed wires like the ones that had killed the poor girl.

[MasterGryph]

For now, the wires were visible, but wrapped in insulation. Dust and oil - including the slime trail - stained parts of the floor.

As the search continued, he began finding metalic instruments that the ooze had overlooked. Screwdrivers, wrenches, a locker shoved into a corner...

[Whitebrand]

Brand at least recognized the tools as tools. He began gathering them up until he spotted the locker. He set down what he’d gathered in a neat pile and walked over to the locker. Just in case, he raped on the door.

“If anyone’s in there,” he said. “I’m going to open the door. Don’t hit me.”

He opened the locker...

[MasterGryph]

Inside the locker turned out to be several sets of bodysuits - made of a stretchy fabric that seemed like it would fit to the form of the wearer (provided they were humanoid). One would expect that it would have special protective qualities, but if so it wasn't clear what they might be.

[Whitebrand]

Brand added the bodysuits to the tools and carried the entire armload back to “base”. The weight wasn’t really a problem, the difficulty was on keeping everything in his arms at the same time. When he arrived he set the things down and bought out the tablet.

“Okay,” Brand said to the magic tablet. “These items I’ve set down in front of me...I’ve divided them between the things I know their uses and the things I don’t. I need you to educate me about the things I don’t know about.”