Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

No signs of anything helpful...
...until she stumbles across a small hidden bubble underneath the ice.

The only sign that's remotely helpful is the giant castle off to the side and the hospital's red cross.

 

Gaia gently swims up to the bubble, looking inside.

 

"Tell me if you see a shop, or an inn. I'd rather ask an official than intrude on a random person's day."
"Do shopkeepers not count as random?"
"Well, they do, but a bit of their job is talking."
"Alright, I'll tell you if I see one."
We walk along the road, looking at the buildings.

 

There's a sealed lesser god in the bubble, obviously unresponsive to Gaia's presence.

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House, house, bar, house, local grocer...
...that should do it.

 

I look at Crystal, making sure he sees what I see, and he does. We walk into the grocer, looking around.

 

It's mostly empty, hold a worker restocking shelves.
"Oh, hello. Nice to see new faces here! Did you just move or are you visiting?"

 

Gaia seems unsure about releasing the god, but after some thinking, she decides to pop the bubble, swimming back hastily to a safe distance.

 

"Just visiting, we were hoping to get some answers, would you mind us taking a few seconds of your time?"
I ask politely, Crystal deciding it'd be best just to let me take care of this so far.

 

The bubble slowly mends itself, refreezing like the surface.

"S'long as one of those questions isn't where the money's at!" They respond. "Heh, that aside, how can I help?"

 

I smile at the joke, and Crystal does, too.
"It's about something we saw on our way here. It was just two letters, not really any other context. 'N-E' were the letters, and we were thinking they might be directions, like north-east. The only working compass we saw, though, was pointing in two directions, and we're not used to that. Any idea about the compass, or N-E in general?"

 

Gaia takes some more time to think, before popping the bubble and attempting to snatch the sealed god out of it before it refreezes.

 

"If you have a little coin, you can buy a working compass here. If not, I'd think city hall or the palace has a map." They respond. "Magnets work funny here, but these compasses should work. They go off lunar cycles."

 

"So you think it's just North-East?"
Crystal chimes in, before I can say thanks.

 

"Popping" the bubble, as its surrounings are ice, doesn't really do much for quick grabs.
Besides, Gaia notices one thing; she didn't see it earlier because it has no life force. It's a grave, not a cover...

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"Yeah, should be. Only thing I can think of. Say, where'd you find it?"

 

"Why w-"
"A crashed ship."
Crystal cuts me off.

 

"And where is that crashed ship?"

 

Using logical reasoning, I point in the direction we came from before we entered the city.
"Has it been around for a while?"

 

"The one in the desert? Yeah, years. That writing points towards the frozen tundra, northeast of here."

 

Gaia pauses, before respectfully leaving a red rose on top of the bubble and swimming out of the ice lake, climbing back onto the surface.

"May you find peace in the spirtual world." Gaia says respectfully, looking down at the bubble.

 

"And what's there?"
Crystal asks enthusiastically.