Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

Nothing else seems to follow, though in reality, Alice is hiding silently inside you...

Not from the outside. You can't seem to get any good scans through the walls.

"...Alright, done. Sorry about that, Crystal. Should we head over to that cliffside city now?"

 

I fly up more, watching for people as I go.

"Yeah, sure! You lead the way."

 

Artemis and I seem to go on a large adventure, searching for trouble or evil. We eventually arrive at a village of magma guardians, who seem to have a problem with a powerful evil within their temple to Gaia, and we agree to help. As we head into the temple, however, there appear to be quite a few puzzles preventing us from advancing, which Artemis and I try to figure out.

 

There seems to be one guard leaning over the battlement to watch you.

Linoa leaves a gold coin as a tip as she heads outside and gets on her staff again, almost flying off without Crystal.

________________________________

Alice brings her focus to your vision, finding herself amused.

 

"Hello."
I say to them, smiling.

Crystal jogs after her.
"Wait up!"

 

Artemis and I work through the puzzles, eventually having to get into minecarts to ride on rails within the temple, Artemis firing her bow at switches to change tracks for me to advance through the temple. A few of the doors within appear to be locked, requring keys in order to be opened which are hidden behind more puzzles and rooms with hostile creatures within.

Eventually, after working our way through puzzles, traps and confusion together, Artemis and I come to a large door with a massive lock on it, a large key required.

"This must be where they sealed away the evil." I say, idly smashing a nearby vase, a few gems spilling on the floor.

"I saw a rather fancy looking chest a while back. It might be where the key is." Artemis says, thinking.

 

Alice keeps watching.

"What are you doing?" They call, confused. "How are you flying, and where are your eyes?"

Linoa turns around.
"Shit, I'm so sorry!"

 

"Talking to you, with my feet, and they never were there in the first place."
I answer, approaching slowly.

"It's okay!"

 

"Duh, how the hell, and... oh, you're a damn robot, aren't you."

Linoa lowers her staff.
"Geez, I shouldn't have drank last night!" She laughs.

 

"Yes, I am."
I confirm.

"You drink... uh, what is it in the Void Palace?"

 

"Well, he said nothing. I told him, "I can make it increase more in profit" and he agreed to that."

 

"The nomad that speaks with the raptors?"

"Alcoholic beverages. Very alcoholic beverages."

They roll their eyes.
"I'm leaving, but if I'm called back here because you're being a problem, I'm going to only ask you to leave once."

 

"Where'd you get that idea from?"
I ask, seemingly confused.

"Yeah, but like, what kinds? I heard there's beer, and wine, and... well, that's all I've heard of, but there's probably more, right?"

 

I shrug and open a telepathic communication with the Head of the Survey Corps. "How is the surveying going? Are the ruins suitable for rebuilding and repopulation?"

 

"Hardly. The cliff face needs some reinforcement, or the thing'll collapse into the ravine in about a year and a half, by our estimates."

"There's some rumors that since a robot appeared around the time a raptor suddenly wore armor of foreign design, that they are responsible for it. And... you sort of fit that description they gave me in the academy."

"There's countless kinds. I wouldn't worry about it too much unless you want to rot yourself from the inside out."

 

Artemis and I head back through the temple, solving a few more puzzles to access a large, horned chest which contains a key large enough for the door. I keep the key under my arm as Artemis re-opens the door to the room the chest was stored in, and we make our way back to the door with the large lock.

"Well, here we are. You ready to face whatever evil is behind this door?" I ask.

"I'm ready." Artemis says, nodding.

As I walk up to the door, I accidentally knock over another vase, and a pink faerie flies out of its shattered pieces.

"T-Thank you! I've been trapped in there for ages!" The faerie says thankfully.

"How did you get in there anyway?" I ask, confused.

"I tried to stop the evil from taking over this place, but...since I'm just a fairy, they threw me in that vase and sealed me from getting out," The faerie says sadly, "But...I'm more powerful than they think! The evil behind this door is very powerful, so as a thank you for freeing me, if any of you get mortally wounded, I'll try my best to heal you!"

"Thank you, that will definitely help us." Artemis says happily.

"Good luck!" The faerie says happily as I open the lock on the door, chains keeping it in place falling to the side.

Artemis and I head through the doors into a long passage into the heart of the temple, which appears to be the heart of the volcano too.

The room is eerily quiet...

 

"Alright. Any progress on the manuscripts?"

 

"Okay, look,"
I say, toning it down, but never faltering on my more pleasent tone of voice.
"My objective was to get information on this castle, and I didn't know where it was, so I made a deal with the first thing I saw. That's it."

 

After a while I come back with a large amount of wood and start a fire near a cave.
"I wonder how long till Anne gets back with the food."

 

Alice slips you a subconscious thought to glance behind you, just in case.

"Most of them are just integrity checks of the cliff faces. A few of them are tax collecting records and votes for elections."

They don't seem to know how to respond.
"So... you gave a raptor armor to find Ruin's Respite?" They redundantly ask, clearly unsure of how to deal with this situation.

You soon see Anne dragging some kind of net back to the fire, though she's struggling with the weight of it.