World Tree MUSH

    Star System: Nucleus.
    Planet: Hoop, polar orbit of local star.
    Orbital Assets: CEFS Archemedes, CEFS Sanctuary.

    Location: Ansible aboard CEFS Archemedes,

    "So, that's the short of it, we're sendin' ye down te th'surface wi' a Primus Core an' equipment t'power one o'the pedistals, callsign 'Kappa'..." says the dwarven captain as he rotates the holographic map of the planet, zooming in on a wide, 'flat' ice sheet with the pedastal in the center. "We're pickin' up some weird readin's, like the planet is vibratin' in very specific areas... so we're ney discountin' some kinda creature presence. Move quick, power the pedastal an' evacuate... questions?"

    The dwarf leans on the holoprojector and scans the arrayed out-versers with steely eyes.

    "How do you feel about handmade bombs?" Claire asks the dwarf, in her world's dwarven. If that doesn't seem to work, she repeats the question in her usual language. She's got her picnic basket full of artisanal explosives with her.

    Talia observes the holographic display. "Given it's icy in nature, how hazardous to us do you suppose the planet's temperature would be?" She asks the dwarf. The Jedi's currently wearing winter gear, including a fur tirmmed parka and heavy boots.

"Won't bombs make the ice sheet explode and make us fall underneath it?" Holly can't help but to wonder about that. She doesn't want to get buried alive after all.

 "Or they could create an earthquake if it the planet's already vibrating..." Servis adds as he and Lavaux float next to the witch.

 "That too...I mean we want to power up the pedastal, not to destroy the planet. How much force can it withstand?" They don't want to overdo it after all.

    "Is the terrain more snowy or icy?" is the first question out of Matsu Shuzenji's mouth.

    It's been some time since the Phoenix Maiden has visited this system. Clan and court business has kept her busy. But being free again to... 'curry favor' with offworlders, the white-haired healer has come once again - especially with there being a possibility of fighting, her talents may come in handy.

    The question of what kind of terrain to expect is important, though; she's rather familiar with snowy terrain, but walking on ice a bit less so!

    The dwarf quirks a brow at Claire... but responds in Centrian Standard Dwarvish. "That's a wee strange dialect ye got thar lassie, but s'long as ye make sure yer safe w'them explosives, they'll probably be right useful."

    "Scans show that the ice sheet is several kilometers thick, I think only one of the Archemedes' FlareBolt torpedoes would be able to effectively 'crack' it... portable scale explosives aren't likely to cause an issue." replies a new voice, a mousy human male speaks, as if to his tablet and refusing to make eye contact. Patrick.

    Matsu's question earns a chime from the Ship AI. "Lady Shuzenji, the topographical layout surrounding the pedastal is largely ice, covered by a thin layer of particulate ice akin to hard-pack snow. This being the case, we are equipping your environmental suits with traction enhancers. 'Cleets' I believe is the colloquial term."

    Talia, finally, is answered, "We'll provide a personal shield generatah, with a heatin' spell woven inte the matrix, for those who cannae withstan' th'cold... the planet is an iceball, so it's pretty damn cold down there... though the atmosphere /is/ breathable."

    The dwarf disengages the holotank, and stands straight. "We'll answer any further questions enroute, get suited up, we're deployin' in five."

    "Appreciated." Talia nods. "I'd hate for us to freeze to death the second we leave the lander."

    Claire does a little fistpump when the dwarf says the bombs will be useful, then she gets suited up. "I made these for another mission but they kept saying that they might affect hull integrity." She explains, glaring slightly at Holly. "So it's nice that they aren't going to go to waste. If I don't use them I have to get rid of them, not a good idea to leave unused bombs lying around the farm, you know. Gave Betsy a real scare last time."

    The ship's AI answers Matsu in a way that is both helpful and unfortunate. "...oh. Right. The suits." She's still not used to clothing that isn't at least somewhat baggy. But it's the only way to actually survive down there, so she's not going to complain... though she might look a bit grumpy (and embarrassed) putting it on. "I can always conjure fire if the temperature is an issue. Not that much, but enough to melt some ice, or keep people warm. I can heal frostbite, too."

"Several kilometers, yeah she's not breaking through unless she has nukes. And if she has nukes, I think you've got bigger problems." Lavaux figures they don't have to worry about the ice sheet collapsing due to the bombs.

 "That sounds colder than New York or Belgium...especially Belgium." Holly doesn't have all that much experience when it comes to cold weather. "Okay, so we don't have to worry about being buried alive, I didn't know how how thick the ice was! He said it was vibrating, so I thought it wasn't that thick. Maybe I can summon some explosive pumpkins then!"

    The group are shown how to put on the environment suits, or given equipment to keep on their person if they have their own gear already. The suits are skin-tight bodyforming articles that cling close to the body, like a second skin. Modules are attached to the suits, and helmets are provided though they aren't full-encapsulating ones. Why waste power on internalized life support when it isn't needed.

    After suiting up the group are teleported to the surface, along with a small group of track-based Dolls that carry large crates that house the equipment for powering the telepedastal.

    The teleport-in site isn't all that far away, about 300 meters all told, though the gravity here is about Earth Standard.

    As the group move, the very faint vibrations can be felt through the ice sheet. It's just on the edge of perception, like a pressure change and it's directional, not all around. Something is moving beneath the ice.

    About half way to the pedastal platform, a truly massive creature bursts from the ice sheet between the group and their destination. It has a large horn on its head which seems to glow and sizzle as ice touches it. Tiny eyes, eight in total and arranged four to either side of the horn all lock onto the group. The beast bellows, then rams its horn into the ice and rakes its head from one side to the other in an arc; digging a furrow before it dives back into the ice like a giant eel.

    One change in attire later, Talia finds the enviro-suits to be a much welcome upgrade. They're not too revealing despite how form fitting they are, made of some kind of sci-fi material even she doesn't recognize. It's comfortable if nothing else.

    "Alright then."

    As they teleport to the surface, Talia takes point. It's a short hike until they reach the pedestal, until they find wormsign. "Oh."

    Talia's lightsaber turns on and she begins to rush towards the massive beast. "Someone needs to power up the pedestal, I'll keep its attention!" She says, before dragging her saber across the icy surface, beginning to cut into the ice, making herself some pillars she yanks out with the Force, then cuts them down. They'll make decent enough spears.

    Claire isn't used to enviro-suits, so it takes her a while to put hers on. After they make it, the tremors distract her a bit and she keeps an eye out, until the worm appears. "I'll help keep it busy." She states, and opens up her basket, takes out most of the bombs and lights their fuses, then rolls them in the general direction of the worm. They're timed to go off one after another, Claire's hoping that statistically, at least some of those will hurt it and if not, at least disorient.

    Once they're on the planet, Matsu moves without complaint, although there is a hint of embarrassed irritation in her expression as they tromp along. Just a bit. At least her natural regeneration makes it easier for her to cross long distances without tiring, if she does it at a walk.

    It won't help her do anything against the splits in the ice shelf, though - nor will it help her if an immense ice worm decides to smash her apart. There's a look between Talia, the worm, the pedestal, Talia again, and then all the equipment; the Phoenix Maiden bites back a curse, and says, "I'll help set up the equipment. Someone's going to have to guide me, I don't do technology." Already starting towards the pedestal with some of the necessary gear in tow, she adds, "If you get hurt, yell. I'm a healer."

Despite growing up on a futuristic world, Holly's knowledge of technology is almost laughable. The suit keeping her warm is all that's important after all. She's having some trouble moving around in it, she's not used to bulky clothing after all.

 "Whoa! She's almost knocked over by the worm as it bursts through the ice before burrows back down. "I wonder if we could use the energy from the worm to power up the pedestal!" It certainly has to be creating a lot of kinetic force after all. The only problem is luring it, "It must be really cold, I know!" She points her candy shaped staff at the pedestal and begins chanting. After a few seconds, a mug full of pumpkin spice latte appears.

    Talia starts carving giant ice spears. This doesn't really draw the monsters' attention, until one slams into its armoured hide and shatters without piercing. That pissed it off enough to come barreling toward Talia at a fast sprinting pace. Not impossible for a Jedi to out-run, but still pretty quick for such a large creature, while its burrowing to boot.

    The change in course brings it directly into Claire's bomb fussilade, the detonating explosives cracking the armoured hide on the side they explode one, making it roar in pain and dive deeper under the surface... That can't be it!

    Matsu isn't alone with the equipment. The Dolls themselves aren't reactive but one is being used as a relay for the Ship AI above. "Lady Shuzenji, I shall guide you in setting up the equipment. Unload the large container and set the item inside on the platform. Insert the cables into the base of the unit and then connect them to the pedastal. The connectors should adapt to the pedastal on their own. While this is happening, unload the other two containers and attach the contents to the first device, they have connection ports that will automatically lock into place when you bring them near."

    Holly's observation isn't necessarily wrong. If they could harness the Worm's power output it could help power-up the pedastal. However that might be more difficult than anticipated. The conjuration itself creates a mug of liquid... which rapidly freezes solid in the sub-arctic temperature. The magic used does cause the pedastal to react before Matsu's managed to attach everything. Lines of energy rise up and the pedastal itself begins to rise... before the magic is used up and the process begins to reverse again.

    Oh kark oh kark oh kark oh kark oh kark oh kark oh kark-

    Talia sprints with enough speed to make a horse sweat as the worm chases her. She leads the worm towards one of Claire's bombs, just as it goes off and blasts the beast's armor. Skidding to a stop with her cleats, Talia breathes a sigh of relief as she catches her breath. "Not bad at all..." She murmurs to Claire, giving her a thumbs up.

    Claire gets out her slingshot and keeps Talia between herself and the worm, waiting for the worm to pop back up before letting fly a red orb. The orb is a bomb, which will detonate on impact with anything. "Thanks." She returns Talia's thumbs up. "How's it going with the equipment?"

    As the worm goes for a dive, Matsu remains surprisingly un-distracted. Moreover, she's able to quickly and efficiently follow instructions as they're given. It's more similar to preparing a ritual with a nearby yokai than one would expect. And she's able to do it... well, mostly without complaint. Mostly.

    Huff, huff. "There's a lot less... heavy lifting, in a... divine ritual..." Huff, huff. Grump. At least she's getting it done smoothly.

"Wait, using magic on the pedestal is having an effect! Holly, if you stood on it and your magic burst...you could likely power it up!" Servis suddenly realizes. 

 "I can't do it at will though! I could cast spells all day and it might not be enough!"

 "What if you slammed into it really hard? Or maybe you should help the nun! It looks like she should could use it!" Lavaux figures out another way she might be able to help.

 "Okay!" Holly starts using her magical strength to lift the contents out of the containers.

    Talia and Claire earn a brief respite... that is until the Worm returns. It bursts forth with another roar; and gets beaned in the face by an explosive slingshot ball. It looks shocked for a moment, before bellowing once more. It goes to stab its burning horn into the area that Talia and Claire are standing!

    Matsu manages to get the devices hooked up, and the cables begin to adapt. With Holly's help the rig is set up and begins to power-on, a rising whine as the Primus Core begins to channel power. The pedastal begins to raise, tier by tier from the center outward, but something's wrong.. the pedastal just stops. "Something's wrong. This pedastal seems to require a higher output than those on Edge... more power is required to finish the boot-up sequence." comes Merlin's voice through one of the Dolls.

    It's all set up. And they have no Morrigan this time to complete a magical ritual that can power it up.

    Matsu frowns. It seems to be accepting just normal magic used by other people in the vicinity. If that's the case, maybe...

    "I might be able to do something, but I have no promises this thing will react well to divine magic."

    The first thing Matsu tries, is a simple wave of her hand. A brief flare of phoenx flames, a puff of warm, divine healing magic; if that doesn't work, she'll start investigating around the pedestal for anywhere that looks like it's meant to receive magic. Whatever the case, once she finds something that reacts, she'll start pouring out a steady stream of healing fire, just doing her best to fill up the thing's reserves and get it started.

    Claire tries to do something potentially stupid. Rather than run away or dodge, she draws that purple sword of hers, grabs it with both hands, and tries to cut off that burning horn. She's not fire resistant. She's not armoured. That envirosuit probably isn't meant to protect her from this, but she's ignoring all those inconvenient truths because in the moment she's somehow convinced herself this is a good idea.

    "Oh bugger." Talia and Claire are faced with the beast, and Talia decides to face it head-on like Claire does. She rushes the worm, lightsaber in hand, as she leaps at the extremely hot horn before slashing at it with her blade!

"It needs more magic, I'm not sure if I can power it up anymore though...maybe I can figure out where to best apply your spells..." Holly's quite knowledgable about magic even if she has trouble using it herself. Maybe she can make up the difference that way. It's worth a shot after all. "Trying using it right here!" She points at a seemingly random spot but thinks she knows what's doing.

    Claire slashes the horn. Talia comes in from the other side and together, they lop off the glowing appendage. It gouts out boiling fluid spraying all over as the beast writhes and thrashes in agony. The severed horn segment cools rapidly and the Worm seems to be in its death throes... until another spurt of that glowing fluid erupts and a new horn replaces that which was severed!

    Matsu's divine power seems to be as palatable as the Primus, and Holly's own wild witchcraft. Though the unguided burst of flame doesn't do much. Holly to the rescue and through perfectly applied Luck--- Skill! She finds the best place to pour in that divine flame. A port opens up when Matsu goes to fire it up and absorbs the flames like a thirsty man drains a waterskin. The pedastal resumes raising, then chimes pleasantly as it finishes the cycle and automatically ejects the connected cables, and rejects any further input from the miko.

    "Reading pedastal activation! Gather together we'll extract you now. You don't need to fight the creature any more than necessary!" comes Merlin's voice through the suit radios. "Well done, everyone."

    The thing is done! Talia nods to Claire as she watches hte creature sprouts a new horn. At least it doesn't seem to be inconvenienced much by the loss of that horn, as weird as it sounds considering Talia just lopped it off with her laser sword she hates to harm local wildlife.

    He was just defending his territory!

    "You heard him, let's get going!" She rushes towards the Pedestal, just in time to join the others.

"Alright! We did it! We make a pretty great team! Where did you learn divine magic from?" Holly decides to make conversation while they wait for their ride to arrive and the others to get the pedestal. Hopefully the worm wouldn't decide to join them.

    Claire dodges back and almost panics when the horn grows back, but Merlin's timely voice orients her and she rushes back onto the pedestal.

    There's a little wobble as the pedestal finishes its movement, Matsu briefly losing her balance before she collects herself. Talia is heading this-a-way, so the Phoenix Maiden will just stay put for now. "That's a complicated question," she replies to Holly. "I have shrine maiden training, Purification, warding, banishment. That kind of thing. But the healing comes from having a goddess of fire and light dwelling within me. I am the Phoenix Maiden of Clan Shuzenji."

    Once everyone is gathered at the pedastal, glyphs form under their feet. The teleport spell takes a second to ramp up, and the Worm takes that time to turn, and lunge for the group!

    Just before the teleport ZZWIPs them away, the group would see a small, spherical drone of sorts emerge from the Pedastal, interpose between them and the Worm... and with a flash of green light, fling the giant creature back about a hundred meters.

    Then the group is back aboard the orbiting ship.

"Oh neat! My magic comes from a long line of mages and years of study! It's kind of unpredictable though, I don't know why!" Holly figures Matsu would likely be curious as well. Servis and Lavaux make some distance from the pair. "Relax, I don't think she's going to banish you guys! Oh my mother's a healer too! She gets her powers from the darkness though." It sounds like the pair couldn't be much more different.

    "I don't really do magic, but I'm friends with a wizard and drop by his tower sometimes." Claire comments cheerfully on the way back, "I'm just a farmer with a few unusual hobbies, nothing special, really."

    "Magic isn't the word I'd use to describe my powers, much as some insist on it." Talia admits as they return to the ship. She's just glad that worked out, she wasn't sure if she and Claire could kill the worm on their own.

    Out of all that, there's one particular thing which draws Matsu's curiosity. "...healing from... darkness?" She tilts her head, frowning. "I don't know if that's even possible, where I come from. I'd have to ask around."

    She's not going to comment on seeing that tiny drone utterly gobsmack a massive worm. No sir. She didn't see nothin'. Not at all.

    "Well done all. One down, three more to go. We will need to prepare for the next expedition, but you are free to stay here if you need to. We'll have accomodations prepared if necessary." comes Merlin's voice as the group rematerialize. "Aye... an' it looks like ye woke the Sentry up too. It's been helpin' us, or at least ain't been hinderin' us despite some of the crew thinkin' it's creepy." remarks the captain in turn.

    The crew lets the group discus amongst themselves though.

"Yes, it's pretty rare! Even I can't do it." Of course there's a good reason for that. "Hey farmers are important! Kind of hard to have big cities with just hunting and gathering." Holly nods at that, "There's three more of these? Are you making some kind of magical relay?" She can't help but to wonder about that now.

    "Something along those lines." Talia confirms to Holly. She looks for a good chair and slumps into it, that was quite the workout, the Jedi's heart is still racing from the sheer panic that was trying to bait that worm.

    "Reactivating an old series of teleportal pedastals, and the associated megastructure they service." states Merlin. To any blank stares, the captain translates. "This whole starsystem is artificial. Seems te be 'idin' a lot of ancient tech. We're turnin' it all back on to figger out what it were built fer."