World Tree MUSH

    With Svarog now allowing travel through the furnace core, sooner of later Stelle and company are going to have to head back up to the overworld. But that doesn't mean that there aren't still issues in Belobog's underworld. A handy dandy Vine has opened up for offworlders in the Underworld at least, and it looks like Clara of all people needs some help.
    The silver-haired girl scuffs her bare toes lightly in the snowy ground outside of Rivet Town; the town swallowed by Fragmentum and full of monsters as she waits for others to arrive. One of Svarog's mechanical drones is at her side under express orders to 'protect Clara', so that she's not alone at least.
    "Ah... I was scavenging for parts for Timothy and Perkins when I heard a voice... I couldn't really tell where it was coming from at first, but it sounded like they needed help..."

    Enter the Galactic Baseballer. Stelle walks up.. and immediately gets sidetracked by one of the trash cans near the entrance of the town... she couldn't investigate the last time she came through, but now... the others will probably find her half-inside one of the cans, rummaging around.

>> SUMMARY[Stelle] >> Trash Panda gonna trash panda.

    Hearing about something going on means a sidequest is acquired! Talia supposes they can squeeze it in. "We'll look into it." She promised Clara. Right on cue, Stelle is rummaging through a trash can. She sighs. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

>> SUMMARY[Talia Kyras] >> Talia facepalms.

Underworld...that means ghosts and other undead right? Is Holly lost again or is she right where she wants to be? Who knows? The witch is accompanied by Servis and Lavaux as usual. This place looks like a lot more futuristic than what she's used to. Maybe it's some kind of robot graveyard or something? She notices Talia along with two unfamilar faces and waves to the group.

    In this case underworld just means underground! But technically with the monsters in the fragmentum... Well "U-um." Needless to say, Stelle going trash diving gives Clara a good moment's pause. "Big... Sis... Stelle...?" She murmurs, peeking over Stelle's shoulder before she gently taps on the trash can for attention.
    Clara can't help but shoot Talia a helpless look for a moment before Holly comes along.
    "Oh... Hello..."
    Clara is not good with new people, but the girl purses her lips.
    For Holly in specific, Rivet Town is the derelict remnants of an underground town. Unfortunately it's full of monsters.
    Nevertheless, Clara hypes herself up a bit, patting her own cheeks and huffing.
    "I'm not afraid. I'm a big brave dog, I'm a big brave dog..." She mutters in a mantra of solace to herself as the party start moving up the stairs to the town proper. Only to hear a weak voice coming from a nearby window.

    "Ah... Big sis... Have you abandoned me...?"

    Talia sighs as she gives Clara a look that says 'Sorry, we're stuck with Stelle.' She remarks. Upon noticing Holly, Talia smiles and gives the witch a wave. "Oh, hello there! I didn't expect to see anybody arrive today. It's been a while, nice to see you again."

    She is close to Clara as they visit the derelict town, keeping the girl safe. "I won't let anything happen to you. "She promises the smol bean.

    Muh?

    The trash can wobbles, tips over, and dumps out its contents, including Stelle in a tangled heap. She shifts and rights herself, coming up with a little golden statue that looks like a stylized person holding a pair of plates on strings. Like a big weighing scale. She looks it over, nods and tucks it into her inventory... she reaches behind herself, and doesn't have it in hand when it comes back into view.

    "Oh, Hey Clara... Talia." she says, her expression dour and flat. She gets back to her feet, and walks over to join the others, brushing off remnants of trash... then she perks. "Did anyone else hear that?"

"People throw away gold statues here? Wow, they must be rich!" Holly couldn't imagine getting rid of something so valuable. "Hi there! I'm Holly and they're Servis and Lavaux." She points to each ghost as she introduces them." Of course she doesn't see anything odd about hanging around ghosts. "Hear what?" She looks around a bit confused wondering what they're listening for.

    Clara has... Never met ghosts before. She has to blink a little bit at the introduction, but offers Holly and her phantasmal followers a timid smile. "Hello." She says. "I'm Clara. And this is Perkins." She says setting her hand atop the mechanical drone with her.
    But with Stelle free of the trash, Clara decides to keep close to Talia thanks to her promise as the voice speaks up again when the group gets a little closer to the window to look for it.
    "Ah... Is someone there...? Outside the window? My eyes... I can't see... Please forgive my rudeness..." The voice of a girl says.
    "Strangers... Have you seen a girl around? Her voice is soft and kind, and she wears a headband with a bell. The bell chimes with a crisp clarity, it's a joy to hear... That person is my elder sister. She has been out for a while and hasn't come home yet... She told me she was going to some place called... the 'Fragmentum', and she could find something worth selling there... If you see my sister, could you please tell her to come home quickly? Her younger sister is waiting for her at home all alone..."

    Stelle blinkblinks... leaning in to try and peer in the window, but it's pitch dark inside. "Oh no... if she's gone into the Fragmentum she's probably in trouble..." she looks at Clara and Perkins, then Talia... before she turns and dashes off deeper into the town.

>> SUMMARY[Stelle] >> Wait, she just ran in.

    Talia hears something as she leans against the window. "We've not seen anybody lately, I'm sorry." She says, shaking her head. "But we'll keep an eye out for her." Just on cue Stelle rushes off, and Talia follows her. It's like dealing with a misbehaving dog. "Wait, get back here!"

"Fragmentum? Like Star Fragments? Can you make wishes on them?" Holly's purple eyes light with that as she follows closely behind the others.

 "Maybe somewhere they sell explosives? Like frag grenades?" Lavaux suggests as he floats alongside the others.

 "Well, that would certainly explain the danger." Servis figures that would certainly be a reason to be concerned if people are selling explosives on the open market.

    ... Off goes Stelle. Clara holds out a hand and-- well... Before she can say anything big sis Stelle has already run off.
    "We should go after--" Talia goes after Stelle. "Ah..."
    "N-no. Fragmentum is a place. It's... Corrupted from something called a Stellaron." Clara explains to Holly as she and Perkins go after Stelle and Talia.
    It's AS Stelle is booking it that she's suddenly attacked! A plume of flame lashes out from an alley as a fragmentum zombie of a Belobog soldier comes staggering out, halberd in hand, blazing with fire. And where there's one there's another, seemingly made of ice that lashes out at Talia, while several flaming 'bird'-like creatures swoop at Clara and Holly!

    Stelle's expecting to get attacked, maybe not exactly this soon, but with a shift of her leg, a tuck and roll under the flame plume, and a skid to bleed off momentum, she comes back in with a black metal bat in hand, slamming into the flame-zombie with a thunderclap of metal against metal. "They're monsters. Don't hold back!" she calls, glowering at the warped helmet of the former Guardsman.

    Talia follows Stelle, trying to get her to stop. "Wait slow down! Clara needs us, we need to go find that girl!" She pleads, only stopped by the zombie creatures. She turns on her lightsaber and jumps into action, dodging a halberd of ice. Talia moves to defend Clara from the bird creatures, her lightsaber swiping at the flying pests!

"Stellaron? Is that some kind of space entity?" That's as much as Holly can figure out from the context.

 "Hopefully it's not some kind of space ghost, or it's going to be drawn to Holly." Lavaux knows the witch would would likely attract something like that.

 She nods in agreement and ducks underneath the flaming bird and seeing Stelle's reaction, she swings her own lollipop staff at the creature as she tries to drive it away.

    As for what a Stellaron is, Clara points at Stelle. "Big Sis Stelle and Mister Svarog know more about it than I do. But it's some kind of source of destruction." She explains to Holly as-- birds!
    Thankfully Talia comes in to the rescue, hacking the fiery things apart while Holly just bashes one with her lollipop staff.
    Stelle should have an easy time with a Fragmentum zombie or two but leaving Clara behind? Mister Svarog might not be pleased to hear that! Nevertheless, when she handles those... Clara walks over to something that one of the monsters seems to have dropped.
    "... Oh..."
    It's a bell tied to a ribbon.

    Talia frowns as she sees the bell. "Oh."

    She switches her lightsaber off and sighs. This was what she was afraid of. Her eyes scan the fragmentum zombies, trying to find out if any of them resemble a young lady in any way.

    Stelle beats the flame zombie into the floor. She then knocks the head off the frost zombie with a roundhouse smash and pants. "I /was/ going to find the girl! Where did you /think/ I was going?" she demands of Talia, tossing her bat aside, and having it vanish into golden motes as soon as it leaves her hand.

    ... and then they find the bell. "..." she shakes her head. "Lets head back and... tell the little sister. Maybe we can take her back to Boulder Town or something."

Holly on the other hand isn't the most perceptive person not having seeing the bell until the others brought it up, "Maybe someone dropped it while fleeing from the zombies?" The witch is going to take the optimistic approach until proven otherwise. The ghosts just remain silent not having the heart to break the witch's spirit.

    "Oh..." Clearly it's not a good sign that the party has found the bell but no sign of the girl it was attached to. Unfortunately none of the zombies look like a girl, most of them look like soldiers or Belobog guards. It's probably for the best Holly's ghosts don't break the news to her as the party returns to the window.

    "Have... Have you seen my older sister?" The weak voice asks.

    Stelle shakes her head, not having the heart, or maybe understanding she lacks the tact to break the news. She looks to Talia, the jedi's the diplomatic one, after all.

    Talia steps up with the bell. And she places it on the windowsill. "I'm sorry. This is all we could find." She says, breath even, tone calm. And yet, tinged with sadness. All she can think of is how she failed to save this girl.

    She thinks back to all the lives of comrades she lost, and tears run down her cheek. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not that familar was this world, but she could still be out there right?" Holly wonders why everyone's so upset it wasn't 100% certain after all. Nobody's told her if these are the zombies that eat people after all. Of course they don't really have much else to go on at the moment.

    Does this ring any bells?
    When Talia places the bell on the windowsill there's silence for a beat after it jingles.
    "Ahh... The sound of the bell...!" The girl says. "That familiar, crisp, chime... Big sis are... Are you back?" But no.
    No she's not back. Talia's voice is what she hears next.
    "Ah... An ominous air... N-no... A-aggh... How... How could this be?" The girl struggles to speak. "Ah... Big sis... Big sis... Have you finally abandoned me...?" Clara can't help but bite her lip as the already weak sobbing gradually fades.
    But. Oddly. Where Talia placed the bell... There's now a battered but exquisite little music box.
    Clara takes it in trembling hands. Creaky springs turn and the sequential jostling of tired mechanical switches and cogs sing a tired melody.
    "Ah..."

    Talia sniffles, fighting the urge to openly cry there and there. But then suddenly-

    Wait is that her speaking back? No Talia's remaining stone faced and silent, her tears still flowing. Wiping her cheeks, she looks confused at the music box. And then there's nothing but the tears.

    "I...think she wanted us to have that."

    "Fragmentum Echos... Mister Yang told me them." announces Stelle. "The lingering fragments of someone who died in the Fragmentum's influence." Stelle looks over to Holly. "We were talking to... ghosts... effectively... but not like your companions."

Holly hums along with the melody a bit off-key, "Oh so they had unfinished business then...I'm glad we were able to help them." 

 "So more like a memory of someone than an actual spirit then..." Servis figures that was likely the case.

    "Mmmmm..." The plinking damaged melody of the music box stop as Clara passes it off to Stelle for the time being. "Maybe we should head back, now..." She murmurs, rubbing at her elbow. That was pretty eerie. And that's saying something considering Servis and Lavaux are RIGHT THERE.
    It's as the party is leaving Rivet Town that there's someone standing at the entrance... A worried looking young woman. And as soon as she sees everyone...
    "My little sister... She ran away from home! I've looked everywhere for her, but I can't find her. She's always been frail, and her eyes can't see... Whatever would I do if something happened to her out there?! Argh... I' ma failure of a big sister... To have let such a thing happen...!" She says, sounding absolutely anxious.

    Stelle blinks as she takes the musicbox. She holds it reverently, following the group out toward the entrance of the town. She looks at the young woman... and holds the music box out to her. "We... found this." she says, stepping forward.

Holly looks completely confused now. "Did the music box summon her or something?" The young woman wasn't there before.

 "This doesn't make any sense." Lavaux is puzzled as Holly.

"Wait if you give her the music box, will the other sister reappear?" Servis is hoping the situation doesn't mean that both girls are unable to find peace at the same timne,

    Talia looks surprised as the big sister appears. "We found her, I think. She asked us to look for you, and we found your bell." She tries to explain. "...we thought you were dead, and she gave us this." She motions to the music box in Clara's hands. "I'm sorry."

    Things in the Fragmentum rarely make sense.
    Nevertheless, Stelle hands over the battered old music box...
    "... This is our music box..." The anxious girl murmurs, cranking the box to make it plink and plunk.
    "Listen... My darling sister..." She says. "How... Pleasing... Welcome... Go home..." She trails off.
    A faint smile of comfort lines her drained visage.
    In an instant, that smile fades and dissolves - along with her person - into the Fragmentum.
    Just another echo of things lost in the Fragmentum...
    Clara is looking pretty spooked by this.
    "... I think I'm ready to go home now."

    Blink. Talia isn't sure what just happened, but she keeps a hold on Clara's hand. "Let's be off, then."

    Stelle looks pensive. She shakes her head slightly, then turns to escort Clara as well. The smol bean must be protecc.

Holly on the other hand smiles as the girl disappears, "Hopefully, they're happily together again now." She then looks at Lavaux and Servis. "Now if I could only become a great witch and help you two find eternal peace as well." She's reminded of her own goal, "See you around!" If there are more ghosts like those two she would have to return here at some point.