World Tree MUSH

    Time is of the essence.

    Dan Heng and Jing Yuan join the party, and start leading the way towards the first of the seals.

    The steps are wide, like they were designed for creatures far larger than humans... and as the group arrive at the first location... ghostly apparritions appear, and begin echoing the past... a past that makes Dan Heng wince a little.

    An older voice, "Use Scalegorge Waterscape to seal the Arbor? Treason! Blasphemy! You've lost your senses! You think this will gain the trust of the Natives? Those who are not of our kind can NEVER be of our mind!" the vitriol boiling without any kind of filter.

    In reply, the High Elder speaks. "I understand your misgivings, but my decision is made. That is the course we must take." his voice is snide and imperius, but not unkind either. A voice that knows its role, its power and position and uses it fully.

    The older voice replies, "I... very well. In that case I will report you to the Preceptors and have you stripped of the name and power of the high elder."

    Dan Heng frowns, "This must be the first high elder that accepted the mission to quell the Arbor... 'Reverence to the three talons, the path to the great roots...' It's the way to the depths." he says, as if remembering something buried deep in his ancestral memories. "Don't worry about the meaning... follow me." he adds.

    Talia folds her arms, seems the elders were going to have to hash this out themselves. "At least it was short." She muses softly to Dan, following him.

    Jessica is following, but her ears swivel and tilt as she does so. The catgirl blinks, "Why are these showing up? Is this like a history hologram or something? Are we seeing why things ended up like this?" She frowns. "And who are the Natives?"

    It's not the first time that Bi De has walked through a memory. Perhaps not expressed this way, but in other ways. The chicken tilts his head, then clucks softly, "It is hard to say which one of them is right, but it does seem to be petty to retaliate over what appears to be a personal grudge."

    Clara, Svarog and Grey follow. Though they pause as the visions appear? Ghosts of the past emerging to show them things that have long gone.
    "Maybe it's some kind of sign from the past?" Clara suggests. "Someone remind me what Scalegorge Waterscape is again?" She asks.

    "Natives would refer to the humans who first created the Xianzhou Alliance... mine and Lady Fu's ancestors." remarks Jing Yuan with a soft chuckle behind his voice, looking at Jessica with a smile. "Xianzhou Native is what we call ourselves."

    Talia's remark earns a nod from Dan Heng, "The first of many High Elders who had to come and guide the tides to reinforce the seals, however." he says.

    Stelle leans over and whispers into Clara's ear. "Where we're standing right now." surprisingly helpful... don't ask where she got the shells she's currently juggling from.

    As the group continue, Dan Heng points out the first seal. It's a puzzle, because of course it is. He goes about figuring it out, while some Void Rangers take note, and start to approach.

    "Seems we have unwelcome guests. Everyone, get ready!" calls Welt.

    "I've seen my share of council meetings, it's rare that such a consensus gets reached that quickly." Talia says. "Seems things are dire."

    The Void Rangers, well, Talia gets to action and activates her lightsaber once more. She adopts a ready stance before leaping with the grace of a nexu on the hunt, lunging forth at one of the Void Rangers and dueling with it.

    "Someone get the seal working!" Talia shouts.

    That IS helpful.
"Oh." Clara says rather sagaciously as Stelle helps her out.
    And then a puzzle 'cause of course.
    Clara could help. But she can't do two things at once, so she turns about and points at the void rangers.
    "Mr. Svarog, Grey, I choose you!" She announces.
    Svarog sighs.
    "Clara, I am not a pocketable monster." He says while he and Grey stomp over to fight in melee.

    "Hmm, it would be nice to have welcome guests more often..." Bi De considers, stroking his wattles. "Very well, let us engage in some sport with these, while the seal is taken care of."

    He leaps forward, letting is Qi flare as he darts toward the Void Rangers. He calls it sport, but it would appear the chicken is deadly serious now.

    Everyone leaps to the attack!

    Except Jessica.

    She sees something important to do, as Dan examines the puzzle.

    "Try putting that over there?"

    The catgirl's tail sways as she takes on the all-important task of helping out Dan in solving this mysterious puzzle!

    "Try blue!"

    The Void Rangers aren't much of a threat in the small numbers they're currently in, but there are more coming in a fairly steady stream... now they know there's enemies to cause Destruction to.

    Talia's lightsaber fares as well as ever, the melee Void Rangers arm blades handling it like another Lightsaber, but the Rangers being nowhere near as agile and swift.

    Svarog and Grey wade into the melee, and two big bulky robots cause a lot of disruption in the ranks.

 i Di's Qi-boosted abilities make short work of those he catches, and a little-longer-than-short work of those he doesn't get off-guard.

    Meanwhile, a catgirl a general and a dragon walk into a puzzle arena.

    Dan Heng pinches the bridge of his nose as Jessica tries to help out, but Jing Yuan humours the feline's directions... It goes perfectly, the puzzle segments click into place, and within a few heartbeats, after Dan Heng stops being a sourpuss and actually helps move the pieces, the first seal is cleared.

    Clara watches while Svarog and Grey duke it out with the oncoming Void nasties.
    "..."
    Ohhhh.
    "Ohhhhhhhhhh."
    It's like she has a whole new understanding of how these puzzles work!
    You're really good at this kind of thing, aren't you, Jessica?"
    Svarog heaves the weariest sigh a he crushes a Void Ranger's head in his huge hand.

    Talia would be bewildered if she was witnessing Jessica's magnificent play, but sadly she's a little busy fighting the Void Rangers. She calls upon her agility and speed to outmaneuver these guys, slicing through one with ease while drawing her blaster pistol and deftly shooting another repeatedly until it ceases moving.

    Talia fires twice at the remains just to be sure.

    Breathing hard from the last Void Ranger - tougher than the rest - Bi De flicks his talons and turns to see... Jessica solving the puzzle. It's not that he thinks Jessica is dumb, it's just... this doesn't seem to be her sort of thing.

    "I suppose we all have hidden talents." The bird shakes himself, taking a breath to recover before he heads to join the others.

    "I saw this in Arms Catalogue Weekly once! Right next to the um... maze of white blocks!" Jessica beams, swishing her tail at the others as she looks smug and has that catlike smile on her face. "It wasn't that hard after I turned the magazine upside-down! I just remembered how to solve it!"

    Maybe someone will get what actually happened there.

    "Ah, if only Lady Fu could see this. I was confident in trusting you all." comments Jing Yuan.

    Dan Heng leads the way to the second 'talon', but this one looks to already be 'broken', Arbor roots sticking up through the various pieces, and no light showing like the first one.

    "This seal was almost gone even before the Arbor awoke." comments Dan Heng, shaking his head and heading for the third.

     Much like the first, this puzzle is easily solved, and then, the group are guided toward the 'roots'.

    On the way to the next set of seals, large clusters of what look like giant pearls can be seen attached to the walls in some places... they faintly glow a pale cream colour, and if touched, feel warm.

    "At times, we can prove to be very competent," Bi De remarks dryly. He quietly walks along, then clucks softly, "What should we be prepared for when we reach our destination?"

    He pauses to look at some of the glowing spheres. "Is this a normal occurrence?"

    Clara reeeeeeeaaaches to touch one of the cream-glowing pearl thingies.
    Svarog gently nudges her away from it.
    "Awww."

    Jessica quietly takes up the rear, her gun in hand. Mostly she is watching for any pursuit, prepared to fire off rounds to keep anyone from catching them unawares.

    Most people take gunshots as a warning, after all. It's a pretty good plan, actually!

    Talia approaches the glowing sphere, but stops short of touching it. "What exactly is the harm in touching it?" She asks aloud. "Not that I was thinking of doing that."

    "Miss Clara, I would advise you to refrain from interfering with the Vidyadhara." remarks Jing Yuan with a level of seriousness in his tone that hasn't surfaced in the time they've known the General so far.

    March perks up, peering at the pearls. "You mean these things turn into people?" she asks, sidling up beside Clara and Talia.

    "When the life of a Vidyadhara is over, they return to the ancient sea and form a shell, before emerging anew. This is the hatching rebirth cycle." explains Jing Yuan.

    The next puzzle seems to be linked to various murals depicting the story of the Vidyadhara self-reincarnation, from hatching rebirth to the return as the cycle begins again.

    "Your reincarnation is visible to you? How interesting," Bi De clucks quietly. He stays well away from the pearls now, giving them wide berth out of respect, and now that he knows what it is about he can look at the murals and formulate some aid to the puzzle.

    "Ri Zu is the one who would be better at this, but I have learned some from my rodent friend."

    Talia very slowly backs away from the Vidyadhara when Jing Yuan explains. "Right." The puzzle is a real chicken and the egg situation from the looks of it, and Talia tries to figure out what murals go in the right order. Perhaps it involves the shells?

    Ears perk and twist, and Jessica hears the description of what they are. "Really? That's um..." She doesn't actually know what to say to that, so she focuses on something more immediate: Bi De's rodent friend.

    "Are... all the people from your world animals or something?" She pauses. "Did you have a crush on her?" Another pause. "Since you're a chicken, can you solve the puzzle about eggs?"

    The murals inform the seal closures. Dan Heng works through the murals, and helps direct people to the correct seal marker to activate in which order.

    Working together, the group unlock the seals and a bridge rises from deeper in the parted water, connecting the palace to the distant form of the Arbor's roots... the ghostly frame of a giant lung dragon seems to coil in the water beyond the tree, as if guarding it, though it seems inert.

    Approaching the tree's roots, a familiar voice chimes out.

    "Oh?" it chuckles. "Has the general of the Luofu chosen to grace me with his presence? And the benefactors too? Patience, patience, let me make myself presentable... Now I see why ther Disciples of Sanctus Medicus hold themselves in such high regard... the Arbor's traces really do possess the power of metaporphosis and ressurection."

    Jing Yuan says, "All of your, ready yourselves. Dan Heng, guard my back. I'm counting on you." Dan Heng nods. "Understood."

    As the group approach, a massive being emerges from within the roots.