World Tree MUSH

    It's quite possible to stumble onto this situation, but likely that someone has come across a small independent Guild request. It is not available through any of the Gardener job offers, mysteriously absent from comment. The posting details a small city by the river, who rely on a dammed river... but recent mining activity has disturbed the slumbering dragon beneath the hills, and while the mining has stopped, the earthquakes grow more frequent and the city refuses to evacuate. Vivian, the sponsor, believes that the dam will soon collapse.

    She has offered to pay people to save the town. She has been very explicit that the manner of saving may be convincing them to leave, or to divert the river, or simply kill the dragon. She makes no demands on the method as long as the people are saved. Considering she is a very public member of the Groundskeepers, this is suspicious isn't it?

    But here she is. Waiting a short ways up the hill leading to the fabled 'Dragon Shrine' and with the city down below in the small valley, within sight. The winged woman with skin and feathers of jet black is waiting for anyone to come, a large map spread out showing key points where the river may be diverted, possible damage it may cause to do so, and the location of where the dragon's den may be found through the mines.

  The thunder of a horse's hooves shudders down the path from the nearest Vine, suggesting that help is on its way, only not really. A massive black warhorse thunders down the trail, ridden by a hooded, robed figure all in black.

  It might look suspiciously cultist if the rider didn't radiate divinity to the right senses. It's like being slapped in the metaphysical face with holy, or light, or whatever one wants to call it. Sunlight of the soul. It might be obnoxious to some.

  With a grunt, the horse stops short before where Vivian stands with her maps, half-rearing only to be let down gently. The rider slides from the saddle, tying the reins to a nearby stump and strolling over. She carries a bow, and a quiver of arrows, and what little of her face is visible under the hood suggests her mouth is pressed into a thin line.

  "Ah. Miss Vivian." It may be a familiar voice to the winged one. There's no animosity in the voice, at least, no matter her expression. Wary, maybe, but not yet hostile. "I find it hard to believe you would do something like this without ulterior motives."

    Luke basically stumbled with the request and had to think for a while if he wanted to go there or not... Being a pokemon trainer can be a bit hard on cash, even for someone like Luke, who mostly camped out and such, there is only so many times he can try to challenge local trainers before they just are as broke as he is!. 

     Then there was the mention of a 'dragon'. He likes dragons, at least pokemon ones, and was quite intrigued about the chance of seeing one from another world!.

    And of course, there was the whole 'save the whole town from destruction', which was a big motivator, even if he felt he might be a bit inadequate for the task. Still, he finally decided to give it a shot and thus, a young teen is seen making his way down the path through that hill, holding a crude map and trying to orient himself, he was too used to his digital map.

    Luke was about to turn to another direction, when he spots a very familiar horse and rider ahead, or well, heard one!. He quickly rushes after Zelda, waving a hand vigorously, "Hey!" he calls. At least, he hopes it is Zelda, hard to fully recognize from there.

From the sky another would be assistant appears, a large bird carries on it a figure clad in black armour. The bird hits the ground with a thud, and Temulin raises her visor. She glances towards the others with some wariness, but she raises her voice nonetheless. "Am I in the right place for the mission to rotect the people of a potentially catastrophic infrastructure collapse?"

    Tirsiak has no idea who Vivian is. She's never heard of the Groundskeepers, or the Gardeners. Really, she's not completely aware that she's visiting multiple worlds and not just a singular world with very strange geography.

    All she knows is that there's apparently a dragon here. And she intends to hunt it.

    The wolf-deer spirit isn't even touching the ground as she approaches the meeting spot. She doesn't look dangerous, although looks can be deceiving - and anyone capable of sensing auras of any sort will note an odd LACK of an aura about her.

    Wait, no. It's not that she lacks an aura. It's just that her aura is so large it's like not being able to see a forest because you're inside it.

    The spirit - goddess? - hovers to a stop a few paces away from the gathering heroes. Luke is given a quick, sharp glance, before she turns her attention on Vivian.

    "You wound me," Vivian says first, looking up with a stretch of her wings. This is quite the ragtag group, but she has to answer first. "It's not as if I enjoy killing or causing death, that just so happens to be what is required for my goals. Here, I have the chance to SAVE lives and also achieve my goals. It's really win-win for everyone around... except maybe the dragon if you decide to handle this permanently." She tsks, and points to Luke. "That one, at least, I know wants to save lives."

    Her wings fold back again as she looks at the unfamiliar two. Nodding to Temulin, and then narrowing her eyes at Tirsiak with an odd cluck of her tongue. As yet Vivian isn't casting any spells, so nothing strange is in her aura.

    "Yes," she finally says to Temulin. "This is the place." And then to Zelda, "Since I doubt you would believe me without an explanation... shortly before I left my own world, a retribution caused a beast to stir, breaking a dam and wiping out a small city to cause the death of well over half the population. A parallel happening here, in a location so similar, would set up a closer connection to my world, bringing it closer to Blossoming. I can't have that. As long as the people are saved, no matter how, my goal is a success."

  At first, Zelda doesn't even acknowledge the other arrivals. Most of her attention is fixed on Vivian. She stares at the winged one, lips thinning a little more at that comment; one that could be taken as flippant.

  "No," she says, softly. Her regard is stony. "If I chose to wound you, it would not be with words. But I am not here for that, today. There are lives in danger."

  Blue eyes flick over to Luke, Temulin, and Tirsiak, but she offers no more than a raised hand to the two out of three that she knows.

  Her attention swivels back to Vivian, listening to the explanation. She finally tucks her chin, the hood concealing her face entirely for a moment. Honestly, she doesn't like it, but the plan appears to be airtight. There's nothing she can point to as wrong.

  "Very well. I will do what I can to assist." The hood raises. "Can the dragon be reasoned with? I would attempt to speak with it, if it understands words; perhaps the need to waste lives killing it may be averted."

Luke finally catches up with the others!. He nods as Vivian mentions saving lives, seeming a bit uneasy between the warrior looking people... and the freaky wolf deer person he met the other day. He mostly remains quiet as he waves to Temulin, intrigued by the bird mount. He visibly flinches as he is glared at by Tirsiak, still confused on what he did.

    The floating wolf-deer girl speaks! Her voice has a reverberating quality, like an echo. "I am here to hunt the dragon," she says, simply, her face an expressionless mask. "I care none for the lives of the humans here. I simply seek to fell a great beast." Well, that's... honest, at least!

    She continues to just hover in the air. "If you do not intend to slay it then I will go do so myself."

"I too would prefer to give the dragon an opportunity to submit." Temulin ... sort of agrees with Zelda, though the use of words and potential intent does indicate a slightly different approach to it. She eyes the floating wolf-deer girl, but decides not to comment, and instead offers. "Many of you have never met me before, and I would think it only polite to introduce myself before we plunge into danger together. I am Temulin, of the Dotharl tribe. Pray tell me who you might be?"

    "Talking...?" Vivian looks surprised, then laughs, "Well, if you want to try that. It is not that simple. The act of waking itself is what causes the problem. It is akin to waking up one morning and your pet is asleep on your chest. Except that moving will kill it instead of waking it up, and the dragon is less aware of lives, if it even cares." She shrugs wings. "But if that is what you wish to try, if you can find a way, then it is not my business. I am an empath so I will help you tell if it is angry at least. Most of what I'm getting is 'sleepy and grumpy' but it is still mostly asleep."

    And the others want to subdue or hunt it, while Luke says nothing. She tsks, "As I said, not my business which. I will help you do whatever you choose, but any powerful magics of my own would trigger a retribution, most likely, that does the exact thing I don't want."

    Oh, Temulin introduces herself. "Ah, manners. I am Vivian, a wind mage of the Swan Troupial of Providence." She gives a small bow, "A pleasure to meet you."

  "My name is 'Sheik,'" the hooded rider murmurs to the matter of introductions. "Ah... I do not have any quarrel with those who might wish to slay the beast. It is an obvious threat. However, if it is sentient, I believe it is worth trying to persuade it to find territory elsewhere."

  "More importantly, a battle here in this place may destroy already-compromised infrastructure. We cannot afford to risk that; we are not equipped for a large-scale rescue operation if the dam should breach."

  The hood twists to look sidelong at Vivian for a long moment, before shaking her head. Zelda makes her way back to the black war horse, swinging herself up into the saddle with surprising agility in spite of the encumbering robe; turning her steed, she makes her way toward the mine shaft leading to the dragon's den.

  "I am going," she calls over her shoulder. "There is no time to be wasted. If I am unsuccessful, I do not care what is done with it; I will stand by to assist the townsfolk."

    Tirsiak snaps her gaze back to Vivian. "The beast... slumbers? Confined, unable to move without bringing destruction?" She lets out a sharp exhale through her nose. "...No sport in that," she mutters to herself, growling in a disturbingly animalistic fashion. "The universe taunts me."

    Tirsiak looks down towards the city. There's a soft sigh. "I am Tirsiak. How many souls reside in that city?" she asks Vivian.

Luke Gray offers Temulin a polite bow at the introduction, "I'm Luke Gray from Kansai." he offers, doing his best to seem formal. As he hears the different points of view, "But, isn't the dragon waking up going to destroy this town?" he asks, taking what Vivian mentioned as the truth, perhaps he has no reason to doubt her word. He looks back at Vivian, "Should we... try to get the people out of the town first, before trying to do anything with the dragon?"

"Let's get these people out of town then." Temulin concludes for her part. She looks towards the others. "I admit I'm not best suited to that kind of task, but I am far better suited to that task than I am to fixing this damn dam." She nods towards Tirsiak asking the all-important question, "And we should try to determine how much time we have. Denhes doesn't take to strangers well, so I can't take passengers, but if there's any need to encourage people to evacuate, I can do that." There's a smirk on her face, like she'd enjoy that idea.

    Looking at Tirsiak now, Vivian chuckles softly, "No, not much sport at all. I would be worried that killing it would take too long, or I'd have done it myself. While sleeping it is merely large, not dangerous to those with enough power. I know that one, at least, has some power." She gestures at Zelda/Shiek.

    Luke's suggestion, and Temulin's agreement, have her spreading her wings. To answer Tirsiak's question, "Some thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, but not too many more. I think if we want to scare them away that might work better. They are celebrating a religious holiday, but surely there are allowances for immediate danger?" Temulin's mount keeps distracting her, though. With wings of her own she's probably never been on one.

    Zelda is given a wave then. "Try not to make it stir too much, if you fail. Give us time to try to evacuate." She's left to go to the mine if she wants... but Vivian DID leave a map, it's not that hard. Plenty of warning signs have been posted, saying it is closed, but there are torches nearby and the way down is clearly marked by both signs and by a growing heat from the slumbering beast.

    Tirsiak's eyes widen almost like saucers. "Tens of... I... I did not think tens of thousands of humans... even existed..." The wolf-deer looks down at the floor for a few moments. "...It would be a waste. For so many to be snuffed out in one fell swoop." Although if there's this many around maybe hunting humans doesn't need to be such a rare event...

    "...If the river were to be frozen, would that allow more time for the humans to flee?"

  The others occupy themselves with how to solve this predicament. 'Sheik' has more direct methods in mind, riding down to the hillside where the mineshaft accessing the dragon's lair lies.

  Lifting a hand in greeting to whatever villagers are nearby, she slides off the saddle and proceeds to the mineshaft. It is, hopefully, not a very long trip. And perhaps just to spite Vivian after having her powers called out, the princess pointedly does not call down a bit of light to see by. She instead takes a torch down from the wall and carries it ahead of her.

  The closer she gets to the beast's resting place, the warmer and more humid the air; the more the fetid stink of the food that's rotted between its teeth. It's enough to make someone gag, but 'Sheik' settles for wrapping her scarf more firmly around the lower half of her face. Ew.

  Once she's close enough to see the creature, she kneels, jamming the torch butt-end down into the loose earth and settling more comfortably in her kneel. Tentatively, she reaches out -- not with her senses, not with her hands, but with her mind, searching for the presence of the dragon with a presence both comforting and gently inquiring.

  The royal women of Hyrule are often telepaths of no small regard. It enables her to communicate with things that might not otherwise speak, and perhaps it may help her here.

"I could feint an attack, and you lot could pretend to try to get the people out before I can hurt them." Temulin suggests with a tone of mild excitement at the idea; and perhaps to emphasize her talent at the notion she unleashes her power, cladding her blade in dark aspected aether and settling on a cruel grin. "I've been told I can be quite intimidating when I want to be."

Luke Gray nods a few times as he hears the suggestion from Temulin, "I would get my pokemon to try to somethign like that... I am just affraid of causing a fire and harming people by accident." he says, before he blinks at the display of power from Temulin, taking a step back,

    As Zelda has left for now, Vivian chooses to join the others. Less chance of her magic screwing things up. "I think... it would be best if I joined your own attack, Temulin," she says, taking on an informal tone. "My own magics draw upon life energies, so I am not well-suited to ushering to safety. I believe the boy here would do best for taking everyone to safety. I've seen him do so before."

    As for Tirsiak, Vivian chuckles, "It would not only help, it would also aid in frightening them. A crisis like that, however temporary, would wake them up I think. My own magic is wind-powered, good for raw destruction of this sort of thing..."

    It's not like the city is well-defended... and mid-ceremony as they are, MOST of them are clustered into large groups anyway.

    As for Zelda, it's simple to see why the dragon was disturbed... when she comes to the vast opening housing the slumbering dragon, she can see crumbling rock all around the creature's side, showing that the miners probably chipped very close to its body. It isn't a classical dragon, but it's obviously a scaly, large beast... more a Wyrm. And it is slumbering still, eyes closed and half-covered in dirt in a large cavern. The restlessness of the beast is easy to feel.

    Tirsiak nods her head once. "...Then, just this once, these people shall have my blessing." She says, her voice still reverberating like... well like the voice of a god in a cheesy TV show, really.

    The nature spirit floats languidly towards the river, not seeming to be in any particular hurry despite the urgency of the situation.

    She floats out to the middle of the river, before descending slowly to dip one bare toe into the water. Ice crystals immediately begin to form, spreading outward and downwards through the water, freezing it solid despite its flow. She raises her hand, and snaps her fingers.

    Suddenly, clouds begin to swarm the sky, and it immediately begins to snow. The temperature dips sharply, to well below freezing. The trees near the river are... pines now. They weren't pines before. What on earth?

    Bizarrely, Luke, Vivian and Temulin - not Zelda, she's too far away - feel a very faint magical 'pressure'. If they assent to the silent question it seems to be asking, they find themselves outfitted with warm winter gear! Temulin's mount, too, seems to have assumed its winter plumage over the span of a few seconds. Handy.

  Staying at her kneel, as though to keep herself as small and unobtrusive as possible, Zelda makes another attempt to probe at the mind of the slumbering wyrm. It isn't exactly forceful, but she's careful to balance being too firm with not firm enough. She doesn't want to fully wake it, but she does want it open to suggestion.

  Her 'voice' reaches the beast as though through a long, long corridor.

  There is no urgency behind her summons, merely a gentle imploration, and a wordless suggestion -- might it be better to go elsewhere, where the beast's sleep would be not disturbed by the industry of humanity? Somewhere far away, where it need not worry about miners digging too deep?

  Carefully, 'Sheik' inches forward, until she's standing very near to the dragon, enough to feel the warmth of its breath; enough that a stray exhalation throws her hood back from her face. She flinches through the hot wind and pulls the hood back into place.

  Please... I implore you. Will you go?

  The joke's on her if it's just an unintelligent beast. Hopefully it has enough sense to listen.

Luke Gray nods a bit to Vivian, "That I can do for sure." he says softly, smiling to in respoonse, well used to being called 'boy' since... welll, he was one really. He is rather curious when Tirsiak seems to go ahead adn do... stuff, following her curiously with his eyes and moving closer, "What...". He instinctively agrees adn lets out an startled noise as he finds himself wrapped in the warm clothing, rubbing his arms. He reaches to his belt, considering just getting his fire pokemon to warm up, "Hope that works to get their attention."

The plan agreed upon, Temulin gets her well-trained bird to take to the sky, flying towards the town and its religious ceremony. She does a very simple and straightforward entrance, given her abilities at least. A small blast of dark aether is sent flying towards the ceremony, purposefully missing while trying to make it look accidental.

Then, attention drawn she jumps down from her bird and makes a very simple statement as she lands, blade still clad in darkness, smirking cruelly. "My partner and I have frozen the water in the reservoir and have broken the dam." She proclaims loudly, "We will release the frozen water if you do not abandon this town and all your belongings. Furthermore, I will start killing people when I run out of patience. My partner is more patient than I, but even she doesn't have infinite patience." To make her point, she drives her sword through the wall of a nearby building. "Don't tarry."

    The river crackles and freezes as the tundra takes over the local area, freezing over the puddles and the flowing water, and causing a stir in the city before everyone arrives.

    Choosing to support Temulin by being threatening, Vivian lets her do the work by spreading wings, landing atop a gargoyle, and then 'perching' there like a bird, glaring down and using her subtle empathic abilities to enhance the fear. It's better if she has a real performance with it, but a little nudge can't /hurt/ here. Fortunately, Temulin proves to be very good at the intimidation angle! The sword is a nice touch, causing people to... stare. To their credit, they don't scream and panic so much as murmur about what to do.

    They're helped along by a small rumble from the hills.

    Speaking of hills, Zelda gets... well, the dragon is asleep! So the answer isn't so much in words as a vague irritation of just wanting to roll over and go back to sleep. Not that the Wyrm can roll over with the cavern pinning its arm like this. It's probably suffering from an arm being asleep. No wonder it's uncomfortable.

    The citygoers are very calm about it in the end, and their spokesperson decides to step forward. "We will... withdraw, for now." Are they pacifists or something? Maybe Vivian didn't ask hard enough.

    Having someone WARM to guide them away from the cold and higher up the hills is welcome, so Luke finds himself to be a little Moses here. That was... distressingly easy, even Vivian looks puzzled.

    Tirsiak is now just sitting in the air, floating above the river and not seeming to do much. She's done her part. She doesn't really feel all that comfortable meddling in the lives of mortals - at least, beyond the usual meddling she's meant to do as a spirit of the hunt - but... well.

    She couldn't just let tens of thousands of people die.

    And not just because it would be a waste of perfectly good prey.

  Easing down into a crouch, Zelda rubs her hands together as she considers the situation. The answer was more or less what she had expected. Disappointing, as this beast does not seem particularly inclined to reason.

  Hmm. How best to proceed? There's no way that she can move this much rock, no matter how much power she pulls from her own divine blood, and the effort would likely kill her anyway. So would the dragon, probably, but... it seemed better to try that than to just kill the thing. Even if it doesn't possess a man's reason, it has as much right to live.

  Uncertain for an instant, Zelda chews at her lower lip, eyeing the collapsed wall and the dragon's trapped limb. She looks back to the mineshaft, leading back out to freedom, and then back to the dragon.

  If the others can get the town emptied out, she can help this creature and guide it to a place where it won't bother anybody.

  With a confidence she's not wholly sure she feels, Zelda reaches out -- not with words, but with her mind, seeking one of the people outside. She isn't picky about who she reaches; Vivian or Temulin, since both seem to be spearheading the 'evacuation.'

  Temulin of Dotharl. Vivian. Her mental 'voice' is clear, almost brittle; and it positively reeks of holy energy. It's probably mildly uncomfortable to those really attuned to corruptive magic. I see what the problem is. The beast is wounded, and the mineshaft has partly collapsed upon it. That is why it stirs and wakens. If you can clear the village, I can see if I can waken him gently, tend to his wounds, and guide him to a place where this will not happen again. Can you do that?

  For the moment, Zelda maintains her crouch, waiting tensely and watching the dragon.

  The beast sleeps, for the moment, but I cannot promise for how long. One limb is trapped 'neath rockfall.