World Tree MUSH

Location: Zeta Epsilon Theta III

    Site: Base Camp on island "Dogma's End." Coastal location, sub-tropical vegetation.

    Time: Local 09:42

    Weather: Overcast, gusting winds to 15mph, ocean surface showing minor wave patterns.

    >"Justina, deployment of Class-4 MK.II complete, connect when ready. Sensors indicate the stormfront is holding steady at current course and speed, will advise if anything changes."<

    "Confirmed, Minerva, Linking now... send the call to the others."

    The camp has a small staff of autonomous Dolls, setting up equipment with rigid motions, most of them are squat, tracked models as bipedal locomotion is difficult to simulate effectively. A taller, yellow-plated model stands stationary in the center of the camp, coming online as people assemble until those with a magical sense can pick up the presence of Justina's spirit within the machine.

    "Mster, master, we're getting another mail from Minerva." Mary Contrary pipes up while Morrigan is busy getting a slurpee from the gas station where she's refuelling her van.
    "Oh?"
    "Mhm. Justina is doing more planetary exploration."
    "Oh neat. Did Minerva send the coordinates?"
    The answer to this question results in a flash of green light and a freshly refuelled 2003 Ford Windstar just appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the base camp.
    Morrigan steps out. Takes a long sssssssluuuuurp of her slurpee, and tosses the empty cup back inside her car to trash later.
    "Mary dear what are the rules of exploring the wilderness?"
    "Take nothing but photographs, and leave only footprints?"
    The shinki gets a pat on the head for her correct answer.

Misaki arrives just after Morrigan. She's already transformed. "Miss Contrary." She greets the Shinki, glanicng towards the doll in the center, "Miss Thyme, I presume?" She finds a place to sit, "So what are we doing today?"

    Once again, the Legacy makes its way to the planet of ZET III. "Legacy here, we're making our landing now." She radios Justina's ship. She came as fast as she could once she got the message. She'll arrive to the camp by speeder, landing a few mikes away in a clearing.

    "Hey, I got here just as fast as I could." She greets, producing some field rations to munch on.

    So this is one of those 'other worlds' that just got connected. Ozan is busy casing the base camp, more to figure out what all the technology is about than anything else. There'd been a call for some sort of expedition, which sounded adventurous enough, so he's just killing time until the adventurers gather. And, hey, there they are! "Ah, there's the shapeshifter!" Misaki is the only one he recognizes. "Nice work back there with the trolls. Anyway, what are we doing here exactly?"

    As the people gather, Justina recognizes everyone, save the cagey looking man. "Miss Sakai, Captain Kyras, Miss Lor'osa." the slightly tinny, feminine voice comes from the tall mecha. "To catch everyone up, this world is mostly ocean, these islands are few and far between, so we are using this one as a base to dive down to explore the local area via submersible. This Ur-Doll frame is built for aquatic operation and since it doesn't require an oxygen supply I will be going without a vehicle. There is a utility submersible equipped with grapple arms and a small torpedo launcher moored at the docks just overt there." she points then towards the metal catwalk with a fair-sized grey-painted and fairly bulbous shaped vehicle bobbing in the water as the waves lap against its hull.

    "Anyone who wishes to remain on the surface and explore the rest of this island are free to do so, I understand that most people don't enjoy the confines of a small vehicle."

    Well two can play at this game. If Misaki is going to ignore Morrigan, she'll pay the senshi no mind, with a sniff.
    Mary waves though.
    "Mary!"
    "What?"
    "Sigh, never mind."
    Then she looks to the submersible.
    Morrigan raises her hand.
    "Do any of us know how to drive that thing because I sure don't."
    A van it is not.

    "Submersibles are basically starships but for water, I can operate it." the green woman nods to Morrigan. She then greets Ozan with a wave. "Hello there, I'm Talia Kyras. Don't think we've met." She says with a curt nod, and offers hand to shake.

"I'm not a shapeshifter, mister... I don't think you ever mentioned your surname?" Misaki responds to Ozan. She takes one mildly dubious look at the submersible. "I think I'll stay up here. Good luck, miss Kyras."

    "Ozan the Magnificent, at your service!" The dashing rogue takes Talia's hand with a flourish, firmly accepting the handshake, and adding for Misaki, "Just Ozan. The Magnificent. And, ah. Must've been Emily shifting."

    Looking at everyone else gathered, he inquires, "So we're exploring underwater today, yes? Searching for hidden temples? Sunken ships with unclaimed treasure? Does this submersible have room for two? I can work the grapples. Keep an eye out for shiny baubles too." Nevermind that a sumbarine has very different grapples than the kind fired from a bow...

    Justina's metallic 'face' turns to Ozan. "I would be very surprised to find sunken temples or broken ships on this planet, Class-4 hazard worlds tend not to have much in the way of sentient life, though it has happened... Centria is a Class-9 'Death World', by some races standards, after all." She rolls her shoulder joints, making them whirr softly. "No, our exploration will be to determine any local fauna, collect samples and attach trackers to specimens if possible, deploy autonomous probes and sensor packages at waypoints that are uploaded into the submarine's mainframe, and map the sea floor around the island for future survey crews."

    Finally she actually adds, for Ozan's sake. "I am Justina Thyme, Captain of the CEF Sanctuary. My real body is still aboard my ship, I am here via Astral Projection, anchored into this frame." She gestures to the metallic body, then turns to head into the water. "Those staying on land, remember the protocols, observe, tag specimens if able, and direct all findings to Minerva."

    "Yeah, I imagine any civilizations we do see might be long dead, under the waves." Talia muses. She's been to Mon Cala before, and Aquilaris, that rainy bucket of a planet. She nods as Justina explains things to Ozan, and eyes the 'Magnificent' with a skeptical look. "Right. Try not to break anything aboard the ship." She says, before frowning at Misaki. "Not a fan of the water, Sakai-san?"

"Mister Ozan it is." Misaki does not indulge the nickname. Talia's question gets her to look away, "It's not the water." She mumbles a little. "It's dark down there..." The light mage's words are barely audible. She goes through the equipment to get tags to attach to specimens.

    "Right! Okay, Talia can drive the sub." That's settled, before Morrigan turns to Ozan.
    "Hi! I'm Morrigan. I do spooky witch things and adventure stuff." She says before...
    Smoke starts belching from under the hood of her van.
    "..."
    Sigh.
    "I think I better stay on the island and handle that."

    "Long dead civilizations, long lost secrets." Ozan is unflapped by his new critic and underwater driver, waving a hand about airily as he takes the passenger seat in the sub. He decides to leave his bow and arrows with Misaki, as yes, this thing is rather cramped, and he needs all the room he can get. "Doubt I'll be needing this though. Keep that safe? We'll just go down there and case the joint." With an eye-rollish tone, he adds, "Tag the specimens. Conduct biology." Clearly not one for mundane work...

    Justina's voice comes through the speakers in the sub, >"If you do not wish to assist with such work, Mister Ozan, you are free to leave at any point."< she says airily, her metallic frame wading out before dropping off the 'ledge' into the abyss below.

    The submersible is simple enough, designed for anyone with basic knowledge to operate it, plus it has some basic automation installed too.

    Meanwhile on the surface, Misaki would be able to trek most of the way around it, should she wish to. The island has a beach area surrounding it as one might expect, and a relatively lush forest inland, though all the trees are relatively squat because of the high winds. Short trunks about three times thicker than palm trees on earth, with wispy frond-like leaves in a vague mop at the top, and interspaced along the trunk at irregular intervals. There are signs of animal habitation, though finding them may be an adventure to itself.

    "I for one welcome the exploration. It's...peaceful, relatively." Talia shruga a shoulder before she climbs into the sub. She'll take some time to get acquainted with the controls, once she has a seat at the cockpit. She'll check for systems, like defensive measures, the pressure gauge, oxygen levels...

    Despite his earlier demeanor, Ozan actually does step back and watch Talia do her expert diagnostics. He does, in fact, know how not to break anything when the situation calls for it. "So since you have this well in hand miss, know what we're looking for here? Fossils, coral reefs, that sort of thing?" He's at least trying to do the job properly, though his idea of an area scan is clearly 'look out the window and try to find things'. Ignoring any on-board sensors.

Misaki takes a good look at the equipment she's handed and sighs once Ozan is gone, then finds one of the other dolls, "Can you keep an eye on this, please?" Then she gets to work, looking around the island and keeping track of everything with a 3d map above one of her hands, marking every sign of animal habitation she's seen and trying to figure out a pattern that might indicate a location.

    SUBMARINE: As Talia figures out the controls, which are really simple, she can take it out of dock and dive over the abyss like Justina did. A sonar reads out the topography around the vessel, it shows as a holographic display above a panel between the pilot and co-pilot stations. >"Mister Ozan, if you would seat yourself in the co-pilot station, I will have the onboard system show you the sensor read-outs in a way that will make sense to you."< comes Justina's voice. Though the view out of the front windows shows a breathtaking rainbow of bioluminescence. Fish with glowing lines along their bodies, and slightly larger creatures with pads and trails. Big bulbous creatures with large glowing sacks on their tails, which expel glowing pods which then pop in miniature explosions after a few moments when startled. The ecosystem down here is dynamic and vibrant, a few specimens even swimming in formation with the submarine, emitting chittering calls as if trying to communicate with the odd, lightless 'fish'.

    SURFACE: Misaki's resquest to the Doll earns no response, though it does take the equipment and trundle to one of the prefab buildings to wait within. One of the other Dolls follows Misaki out into the island, keeping a respectful distance as the magical girl maps the area. A pattern does start to emerge after several datapoints are compounded. There seems to be a semi-sentient species of what appears, from footprints, to be rodents on this island, and following the footprints leads to a small collection of haphazard shelters. Fronds interwoven and banded between tree trunks in the lee of a larger boulder to protect from the rain and wind.

    Talia will let Justina help Ozan with figuring out how things work. "It's...hmm. I imagine this is all a lot to take in, Ozan." She muses softly, as they begin to descend down to the depths, further and further into the darkness. She turns on the lights to guide their path, while she looks around at their surroundings. "By the Force...sometimes the exploration is its own reward, isn't it?" She says, awestruck.

Misaki heads for the shelters and takes a few pictures with her smartphone, before creating a little glowing ball of light and moving it towards the shelter to try to entice them to either try it out or run away, so she can find one and tag it.

    Best not to argue with the bossy robot lady. Ozan takes his spot as co-pilot, though he still refuses to rely on all the sensor readouts. Sensors don't really convey the /color/ of it all. His eyes are glued to the actual view as he starts marking down all the different species he can identify - with a vigor completely unexpected, given his earlier reticence. "No kidding, Talia. Here I thought we might find maybe some shrimp or crayfish, not... this." He's hooked. Although, one thing strikes him as odd. "Pardon. By the 'force'? Odd turn of phrase there."

    SUBMARINE: Justina, for her part, uses her robotic body to settle into formation with one of the larger seal-like creatures, and carefully installs a tracking tag where it can't be easily knocked off, and where it won't harm the creature for the duration of it bearing the device. She does this for several entities, before turning to head deeper, toward a cave in the base of the island.

    >"These worlds are far from any explored space, Mister Ozan... this is what I live for, the chance to see new life, chart new systems, and perhaps, very rarely these days, find new civilisations. The Centrian Expeditionary Fleet's main goal is these three tenets... so, please... don't just use your eyes, but also the sensors, I do appreciate the 'old Mk.1 eyeball' is probably the best tool, but the extra data is also useful."< an odd turn of phrase for a scientist to use.

    SURFACE: Misaki's attemot to 'draw out' the residents earns a wary glower from what looks to be an adolescent, as it peers around the edge of the woven protective mat. The creature steps out with a sharpened stick in paw, looking like a teal-furred otter with a flat, club-like tail, and four bioluminescent eyes that glow faintly orange in the dimness under the canopy and the overcast sky. It makes more chittering, clicking sounds, waving its 'spear' at the magical girl before grasping it with two of its four 'arm' paws and bracing its two 'leg' appendages in a defensive posture.

    Talia shrugs. "It's a long story. The short version is I have special abilities, and...I suppose it's also my religion." She explains tersely. "I'll tell you the rest of it later, I suppose. Then again, it's not like we have anything important going on just yet." She says, as she begins to follow down a pathway, running her light on coral.

As the creature steps out, Misaki takes a few more pictures but keeps a respectful distance. She calls Justina, "Pretty sure these fellows are sapient. They make shelters and build spears. Really cute but they see me as an intruder, I could try to tag but that doesn't seem right."

    "Fine, I'll use the scrying panel." Ozan grumpily looks at the far less exciting sensor readouts, even if he stubbornly keeps looking outside to match electronic data with real thing. And stubbornly sketches the coral with Mk.1 pencil and paper instead of using technology specifically designed to do that for him. After a while, he manages to pair off sensor data with his sketches for several of the more interesting species.

    Taking advantage of the lack of important actiony things going on, Ozan presses Talia on her background. "Religion? You call your god 'the Force' then. Interesting take. Who's he compete with? What sort of pantheon do you have to deal with on your world?"

    SURFACE:Justina returns the call. >"Understood, Miss Sakai, however, simple tool use and shelter construction does not specificly indicate full sapience. Ignore the tags, we can leave concealed sensor pods to observe them without interfering. Do not antagonize them more than necessary to map their shelters for deployment."<

    SUBMARINE: Bringing the Submarine through the shoals of glowing fish, brings the two operators into a vast 'forest' of coral. It seems to shift from purple to yellow to green to blue, and many other colours. This forest seems to be home to a truely gargantuan creature, an eel-like tail propels a strangely humanoid-'torso' with a hammerhead structure that houses a pair of eyes, and a large maw, it doesn't have teeth, instead seeming to filter smaller creatures as it swims. This creature swims past the Sub, the wake of its passing making the vessel jolt to the side as the water moves.

    Well, looks like it's exposition time. Talia sighs. "Alright then. I'm what you would call a Jedi Knight, we're essentially an order of peacekeepers throughout the galaxy. The Force is an energy field that surrounds and gives life to all living things, we can...use it, somewhat, sense thoughts and move things. We're in tune with it." She begins to explain. "I was born a vagrant, but when I was very young a Jedi took me in as his apprentice, he taught me how to fight, how to use the Force, history, how to travel and maintain equipment...basically he taught me almost everything I know now." She reaches out and begins to levitate one of the items on her belt, some kind of multi-tool. It's manipulated as if by itself, producing little prongs and a screwdriver.

"Got it." Misaki backs off and leaves the critter to its own devices while she heads back to get some sensor pods to conceal, both near the shelter and near some spots that looked like they got a lot of activity.

    "Galaxy, that's a group of stars and their planets right?" Ozan tries to confirm his grasp on cosmology. "That's a vast undertaking right there! I take it your order is just as vast?" Suddenly, he takes particular interest in that giant eel... "...hold that thought Talia. That beast is truly impressive. Absolutely magnificent."

    It's now that he fully embraces the use of all the sensors afforded him, scrutinizing in sharp detail every bit of information read out to him on the displays. He's writing all this down, as well as getting a multi-page sketch of the leviathan swimming about. "I just found my favorite beast out here."

    SUBMARINE: >"Then you get the privilage of naming it."< A different feminine voice, older sounding, slightly deeper. Minerva's digital face appears in the sensor 'grid', taking over the topography for the moment. >"Make it a good one."< she adds, the elven-like face giving a wink, before returning to the topography map. The sensors show it being at least two hundred meters long, it's 'arms' and 'hands' equipped to allow it to rapidly make course corrections in the water, the muscles built to make it a truly powerful swimmer. Bioscanners read it being a filter feeder, akin to a whale, a peaceful giant of the deep. Its body tempurature is oddly high, and as another, smaller giant comes close, the larger one rears back, and 'spits' out a glob of some kind of molten substance, striking the smaller creature and causing it to retreat.

    SURFACE: Misaki is met by the Doll that followed her, the little tracked robot unloading a metal crate with both tracking tags, and several ten-inch long lozenge-shaped devices that when twisted open, deploy into antenna-like constructs that, once unhanded, cloak themselves and become invisible. >"Miss Sakai, place these in areas that are not easy to reach, the invisibility spell makes them impossible to locate visually, but they can still be touched. They are also relatively fragile, so attempt to find places where the weather will not severely affect them, or potentially move them out of position due to wind force."< advizes Minerva.

    Justina has been oddly quiet the last few minutes.

"Is miss Thyme doing alright?" Misaki asks while she follows the instructions on how to place the sensors, trying to find the perfect spots for observation. "You're miss Thyme's AI companion, right?"

    Talia chuckles. "Something like that. We use starships, I think you might've seen mine come in on the way. Justina uses a similar vessel." She explains with a little smile. Of course, the thought is held. She eyes the eel and nods in approval. "Yes, luminescence is quite impressive isn't it?" She says. "We should probably give him some time to choose a name." THe Jedi suggests with a crooked grin.

    Yeah, it'll take some time to think of a name. Ozan scribes a few candidate names for now and continues just observing the creature. "Let's see... is this the only one of its size? We just saw it lash out at a younger one... are there more?" The question is a hopeful one.

    <"I am just fine, Miss Sakai. Just focussing on this cave network, there are extensive tunnels beneath the island... there are even some pockets of breathable, and dare I say fresh atmosphere. Some quirk of the geology, or perhaps due to the bioluminescent lichen... facinating, truly."> comes Justina's reply to Misaki before Minerva can speak. >"I am the AI aboard the Sanctuary, yes. Very astute of you to remember Miss Sakai."<

    Meanwhile, Minerva also speaks to the submersible crew. >"Thanks to the detailed scans we've received, my sensors can now do wide area surveys of the surface from orbit. Preliminary bioform scans do indicate multiple dozens in a three thousand kilometer area around the island. They seem to congregate around those coral 'forests', likely it is where their main food source is located. Likely a kind of plankton adjascent lifeform."< a pause is given, then she continues. >"You need not come up with a name immediately. We can hold off on classification as we only need to properly catalogue these things before sending off the data to CEF command."<

    Ozan breathes an audible sigh of relief at the news that the giant centaur eel is just one of many. "Oh thank Het. Where I come from, a creature that size is ends up losing its head to adventurers as a trophy, more often than not. The lucky ones eat those adventurers, or chase them off." His tone switches from somber there, to upbeat again as he adds, "But getting chased by one of those things, and living to tell the tale? Gotta admit that'd make one impressive story!" He then gets a mischievous grin on his face and makes some more notes, sticking those ones in his pocket. Personal notes, no doubt. "Now what name sounds particularly thrilling to flee..."

    "Good thing we might be the first beings to visit this place in forever. We might be the only sapient beings on the planet at all." Talia says to herself, thinking. "You're right. There's no shame in saying you survived an encounter with such a beast." She chuckles.

    The Jedi thinks and muses to herself, "Perhaps...the Ozanian Eel?" She suggests.

Misaki finishes setting up the sensors, "Sounds cool. I finished setting up the sensors, what's next?" She behins to head back to basecamp, "Oh can you connect me to the submersible?" She waits for confirmation, "How are things going over on your end?"

    Minerva pings connection confirmation... then speaks up. >"The storm seems to have accelerated, I suggest packing up camp and pulling out for now."< she says.

    Justina makes a grumpy sound over comm, then indicates. <"Returning to the surface now, lock onto my frame and teleport as soon as it is in range.">

    The other Dolls are already collapsing the various shelters, save for the one holding Ozan's gear. That shelter and the Doll are left until last, once the rogue has retrieved his equipment and freed the Doll from its obligations.

    Talia begins to return to the surface, following Justina's doll. "We'd better call it here, otherwise we'll be stuck here. My ship isn't exactly buoyant."

    Ozan chuckles at Talia's suggestion. "Name it after myself? Hmm. The Ozanian Centauri Eel." His musings get cut short as the call to retreat comes through, and he takes the teleport and collects his belongings. He starts writing some more - is he already working on his dramatic retelling? Yes. Yes he is.

Misaki heads towards the group as well, "Good working with you again, miss Thyme, miss Kyras, mister Ozan. I am heading off, stay in touch." And she drops her transformation, she's wearing her school uniform, "Oh, miss Kyras, can I get a ride?"