February 21st:

*Z turns to Rory distractedly.*

"All materia is slotted into the soul when in use. He said this one was incorrectly removed, resulting in... well that. There are probably more of those lying around this facility, if you're interested in them."

"Well, then maybe it should be destroyed. How do you save the souls trapped inside? Or are those the souls of the crew...?" he pondered, directing his inquiry at the machine.

The Tumideon again stares at Rory for a moment. "Further analysis will be required. No further information authorized." It pauses, then pointedly looks at the rest of the group. "Translation protocol ready?"

"The soul isn't inside it Rory it never was.  It is still linked to the soul of the host."

*Z shakes her head then stands and turns to Fiernaceal.*

"Andrei is missing, the Sotiris was destroyed... killed... I fear there are greater evils in this world than your Gaerlan.  Try not to die on the Tusker island.  I'll do my best to join you later.  If you return and have no word from me you may contact me through Slivina."

"Didn't you request to come along?" Rory asked. "What changed your mind?"

"Good luck, Z. I hope you find Andrei before it's too late."

*Z turns to Rory and says in quick frustrated snippets of speech,*

"Andrei is GONE MISSING NO INFORMATION AVAILABLE and the Sotoris is DEAD. Has it not occurred to you in that muscle filled brain of yours that something capable of killing one of these"

*she turns, gesturing toward the Tumideon, then, remembering the earlier events and its response to the argument between Snarg and Rory, takes a deep breath and continues on in much quieter collected tones.*

"is a great enough threat to go looking into? And Andrei.... I sent Andrei with him. I am responsible for that boy, and I will not let his death be on my hands. Now excuse me."

"Gods lady, I asked a question. You wanna stay behind, that's your choice. I'm not gonna be mad at you for it." His tone was scornful, casual, and dismissive. He was making it clear that he didn't care where she went or what she did.

"Damn Rory, just shut-up already. Are you going to be like this when we get to Tusker Island? Cause I can just slit your throat right now if so."

Rory shot a crazy look at Kolson, like he could scarcely believe why he would butt in, let alone take her side. "Try, and I'll thrash you," he rumbled, passing his statement off to the side rather than going bullheaded and square-shouldered. He didn't want to start a fight if it wasn't necessary, especially in company, but he wasn't ready to back down from a challenge--or a threat.

"You child! You think this is some stupid pissing contest? That you can shrug my words off because they sting your pride? You pull this crap with the Tuskers and you'll get us all killed. Do you hear me?"

*Z is walking toward the door ignoring them*

The fairy sighed at both Kolson and Rory, and spoke to both of them, "Both of you are missing the point. I know the idea of going to tusker central is stressing us all, but creating more conflict before going there is counter-productive, ok? If you can, try to relax, both of you. We'll need to be on our peak, not our worst."

"I appreciate your words, Javen, but this has been a problem with Rory for a long time. If we say nothing and he continues to act this way we will be killed."

The same look Rory gave Kolson came back at a fraction of its former glory when he said "pissing contest". "I dunno, sounds like you're the one determined to get the last word here. I know what Tuskers can do," he hissed. "And I'm not shrugging you off."

"No you know nothing about what Tuskers can do," Snarg interrupts, not with anger but with a sort of low dread. "We encountered a lone, stray, child Tusker. A child, Rory. Would you please take this seriously?"

"Anyway, Kolson, trying to threatening others into doing what is right is not very awesome. And Rory... you and me are going just so that if stuff gets too hot, we'll be the ones that die trying to give the rest of the party an extra second or two of time to escape. That's our real role in this expedition. Please understand that and let us both keep our mouths shut unless asked, and thinking thrice even when we are asked. Ok, man?"

Archengeia wrote:"No you know nothing about what Tuskers can do," Snarg interrupts, not with anger but with a sort of low dread.  "We encountered a lone, stray, child Tusker.  A child, Rory.  Would you please take this seriously?"

"Really?" He couldn't hold back from the half-chuckle. As if he couldn't imagine without properly seeing the subject in action. "We've all seen bigger, remember? I think I have a good enough guess as to what they're capable of to be taking this seriously."

Essoje wrote:"Anyway, Kolson, trying to threatening others into doing what is right is not very awesome. And Rory... you and me are going just so that if stuff gets too hot, we'll be the ones that die trying to give the rest of the party an extra second or two of time to escape. That's our real role in this expedition. Please understand that and let us both keep our mouths shut unless asked, and trying thrice even when we are asked. Ok, man?"

"No, I'm going because I was asked to, and how could I not?" He turned to Fierneceal. "Whatever happens over there, we're with you. You can count on us."

The fairy just sighs and shakes his head, probably because of Rory's answer. "I meant what I said, Rory. The last thing we need is to even look slightly like a threat on an island full of death machines that might jump on us because we looked at them the wrong way. If any of us take a false step, the whole party is going down. That's why us combatants shouldn't be 'counted on'."

Rory fell back into his upset mindset, a little hurt. "'Combatants'...yeah. Because that's all I meant when I said that."

*Z exits*

Fierneceal coughs. "As fascinating as this all is, is there any chance we could get going?"

"Oh, don't make that face. Me taking the worst possibility out of what you said is natural when you consider your recent actions, ok? If you think you don't deserve this kind of treatment, then show us all how awesome a guy you are by your actions."

The Tumideon remains suspiciously quiet during your group's small scuffle, merely doing something off to the side before a tall, perfectly circular disk of violet energy erupts into the air. It is unmoving, as though it is solid, but has blue sparks and streaks of energy occasionally flitting in and out of, as well as around, it.

The Tumideon turns to the group. "Highly unlikely you will ever encounter us again," it says simply, and vanishes.

The moment you touch the static, violet disk hovering in the air you feel your entire body lurching forward as though gripped by your navel and yanked. As you rip by sights and sounds you barely understand you catch glimpses of corridors of pure violet crystal, bright lights of blindingly red glare, and strange dancing lights of blue and teal flickering. All of this blurs by you at breakneck pace before you suddenly feel as if you are slammed into a concrete wall and blink your eyes in the brightness. It takes you a moment to realize that it is both much brighter and much colder then you were expecting; the bright sunlight combined with a relative lack of cloud cover is reflecting off long, sloping hills and valleys of partially snow-covered tundra as far as you can see before you. There is a light breeze whipping through you which might feel pleasent if not for the bitter cold. There are several thick pine trees forming the vaguest edges of a forest nearby, which in addition to stopping the worst of the winds are probably sheltering you from prying eyes for the moment.

The ground itself is the most unusual combination of loose, fertile soil and frost, yet does not give underneath your steps at you walk upon it. Where it is not covered by snow or ice, the partial tundra soil makes an odd reflective, glittering effect that gives you the impression of walking through plains of glass, bright lights flickering everywhere.

The trees themselves are even odder; upon closer reflection, they are tall and wide, made of a sort of crystalline substance in the shape of bark but clearly not, that fluctuates in the sunlight between pink, blue, and red. Similarly the leaves on the trees are striking in contrast, and it is not until you get closer that you realize each individual leaf is in fact on fire, though the crystal leaf beneath the flames seems unharmed by the flickering flames.

Let's do some Spellcraft +12 and Weaving +20 checks on this tree to glean some info, if possible.