The endless waste

[aestrix]

Once, this planet teemed with life. It doesn't do that, anymore. The ground is dry and cracked and occasionally broken up by charred remains of trees. There are no birds, no bugs, no living plants - nothing but an empty, endless waste.

With one exception.

But the world is so very big, and the exception so very small. If someone showed up away from it, they could be quite forgiven for thinking this world is completely dead.




with Sable (Kappa)

with Aisilian (Link)

with Grendyne (Rockeye)

with Temple (Curiousdiscoverer)

Comments

[greatestgift]

"That... sounds like it might not quite work with Terraria," Sable says thoughtfully. "But it might. I can give you some things to try duplicating."

[light_another_life]

"Sure. I'll definitely try." She peers curiously at the staff. "Do all of your magic items come with the helpful - whatever the heck this is in my head?"

[greatestgift]

"Yes they do!"

[light_another_life]

"Huh. That's convenient and sort of creepy. Want to go wander outside and see how this works?"

[greatestgift]

"Sure. Why is it creepy, though?"

[light_another_life]

She puts her doll onto a shelf next to several similar dolls (all attached to her, and all doing different things) and starts heading outside.

"Well, mostly I'm wondering by what mechanism it transfers its information. And the effect is helpful, but implies some scary things can also be done by malevolent forces."

[greatestgift]

"Oh. It's... really just Terraria being Terraria," says Sable. "If I were going to have worries like that, they would be about things like the fact that all the many, many monsters that try to kill you are clearly capable of appearing out of nowhere at any time, but they don't appear within sight of a person or inside a sealed enclosure. And most of the especially nasty ones only appear under really specific circumstances. If the Moon Lord could show up in my house in the middle of the night without warning I would definitely be dead. Since he hasn't, it's probably safe to say he can't."

[light_another_life]

"... Huh. Okay. How strangely sporting of Terraria."

[greatestgift]

"Debatably. I was there for ten years and found evidence of other people having been there before in about twenty places and all of those people were dead."

[light_another_life]

"... Charming. That's. Ugh. And no dream world to catch them, they'd be gone for good, damn."

[greatestgift]

"Yeah. I survived, but there were some dicey moments even for me."

[light_another_life]

... Slightly ominous plant woman makes a face that says, 'I would really like to suggest you connect to the dream world,' but does not actually suggest this out loud.

"I'm sorry," she says, instead. "I can get you some protection charms and a death protection poppet, if you want them."

[greatestgift]

"Learning about your world's magic first, then deciding which of its shiny toys I want, I think," she says.

[light_another_life]

"Fair," she snorts. "We do have something of a track record with it, I can understand your caution."

[greatestgift]

"Anyway, let's test the Staff of Regrowth."

[light_another_life]

"Right, yes."

They pass a stone dais, three circles drawn onto it in a different kind of chalk than the smaller circle indoors. At it center is a similar golden rune to the interior circle. Past the dais is an exit outside the compound, mysteriously missing a door of any kind.

The lack of a door does absolutely nothing to impede either of them, and then they are in the wastes.

She waves at a patch of wasteland, and... Nothing happens.

"... Could be because it doesn't count as dirt," she observes, sounding disappointed.

[greatestgift]

"It's really dry," Sable observes. "Would a bucket of infinite water help this situation any?"

[light_another_life]

Blink. "Possibly, yeah. I have been working on something that will make it rain, but hand watering everything can help a bit."

[greatestgift]

She takes a tiny bucket from one of her many pockets and de-miniaturizes it.

It's very full of water.

It doesn't seem to get any less full when she pours a bunch on the ground.

[light_another_life]

How utterly bizarre.

And helpful.

The water takes a bit to seep into the ground, but then it looks... much more dirt like.

Miss Still-Hasn't-Given-Her-Name tries the Staff of Regrowth on the more dirt-like dirt.

Grass!

[greatestgift]

"...So should I just fly in circles watering your terrible dirt?" wonders Sable.

[light_another_life]

Giggle. "You can! I might want to aim you at a sickly node, though, have you fly around watering the dirt nearby and growing grass for it to eat. I've gotten most of the nodes around here, but there are a few a bit further afield that could be fed."

[greatestgift]

"I can absolutely fly in circles watering your terrible dirt and growing grass on it," says Sable. "Where's a node that needs some attention?"

[light_another_life]

"It's a bit of a walk. Do you have an extra pair of wings that I can borrow? So I could show you. I have a map, but there aren't exactly any landmarks when you're not near the coast, so it probably wouldn't be very helpful."

[greatestgift]

"Sure. Pick your favourite," she says, and she digs in a pocket and pulls out several pairs of miniaturized wings:

A feathered pair, blue and brown.

A pair like pale blue goldfish fins, filmy and translucent.

A feathered pair haloed in heatless flames.

A pair that seem to be mechanical, black and silver with angular vanes.