Almost like flying

[what_greater_weapon]

Zinseyn sometimes wishes she could pass as Aluvai reliably, but then if she could pass Aluvai reliably, she would have some other problems besides just getting to the inside of the planet. Or, maybe, if she was too good at passing as Aluvai she'd be unable to get to the outside of the planet. Which would be just as annoying. Only being able to go to certain places because people will want to kill you is just annoying as a concept.

She does know how to play up her more Aluvai traits, though. This helps a bit. Usually she plays them down - long hair covering the hint of a point in her ears, the type of smile that doesn't show the hint of fang. Here, though, she'll play it up, though pulling her hair back in a ponytail's all she can do. It's not like she can drag out her Aluvai father and go, "No, wait, see, I am actually part Aluvai, just, the other part is Ceirene!" Not without causing some... problems.

She would like to avoid those problems. See; why she isn't taking the elevator. Awkward questions. Possible chance of rampant racism. And climbing is fun, and there's no place more interesting to climb than one of these chasms. There's no other place where she can get as close as one can get to flying without a pair of wings. If she were on an elevator, they would - make it professional, boring. She is not on an elevator. So when she climbs down far enough that she's stopped being insistently pulled downward and is instead weightless, she can just hang out here. And be weightless.

When she first did this, she was very careful to stay near the edges of the chasm. Very careful to not go careening off into the open air with no way to stop.

Well, she's now had more practice with this, and has learned that with careful application of rope and climbing materials and planning, and with a certain fearlessness towards scrapes and scratches, you can fly. Sort of. Kind of. Eh, it'll do until she figures out what she has to do to get a proper pair of wings and be able to fly anywhere. Better than nothing. And it's sort of like a reward, for a lot of hard work getting there.

So Zinseyn is enjoying herself a relaxing float before going into Aluvanna proper, carefully attached with multiple ropes to multiple places so she doesn't go floating off to someplace strange. The climb up is always the hardest part, and there is literally nowhere to go but up. Not being fully rested before it is a bad call. Besides, this is relaxing.

And then it stops being relaxing, when down suddenly reasserts itself so strongly that she thinks she must have fallen through a portal, because down does not hit you randomly like that. She opens her eyes to check her ropes, see what went wrong, and finds them all cut. She lands painlessly on soft grass before she can even think to scream. She stares at the blue sky above her, even though she left hers hours ago. Even though there's a lot of rock between her and it, now. Even though it is impossible.

She sits up. Must have found a secret portal to a Sphere, she thinks, brushing herself off. Strange that the ropes were broken, though, her mother's portal doesn't do that. Some aspect of the Sphere that's responsible...?

Standing, she looks around.

"Hello?" she calls.

Comments

[what_greater_weapon]

She takes the hearts, and eats them immediately. Delicious.

And then she can... Tentatively explore the weird little cabin. Is there a person in there? Or even a nonperson?

[pythbox]

Nope!

There's a statue (of a blob) and a chest.

[what_greater_weapon]

Oooooo.

What's in the chest?

[pythbox]

Goodies!

[what_greater_weapon]

In this particular case: a pair of green boots, some money, a potion that identifies itself as a hunter potion, and three lesser healing potions. The boots seem the most interesting - according to the tooltip, they let the user run 'super fast.'

Well, she's wearing greaves over her perfectly ordinary climbing boots. Let's switch them out, see how it works.

... Gosh. She does feel zippier. Not an immediate zip of being subtly faster, just - if she runs continuously, she will slowly speed up. She can tell, by both the boots telling her and her testing it herself. Wheeeeee.

She made such a good call. Adventuring underground: definitely the way to go. She's going to keep doing it.

[pythbox]

Even though these walking corpses keep trying to kill her?

[what_greater_weapon]

Yep. After all, she can kill them right back, and she's better at it.

Not that she doesn't occasionally get hit, but that's what lesser healing potions are for.

... Hm.

She finishes up with the cave she's on, and then goes back up to her base to ask Bradley a question.

"Can I make potions?"

[pythbox]

"To make Lesser Healing Potions at a Placed Bottle, use: 1 Mushroom. 2 Gel. 2 Bottle," says Bradley.

[what_greater_weapon]

"How do I make, uh, ordinary healing potions?"

[pythbox]

"To make a Healing Potion at a Placed Bottle, use: 1 Glowing Mushroom. 2 Lesser Healing Potion."

[what_greater_weapon]

"How do I make a bottle. Where do I find glowing mushrooms."

(This again, ugh.)

[pythbox]

"To make a Bottle at a Furnace, use: 1 Glass. Glowing Mushrooms can be found deep underground."

[what_greater_weapon]

So, she's still on the right track. Good to know.

"How do I make glass."

[pythbox]

"To make Glass at a Furnace, use: 2 Sand."

[what_greater_weapon]

Sand, huh? Can she make sand or does she need to wander about to try and find it?

"Can I make sand?"

[pythbox]

"Sand can be found in the desert," says Bradley.

[what_greater_weapon]

Ass.

"Can I make other potions besides healing potions," she growls, just a hint of testy.

[pythbox]

"To make Bottled Water standing near Water, use: 1 Bottle."

[what_greater_weapon]

Great. How useful.

"How do I make a hunter potion."

[pythbox]

"To make a Hunter Potion at a Placed Bottle, use: 1 Bottled Water. 1 Daybloom. 1 Blinkroot. 1 Shark Fin."

[what_greater_weapon]

"Where do I get daybloom. Where do I get blinkroot. Where do I - nevermind, I don't want to be sassed. Is there an ocean?"

[pythbox]

"Daybloom can be found on grass. Blinkroot can be found on dirt or mud. If you see any kids sleeping by the shore, be sure to wake them up!"

[what_greater_weapon]

... What a bizarre sentence. She'll keep an eye out for sleeping kids, she guesses. It sounds like a yes, though, because - shore.

That does remind her, though. He mentioned earlier 'attracting more people to our town.' Also a merchant. There are probably other useful unpersons that can be summoned by the siren song of a room with a torch, a table, and a chair.

"Hey I want to put you and your like in a tiny windowless underground dungeon where none of you will ever see the light of day or ever bother me unless fate decrees that I must go down there, briefly. And then I will leave without letting you out or even leaving you food. Say something that doesn't make sense if you agree that this is definitely the best course of action."

[pythbox]

"You should prove yourself by defeating a strong monster. That will get the attention of a dryad."

[what_greater_weapon]

"I'm so glad you agree."

Well, none of that is for today, she thinks. She has done quite a lot of adventuring, and soon there will be monsters banging on her door again. Best to sleep and then go outside tomorrow to find sand, daybloom, more food, and maybe an ocean. And then she'll build her unperson dungeon.

She finishes off the last of her grilled fish (and notes that she'd like to find something else to eat, ugh) and then...

Hello, you darling and wonderful bed. She missed you. Did you miss her? It's okay, bed, she's here now. She wishes she never had to go.