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Swords of Sin 1.2: Maelstrom Island 『PLOT』「ari|Supes|Yuu」
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Post by supesman on Aug 2, 2022 12:53:04 GMT
Zack had started to pace, he felt like he was missing something deeply important and to be honest it was making him feel a small bit stupid for not being able to click all the pieces of the puzzle together in his mind. He wasn't the "World's Greatest Detective" kind of hero, he was more of the "get in, solve the situation, get out" kind of hero. He would have functioned much better in a Scooby Doo style mystery where he had something in front of him to hit rather than this Myst style conundrum where he felt like he was grasping at straws.
Zack decided to scope around and see what kind of use he could be. Coming up behind Matsuri as she was reading from the journal he tapped her on the shoulder with two fingers.
"Mind if I take a look at that?" he said, accepting the book gingerly and leafing through the pages until he came to the point where it spoke about a mysterious code made out of dots and dashes. That much was obvious enough to set off a lightbulb from the top of his head. Something that a digimon probably wouldn't know about but would come naturally to a human to at least recognize the concept of. "it's morse code. That might explain the dash in the door. But a single dash only translates to a single "T"...it's somewhere to start at least." he said, tensing a little at the journal of madness that was written in the rest of the pages. He was keeping an eye open now for anywhere else where the dots and dashes might either be physically, visually carved or may instead be broadcasted audibly as the code was originally designed.
Marigold stuck her head back into the shack playing with the radio. Maybe she wasn't exactly the kind of diplomatic voice that might be needed to hunt down clues. She wasn't very diplomatic at all on her best day, let alone when she had that persistent feeling crawling up her spine that something about this wasn't right. It was activating her protective senses which did more than a little to put her on edge.
"Door...this door? Was he fiddling with it to make it a perfect dash or was this just practice for some other door hidden somewhere on the island?" Marigold said, exchanging a glance with Violet as they poked their heads into the room with the radio. Violet having completing the observation duties asked of them was hanging around their big sister assuming that Marigold would end up getting into some kind of trouble if left alone. Which was hurtful, presumptuous and totally true. Besides, letting them hang around like Shaggy and Scooby Doo was a cute visual to play with for a while.
Zack paced the grounds a little, trying to make sense of the morse code clue, trying to see if there was anything else around that could go with the dash carved into the door. A single T wasn't not a clue but it wasn't the whole picture either. A single letter could mean a lot of things. The addition of evidently cursed swords into the mix did very little to put him at ease, especially if one of their wielders was still hanging around going full mountain-man crazy like the journal implied. it made him tense at least partially back in combat mode, even if it was just a precaution.
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Post by Manami on Aug 9, 2022 23:07:05 GMT
As she peered through the contents of the diary, first from Matsuri’s shoulder and then of Zack’s, Marina began making sense of the situation in which the group was involved. “So it was a language, after all.” She muttered, the realization slowly hitting her. Before any actual breakthroughs were made, both Elly and the aforementioned Matsuri had exited this place thanks to Emmy, which left the Tutomon with enough calm to dwell in her thoughts after acknowledging the Terriermon. She then looked at Zack. “Yanno, it’s a bit obvious but I know nothing about this Morse thing! Well, besides it being something made out of ‘dots and dashes’, whatever that means. Mind explaining it to me? Maybe there’s something we’ve been overlooking thus far!” Having said this, the small digimon brought out a notepad and a pen.
One could say many things from Marina, but denying her inquisitiveness would be a fool’s errand. At least for the time being, Emmy’s news didn’t really affect her in any way. If they were urgent in any manner, she trusted that literally everyone else would participate in whatever was happening. For now, she was here to break this strange code. Mori would definitely love the following update! The situation at the shack was… weird for the lack of a better term. The chat between the walkie-talkie parties and whoever was on the other side almost sounded like an attempt from a bad-intentioned troll, and while neither Mana nor Nami were expecting a lot of progress in the area, at least they had gotten somewhere, didn't they? With some luck, the group in the other shack would have more luck. In the meantime, it seemed like their clues had run out. “Maybe it’d be for the best if we got moving? Unless the others have found something interesting, I think we have exhausted the things we’ve got to do here.” Non-Julius antics aside, if the walkie-talkie kept exploding, that could be a very bad time.
It was then when Emmy appeared, breaking out the news and prompting the youngest cat to think. “Theory. Maybe remaining in a single place for a long period of time isn’t the best idea. If something is moving, we don’t want to be caught flat-footed.”
What would be everyone’s opinions regarding this? Would they feel in favor or against it in any meaningful way? For now, that was hard to know. One thing was for sure, though. Even if it was a lonely life, En-En wasn’t minding her alone time at all. It was a bit relaxing, even.
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Maia
Better Mod
Might Actually Be A Cat.
Posts: 627
OOC Name: Cheshire/Mai™
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Post by Maia on Aug 19, 2022 0:11:50 GMT
There were totally sexy vampires on those missing pages, Matsuri. Maybe someday, she'd be able to see them. But probably not, since it wasn't really relevant to the plot! On the bright side, others were actually interested in the words. Or, so it seemed! At least, it had put them on the right track. Had they already encountered instances of the code anywhere?
Poor Elly would make bad decision after bad decision, with swallowing the thing that hurt her. It sure would be a shame if it had another blast of air in it! Luckily for the time being, it didn't seem keen on acting up. For now, her biggest worry would probably just be indigestion and whatever damage had been done to her throat.
In the radio room, Momo was recovering from her super fantastic act of preventing everything from burning to the ground. And the radio was going fairly strong! Considering the state it was in, at the least. "I can't believe the nerve of him, leaving you like that!" Parental mode, activate! "If I were there, I'd-" the stranger paused, and gave a loud exhale. "I guess I'm not surprised he didn't tell you where it was. Robin said he was acting all sorts of off. Paranoia, and the like." After a bit of static, the voice continued, "I dunno the exact location of the door, 'cept it's toward the heart of the island. Julius said he had a compass that led him to it. It's probably on him now, though, and if it ain't, I'm thinking he broke it. Pretty sure he broke somethin' off the door he's been fighting with, too."
While others in the group exploring the cabins seemed to be determining if they should leave, the stranger on the radio kept talking. It appeared they must have picked up on Marigold's question! "Julius thought Jack scratching that thing into the door was a sign to do it to the other one, too, but said it didn't work when he tried it. He said there's some sort of code scattered across the island. I think he might be trying too hard. How's one 'mon supposed to find something like that across a whole island, anyhow? Ridiculous, if you ask me."
Otherwise, it appeared that nothing of interest was going to happen outside of the shack. En-En as lookout still wouldn't find a single thing, so at least nobody crazy was going to come attack them for the time being! The strange entity that had led Zack here had long-vanished and didn't seem interested in making itself known. And, overall, everything was pretty peaceful if one could ignore the radio static and rambles of the stranger on the other side of it! And, so long as they stayed out of the shack full of rotten foods.
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Post by Hotaru Inoue on Aug 21, 2022 6:05:44 GMT
The weird man was getting all antsy and impatient. Matsuri should really tell him to calm down and try to focus on something. He wanted to see the journal, and as a responsible leader, Matsuri graciously allowed him access to the boring thing as she moved on. Elly looked uncomfortable for whatever reason, but she'd speak up if something was really wrong, right? Well, Elly spoke about as much as Misaki did, so she'd like... tap Matsuri on the shoulder or something if she needed something.
Anyways, it was getting too boring on this little expedition and no one seemed to be getting anywhere, so Matsuri took her leave of the shack, where she found Emmy heading out of the third shack. They exchanged information, but honestly, writing out a conversation exclusively between the writer's own characters sounded like a pain. So while Zack and Marina presumably took the time to figure out the Morris code or whatever, that a group of Digimon explorers seemed to know and use for whatever reason. Not that Matsuri would have known anything about that.
Instead she took a deep breath and yelled out, "Attention, everyone doing boring stuff! Things seem more interesting in the center of this island, so there'll probably be more exciting puzzles and stuff to solve over there!" Meanwhile, completely ignoring Matsuri because chatting with Julius was far more amusing... however unproductive it may have be, Arisa continued her conversation with Radiomon. "This is being so true!" She exclaimed to no comment in particular. "I am thinking that maybe Julius is picking up us strays because he is wanting more assistance to finding more of this code across the island. I am not being aware of this code so far, but it would be being very helpful to know places that Julius has already searched for this code. Would you happen to know places he's already searched or found more of this code, Mr. Nice-Sounding Voice person?" Arisa spoke to Radiomon like he was telling the most interesting story in the world, despite the fact that she wasn't really making much sense of what was being said. But it's better to get information and find out that it wasn't relevant at all rather than not receive it in the first place! Or was it the other way around?
Meanwhile... Momo and Miki were being absolutely unproductive because clues seemed to be drying up at this point and unless Zack and Marina made some kind of breakthrough, then it was probably time to move on. Nothing was more boring than the party making Perception and Investigation checks over and over again in the same room, after all!
In fact, Momo flapped up back towards En-En because no one should be all alone at a time like this, right?
Outside: Matsuri the Agumon Elly the Shoutmon Emmy the Terriermon
Shack 3: Miki the Gomamon Arisa the Morphomon
Bothering En-En, probs Momo the Pomumon
Reenacting the Back to the Future Trilogy - Hotaru and Co. - A random Impmon that makes suspiciously accurate Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd impersonations, despite claiming never to have seen the films.
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Post by supesman on Aug 21, 2022 12:40:48 GMT
Zack paused before responding to Marina, looking around before finding a dead branch laying on the ground and patch of soft, bare earth. He twirled the brand in his hand for a moment before actually launching into the explanation.
"Morse code is a universal communication method from the human world that can be expressed through either auditory or visual methods. It's usually expressed as being made up of "dots and dashes". Auditorily that means short and long pulses in a certain order that make up letters and words. Visually it means something like this." he scratched at the ground for a moment, punching dots and dragging short dashes into the clods of mud and soil until he had written "--.. .- -.-. -.-" into the ground underneath him. "This is how you spell my name in morse code." He said, tapping his chin at the new clue. How the Digimon had come across something from the human world like this was a mystery in itself but it didn't exactly matter right then and it wouldn't be the first time something from the human world was temporarily misinterpreted by Digimon who found it.
Violet listened to the explanation silently, digging backward in their photographic memory to see if there was somewhere else where they might have seen it already, either when on the beach, exploring the jungle or now having searched the houses so closely. If not, it seemed like it was time to move along toward the center of the island. Whatever this big door was sounded ominous at best but it was the one solid lead that they had.
Marigold just hoped that they didn't run into some madly obsessed old hermit or something hanging around there when they showed up. If the obsession of one or more of the expedition's members had progressed to a truly frightening degree then they might end up stumbling on someone in the throws of Lovecraftian madness. Marigold shivered a little at the thought. The group didn't SEEM to be succumbing to obsession with the idea of the door for the moment, so that was probably a good sign.
"Yep, cursed door at the center of a mysterious island that was sunk like two days ago. Nothing about THAT screamed "cursed, do not open" but I suppose we've gotta keep moving someplace." Marigold said as Violet buzzed through their internal investigation for a moment. Zack simply nodded. If there were obvious clues hidden somewhere here than he was too stupid or unobservant to find it, searching out the door at the middle of the island was the best lead that they had even if something about the entire concept of it made the hair on the back of his neck stand at attention. This is what happened when you read too many comic books, so untrusting
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Post by Manami on Aug 29, 2022 23:52:38 GMT
At Zack’s explanation, Marina’s eyes widened, taking an uncanny likeness to saucers. “It was… It was a message all along, then!” She had listened attentively all along, and the cogs of her mind had been working at full speed. It was a bit weird, but she seemed ecstatic at her finding. “It is possible we’ve been getting fragments of a message during our journey!”
Since time was of the essence in the face of such a discovery, Marina brought a small note from somewhere in her person, and showed it to Zack and Violet. Hopefully, both would remember it as the cryptic note they had found alongside the compass that had led them to this place. As before, it displayed the same message it had back then. ‘Remember: 1st is -’. “We should tell the others immediately! Maybe everyone will be able to think about all the things we’ve found that might bear a message like this one!”
Usually, Marina felt that she wore the inquisitive rather than the smart or astute type, but at least as far as the first message was concerned, the clue was hard to miss. As she began to make her way out of the shack, she began to speak into her comm. Thus far, Marina had used a talking speed that could more or less be considered mostly normal, or maybe slightly faster than average. Now, however? Chances were that Mori had at least heard her sister talk at top speed at least once. Least to say, the whole deal was both impressive and slightly terrifying.
“That’s a shame, but don’t worry! I’m sorry for not giving any updates for a decent amount of time, but. Say, Mori! I just cracked the code! It’s apparently something the humans call ‘Morse’ and that it’s manifested in either auditory or visual form! It can either be a long or a short pulse, or a dot and a dash. I don’t know what the combinations mean, but if you have a human handy nearby, maybe they know! In any case…” It was funny, how the breakneck pace of the Tutomon’s ground to a sudden halt for what felt like an eternity, but was actually a couple of seconds or so. “Do you think that the tree screaming at you could’ve been part of the code? It sounds roughly like what I was told! Can your group think of the instances where things like this happened? Maybe we can piece this message together! From your favorite sister, kisses!” In the meantime, En-En had received an unexpected visitor in the form of Momo. She hadn’t said a word, which made her fall into the categories of company the Weathermon didn’t mind. She waved at the Pomumon, even though her gaze quickly focused into the shack that Marina was exiting as she was hurrying towards the main group. “Chances are that we’re going back down real quick. Seems like my dearest sister made a pretty important discovery.”
It wasn’t common to see the Tutomon display this degree of excitement, even as somebody who tended to be fairly excitable. It was certainly funny that the only reason why Marina had hurried to send that message to her sister was so she didn’t lose any time at… relaying it again to the rest of the group. As soon as the distance that separated them was closed, Marina once again said her piece to the group that wasn’t interacting with the comms.
In the face of such a revelation, both Mana and Nami seemed pretty pumped up, and while the latter began to think of possible clues they might’ve encountered on their small trip to this location, the latter was more motivated than ever. “That’s it!” She said, in a mildly commanding tone. “This is probably our cue to abandon this place post-haste, at least once this ongoing conversation ends! Once we see the door in question, we might get further hints on how to open it, and that might also help us piece this puzzle together!”
What was behind that door was at anyone’s guess, but that was the whole point of their trip, wasn’t it? Backing down before getting to see what all this fuss was about would be unbecoming of a great heroine such as her.
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Maia
Better Mod
Might Actually Be A Cat.
Posts: 627
OOC Name: Cheshire/Mai™
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Post by Maia on Sept 5, 2022 22:55:25 GMT
Matsuri and the mystery 'mon on the radio just got along wonderfully! Who would have thought that Julius had been hiding such a gem in his group? Aside from one tiny detail. "Ooh, well, I'm not a mister," the voice chuckled, "but, I can't be much more help anyway! Julius was sayin' that the code just kind of came to him. Which I think sounds crazy, but Jack backed up the whole thing."
In the background of the stranger's talking, a voice mumbled, "Cas?"
"Mmm-One second," the stranger brushed them off, before continuing their lovely 'conversation' with Matsuri. "Jack spent a whole day on the other side of the island, and got some clues there, too. Some birds, a broken television, who knows. Didn't get the door open, either way!"
Then, the radio wailed with feedback, along with several shuffling and clunking sounds. "Julius is dead." The new voice cut in, while vague complaints from the original speaker carried on in the background. "His compass leads the way. Without it, 'the heart of the island' is the best direction you've got." After a staticky buzz, the radio began to grow hot again. "Do me a favor, before you go."
"No, no."
"Radio's kind of junky, isn't it? Always wondered why Julius pulled it apart. Worked fine before."
"No-no-no!"
"Smash it for me, will you?"
Meanwhile, the rest of the group seemed to be mulling about Morse code. If going on Marina's note and theory, it seemed they had a lot of remembering to do! And maybe extra work, if the radioperson was right about the clues spanning the whole island. This place seemed huge!
That said, there was also discussion of leaving the place fairly soon. It would be so sad to say goodbye to their new radio friends! But it was true, this wasn't the heart of the island, and the clues were seeming pretty dry. At least it was probably a safe place to mull over the code thus far, though!
The options for actual paths into the jungle were pretty slim, still overgrown and not particularly visible. But it did seem that a couple options led somewhere in the general direction of where they wanted to go! Pretty typically, one overgrown path erred a bit to the left, while the other to the right. Neither seemed more used than the other, but both led somewhere deeper in! Surely, if someone had the same means as the Digimon that found the door, they would have some guidance on which to take. Otherwise, they'd be stuck at a fun guessing game with no obvious hints!
Was it about time to go cursed-door hunting?
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Post by Hotaru Inoue on Sept 11, 2022 3:32:28 GMT
Huh. Everyone continued doing all their own stuff even though Matsuri made that big announcement. Did that mean that no one viewed Matsuri all that seriously in the slightest, even though she was clearly the one most suited to being the leader of this haphazardly put-together little expedition?
...Nah, that couldn't be it! Matsuri had like, buttloads of charisma and stuff so clearly they just weren't sure how to progress! So Matsuri had no choice but to lead by example! There were two paths before her heading towards the heart of the island, and since paths were obviously the roads of the jungle, so they should naturally take the leftmost path, since the rightmost path is the path for opposing traffic.
Why Matsuri knew what Human World roads were like was a question for another thread, but what was more important was that they had a direction that they could go! "We should all go this way when we're all ready!" Matsuri confidently declared to anyone who was willing to listen. Which, let's be real, wasn't anyone other than Elly, Momo, or Emmy.
As for Arisa's lovely conversation, things seemed to take a turn for the stranger. Apparently they didn't like to be called 'mister' very much. "I am apologizing! Your voice is hard to be hearing over this radio, though!" She stated as they moved on. A new voice came on, there was some other stuff that was said, like Julius apparently being dead! What was kind of a shame for Arisa, but seeing as they had never met, she was pretty sure she could get over his loss pretty quickly.
But something didn't seem to add up to her. According to the previous conversation which she totally wasn't eavesdropping on earlier, the first voice, which according to the second voice was named Cas, wasn't on the island with Julius.
"I am being confused, though..." Arisa questioned as the radio began to get really hot in her... whatever Morphomon used for hands. "If you over the radio, and is not on the island with Julius, then why are you having knowing Julius's demise, and how the radio is looking so broken right now?"
Of the group of silly-billys that were going around annoying everyone who was trying to take this expedition seriously, Arisa had by far the most brain cells of them, and some new voice over the radio coming over to tell her to destroy a radio that seemed to do a good job in destroying itself seemed a little sus.
Granted, there were probably some reasonable explanations for all of this, and chances were that Arisa's face was going to take 8d6 Combusting Radio Damage for nothing, but Arisa was something of a gossip, and good gossip was worth taking an explosion or two to the face, right?
Either way, Arisa signaled Miki, who signaled Momo make her way nearby, ready to put out another fire if she had to.
Somewhere: Matsuri the Agumon Elly the Shoutmon Emmy the Terriermon Miki the Gomamon Arisa the Morphomon Momo the Pomumon
Playing Baseball: - Hotaru and Co. - Who - What - I Don't Know
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Post by supesman on Sept 11, 2022 12:54:09 GMT
"Yea, sure, let's all just head deeper toward the center of the island that appeared out of nowhere and has dead people talking to us from a broken radio. Because apparently I'm the only one here who's read "The Call of Cthulhu." Zack said as they were now staring down the barrel of two paths. They didn't lead fully in opposite direction, both of them were pointed toward one side but headed toward the mysterious heart of the island and hopefully its equally mysterious door.
"You keep telling me I'm not allowed to read Lovecraft." Marigold said as she planted herself beside him, equally looking down both overgrown trails as if trying to sus out which one of them was dangerous and which one of them would lead to the land of free candy and friendly bunny rabbits or whatever.
"You're not. It's not that they're especially scary, it's just that there are some things about humanity I'd rather you not ready first hand from the serpent's mouth." Zack said, a cringing tone in his voice as he shook off the idea. He didn't try to be especially intellectually protective of his children, nine times out of ten they could ready whatever they liked. But sometimes good taste forced him to draw a line in the sand.
"I must concur with Matsuri. Traffic laws dictate that we take the leftmost path in order to allow traffic from the heart of the island to pass." Violet said, coming to the exact same..."creative" solution to picking a path that Matsuri had totally independently. Zack and Marigold both raised a proverbial finger, opening their mouths to try and correct the idea but exchanging a look they realized that they didn't actually have anything better to go on. With a shrug they lined up, prepared to march down the thin trail. Maybe they would run into their invisible guide that had led them here in the first place. "Allow me to lead the group. My enhanced visual acuity might perhaps allow us to spot anything out of the ordinary, or at least warn us of potential danger." Violet said, speaking to no one in particular. It wasn't like the group had unanimously decided on a leader who would be making those kinds of decisions (no matter what Matsuri was telling herself) so Violet simply declaring that they would lead the pack and standing at the head of the line with all the excitement of an elementary schooler being declared line leader only garnered another shrug from their father and sibling.
"Everyone make sure that you're watching out for crosswalks then, I guess. The last thing we need is an accident on our records." Zack said. he was a supportive father if nothing else, if this was a teachable moment where he could give Violet the thumbs up to follow traffic laws, even if there was no logical reason to, then he'd just play along until further notice.
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Post by Manami on Sept 21, 2022 0:11:28 GMT
Even if some interest was shown on Marina’s stead at the mention of these foreign concepts such as ‘Lovecraft’ or ‘The Call of Cthulhu’, she, in an impressive show of force of will, stayed put and didn’t comment regarding it. Was it because the situation was serious, or because the prize ahead elicited her curiosity more? It was hard to know, at least for the time being. It also struck her as odd that Mori hadn’t answered her message just yet; maybe their group had gotten busy somehow? She hoped they were fine.
Marina, and hopefully Momo, were already on their path downward, just as Arisa was having a… direr and direr conversation with the being on the other side of the line. Least to say, the perceived conclusion wasn’t exactly on a hopeful note. However, this had the effect of giving a newly found purpose to everyone, or at least finished setting them in the path that seemed like the only logical choice; heading deeper into the island.
Nami kept her attention focused on the communicators, just in case there were any unexpected developments there. All the while, Mana brought out what she assumed was the ‘compass’, and gave it a peek, just in case it disagreed with the notion established by Matsuri, and subsequently Zack. “I doubt it’ll make that much of a difference, but…”
Might as well tip the odds in their favor if such a possibility existed.
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Maia
Better Mod
Might Actually Be A Cat.
Posts: 627
OOC Name: Cheshire/Mai™
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Post by Maia on Sept 30, 2022 2:05:10 GMT
While the others made a plan for the continuation of their adventure, Arisa had a few more moments with the strangers on the radio. "Oh, don't worry, Honey. Easy mistake," the voice reassured. They were well aware that the narrator radio's reception didn't give any particular indicator to their gender!
It was a shame that some rando had to go and ruin their lovely and understanding conversation! "You really like questions, don't you?" the stranger mumbled into the receiver, "just 'cause I'm not there now doesn't mean-" There was a short laugh from Cas in the background, and then the audio fizzled out. Along with the rest of the radio. Smoke began spouting from every crack in the device, and sputtering sounds came from just about anywhere they could manage.
The radio was hot enough that one would think it would be ablaze, but instead, only a few molten chunks popped out from it. The rest of the device just began melting, slowly. It would probably become a mess soon. The sound of rewinding began again, obnoxiously grinding against pieces that weren't supposed to be partially liquified. It was pretty obvious where this was going.
Though the radio was clearly malfunctioning on multiple levels, between the melting and the rewinding, that same voice forced itself through the muddied speaker, "Hello?Bzzt! Julius, are you there?"
There didn't seem to be much time left for playing on a radio, anyway. Unless Arisa was really invested in round three. And in testing how long round three could even last, considering the radio was still actively melting!
Why keep worrying about a radio anyway, when there could be discussions of Lovecraft and paths that may or may not lead the group to their doom? Most of them had settled on taking the left path, and it appeared the direction was relatively harmless. Unless someone was allergic to grass. The trail would lead into the mass of trees, just like the other option.
But, when Mana checked the compass, it seemed to favor a third 'path.' The compass had stopped its mindless spinning, and was aiming directly between both trails, perfectly straight. It was entirely possible one of the paths would eventually curve to match the whim of the device, but there would be no way of telling until they took one. Or, they could trudge through the long grass, and take whatever risks that implied. On the bright side, all the options seemed to avoid the risk of being run over by traffic violators, so that was one less thing to worry about!
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Post by supesman on Oct 12, 2022 12:43:06 GMT
"That is...worrying, to say the least." Zack said, taking not of the way that the compass was very specifically pointing them dead center between the two paths. Right up the tall grass and god knows what else that might end up being alive down that way. He wondered if the digital world had ticks...he then also wondered if the digital world had Lyme disease. He yanked on the ends of his sleeves to pull them all the way down over the flesh of his wrist. If there was something with a disease out in that grass then he was probably the only one vulnerable to it. Stupid digimon and their stupid digital bodies.
"I'm almost more afraid to trust the obviously magic compass compared to just going eenie meenie minnie moe, but on the other hand if we blunder down the wrong path with something like this we may end up just falling into whatever traps there are protecting this door." Marigold said, her tone showing that she was aware of the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" sort of mentality that the new information provided. If they took the left path and it was some kind of trap then they'd stalk right into the middle of it and have to basically deal from there.
"If we move down through the center, at least we are aware that we are moving in the right direction." Violet said, scanning their eye's zooming function forward as far as it would strain. She wasn't picking up anything in particular at the moment, but as their little invisible run in had shown earlier in the trip, just because they didn't see something didn't mean that there wasn't something there trying to mess with them.
"Can't disagree with that logic. Unless anyone is averse to a little off roading then I say we stomp down the middle of the grass and deal with the next dose of magical confusion as it comes at us." He said, still hearing the hissing melt of the radio at the very edge of his hearing. There was something very deeply unsettling about how all of this was turning out. He made a mental note to himself to never try to go on vacation again because at least this mysterious interruption was just some kind of lost treasure a not something like...a sleeping kaiju, or something like that.
"A hike for you guys maybe. Violet and I can fly." Marigold said, grinning through her father's grumble as she and her sibling hovered in the air beside their father.
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Post by Hotaru Inoue on Oct 17, 2022 8:08:15 GMT
Matsuri crossed her arms as she grunted ambiguously, deep in thought. Well, as deep in thought as Matsuri could go. She was only kind of aware of everything going on at the moment, though currently she had no idea what it all meant. But she got the general gist of "stuff be whack, homies.". And now the compass thingy was working all of a sudden? "I still think we should go left!" Matsuri finally stated, pointing towards the path before them, then over towards Violet. "We've got people able to detect stuff, so we shouldn't have to worry about traps! And besides, it's okay if you're scared 'cause you're just a human, but I'll protect you from anything, and that's a promise! That's what a leader does, after all!" Matsuri placed her clawed hand on her chest. She shifted back into her holosuited human form, if only because that body felt more comfortable. And if they did hit a trap, then getting murderized in her holosuit form would just cause the holosuit to break. That probably wasn't how it actually worked, but it's not like Matsuri knew any better.
Miki moved over, examining the door that had consumed so much brain-thinking earlier. "Well... If someone made this, and it's part of a message, then we should probably take the most likely routes that a person would have used, right? We might find more clues that way! And if we're taking a path, and it doesn't lead to anywhere, then we can always retrace our steps and go this route! But really... we should be exploring every part of this island, so I guess the order we use shouldn't really matter! It's not like we're in any sort of rush, right?" The place at the heart of the island was probably the most interesting thing, but while Miki wasn't a gamer, if she were, she'd be the type to 100% every monotonous side quest as early as possible before progressing the main story.
Arisa gently set the melty, possibly explody radio down in a spot that hopefully wouldn't cause the entire island to burn. As much as having a repeat conversation would be nice, it seemed like everyone was getting ready to move on, and as fun as it would be to make the Maisterious game master reenact an audio-only rendition of Groundhog's Day, Arisa wasn't Bill Murray, and while Arisa couldn't be 100% certain, she was pretty sure that Cas wasn't Andie MacDowell. And suddenly Arisa's author feels very old for remembering all that. But she still didn't want to destroy the radio, just in case their whole group met their untimely demise and the next group that came by to explore this island might get a clue or two. Destroying the radio would just be impolite!
Emmy had a concern of her own, though. "It's weird for the compass to start working all of sudden..." She commented, her voice soft as if she were afraid to be heard or come into conflict with anyone. "But if we cut straight through... and the compass stops working again, we'd get lost without any bearings... couldn't that just be another trap?" Metagame-wise, getting the party lost sounded like a terrible idea, but this entire adventure was making Emmy more and more paranoid. Blood and gore she could handle, but horror was one of her weak points. Besides, chanced are that with how large the group was, someone would be able to guide them back if the compass started getting all spinny again. Miki could probably do it, unless the trees actually moved around or something creepy like that.
Momo flapped through he air in circles. She honestly didn't really care what way the group went, or even if they went anywhere in general. She just wanted to be useful. Her fire-proofing duties over, she wanted to fly up and take a look at their surroundings. Which would probably just be... trees. But she figured that if she spotted something, then maybe she warn the group and maybe be praised a little more. The last time she did something good for the group everyone seemed more concerned, so she would have to try to be even more useful next time.
Oh yeah, and Elly was also there. She still doesn't really understand what's going on, to be perfectly frank. She'd just do whatever Matsuri would say and not really think about things too hard. But her throat really hurt though, so much that she honestly just wanted to keel over and cry, but she didn't wanna get yelled at by anyone. She was kinda thirsty, too, but she forgot to bring any water, and didn't wanna be a bother.
Present: Hotaru Inoue except not really it's just Matsuri and some other nerds. Its a pain to reformat this section
Notes: Turns out not having the intarwebz really cuts down on post productivity. Go figure.
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Post by Manami on Nov 7, 2022 5:45:36 GMT
The choice ahead of them was a fairly interesting one, wasn’t it? It was true that the compass was now pointing to what could be considered a third path. It seemed like the path was relatively uncharted, which was somewhat weird, considering that if they were heading somewhere, why would it look like that? On the other hand, there was the real possibility that this was some kind of dissuasive measure to divert anyone intruding in this place from finding the secrets this island held. It was a tough possibility.
“Ponder. This is a difficult decision.” Nami chimed in, after hearing what the other two parties had to say. “There are merits to both heeding and ignoring the compass’ directions, but I think that the lead is too valuable to give up without a solid alternative instead of just trying our luck. If the paths wind out of the other’s reach and we can’t reconnect, the best we can do is probably split up. At least on my side, I’m not too worried regarding what we can find, unless numbers are the reason why we can’t advance anymore. Difficult terrain shouldn’t be an issue for us, either.”
Having said that, the Meicoomon gave the first step in the direction the compass pointed. Was that everything that was really to be said? Given how Marina proceeded to pipe in, it seemed like it wasn’t. “It’d be important for us to keep contact in case we go our separate ways in case somebody finds something interesting, I think! Does anyone have anything that might help us, or maybe a signal we can use in case that’s needed? I think that’d come really handy!”
With that out of the way, there wasn’t much else to do, except wait for the prospective answers of the others and advance forward. With any luck, that decision wouldn’t come back to bite them in their behinds.
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Maia
Better Mod
Might Actually Be A Cat.
Posts: 627
OOC Name: Cheshire/Mai™
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Post by Maia on Dec 4, 2022 0:43:42 GMT
While at first, the group seemed interested in splitting up, there was an off-screen change-of-heart that led them to all agree on the middle path. Luckily, that would at least mean safety in numbers! Assuming numbers were safe, that is.
The melting radio would continue to melt, as Arisa gave up her conversation. Andie MacDowell Cas would repeat their question a few more times, and shortly after the shack was emptied, a clatter sounded from the speaker, followed by a short laugh and, "never works!" The second stranger's groan was the last thing to transmit, before the radio died yet again. Would another group pass through someday, to listen to them? Hopefully not.
Momo's investigation in the air revealed exactly what she expected. A lot of trees! Some areas looked a little more or less dense than others, but there were no obvious clearings or points of interest that stood out from where the group currently was! On the bright side, this meant that she also didn't see anything that was glaringly dangerous. So the group was probably safe for the time being! Violet's zoom function would also yield similar result in seeing a lot of jungle and not a lot of danger. No Maisterious spirits, no crazed treasure hunters, and most importantly, no digital ticks.
In following the compass, the group would soon lose sight of the shacks, and the area began to grow more and more dim. The space between trees became shorter, and the canopy above grew thicker until the sun was barely able to break through. Soon enough, there wouldn't even be a crack big enough for any normal party member to slip between the tree trunks, making the compass's path quite clear, despite the tall grass.
Finally, the path came to its opening. Or, the closest it would get to it. The wall of trees opened into a circular-shaped area, still densely fenced in, with the only way in or out seeming to be the same path the group had taken to arrive to this point. In the center of the 'clearing' sat a closed, wooden crate. On top of the crate, a strangely wide, and lumpy, unlit candle sat.
As concerns from others may have previously foreshadowed, the moment that Mana would step into the opened area, the compass returned to its useless state, rapidly flailing its pointer left and right without pause.
Even more unfortunately, there were no magical water bottles appearing for Elly. This island was so unkind to the Shoutmon.
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