The Underwater Gold Rush 020

[Corwin]

19:02 <•Kotono> The cube is cool in your hands, almost cold. There's no response to Devar, only a cube held in his hand.
19:02 <•Kotono> "There's still all those statue golems," Anne muses aloud, burbing in the water, "But their lan based nature makes them mostly harmless."
19:03 <•Kotono> *land
19:04 <Devar> "I imagine they can't sustain themselves very long when this is dormant." Devar says as he swims back to the others. "But for now, probably best for us to get back?"
19:05 <Skaya> OOC: What remains here after the fortress became a cube?
19:08 <•Kotono> Looking around, Skaya sees that the sea floor is pressed flat, vegetation and seaweed smashed down. Seashells and other debris are hard pressed into the sand, smashed. Meanwhile, "Hopefully so," Anne remarks, "But yes, let us return, recover and refresh."
19:08 <•Kotono> Splashy meanwhile goes back and forth with Sanda, and the two bow to each other and then shake hands.
19:09 <Devar> "Did he get any of his memories back?" Devar asks.
19:09 <Skaya> "We're all going together, right?" Skaya wonders, glancing over at Sanda sideways. "And actually, do you want to carry the marid all the way back, or try to wake him up first?"
19:16 <•Kotono> "Not entirely," Sanda explains as Splashy swims off, "He wants to go tend to his own matters and he's being evasive, but it's his business," Sanda responds.
19:16 <•Kotono> Anne watches him swim, "I hope we don't regret that, Sanda."
19:17 <Skaya> Won't he be the one regretting this with no share of the pie coming his way? That's fine, Skaya supposes. He knows where to find Sanda.
19:18 <Devar> "He didn't try and double-cross us at the last minute or anything, I wouldn't worry too much about it." Devar says. "To your earlier question, Skaya, I'll carry him - it's probably better we wake him up in town in case he tries anything."
19:18 <Skaya> "Got it. I'll lead this time!" And she sets off!
19:18 <•Kotono> OOC: Okay, heading back then?
19:18 <Skaya> OOC: yes
19:23 <•Kotono> The trip back? Peaceful for most of it. However, when you approach town? You see why? Stacks of statues lie broken before the walls. The walls are manned heavily, full of defenders with trident, spear and other weapons. The broken soldiers lie all around, statues broken apart. There are places the city's walls are visibly damaged, but nothing looks to have given on this side.
19:24 <Skaya> "Good defenses," Skaya compliments, although she clearly has nothing to do with this attack and neither does anyone with her.
19:24 <Devar> "Goodness." Devar says as they swim closer. "Let's check in with Lady Spine."
19:28 <•Kotono> You're waved through with barely a glance - after all, you can swim. Lady Spine awaits you. She greets you within, "Calamity came, but poorly thought out," she comments, "Are you all well?"
19:28 <Skaya> "Almost lost my legs, but we did rescue a couple of possibly brainwashed victims."
19:30 <Devar> "Yes, hopefully we dealt with the most... pressing of the concerns." Devar adds.
19:32 <•Kotono> The marid is looked at, "We captured a few of the leaders who were with the golems," Lady Spine explains, "He can join them."
19:35 <Devar> "Hm, so the effects extended outside of it?" Devar asks. "That's... concerning."
19:36 <•Kotono> Anne is quiet a few moments before, "It is troubling, but hopefully the control is broken, and the extent of the culpability can be determined."
19:36 <•Kotono> "I'll settle for some peace," Sanda complains.
19:38 <Devar> "Speaking of, what are we supposed to do with this?" Devar asks, holding the former fortress out. "There seems to be some sort of sentience living in it," Devar explains to Spine, "I imagine it probably has some sort of symbiotic relationship with its hosts, it seemed to be very defensive of them when we engaged them in battle."
19:39 <Skaya> "So the cube has a pretty bratty personality," Skaya voices, following up on Devar's words. "Do you need our help with it in any way?"
19:46 <•Kotono> The cube is taken, "Right now I do not know, but study and history will reveal its secrets. For now though, you have done more than enough."
19:46 <Skaya> "Glad to hear that. So what's next for us? Who's the worst of the worst and needs to be dealt with?"
19:48 <•Kotono> "Right now the attack on the city have overshadowed everything," Is Lady Spine's answer, "You've earned some rest if you like."
19:49 <Skaya> "Okay, I can do that," Skaya says, glancing over at the others curiously.
19:51 <Devar> Devar nods. "There's not much else for us to do now unless you've got injured that need seeing to." He says.
19:51 <•Kotono> Anne swims to Skaya nad Devar, and in a quiet voice, "We do need to ponder how much longer we wish to stay here," She remarks, "We've done well, but this was ultimately a side trip."
19:56 <Devar> "We had a few days before Rina was going to be ready to go anywhere, right?" Devar asks. "But who knows what's going on back home - maybe stay here a day and see if anything else happens, then see if our work has paid off enough to get a few things to help us out and get us back?"
19:58 <•Kotono> "Fine with me," Sanda agrees, "I could use some rest after that, anyway."
19:59 <Skaya> "I think we should just judge by our funds and opportunities at this point," Skaya adds her own two coins. "On the one hand, we need a regeneration scroll, perhaps two just in case. On the other, I'd like an artifact to help us teleport or go to other planes. Even if we spend two weeks on that, it'd pay back for itself very quickly. How about the rest of you? What are you looking to get out of it?"
20:00 <•Kotono> "Money for the reasons you well know by now," Anne answers immediately, "As it is always is."
20:00 <•Kotono> "Me?" Sanda muses, "My reasons haven't changed, either. "
20:01 <Skaya> "How much money, though?"
20:03 <•Kotono> "As much as I can get," Anne answers plainly, as she swims in place, "There's always more need."
20:03 <Devar> "All I've had on my mind is the last item for the other pieces I'm wearing. But something to teleport would help us all a great deal." Devar agrees. "I'd been meaning to go learn more about Storm's Eye and it sounds like we'd have to travel far to do to that, so if we had something to go long distances then that would solve both problems."
20:05 <Skaya> "Alright. In that case, how about we just rest, take in the sights, and then once we have an idea how much money we've made from these couple of tasks thus far we'll see if a teleport ring is possible. Once we have one, we can always just come back later. Even if there would be less opportunity, this looks like a place that always needs capable troubleshooters."
20:07 — Devar nods.
20:10 <•Kotono> There's general agreements to that, as...OOC: We're going to pause here early (and why I was so annoyed about Friday's interruption) but for a good reason. Guess what time it is?

[Corwin]

<LVL7 to LVL8>