TDM 011: I PUT A SMELL ON YOU

[erkumods]

TDM 011: I PUT A SMELL ON YOU

00. Arrival You come out of the water, the Nameless Island's own inherent energy drawing people in. It's like being suspended between realities and abruptly pushed from behind through a rift in dimensions. It may make you sick, or that might be the motion of the ocean, lifting you to the surface and carrying you to shore. Waterlogged and covered in sand, new arrivals will be greeted by robots who welcome them with towels and bracelet devices. The A5 card is already loaded up. If you don’t manage to get away from them quickly enough, they may even usher you toward the Laid Bare Spa, where new arrivals will be offered free massages, a sauna, hairstyling, and their clothing may come up permanently missing. But you will be given a complimentary towel to leave with if needed! Feel free to explore the Island, though there isn’t much to see beyond what arrivals before you have helped to rebuild. Most of the buildings are abandoned and in dire need of repair, and beyond the city lingers a thick fog that obscures much of the wilderness from view. Wander too far into this fog, and you will find yourself mysteriously looping back to where you began, your memories of what you were doing and how you got there erased. With that in mind, it may be wise to stake your claim on a place to live in the now, whether a rundown apartment in the City, a tent on the beach, a bed in the barracks, or your own space at the House of Worship. Your inventory will be found a day later, wrapped up haphazardly and delivered to each person's makeshift home. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● I. SEASON OF EGGCELLENCE As the wintery weather has shifted to warmer breezes and the snow has given way to grass and baby blooms, Islanders will find the robots in a flurry as yet another holiday takes hold. The Festival of Renewal, to welcome in the season of new life and awakenings of all those that have slept the winter months away. Spring has come and so has the time where life flourishes on the Nameless Island. Islanders will see decorations set up all over the city signifying the change in seasons (much of which happens to be elaborately decorated eggs...lots and lots of eggs) and robots will gladly ask them of any lively changes they see sprouting up around the Island, from flowers, to baby animals, to animals in the act of making baby animals...there will be quite a bit of that going on for them to catch sight of. Islanders will be encouraged to start their own gardens if they wish, with various booths set up around the city’s center offering free seeds for different plants ready to be sewn into the soil. Each booth will have full grown versions of the flowers and plants they are offering on display. You might even recognize some of them from your own worlds. But other booths will focus on different aspects of Life and Renewal, including booths of artwork painstakingly made in vibrant expression by the robots themselves of animals in the act of enthusiastic copulation! Oh, wait...that isn’t artwork of a deer or sheep. That might just be artwork of you engaging in enthusiastic copulation...and who is that other person in the image with you? Have you met them before? It might just be one of your fellow Islanders or someone you recognize from home. Robots are selling this artwork as first come first serve, but they might make more than one copy… Those aren’t the only booths either, as other booths will offer free swag of flavored lubes, edible underwear, as well as genitalia-shaped gummies! And then there are the gourmet chocolates being sold at the Steaming Carafe cafe in honor of the festival! Ask nicely and they’ll give you a free sample, but be warned the chocolate does have mild aphrodisiac properties, but a couple hours waiting or an Auspicious Act won’t take care of. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● II. CHOCOLATE CURRENCY The robots are also offering credits to anyone who might help them in managing the dozens of Rainbow Rabbits taking the city by storm, colorful animals that can be seen hopping and dashing through the city and the surrounding woods in a flash. Spots of color might catch your attention from the corner of your eye and you turn to see no rabbit there, but follow that and you might find an abandoned nest of leaves, twigs, or grass filled to the brim with colorful, shiny eggs of any design. These eggs happen to look just like the hundreds of egg decorations you’ve seen all over the city... Ask any robot and you’ll be informed that the decorations are made from the shells of these eggs after they’ve been collected and carefully broken open to remove the chocolate inside. That’s right. Chocolate eggs. Just where do you think they got the chocolate for those treats at the cafe? Carefully collect as many eggs as you can without breaking them, and turn them in to the café for your credits. But what robots may forget to warn you about is that if you eat the chocolate straight from the egg, without it being processed first, it will not only taste delicious, but the potent aphrodisiac will be far more extreme and far more addictive. You might not be able to go a day without needing to eat more of it and achieve some carnal release. The more you eat, the shorter the timespan before you are overtaken by the unending craving. An endless cycle of heightened arousal and desire that can only be eased by orgasm...but that orgasm will be powerful, possibly the best one you’ve ever had in your life. Easy to see why they warn you about chocolate being so addictive… Only completing an Auspicious Act or the healing waters in the Bathhouse will remove this effect. Until next time. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● III. SPRING IS IN THE AIR (AMONG OTHER THINGS) Walking the booths during the festival, you might be lured in by a scent in the air. Something soft, or strong, or bitter, or sweet...a scent so familiar that you can’t help but seek out where it came from. The scent will lead you right to one of the booths where robots have bottles and bottles of perfume and cologne lined up. Perfumes they will explain are made entirely unique to each person. That scent that caught your attention? That’s your scent. And now you have to have it. The robots will even give it to you for free. It’s a special tradition of the festival for Islanders to wear their scent and see who else might just be attracted to it. But that scent isn’t just to attract others to you, it’s to show them you’re ready to mate to whoever happens to be lured in by it. The scent will draw out your animal instincts and theirs, pushing them to stake their claim on you. They’ll want to make you theirs and theirs alone and all you will be able to think about is mating with them and being owned by them. And if you’re attracted to their scent in turn? Well, you might feel the need to turn the tables and own them instead. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● N A V I G A T I O N

Comments

[halforc]

He thinks about it visibly for Percy's benefit, sitting back against the door for a long moment before he gets up and brushes off his trousers.

"Vax mentioned you, and I trust Vax." There's a lot of weight there, a hint of the deep regard he has for the halfelf shining through. He stymies it by planting a hand on a hip and offering a ghost of a smile. "If the tables were turned and I arrived with no one but Caleb living in a house full of strangers, I'd want to stay close to him. So, you should stay close to Vax.

"The others will understand that."

[alignmyheart]

Should he? They'll see about that, but he is polite enough not to argue further. Percival finishes his drink.

"Do you have anything to clean weapons here, by any chance?"

He can practically hear the metal corroding after that trip through the ocean and he would like to get ahead of that before it gives him real problems. The quick job he'd done on the bench won't suffice to keep Animus in working order, and it probably didn't do that much for the rapier, either.

And a wild change of subject keeps him from having to meditate on Vax's ultimate feelings regarding his presence.

[halforc]

He takes the hint, humming in thought.

"For blades, yes. For your firearm, perhaps? We have some oil for our swords if that helps. This way." In the living room there's a small trunk with various cleaning supplies for weapons and the house in general which Fjord opens for Percy. "Help yourself."

He never asks much, doesn't push for information on the veritable stranger in his home. It's not Fjord's habit to roast people when they seem exhausted and genuinely good, so he just nods upstairs.

"You'll want to pass out soon, I imagine. I'll grab you some blankets in case you'd like to take a nap down here before Vax gets back."

[alignmyheart]

"I can make it work," he says. Percy gets up to follow Fjord to the trunk. He crouches down to look through it. It's not everything he needs, but it is absolutely better than nothing. He'll just have to be thorough when he can get his hands on everything else and be careful until then. Hopefully he won't have a need to defend himself here, but he isn't going to hold his breath.

As for sleep... Fjord is probably right. And he is probably offering something very sensible that Percy should take him up on. The last thing he needs is to see Vax - if it is truly him - while he's exhausted. But. There is a part of him that is resisting the idea of sleeping somewhere unfamiliar, even if Fjord has been kind. He takes what he thinks he can use out of the trunk, then stands straight.

"I'd like to clean these first, or I'll never sleep. You're welcome to watch."

He'd noticed the attention, particularly the looks Fjord's given Animus.

[halforc]

"Would that be alright? They have some at the arcade, they use them for the games."

He dithers, halfway to the door to fetch blankets, half invested in watching Percy clean his gun now that it's clear he wasn't sneaky at stealing glances and doesn't need to pretend otherwise.

[alignmyheart]

"I'm not going to sleep any time soon." So it doesn't really matter when Fjord gets him blankets.

As if to be a bit more persuasive, Percy starts taking Animus apart, starting with emptying the chambers again. It actually feels good to do something this familiar, this methodical. He almost wishes he had more than one firearm on him so he could keep doing it until his mind feels more clear.

But apparently he's going to have to do some work if he wants anything here, even supplies and material to make things.

[halforc]

Eagerly taking a seat nearby, he holds his hands in his lap to stop from reaching for any of the pieces.

"My friend had a firearm, she took it apart for pieces. Haven't seen another in a long time ... Did you make this one?"

[alignmyheart]

"No, but it is based off my designs," he answers. "All of them are based on my designs."

Percival knows what he's brought into the world, and despite his forgiveness, there is a part of him that deeply resents Ripley for distributing designs to other tinkerers. Hearing that they've spread to Wildemount doesn't surprise him, but it doesn't please him, either.

"Before this, yes. I made all of them."

[halforc]

"That's really cool."

The quiet feeling is tamped down on, trying not to be too much of a nerd about how fun the guns in the arcade have been.

"We should play against each other in the arcade sometime, once you've found your feet." Cockily, he adds, "I bet I could beat you."

He probably couldn't, but the challenge is half the fun.

[alignmyheart]

Percy lifts a brow, but he doesn't argue. Fjord's clearly enamored, and he can't decide if he's flattered or concerned. Ripley was obsessed, and he tells himself that it isn't the same thing. He knows this is good engineering and he knows they are unique. Still.

A smirk flickers at the corner of his mouth.

"Do you? Well, I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. What are you wagering?"

Oh yeah, he's taking this bet.

[halforc]

"Wagering?"

Oh, shit, he wasn't taking it that seriously ... but now it's on. Hmm, what could he wager and not be too bothered about losing?

"You probably need credits, so we'll say you get thirty off me if you win. And if I win, can I fire that thing for real?"

[alignmyheart]

"Done."

Thirty is better than nothing, so it's a start. Percy finishes cleaning and oiling as much as he can without any other chemicals, and starts methodically putting Animus back together. He has absolutely no idea what Fjord is talking about, of course, but if has to do with shooting anything, he's fairly confident he'll come out ahead. And if he doesn't, the loss is nothing, really.

"What did you do before you were pulled here?"

[halforc]

"I'm a Paladin and Warlock of the Wildmother, I travelled with the Mighty Nein all over Wildemount. We were kind of in the middle of stopping a war and ... some other trouble, when I came here."

He tries to remember the way Percy put that gun back together, and absolutely can't. That's fine! It makes it cooler.

[alignmyheart]

War? Percy frowns as he considers the empty chambers. He could leave them empty, it might be safer that way. For someone who isn't him.

He loads the ammunition, then sets Animus aside so he can take care of the rapier.

"What year was it?" he asks after a moment. Surely he would have heard of a war if one started, even from Tal'dorei.

[halforc]

"Eight-hundred-and-thirty-six, we've been together around a year now."

Roughly. Yes, a year. Molly died a month in, the rest of them have been each other's constant company for almost a year.

"Why?"

[alignmyheart]

Percy nods as he unsheathes the rapier. That would explain it.

"Because, the last I recall, it was eight-hundred-and-twelve."

So Fjord is talking about a war happening more than twenty years in the future, and it would be perfectly reasonable that Percy should know nothing about it. This information, however, does not make him feel better.

[halforc]

"Damn." That ... kind of sucks. "I've never been that far ahead of someone else in the timeline before. We're all scattered from the year we spent together, Caleb and I are the furthest ahead. I didn't know you guys were from the past."

Whoa, wait.

"Does that mean by meeting us you've come back ... to the future?"

I AM NOT EVEN DIGNIFYING THAT

[alignmyheart]

"Vax never mentioned it?"

Percy can't imagine how it might have come up, but that still seems surprising. Or maybe it just doesn't matter to Vax anymore. He runs the cloth down the length of the narrow blade, doing his best to scrub off the salt before he oils it.

"What it means is that the Augur isn't bound by space or time or plane. Which is just dandy."

:'(

[halforc]

"I assumed he was from around the same time as us ..."

Why would he think otherwise? Especially if they're all from Exandria ... but this is weird, has Vax been in the service of the Raven Queen for twenty years? Holy fuck.

"Creatures like that can still be destroyed," he absently comments with a frown, thinking about the halfelf and how much harder it might be to break the Matron's hold on him; Fjord's personal project. "Caleb could use Disintegrate on the Augur, perhaps."

[alignmyheart]

"How well protected is it? And what happens if you destroy it? We could all be trapped here."

As much as Percy appreciates grand means of destruction, he would also rather know what outcomes to plan for. He is willing to compromise a lot, but he wants to know that it will be worth it.

[halforc]

"Gilmore and Caleb can teleport us home, once the Augur is removed."

That's the sum total of The Plan so far.

[alignmyheart]

Fjord's certainty is admirable, and while there is probably every reason to have confidence in both Gilmore and this Caleb, Percy is not willing to leave something like that to chance.

"Are you sure of that? Are they sure of that?"

The Plan is seriously lacking in contingencies.

[halforc]

"Why wouldn't they be sure of that?"

If the Augur dies, what could keep them here with the wizards and sorcerer at full potential? No, Fjord hasn't expended a great deal of thought on contingencies, and he's starting to realise that.

"If we get all our spells back and murder the bitch, it can't stop us from leaving."

[alignmyheart]

"What if the bitch is the only way in or out? What if destroying it blocks any escape? Like pulling a pin in a trap door."

Percy isn't willing to trust that magic will solve absolutely everything, as much as anyone else might want to. He oils the rapier, keeping his eyes on it as he works. Maybe the Augur has precautions to prevent its own destruction: he doesn't know, he's only just arrived. But before he packs a room with black powder or unleashes a warlock on it, he wants to know what he's up against.

[halforc]

"It talks in riddles, there's no way of knowing how clever the damnable thing is. Here," he searches on his device for the last time the Augur spoke to the network and shows it to Percy. "If anything, it sounds mad. Not capable.

"... But you could be right, yes."