Video: UN - JustD

[distant_one]

[The video isn't of D, but instead a carefully drawn map of Trench and its close surrounding areas with rough lines indicating the tunnels. The video zooms back to show a rough outline of a path leading from Trenchwood further inland, denoted as '30 miles' and then a point circled and labeled as 'outpost lantern'.]

Earthquakes and underground tunnels last month, and severe storms this month. If this city sinks into the ground or is washed away, there's nowhere to go.

[D puts another sheet of paper down in front of the video, this one showing a rough outline of ruined building and some sketched in structures and a perimeter wall.]

Last month, Manabu Yuuki led an expedition, this lantern point is as far as we went before we had to return. The wilds are full of aggressive plants and animals, high levels of corruption, and even the plants that don't attack will probably kill people.

But this is a chance to make an outpost. Every time I've gone out there I've come under attack almost immediately, but if we made it that far, we can make this work too.

I'm looking for anyone who can and will fight, anyone who can aid in building fortifications to make defenses easier, and anyone with the ability or knowledge to provide magical protection and reduce corruption, or who can provide supplies and support.

I'll provide food and shelter or items for trade to anyone who works on turning this outpost into a haven.

My name is D. I'm setting up a staging point for people and supplies in the house near the Watch Tower with the red door and cloth banners. Contact me here, or look for me there between mid afternoon and sundown.

[OOC: Plotting post for this open and approved player plot here and location post and information here. An open log post will be going up sometime in the next week.]

Comments

[distant_one]

Two dozen or so.

[umbraportation]

[ That's a lot, considering the distance they went. ]

Does being out there attract a lot of Beasts?

Have you gotten a lot of volunteers for setting up the watchtower yet?

[distant_one]

After a few miles they began to attack very frequently, I think we spent more time fighting than not.

I've gotten some, and there are others I'm going to ask personally.

How old are you. You're too young feeling to be over a millennia but at least a few times older than you appear.

[It's hard to tell sometimes with Dhampirs in particular, and given that Nico's father is calling himself a god, whatever he might really be, Nico probably leans more towards aging like D does: not at all.]

[umbraportation]

Do you think they were drawn to your group by something? Movement, smell, or anything like that.

Technically? Ninety-five. When I was ten, dad put me and my sister in a hotel where people don't age. It felt like only a month had gone by, but it was actually seventy years before we were removed by one of his minions.

I just celebrated my fifteenth birthday about six months ago.

[ He might be a demigod, but Nico ages just like any mortal. ]

[distant_one]

Smell, or some other sense that draws beasts to those who aren't corrupted. I'm not sure.

[D inclines his head slightly as he considers Nico's age. He'd thought the comment about teenagers was just because that was the age group he was most comfortable with.]

I see.

[That changes the plan on teaching Nico to control his abilities.]

You're still growing.

[umbraportation]

So sneaking around likely won't work, got it.

[ His mind isn't the same amount of time he's technically been alive. It's easier that way and less maddening. ]

Yeah.

[ So long as he can still learn more control, he won't complain. ]

Gods, I hope so. I don't want to be this short forever.

[distant_one]

Control will be easier to master once you get on the right track. You haven't settled in to anything yet.

I have somewhere you can stay, if you're worried about living around people.

[umbraportation]

Thanks. There was a teacher once, but we both were after our own interests at the time. I learned some of this stuff from him, even if he was manipulative.

[ Nico absolutely acknowledges the ghost was using him. That offer does surprise him, not the first offer he's had, but still unexpected. It has him going quiet for a moment and plays with a skull ring. ]

Oh, sure. Not like I'm really settled in there yet.

[distant_one]

We can go over theory and other topics if you join me at the staging point, but no using death or dark in Crenshaw.

[If there was someone D felt he could trust to do this, he would point Nico at them, but their combination of death and dark along with being a human immortal hybrid means that's unlikely.]

Do you need to sleep and eat?

[umbraportation]

Okay. None at all, or just out in public?

[ Most of those abilities do need active concentration, but in the instance where it bursts out he figures he should ask. ]

Yeah, not as well as I probably should. I can catch a meal over at Sanctuary when I'm there helping clean or hanging out.

[distant_one]

It's very crowded, full of families and very well protected, if you're not certain you can do it safely, don't do it.

[It's good that Nico doesn't need blood. Unfortunately that means D is really in no position to feed him.]

I'm stocking up on food supplies for the outpost, but if you want an actual meal instead of just something that stays edible for a long time the Sanctuary is your best bet.

[D pulls out his omni for a moment to send a simple little map to Nico. D's using a new abandoned house with a partly collapsed wall in one of the main room floors.] Leave the unicorn's room alone. He's very aggressive.

[umbraportation]

I've pretty good control other than my outbursts, and lived in proximity to people back home.

[ He'll pick a room that's a little isolated in case of accidents, though. As for food, Nico can handle that. ]

Okay, maybe I'll take up cooking.

[ Checking his omni briefly to look at the map. That will be fun walking into. ] Not a problem. Animals and mythical creatures don't like me, and I've seen flesh-eating horses.

[distant_one]

They don't like me either, they have an easier time recognizing us for what we are than humans.

[D pauses and considers it for a moment. The coffin is vacant now, at least...]

There are rooms upstairs, and the dimension expansion inside the coffin has some too.

[He's not going to sleep in there himself, but it's a good place to get some space.]

Don't kill the plants.

[umbraportation]

Yeah, they tend to run away when I get close.

[ An empty coffin would be good while he's trying to get this under control. ]

Dimension expansion inside the coffin? Do you live in the coffin?

[ Why does this sound sort of familiar? ]

Okay. [ Nico won't spend much time around them. ]

[distant_one]

I don't, but it's useful to have around.

[The automatic defenses that would have made the coffin safe aren't functioning, so the only thing keeping someone from stealing it and everything and everyone inside it is its considerable weight.]

[umbraportation]

Seriously. A portable house, all conveniently located inside a coffin. Hopefully no one buries it.

[ He's serious, but also joking. ]

[distant_one]

That happens sometimes where I'm from.

[Usually on purpose, but D isn't going to say that.]

[umbraportation]

Hopefully not here?

[ Can Nico shadow travel out of a dimension expanded coffin in case of emergencies? This may need testing. ]

[distant_one]

I haven't checked to see what kind of coffins are in the graveyard.

Don't worry, I'll come get you out if someone mistakenly puts you six feet under.

[Is that a joke or D being serious? It's hard to tell.]

[umbraportation]

If there are any. Cremation might be popular here.

Thanks, I'll text first before trying anything drastic.

[ Definitely seriously. ]

[distant_one]

I wish it was popular here, but they wouldn't cremate the coffin.

[It would cut down on concerns about undead plagues. He's recently come around to the idea of cremation after what happened before he came here.]

You put bodies in a simpler box for that.

[umbraportation]

Yeah, we cremate our dead and burn a shroud for the fallen.

[ A distance look in his eyes at the thought. Nico being the son of Hades means he's in charge of funerals for kids his age. It only last a moment before he comes back to himself. ]

Anyway, not worried about being cremated. So long as it doesn't actually become coffin-sized inside, I'll be fine.

[distant_one]

[Being the son of a 'god of the underworld' must bring a lot of responsibility about funerary rites. It puts his earlier questions in a different light.]

If it did suddenly collapse like that, you'd get to have a brief encounter with death here before you even knew it happened. Death here is a stranger with no time for us Sleepers, we return to squids and come back to the beach to live again.

[If there's a native entity here that embodies it at all, and not just the Pthumerians who have displaced things like the sea and the moon.]

[umbraportation]

[ He doesn't know if he'll have that kind of role here, but Nico wouldn't mind. ]

How brief of an encounter? I'm not afraid of death, but if there's enough time that I can shadow travel out, that'd be great. Yeah, I heard that from some others.

[ Nico intends to look into all the patrons, at the very least. Wouldn't want to offend one of them because he's lacking knowledge. ]

[distant_one]

I haven't died here yet, but I think you have to spend some time as a squid before you wake up and regain your abilities.