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Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend. He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters. Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does. Looking for trouble in all the right places. The two-time champion of the Fair-Town Queen's Joust. Recently married to the now-pregnant Thunnelda Haycock. He had recently received a letter from his long-lost father, and has convinced the others to accompany him to the Wildlands.
Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout. Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers. Apparently addicted to his newly uncovered yellow powder found at "The Pool House"
Sonny Helianthus: an over 10' tall sentient sunflower artifact examiner with four arms, and trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable, but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades. Sonny may have recently detonated an atomic device in the petrified woods... although no one else knows.
Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble in all the wrong places, and finding it often. He has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair. Recently attacked and kidnapped then left for dead by an unknown group, looking for revenge. Also pregnant for the third time, and due to deliver badly out of season
Poppy and Speedy: Two of Squiggles' offspring from his first... litter(?) They're now teenagers in worm years, old enough to grab diminutive muskets and help their Manchi and his friends on this epic quest.
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The Explorers fled out of the compound, desperate to make it outside of the path of illuminated blue energy barreling towards them. But the swath of destruction (?) seemed to be expanding.
Pete scurried out beyond the phenomenon's reach. Somehow Lathar cajoled No-Name to move faster. But as the two heroes turned around, they saw the crackling energy enveloped the base, cross the top of the river and continuing flowing into the woods on the other side of the Big River.
And they could only see Sonny standing there obscured by the blue aura.... the energy rolled like a cloud or fog. He was standing next to several glowing forms. There was no sign of Squiggles or his kids.
And for once, both the human and the weasel... both were afraid.
Squiggles' parental instincts may have kicked in for the first time. The look of terror in his offspring's faces gave him a drive deep in his soul he had never felt before.
It wasn't enough.
It wasn't the oncoming blue storm that got them, it was the a series of invisible waves flying through the air. More of these waves must have made the kids' "segments hurt" before, but these dropped all three worms... Squiggles could barely look up to see Sonny's plant structure also succumbing to the waves... it was the only reason he hadn't teleported away to safety.
Squiggle's survival instincts allowed him only one command to his children:
"DIG!!!!"
The worms' primal instincts kicked in they were quickly, but barely beneath the surface, Squiggles doing most of the rapid tunnelling, while Poppy and Speedy expanded and cleaned up.
Getting under the ground, and no longer subject of the waves, the worm family recovered, but the blue glow was still cast
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Pete kept walking backwards, away from the blue energy. He saw the glowing figures next to Sonny. Six beings of light suddenly turning into only one, and standing in front of the sunflower.
"Lathar, c'mon, we need to get out..."
"Get out?"
"Yeah, keep on moving...."
"Are we leaving them?"
"What do you want to do?"
"I don't know Pete, we should jump on No-Name and charged back into there... Sonny has bailed us out so many times..."
"We're going back into the blue???
"Yes"
Lathar hopped on the back of No-Name, still draped with supplies, The Staggon started to move towards the blue energy. A few steps in, Lathar leaned over, his hand outstretched to grab Pete... when No-Name reared back in fear. Lathar went flying off it's back, along with whatever supplies were on him. Pete narrowly evaded catastrophe.
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Squiggles and his children were barely underground but safe. He had pulled Poppy and Speedy close to his furry body.
Squiggles was taken aback with the feel of Sonny's giant frond, dipping deep within the tunnel.
"Squiggles? Squiggles?"
"Yeah....?"
"I can't guarantee that it's safe, but it's not dangerous."
Squiggles and his children crawled back out in to the blueness. Within the aura was a new figure, translucent, glass-like, staring at all of them.
Sonny: This is fascinating, I have no idea what it is....
Squiggles: Are you trying to communicate with it?
Sonny: Yes, yes! Squiggles, meet... oh I hope I get this right... The Third Reflection of the Ninth Crossing.
The being nodded it head and spoke, a cacophony of multiple voices saying it all off a bit.
"Correct"
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| The Third Reflection of the Ninth Crossing |
Sonny: There were six of them, the other five vanished.
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The invisible waves of energy had nearly crippled Sonny, Sonny was nearly helpless when the visible blue energy had hit him...
Fifteen meters tall by 150 meters wide, but outside of the world shining with blue light, nothing seemed to change within the aura. Past Sonny, down along the riverbank, was an odd sigil, glowing in the air..... the area the energy crossed revealed a dry river beneath it, with water flowing away from it, both downriver and upriver.
Where the riverbed met the shore, six figures... clear translucent humanoids forms... bodies apparently composed entirely of glass... and the sigil disappeared.
Sonny's plant body was wracked with lingering pain, but he could stand up, intrigued by these new acquaintances. He was weakened, but was quietly trying to pool his power together, just in case he needed to teleport away... just in case.
"Hello"
The beings look at Sonny, trying to process what they're seeing. They each raised a single hand separately and hold it up in the air.... Then a crackling sound emitted through that group.... and five of them vanished, leaving just one.
"I guess you're designated to talk to me?"
The being looked behind it, pondering the disappearance of the other entity's
I am the Third Reflection of the Ninth Crossing.
"Hello Third Reflection, I'm Sonnny"
Hello Sonny.... Is this the world where we failed?
"Probably. The Ancients failed , I gather. Unless you consider it a success."
No... but we promised it would pass
The being looked up within the aura, towards the sky, trying to look for something.
"What did you fail?"
We mark this as an acceptable loss. We said later.... this isn't later enough.
"Are you the Ancients?"
The being simply chuckled... in five similar voices.
"Should we would be worried about the river?"
The River is where we originally put the error.
"What are you and why are you putting errors in our River."
The Third Reflection showed struggle trying to speak.
I used to be plural, I miss the overlap.... This body is too loud. I can hear it thinking...
He asked if it would hurt.... We said no
"Who asked?"
He... is.... downstream, maybe in this time.
The Third Reflection turned back to the river... and the water flowing up and down river, chuckling again in his signature awkward attempt at harmony:
We learned the wrong lesson perfectly.
For just a moment, Sonny pondered using the Children's Alchemical Laser that he had discarded at his feet.... but influence from his fellow Explorers faded... grabbing his furry worm friend out of his burrow needed to be the next step.
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Squiggles kept staring at The Third Reflection, all the while trying to hail Pete and Lathar... The being shuffled its feet to keep track of the worms circling. Poppy and Speedy kept quite close to their Manchi. About halfway around the circle, Speedy got brave, stepping half the distance between Squiggles and the creature.
The being kept watching, but finally spoke towards them.
Don't stand too close, I crack when I'm anxious.
Squiggles pulled his kin backwards, earning another nod of approval from it.
"Is this your first time here?"
We failed to stop, or to stay, or to agree, but this river is in every version...
"Have you seen others like me.... or Sonny?"
Yes, he asked if it would hurt.... We said no.
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Pete and Lathar recovered from their debacle, realizing the single glowing creature remaining had human features, and the entire Wurmtail family had reappeared.
Pete: "It doesn't appear to be hurting them, but be ready to flee. I'm not going into that.
Lathar: "Are they... talking?"
Pete: "They're moving their arms like it... they don't look like their in danger... yet."
Lathar: "I'm leaving my rifles here with No-Name, just taking my shield. Don't go anywhere.
Lathar, shield in hand, walked up the to the aura and walked into it. Nothing seemed to unnatural, outside the blue-tinted vision and his hair standing on end.
Squiggles motioned to his friend to be peaceful.... Lathar walked gingerly and sideways, until it made eye contact with the creature, and it spoke to him:
He... is.... downstream.
Lathar became breathless for a moment, but regained his composure, "How far?"
You are earlier than expected....
Speedy: Are you from here?
Our failure was marked as an acceptable loss.
Poppy: "How did you fail?"
Yes, he asked if it would hurt.... We said no
Lathar seemed a bit more insistent: Will my journey end in sorrow, or in happiness?
This is why forgiveness takes so long...
With that cryptic answer.... they notice the blue aura going across the river remained, but the Big River has resumed going fully downstream.
Lathar: What was it like before?
If we just learned, we could stop repeating.
The Third Reflection stared off across the river.
The river hums differently here, it always does...
Lathar continued to treat the being like a local village soothsayer.
"Does he want to meet me?"
The being chuckled for but a moment, like Lathar amused it
You look like him before the apology....
"What was his affront?"
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It was at that moment, that it turned in the direction of Pete outside and started walking....He is not singular anymore...
It walked out of the aura and towards the trees... and Pete.
Pete could hear it, like it was talking to itself.
This body is too loud. I can hear it thinking...
Pete used his mental mutations to try to connect with it. He's met with his own voice reflected back to head.
Next: #130 - The Slow Walk to the Gren
The being turned it's head towards the weasel before passing him.
If we learned, we would stop repeating...
Pete speaking out loud: Is there anything we can do for you?
Pete speaking out loud: Is there anything we can do for you?
Not in this version where we meet you.
Next: #130 - The Slow Walk to the Gren
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