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Finding Leads within the Darkness
(2014-03-01 - 2014-03-01)
Reize decided to make his travel into the Veins of the Darkness in search for clues about the darkness in the forest. He comes across a familiar face who has an abundant amount of information.
Reize Seatlan It has been a long time since the boy explored the forests. He has been through many terrains: Sandy beaches, the high seas, sandy deserts. All of this has left a homesickness in the boy. There was a desire to explore the familiar woodlands. This brings Reize back to the forest once more. However, the reason for this purpose has been to investigate a growing darkness that has ravaged the forest.

Enter the Vein of Darkness.

This is untold territory and a dangerous spot that Reize probably should not have explored by himself. However, with the other members being difficult to reach, the boy took the chance to make his way through the plains as he steps into the darkness.

He carries a burning torch. It illuminates the darkness with a light. His pendant glimmers every once in a while.

"This is the place..."
Edison Reece Among the shadows, Edison is... sitting, nursing a small fire at the place he mounted camp at for a while now, observing the progress of the tendril of darkness. He is puzzled by the behaviour of the flow, but given the possible cause, he shouldn't be surprised at all.

Adding some more sticks into the fire, he turns his head towards a place nearby, the place where the flow changed the most. He thinks, meditates in trying to find an answer, but such thoughts vanish as he sights a pinprick of light from the corner of his eye, vanishing as fast as it appeared. He's more or less covered by the terrain, so the chances of being seen weren't many, but it was better safe than sorry.

Calling one of his weapons, he takes position near a tree. Keen eyes might be able to notice him standing there (then again, at almost two meters, he's hard to miss), however, as Edison wants to avoid shooting on someone who has no ill-intent towards him.
Reize Seatlan As the boy explores the shadows, his eyes survey the surroundings. With a sweep of a hand, the torch illuminates a path that leads to some sort of light. This has the traveler curious, yet wary. As he braves through to get closer towards the source..

The boy steps closer, now getting towards the mounted campsite.

However, the forest lends to no pleasantries. Someone is here. The boy draws a boomerang from his side, then he calls out.

"...Hello? Someone there?" He can see a bit of movement near one of the trees. He steps out from the open to at least keep his guard up. The forest is dangerous, especially with this darkness around.
Edison Reece Edison doesn't immediately reply, instead changing position among the trees to try to keep the newcomer under a careful eye. Once upon a time, he might have been able to fly to the tree canopy, but not anymore, and he's not going to cry over spoilt milk.

"Maybe, maybe not," he says, grinning as he realizes the sheer stupidity of the expression in a case like this, "Who goes there, and why are you here?"

After all, it wouldn't be a huge leap of logic to assume that someone else might be interested in investigating the flow of darkness.
Reize Seatlan The boy takes cover back to the tree, sliding his boomerang back to his slot and he procures something else: his hookshot. The boy readies the hookshot to his side, looking over a tree nearby. He has not made a move yet, neither did the other individual.

The boy glances over towards the ground to see a tree branch. Hrm...

Assessing the area around him, the boy hunter squints and he calls out in response to the man's riddled answer:

"I'm an explorer investigating the growing darkness out here. I am assuming that you're doing the same thing?"
Edison Reece Edison sighs in relief. "Indeed I am. Been here for a while now... and I think I remember your voice from someplace else." he says, looking around. Damn forest is making him very jumpy. "Would you mind coming here?" he asks, stepping out to the open. "You don't want to imagine the kind of beasties that seem to call this place home, and I don't really think we want to be standoffish while away from a sizable source of light."

Hey, it's a dark forest, and for all that Edison knew, there could be Ents prowling around, nevermind the fact that those were a thing from stories.
Reize Seatlan The arm lowers, letting the hookshot slacken a bit. He squints slightly, turning his head to see the other person that had been hiding. As he slides out from the tree, his sights fall on a familiar face now.

"Oh! You were one of the explorers from the expedition to the Siam Temple!" He beams happily, stepping out to the open to meet with the other man. "...Yeah." He frowns, "This isn't the safest place." He looks over at Edison, then he gazes around within the forest.

"What happened here, anyway?"
Edison Reece "Ah, I remember now." Edison nods, recalling the particular details, traps, architecture and traps. "Uh, Reize, right? Short version of it is that since people faced... Shinryu, I think, a while ago and that giant lizard fell to the ground somewhere north of here, there has been... some kind of river of darkness." he pauses for a moment, waving his hand to signal Reize to follow him back in to the encampent before continuing. "It's seemingly eating its way through the terrain, and it was supposed to cross the forest... except it didn't. It's like it knows where it's going."
Reize Seatlan The eyebrows furrow when the information about Shinryu is processed, "...Maira actually told me about that," The boy notes to himself. The youth frowns, "So, this Shinryu.." He looks over towards the darkness, then he turns to see Edison moving. Moving in suit of following the man towards the encampment, Reize listens in to the conversation. "... So it's supposed to cross the forest... why?"

A frown grows, "I was warned that this dragon would be coming out and a lot of powerful people tried fighting it."

He asks, "...Do know anything about this dragon?"
Edison Reece Edison shook his head. "About Shinryu, I only know what i've heard from third parties. Big, very powerful, hit some kind of giant eyeball in the skies..." he paused for a few moments, "I have my doubts about the the last one, though. Either way, from the crater of this fall, the ddarkness seeped out, so either that spot was sealing something, or Shinryu itself is some kind of darkness. Might be the latter."

He then starts digging around a worn, but sturdy-looking backpack. "About the river of darkness... I made a map when I hitched a ride from an airship as I followed the flow south. Ah, here it is." he says, handing Reize a quickly-sketched diagram, containing a few points of reference and a thick line representing the flow of darkness. It goes south from the crater, and it splits just before the forest, going around it. Edison has scribbled question marks at this behaviour, along with a note in the bottom: 'Giza Plains has another puddle of darkness, but it hasn't gone anywhere.'

After that, some scribbling, containing what he already said: 'Very Corrosive. Expanding slowly. Some degree of sentiency. Some kind of Heartless?'
Reize Seatlan Reize takes the moment to take it all in. A frown only grows the more he hears about the leads. It's mostly been third party, but it is sufficient enough to learn what they are potentially dealing with. "Hrm.. Giant eyeball in the sky?" He looks thoughtful, yet quite confused.

His eyes drift towards the crater.

"I wonder if this Shinryuu is a Heartless or something else."

As Edison presents the map, Reize is reading over it. However, his mind is pinpointing the area at the wrong places. Nevertheless, the boy shakes his head and recalibrates his mind from confusion.

"So the darkness here is expanding and is corrosive?" He frowns, then he asks, "So this is the only one that did not go anywhere?"
Edison Reece "The one at the Giza Plains? Yes, but there are rumours about other spots where this darkness is spawning. The one from the Crater is the only one that's expanding so far, though." he had heard the rumours, but he couldn't figure why this was happening. Could it not be directly related with Shinryu, but something else?

"Corrosive, as in it eats through hills and other relief contours to follow it's path... which leads somewhere. Given everything, I can't help but feel like there's something amiss that I should know, but can't find"
Reize Seatlan "Mmph." The more that the boy hears, the grimmer this seems. Reize paces along the encampment, thinking along the lines of where to look. There is a thoughtful look, the more Reize finds himself at the midst of getting clues.

"...I guess that I'll have to get some folks to see the Crater then. I am curious to see how far it has expanded." He frowns, "...Though, I am not certain what does this mean besides 'something extremely bad'."

He brightens, "I can round up some of my friends and we can try to take a better look at the one from the Crater!"
Edison Reece Edison nods. "That is an idea, there might be something new there after the flow started coming over here. Just don't try drinking it." he jokes weakly. There isn't much to joke about when things as ominous as these start happening, and his bad feeling hasn't vanished since the first time he set foot on these Light-forsaken lands.

"Another thing that I wonder about is how true the rumours about other spots appearing are. How true are they? If they all exist, then why now, and all more or less at the same time?"
Reize Seatlan "Ugh," Reize makes a face at the thought of drinking it, "I tried eating a gummi, which did not work out. I don't think drinking it would work out either..." He gives a raspberry at the thought. Soon, however, the boy taps his chin and he thinks over the course of action regarding the one at the Crater.

"Hrm?" Reize stops in motion of his walk, turning towards Edison. "Perhaps they are critical points in the world?" Reize reponds, "If there are points that seem random, it may not be exactly random. Either that or..." The boy muses, tapping his chin, "...They connect together to a single point like a big dot or seal?"
Edison Reece "Once a happenstance, twice a coincidence, thrice a pattern..." the Ranger mutters, thinking on Reize's words. "You might be onto something there, yes. It would require careful vigilance, to compare notes on each and every spot." he says, mind going back to the Officer School days, before returning to the present at a detail that has nothing to do with things. "What's a gummi?"
Reize Seatlan As Edison notes over the idea of swapping notes, Reize beams, "Yeah! We shall do that. The Shard Seekers and I will likely start with the spot from the Crater and will try to go to each point."

Then the gummi part comes up. "I don't know, actually." Reize admits towards Edison, "One of my friends mentioned that it was supposed to be used for something, but we haven't figured out what, yet." The young hunter makes a face, now disappointed. "It's not edible, I'll say that much."
Edison Reece "I should probably lift camp and travel around for a while in the near future as well," Edison agrees, already planning things, and cursing that fact that this world lacked a fast, public transport method. Oh, if he could put his hands on some airships to use for that purpose...

"Used for something? Curiouser and curiouser. It seems that this world as a great many things yet for me to discover."

If only you knew, Edison...
Reize Seatlan "Yeah..." Reize looks more worried as he looks through the forest, "It's eerily quiet out here." He kneels slightly, dipping a hand towards the soil to get a good smell and he frowns, "...I don't think there has been too many creatures here as of late thanks to this." This looks troubling.

Nevertheless, Reize offers a faint smile and he stands up, "Any case, thanks for the information so far! I'll pass it over to the crew and we will have to meet up again to swap notes."

Thoughtfully, Reize adds, "We're usually at Fluorgis. It's where our headquarters are at."
Edison Reece "This darkness is unnatural. I don't know if it has effect on the wildlife, or those who didn't run away might become twisted." a pause, as the implications dawn on him. "Another thing to keep an eye on." Then, in a happier tone: "No problem at all. More heads thinking on the problem at hand might reach a good conclusion sooner. Once I have something concrete I'll drop by your HQ to leave the info, then. Take care."
Reize Seatlan "The wildlife would naturally be alarmed." The young hunter frowns, "When something out of the ordinary happens, the animals can sense it faster and survival instincts come in.... If they didn't get twisted." He adds in complement to Edison's own comment.

Who knows how much of the wildlife have been twisted. Reize gives a determined look. More to investigate.

However, a happier tone of things. "Great! You take care too, Edison!" The boy waves a hand, and then he makes his track out of the forest. He'll have to get a hold of the Shard Seekers for an expedition towards the Crater.

...unfortunately, Reize was the one who saw the map.

 
This scene contained 21 poses. The players who were present were: Reize Seatlan, Edison Reece