Ch.5 "Lost Souls" / Kell and Sigrlinn

[Legendary Sidekick]

Oddly enough, the magic seems to be working! The knife's light sucking aura expands and becomes bright as a flame...!

Spoiler: theme song: Pure Imagination

Our heroines peer into the portal. There is an entire world with skies of turning gears, streets packed with horseless carriages, boxes where Iron Maidens can view the hearthvision from the comforts of home. They're in a home now, staring out the window of what must be a sky castle.

When they turn to look behind them, they see the interior of a home. A giant's home! The giant likes books and tools and science, judging by the possessions. Our heroines also get a look at each other. Sigrlinn looks like Sigrlinn, not a wingless fairy. Both wear odd bronze outfits, and Sigrlinn even has a hat on to match her pantsuit. Kell's blouse is similar to Sigrlinn's, but she has a miniskirt with thigh high boots. Both heroines are unarmed.

Then again, what could they do to the giants here? Even the fly on the window sill towers over them. Fortunately, the fly is metal. It doesn't move...

 

[Ireth]

Sigrlinn stares in awe at the world beyond the portal. Everything is giant-sized, which makes her think of Jotunheim -- but why would Loki send Heph's soul there? And the gears and wheels make her think of Heph and his maidens and machines.

She takes a deep breath and looks at Kell. "Well, if I'm going in there, it's got to be now. Are you coming with me?"

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

It occurs to Sigrlinn that she is in there, though neither she nor Kell made any attempt to enter. Or maybe they did, but forgot?

In any case, Sigrlinn looks like herself now and is about the same size as Kell. Though in this giant world, they are much smaller compared to the inhabitants than fairies are to humans.

 

[Ireth]

Sigrlinn blinks at the realization, then shrugs. She wanted to go in anyway, but it would have been nice to have even the illusion of choice.

"Alright, where do we start looking? Inside or out?" She peers down at the long drop to the floor below the windowsill, then all around to see if there's a safer way down than jumping.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

The drop is quite far.

But Sigrlinn does notice the metal fly's eyes are in fact windows. There are two seats inside, and controls identical to those in the simulator and MH5.

 

[tbgg]

"Maybe we should fly around in the fly?" suggests Kell. "Though you're gonna have to teach me how the controls work."


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[Ireth]

Sigrlinn smiles. This, she can handle. "Come on, let's fly. You can be my co-pilot. It's easy once you get the hang of it."

She waits to see if Kell has any objections. Hearing none, she climbs into one of the seats and helps Kell into the other.

"We use the sticks to move," she explains, and these buttons here to shoot. And that one makes a force-field, but we might want to save that for an emergency. I'm not sure how many tries we'll get."

 

[tbgg]

"You know, I wonder if this is some sort of funky alternate world. All the stuff here seems rather Heph-like, don't you think?" Kell asks as she familiarizes herself with the controls.

"What do I do with the stick? Pull? Push?"


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[Ireth]

Sigrlinn nods. "It seems like something Heph would dream up. Okay... pull back on the stick to go up, push forward to go down. Left turns left, right turns right. Easy enough?"

 

[tbgg]

"Does the co-pilot steer, too, or focus on weapons and shields?" Kell can't help shuddering a bit at all of this metal. Her own natural magic seems so much more...friendly...but maybe that's because it's familiar.


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[Ireth]

"Ja, we need to stay synchronized. Just follow my lead." Sigrlinn settles in her seat and takes hold of her steering stick, glancing sideways at Kell. "Are you okay? You look nervous."

 

[tbgg]

"I am, but I think it's because I haven't flown before and what's out there is so...big. Let's do this." Kell grasps her stick in imitation of Sigrlinn.


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[Ireth]

Sigrlinn nods and says "Pull up" before doing so herself. She hopes the fly will just move with that, and that it doesn't require anything else she's not aware of.

 

[tbgg]

Kell pulls up on her stick. Here goes nothing!


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[Legendary Sidekick]

You both pull up on the stick and the fly zips up. It moves quite suddenly, but with no one in the large room, you are free to experiment with the stick and two thruster pedals (right pedal: fast flight forward, left: reverse thruster to brake or back up).

On each control panel, there are three buttons (left button: pink, middle: gold, right: green). The buttons are not labeled... except for right now! Letters over the buttons are suddenly there, as if painted on a long time ago:

"Press any button to answer com link."

((No roll needed, though I'm sure you can guess that each button will normally represent power/grace/instinct dice.))

 

[Ireth]

Sigrlinn blinks at the message, then exchanges a glance with Kell before pressing the green button on her panel. "Uh, hallo?"

 

[tbgg]

Kell presses the yellow button, saying with a grin and a twinkle in her eye, "This is AirSwimmer. Is this HomeBase we're talking to?"


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[Legendary Sidekick]

Hess appears on the screen. She has a serious expression, but when Kell starts using code names, she lightens up a bit.

Icarus peeks onscreen and says, "This is Pit, AirSwimmer. I read you loud and clear!"

Phœbe zips in front of Icarus—in her own wingless fairy body! "This is Poke-Huntress! I have my body back, and—"

Sapphire nudges her.

"—oh, right! We can chat later. Your mission…" She looks to the side, then says, "Yes. You can tell them."

Penni leaps between the fairies and says, "Your mission, if you choose to accept it is… Objective One!"

As she says this, objectives light up on the screen in front of her.

Objective #1: Locate Hephæstus.
Objective #2: Persuade him to leave this realm.
Objective #3:

Penni falls silent for a moment, then says, "Well, two objectives is a pretty lame mission. There's probably a third thing to do."

The screen reads, Objective #3: Do a third thing that you probably have to do.

 

[Ireth]

"Good to see you're yourself again, Phoebe!"

Sigrlinn nods at their stated objective. The third thing will probably reveal itself soon. "Well, I definitely accept." Then again, she wouldn't be here if she didn't.

She looks at Kell. "Should I come up with a code name too?"

 

[tbgg]

Kell tells Sigrlinn, "I came up with my code name as a joke, but the idea seems to have caught on. You might as well."

"Since this place seems pretty Heph-friendly, my vote would be to look around here first. We can go down below if we don't find him."


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