Jerzy, alarmed at the sight of the monster and peeved the god of knowledge and his fellow abductees left him hanging repeats his requests. "God of knowledge, do we have a deal? Sharing of memeory in exchangefor knowledge of monsters? We are looking for information on the whatever that thing was, the other monster of the sweet smelling swamp and the worms on thd vine disk at this time"

Turning to the others "What happens when you hypothesize about <SYSTEM> and the observers? "
This message was last edited by the player at 09:51, Tue 22 Mar 2022.

OOC: This was my mistake as I forgot your post, but it's not really much of a plot hole so I'll run with it

Jerzy speaks up and gets a response this time

The moment that Jerzy finishes reading this first window, a second appears before his eyes...


For a moment, everyone watches as Jerzy's eyes roll into the back of his head and his knees buckle. Then, before gravity can take effect, he jerks back and his legs snap back to as he exhales sharply and looks around as his eyes slooowly roll back into place.

He blinks once and the light returns to his eyes and his muscles minutely tense distinctively, indicating to an aware person that he is once again conscious...

From Jerzy's perspective, however...

Emily blinks and then says to Jerzy.  "Tokhm e jen! I am so glad I didn't pick some of the other names.  That could have been so much more unpleasant.  Jerzy, since you're in touch with the god of knowledge, perhaps you know, are the Smellers beasts-type monsters?"

Jerzy doubles over to steady himself after reliving the past 5 days.

"Oh what I wouldnt give for coffee.

The Prune sniffers are sentient so I am not sure if they would fall under 'beast'. The god did not explicitly call them beasts. They are not malicious and obviously have a good sense of smell. Perhaps we can come to an agreement with them.

The monsters in this world evolve with their surroundings, the plums are now prunes, borderline sentient and suicidal, casting magical curses and disease upon contact. "

He takes a moment to process the experience.

Emily nods.  "Understood.  They evolve.  I am going to assume that sentient is not used here as a synonym for sapient but as a description of something that is self aware without necessarily being sapient.  The question now becomes how we... how I can domesticate the Sniffers."

She calls to Otto, "Otto, the plums have become prunes and they are cursed as well as poisonous whenever someone contacts them.  It is best for us to leave them for the sniffers."

She makes another attempt to track a sniffer and considers its ways in order to find a way to tame and train him.

Otto watched in awe as Emily's namesake fanned out and transformed the previously grotesque landscape into a much larger and more familiar setting.

All of this and the emergence of the plumb creature Otto had sought. He gripped his club in two hands and seemed ready to meet the creature, to defend their little band, when suddenly it emitted a terrible sound and fled, leaving the Barbarian a little confused.

There was a lot of explanation, more actual explanation than they had received since they had arrived actually, and Otto was informed that the "Sniffers" were not actually malicious, and what's more that Emily wanted to domesticate one.

"You want to try to train one of those things?" He asked skeptically. "Well alright...if that's what you want. I'll do what I can to help."
he agreed, and lowered his club.

"For what it's worth, at least in D&D, I always kind of liked the Animal Companion concept. But it was just that for me, right? A companion, a friend that you would always kind of have by your side. Where you would take care of each other." He said as his eyes roved over the new Swamp. "Stuff like the worms, where you just kind of collect them. Not my thing I think." he admitted.

"But I'll help you all day...let's go get'em" he suggested with a grin and started walking after the Sniffer.

Emily smiles.  "Oh no, you misunderstand.  I have a task to tame a beast type monster and this is the first I've seen.  If the monsters evolve than domesticating them would seem like a protection against future mutations.  They might also be able to sniff out the prunes and somehow make their magic safe.

"Naw, man. I never got to an ocean beach until I was an adult, and then I mostly played volleyball."



Arjun gives an off the cuff answer, and then calculates the in-System answer, mumbling about the potential impact of a theorized Throwing skill, the lack of wind, the humidity of the air, and finally concludes, "I'd need to see you throw something, anything really, first."

OOC: I'm hoping to eventually acquire a Ranged Weapon -adjacent skill, like how in C:DDA you have Marksmanship in addition to separate skills for Handguns, Bows, Thrown, etc. That's why I keep having him calculate trajectories and estimate distances.



"I thought you had unlocked the Market feature already? Anyway, a spade would cost.... well, there's a couple different hits here..." The archer proceeds to search for, and share three shovel or spade options with Emily, and their prices. If any of them seem to be collapsible, like an entrenching tool, the actor will sound more excited about that option.

"If you could throw me 10% as a commission, that'd be great. I wouldn't have thought of it, but Otto suggested it, and it really does make it feel a lot less onerous to be the Walking Shoppe Guy."



"Last time, one of them answered us too thoroughly for the stage we're at, and we got punished by being attacked by a horde of beatles." Arjun twitches at the memory.

Otto nodded to Emily. "I get it, and I want to help." He assured her. "I was just more curious what you were going to do with these animals, the worms, these sniffer things, after you train them? I mean, once you domesticate something, you kind of become responsible for it right?" he asked in turn.

As he moved further on in their pursuit, he looked to Arjun. "Well, I guess I shouldn't kill them on sight anymore, If what Jerry says is true." he seemed a little doubtful, his gut reaction had been to destroy the things wherever he had found them. "The swamp is neat though, way better than the Sweatrag. I wonder if that will work on some of these other places? Like if Emily names the water Lake something or other, or if we could try to get something like...I don't know, a forest, or taiga."

Kneeling down to examine the dirt on the recently named disc, Arjun pulls up a chunk of it and studies it in his hand. "Maybe Ebon Dunes is a bad name. That's the best soil we have right now, and it would probably make the land there sandy. What do you folks think?"

Emily grins.  "We should call it an orchard I think, or a wood.  Maybe a forest.  I'll think on it more before we get there.  I think the ball disc is next. Any attempt at domesticating the sniffers can wait.  Of course, any name we use for where the ebony reeds are must take account of the needs of the worms."

Arjun, still kneeling and examining the terrain nearby, comments, "Ebony Fields, maybe? And I'd really like to call the balls a mountain range or something. But we should probably name the plastic place first.

"Oh, and, uh.... what are we currently doing? I get that we're no longer bug hunting and are looking to catch something, but it doesn't really feel like we're doing anything....maybe lure them in with food? Can't really tame something without finding it."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:05, Wed 23 Mar 2022.

Otto perked up at Arjun's observation, as if the man had given him an idea.

"That's a really good point. We've been so busy surviving and moving from one crisis to the next, that I don't even really know what your goals are, much less where we are trying to get as a group." he glanced around at the group as he spoke.

"It would be good to get like, three short terms goals for each of us" he suggested. "Just to sort of get on the same page."

Emily considered and then said, "My personal objectives are these:  to tame a beast type monster, not necessarily the sniffers, this is in order to fulfil a quest; to increase my levels in all of my skills; to increase my class levels; and ultimately to get back home to London.  I think our objectives as a team should be firstly to make this place more liveable, secondly to understand it, and thirdly to fulfil our personal objectives.  Does that make sense?"

After a few moments she added.  "I think we need to explore the ball disc and then the plastic disc.  I think we need to know what's there before thinking about naming.  We also need to think about the next iteration.  What do we want to use next in forming discs? Can we replace the vine disc?"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:37, Wed 23 Mar 2022.

Arjun nods at Otto's points. "Scouting. Then I've got a book to read and a goddess to appease. I think that's it, right now."

Arjun checks for quests and tasks, just to be sure.

Jerzy looks up from where he is jotting notes about the...possession he went through. "Well, beyond getting out of this swamp and cleaning up. I think i would like to continue to level up my skills, figure out some methods of generating funds and food.

I also want to bio analyze all of you at some point.  "

Arjun tries to calculate the impact of a 'throwing skill' without actually knowing what it does. Furthermore, though he remembers the formula for wind resistance and velocity and all sorts of other stuff he learned what feels like ages ago, he doesn't really have the equipment (or sensory prowess) to measure any of them at the moment...

He's also feeling more than a little dizzy, but isn't sure if it's caused by the overuse of his magic, the overuse of his brain, or the strange smell in the air...

OOC: I'll consider it / keep the idea in mind

Arjun says aloud the first three entries for shovels he finds. The first is "Primitive Spade" for 2 coins, the second is "Handmade Spade" for 4 coins and the third is "Regular Spade" for 6 coins. None of them but the lattermost seem very reliable as tools, though.

Strangely, Emily feels something is a little... off... about this conversation? No, maybe her head is just a little light at the moment? Hmm...

---

After their quick interaction, Arjun turns from Emily and inspects the muddy ground.

---

Then, Otto leads the group in an exercise to explain their immediate and future goals, to make sure they all know whats up.

As Arjun says his ideas, he also checks tasks and quests... and he finds...

A few seconds after listing his current goals and aspirations, Arjun mumbles, "Huh. A quest."

Reading the details of his prompt, he smiles broadly, turns his head to the sky and shouts to the Administrators, "You didn't even have to ask, dudes! Accept quest."

Turning to the party, he share what he obviously thinks is good news. "Just got a quest to Explore the remainder of the World before making any further alterations. Completion reward is the God of Order invests in the world. We have 72 hours. Less, really, if we want to use our daily expansions."

He starts to do a little jig of excitement before clutching his head. "I may have overdone it with the Magic Sight. I'm gonna need a fiver. Oh, and there was another note that said admin and the Guest Observers were, like, taking a dinner break or something. Information-related restrictions have been partially lifted, so I guess we don't have to be quite so vigilant about what we talk about, for however long dinner takes for an Observer."


Flopping down on the ground to take his five minute breather, he asks Jerry, "How long does this bio-analysis take? Do we have to sit still during the thing? Can you do it while I'm sleeping?"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:34, Thu 24 Mar 2022.

Emily moves as quickly as she can to the Ebony and Worm disc, sniffing as she does so.  She tries to recognise anything she can smell as she moves. . "Excellent", she says, "let's leave this disc until last."
This message was last updated by the player at 07:49, Thu 24 Mar 2022.

(ooc - moving all activity taking place on sweet-smelling swamp to it's own thread)

Emily sniffs the sweet, and slightly nauseating air and though it's much more bearable than the previous disc, it's still a bit offputting... also, her head feels wonky when she inhales it...

If it's poison, it's not a strong one... but yeah, she does recognize SOME sort of effect...

From: Sweet Smelling Swamp

The group arrives at 'Reedsville' (name pending), and begin to ready themselves to make the leap of faith across to the pink ball in the series of colored orbs that had been made after Jerzy tossed a handmade baseball over the edge, in spite of Arjun's warnings.

Along the way, Arjun tries to dance and tame an Earthworm, but he just ends up looking sort of silly. His pride is maybe a teensy bit hurt, from being shunned by those creatures.

Arjun comments pedantically, "I think System meant that Rockabilly had tamed those earthworms, not domesticated them."

He lightly leaps to the nearest ball, easily crossing the scant gap, and offers to assist anyone who feels they need help crossing over.

He studies the new landmass, feeling as though weeks had passed since its creation, even though it was only this morning.

Emily waits until Arjun is safely onto the ball before following, She seeks to land beside him so that he can catch her should her landing be less stable.

As soon as she lands, and indeed during the jump, she opens all her senses wide, not only trying to learn about any monsters but everything she can about the ball.

Jerzy follows suit but gets lost for a moment at the unnatural gravity of this world, floating upon Islands with an unfathomable abyss below.

It causes a chill to run up his spine.

Arjun jumps to the pink sphere first.

As he lands, he feels a strange sensation below him...

Looking down. The surface of this sphere is strangely... fuzzy?

Instantly, in fact, the color and texture remind him of cotton candy!

Also, he is about ankle deep in this... but, as he shifts his weight after landing, he finds the ground sort of... follows him up? as he releases pressure on it...

Weirdly, the parts of the ground touching his ankles are extremely soft! But... he can stand on the ground below him? He even glances down but does not find a layer beneath the pink fuzz, like the main disc had of soil and then steel...

An idea comes unbidden to his head then;

Non-newtonian fluids.

He remembers some sort of experiment involving them in elementary school science class, and indeed... this seems to be the case - well, except for the fact this is a solid acting this way, not a liquid...

As he lifts one foot, he sees that the ground rises mostly back into place, though it is a little deformed, and actually quite dirt from stepping on it...

What a strange feeling... sort of... dreamy? Kind of like a bouncy castle in that it's totally novel. The actor's mood is somehow even lifted back to pre-Goddess divergence levels

---

As Emily lands, she focuses all her senses around her, and comes to the same conclusions as Ajrun had (except the phrase 'non-newtonian' doesn't come to your mind, but instead you are better able to describe it in layman's terms than him, as "The more pressure you apply, the denser it seems to become")

However, she also notices things which he did not:

Namely, a very, very faint scent of extreme sweetness. Meaning, the actual potency of the smell is very little, but the level of 'sweetness' in the light scent is through the roof.

After a moment, she also notices that this pink fuzz seems to insulate heat very well, as her toes are already a little bit warm just from standing still and being roughly covered.

She is also able to make out more of the damage than Arjun could, and notices that many of the... strands of fiber are either bent at angles or broken. They are extremely thin like hairs, so even Emily has to squint to be able to make this out.

The last thing she sees is that some of these things are indeed dissolving when they make contact with whatever remnants of liquids may be on their feet after their exploration of various terrains and rupturing of the innards of alien creatures.

It is extremely similar to cotton candy, but actually much more dense in the first place... Perhaps similar to marshmallow in density? No, it's not quite so airy... probably more than marshmallow, but less than 'medium' cake (if chiffon is light cale and poundcake is heavy cake).

Emily takes a moment to realize her face is a little red and her heart is beating quickly. She realizes she is in a very positive mood, at the moment. She feels happy here.

---

Finally, Jerzy follows and gets a bit of vertigo... which then evolves into a light-headed feeling that is not unpleasant but maybe a bit too dizzying and distracting to call purely pleasant.

For a moment too, he could swear he caught a whiff of the smell of Kinga... no, maybe he is just imagining things after returning from a psychic dive into his own memories - which were mostly vague and withered, given that they only accumulated to about 10 seconds of experience.

Well, he has been forced to learn a lot of stuff real quickly, and he also may be a little shell shocked from this... situation... so, he isn't really worried that he is suddenly developing memory issues or anything.