Expedition (Mirror Kata Edition)

[Jent]

It been a rough start to gather a second group together on such short notice, though Mina the Dragon Knight managed to bring some other folk. Supplies of food, tools, and shelter were gathered together in enchanted containers. Never know how long this expedition might take after all.

"I should go," the voice of Solveig protested, though her fellow Knight Grathon restrained the huldra in place. "Sorry Mina. I'll make sure she stays at the Temple."

[Swix]

Mina turned to Grathon. She didn't get on with many of the KoI at the best of times due to their vastly different ideologies but such a hreat threat called for cooperation more than friction. Besides, what kind of Knight would she be if she didn't keep her word to another and go herself, even if that other was one who boiled her blood? "It's ok Grathon, I can understand her frustrations. I'm sorry but this is going to need people who are at their best right now. And we all need to remember that there's no telling what's going on over there or how the creatures-if we encounter any-will react to us"

[Jent]

"So, are all of you landlubbers ready to sail the high seas?"

Aiming to brighten the mood, Devon Parker cracked a wide grin to the fellow volunteers. It was fortunate that they managed to contact him from the mirror universe, given he decided to reside their for a few reasons. The muscular old man tapped his cane on the ground a few times. Neither Solveig or Grathon need to go on this expedition, as both be quite vulnerable.

[TheDarkPsycho]

Tom looked on as yet another group left on an expedition without him. He knew his place was here, but he didn't care for sending people into harm's way.

"Are you sure you have everything you could need. We have no clue if there is even edible food on the other side...."

[Swix]

Mina smiled at Devon. She had worried that the old ego draconis had left both worlds when she hadn't seen himaround for a while, yet the recent contact had soothed those worries. Whilst she hated that they'd had to drag him along-they needed a guide, and he seemed willing to do it.

Next she turned to Toms worrying. She understood his concern, but this needed to be done. "Yes, Tom, we're su-" her eyes lost their focus as she recieved a message from one of her students. Tox had been looking into making a phone system of sorts that worked across planes, taking what people already used and improving it with a surprising amount of knowledge about these fields. The signal was weak, though, and the voice that came through once she picked up was distressed and sounded like she was about to cry, or had been, or maybe both. Either way...rough. "M-Mina. I got some information f-for you...Not...not a lot, but I know you were planning to arrive. I got s-some...coordinates to appear near. I could really use someone...That was the...absolute worst..."

Mina attempted to reciprocate the communication, hoping to get through to ease Tox's anguish. ~We're just about ready to go, send me the coordinates, we'll be there soon~

Her eyes refocussed and she suddenly turned. "Sorry, we don't have time to double check. This is now a dual rescue mission. Tox is in deep trouble-I have coordinates, we need to be quick"

[Jent]

It was true the amber crafting coot been reluctant to join. Surely Pax contained enough youth to venture without his assistance? Though, despite lacking her seer ability, Altima managed to convince him to tag along. The Distortionist didn't need Devon watching over her twenty-four-seven.

As for general provisions and supplies, the resourceful man kept a few dimensional reduced containers on his person. Never know what might happen-

"Sorry, we don't have time to double check. This is now a dual rescue mission. Tox is in deep trouble-I have coordinates, we need to be quick"

"Right."

Devon's visage grew stern, glancing around at the people ready to embark. "You'll all need to stay within the boundaries until it is clear. Otherwise someone might fall overboard," he spoke in a gruff tone, not wanting any tomfoolery (he'd never expect that from Johnson himself, given his concerns already with two expeditions occuring at once). The man procured a strange obsidian glass orb from his pocket. With a fierce throw to the ground, the sphere shattered into six evenly proportioned pieces. These now levitating shards encircled around the group, waiting Mina to input the specific coordinates and-Poof-A complete ball of darkness enveloped around the party members, teleporting them to the desired location in the mirror universe.

((Probably best to add your char to the group about now. Numbers are vague, but don't wait two pages and suddenly say you were in the party all along. Arriving separately to same location is fine, just DM me first))

[Swix]

Mina nodded, making sure to step inside the spheres of obsidian. Mina sighed, and then threw out the information of the coordinates to the objects. She hoped this worked, and Tox wasn't too far down.

[Jent]

Altima took careful precautions to ease any discomfort with the journey through her magic. Everyone who decided to venture inside the orbital ring before take off would feel just a minor shift in reality. The curved walls of obsidian steadily flowed back into their fragments, which pulled themselves together to a small glass sphere. An eerie display for sure, but nothing alike the land before the group.

A perpetual winter dominated their surroundings. Blankets of snow, towers of ice had overtaken the patchwork style island fortress, with the tallest structure being a lone tower in the dead center. Clearly evident roman design originally birthed the stonework, though modern engineering sporadically retrofitted much of the functionality of the area. Frozen gun outposts stuck in time laid atop towers. Paved roads steadily waned in favor of gravel the older districts, trapped among a layer of permafrost.

Though none of this would be the first to strike the expedition's attention: that would be Madness. The aura saturated the very chilled air, energizing one's thoughts of long forgotten memories. It felt like their minds were overclocked by the mere presence here-Even Devon seemed to have been stunned at first. Except, with his glowing eyes, pointed to the frozen shore closeby. "Tox. There is Tox," the old Zduhać spoken in monotone.

[BoltAscendent]

Tox was sitting in a small little camp she had made, idly messing with her clothes as she did her best to block it all out. The woman looked exhausted, and some purple patches of half-frozen liquid were around her, likely her own toxins that hadn't frozen. She was dressed today in a short sleeve shirt and pants, with her normal gloves and boots, given she was in her human form. Quite a bit of frost covered her but it didn't seem to actually bother her one bit. If anything, she seemed outright comfortable here, other than her restlessness due to the madness and her recent experiences.

[Swix]

Mina muttered some sort of expletive under her breath in a language noone else could understand after they'd landed, feeling the pounding of the Madness on the walls of her mental barriers. It was strong, but she should be able to last for a while.

Braving this, and bracing herself, Mina stepped out of the obsidian vessel. Frost would start to cover her blue armour but Mina didn't seem to notice as she walked over to the other Dragon Knight. "Tox!" She called, using her hands to funnel the sound through the storm as she walked over to the camp. She was glad to see it wasn't quite as desperate as she feared-but also maddeningly curious as to why the message made it seem that way. "We are here now. Are you okay?"

[Jent]

One person kept herself low in outward presence. Another Knight, of the Insanity Temple, slipped into the expedition group from general crowd waving a send off. Senka only cared right now about demonstrating a proper image of the Pax front.

Despite earlier arguments with the de facto leader of this force, she still felt it was a good idea. Her original plan in mind went about the way of a silent protest among the fellow party goers. Do what the Knight needed and that's all... Yet, overhearing Tox's current situation did complicate matters.

This isn't right at all...

Standing among Knights, mages, and other folk, Senka shivered in surprise at unexpected weather. This Kata was supposed to be much-MUCH warmer than this. Did Mina and Devon drop them off in a frozen hell by mistake? It certainly explain why her head ached... Thoughts were racing from reliving Madness of Knowledge again. She probably should check up with Altima soon. The Distortionist knew more of this universe than Senka, and might have a theory for all of this.

---

The remaining expedition force began to prepare themselves accordingly. Some scounted at a limited distance from their arrival point, due to both of dealing with the radiant eldritch aura in the air, as well keeping close incase of ambush. A few were confused at Devon's lack of emotion. And possibly others went to follow after Mina to assistant the fallen Tox.

[TheDarkPsycho]

Given the groups sudden departure - they hadn't looked around to make sure who was near was supposed to be. This didn't give Tom enough time to clear out - and thus he was just outside the group but inside the sphere when the spell went off. After the transport was complete, he fell with an "oof" just outside the main group.

The first thing that hit him was the cold. He had dressed for the patrol he was about to go on - which meant light armor, light clothes, light provisions, plus his rifle, spare ammo, his knives, and a spare "battery" pack for his leg. Not enough for an extended expedition. Damned be his luck.

Rule of 3's. He could last 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. Right now he was going to have a problem with the second of those....

"Uh....Mina....you might have been a bit fast with ordering a haul-out" Tom finally spoke up, shivering as the weather was pushed away.

[Swix]

"Hmm? Oh" Mina said, turning away from her concern for Tox towards their unexptected tag-along. "Sorry Tom, my worry got the better of me. We should have checked you were out. We'll have a proper fire going soon, don't worry.... Although I worry not everyone is going to be as resilient as us against this mental onslaught. This is definitely not a good place to set a camp up" She hurried back over, just to help him up-before rushing back over to Tox. She wanted to make sure she was ok-and wanted to know what had happened

[BoltAscendent]

Tox slowly looked over, shaking her head and wiping her face. While physically she was fine, she had tried to anchor herself mentally to better keep herself stable. Her walls had busted down, and she was, unintentionally, picking up off everyone nearby as all her focus was keeping the madness out and herself grounded.

"M-Mina..." The woman slowly stood up, nodding. "I'm...holding up...barely, but I'm managing. I think I'm getting better...That storm is brutal...I barely got out of it, and I couldn't teleport anymore." She took a slow breath to steady herself. "I don't have the focus to get myself back right now, and I've been trying to ground myself and not fall into the madness around. You...You really need to be careful near the center. There was this black tower...tall, with bouncing windows when I hit them, and they wouldn't open. The door wouldn't open either. These...animals were there. Albino, by looks, and drained completely. Not a speck of soul to be seen...And then...I looked into the astral plane and...and..." She shuddered and took a breath to compose herself. "...One of the huldra heralds is there. Huge. Absolutely crazy huge, and it's capturing and sealing eldritch things inside. Ingrid said they're probably drained into a dormant state so they can't hurt it...It causes this storm, just...sitting there...This madness...If...If you go in, when you leave, you must put all your will, all your confidence, all your...your...assurance you'll make it, into getting out. And even then...It was..."

Tox sat back down, holding her head and crying again to help vent all the emotion flowing through her. New, old, trauma, experience and madness alike being vented through her crying.

[Coolpikaaa]

"Oh Tom! What are you doing..." Senka sighed and scolded at the same time, concerned for her friend. She immediately rushed to aid him, only to see Mina was already there. She felt a twinge... and swung off her pack quicker than she anticipated to pull the extra blanket out from the bottom.

It was an ugly grey color, and scratchy, with bits of colorful lint seemingly ingrained into it from the years. But it was thick, and it was warm. She draped it over her fellow knight to keep him safe.

She didn't catch most of Tox's story. The Dragon Knights tended to keep to themselves anyway, and honestly she wasn't too interested in what they had going on. However, she did feel a twinge of guilt that she didn't have another blanket for Tox. She truly did want to help her somehow... but she was with her team and... it was complcated. Instead, she approached Devon after ensuring Tom was mostly safe for now.

"This isn't right at all. The weather here, without Ana, should be fairly temperate. If I've researched correctly, this should be a sub-tropical island chain..." She traced a finger along a map she had doodled for her own reference, based on landmarks from their own Kata. "Instead we have blowing snow and sub zero temperatures. We didn't accidentally land at one of the poles, did we? Is this a magical phenomenon?"