ZincAboutIt

*flexes fingers* Alright my girl. Hold onto your soul!

I can set the stage and tag you in my post. She's already in an alley, which means my character can find her easy peasy. One more question: is she currently in the Alleyverse, or no? This is the one thing I need to know.

A wise choice, but not very fun :3

Oh my sweet summer child. >:)

Depending on how you want this to go, send either of these people to ItD or, Miss Vivica can find them in her Alley-wandering I haven't had a chance to RP her yet his era. On a scale of 1-10, how weird do you wanna get here?

She’s also hanging out in an alleyway...sooo....

Bless you, itiah, you glorious creation.

Corette turned her head at the sudden sound of splashing back near the glowing stones and the waterfall, thoughts first going towards the shadowed shape they'd seen after their initial descent. She pulled the tablet back out, then relaxed as she saw at least a dozen more dots all converging on their current location. So, the main group has finally caught up. She cast one last long look at the cave painting, then moved off back towards the new arrivals. Stancel would want to hear about this - and her distraction over the mural would allow Corette to do a bit of her own digging. There was something missing from this cave painting, and Corette wanted to test her theory. On her way, she passed Rig and gave a subtle tug on his coat, then motioned for him to follow her. The Director would surely wish to speak with both of them and Corette didn't want to have to come all the way back out here. Besides, she didn't want to explore alone, not with that thing still out there. She had a feeling that the arrival of the full expedition would spook whatever had been lurking, but she'd hardly bet her life on it. Having a Coinshot around would be useful indeed. "Time to do our jobs, Scout Leader," she said quietly. "And once everyone else is buzzing around that wall, I'm going to go look for the missing piece. Did you notice it? The flaw in the prediction?" As she spoke, she caught sight of the Mistborn girl, Allri, speaking with the young Ghostblood. An idea started forming in her mind, and she waved the girl over as well with a small smile. If Rig is unwilling to go with me, perhaps the girl can practice her Steel and her Tin besides. @TrailRunnin @I Rashek

I think that “tragic backstory” is often a good way to introduce a reason for drastic action. However, the AV is also a very harsh world and I like playing with the idea of what is “normal” in a place like this. For example, Corette’s backstory is “tragic” to us (orphan, thief, almost killed, recruited into the DA) but she has very little problem with it. Granted she’s also a bit abnormally low in the empathy department. So it’s more like, is this character’s backstory tragic to them, and how does the background contribute to their own development. Idk that’s just how I approach character creation.

Is her sister in the AV, or on Scadrial? I suppose it doesn't matter. You can throw that in the E3-E4 Timeskip thread, that's the current "recent backstory" type place.

There are a few threads where hopping in might make sense. There's a tavern thread in The Bleeding Spike, the Forge is planning a heist, that sounds fun. Joining a Guild can help you get acquainted with the world and provide some direction but it's not necessary.

Ah, yes, sticking to canon. "The Hunger Games" was a paragon of fairness, after all *claps hands* More speeches! So far Sorana is winning the speech game here!

Awww I have to roll dice to give out things... I was hoping to just troll my poor tribute on my formless whims. Are you suffering from infection? Here, have some medicine. Do you need a weapon? Sorry, all you get is this lute! You're not being entertaining enough! Alas, even I am bound by The Rules.

“Horses know that I can outrun them. It makes them surly.”

Deb stared down the long drop before her, then looked behind. Further back, the main body of the expedition filed through the twinkling purple cavern, faces carefully shielded from the soporific spores. The scouts had apparently encountered the mushrooms unprepared, but a few quick texts from the Seeker girl allowed them to move through easily. She turned back to the pit, then allowed herself a small smile. Deb pulled a handful of small iron disks from a pocket and tossed them down, burning Steel and watching them go. When she was sure she had at least a few anchors, she stepped off into the air and began to push. Some Coinshots favored drama, but Deb had always been in favor of efficiency. Still, the air rushing past her was glorious. As she neared the ground she doubled down on her push, slowing until she touched down with a minor splash. The water was freezing, but nothing she hadn’t endured before. She raised a small communication device and spoke to the group waiting above. “All clear, begin descent.” The scouts would be around here somewhere - it was time to hear their report. ——— Lita had begun scanning the area for a possible entrance to the caverns when suddenly, someone surprised her. The shock alone would have been enough, but Lita had her tin on, and the horneater’s booming voice hit her like a ton of bricks. Instinctively, six months of practice kicked in and she flared her Pewter. Her resulting jump launched her at least seven feet backwards and a good yard into the air. She landed, spun, and stood there panting, feeling like a fool. ”By the Survivor’s bloody spear,” she spat. “What is wrong with you?” @Voidus @Invocation

Corette watched the group, thoughtful. Rig had been right about some of these people cracking under pressure. She could already see fissures forming in a few of them; this would only widen the gaps. Most of them were unaccustomed to their own fear, unused to sitting with it, listening to it breathe into their ears, feeling it drip down their necks. They sought to run at the first whisper of its approach, to curl instead into the comfort of the familiar. She would not deny that the paintings were unsettling. In truth, it did frighten her, and Corette welcomed that fear. This was a truth she had learned long ago, even before she had joined the Alleys: there was no running from fear, no hiding. It was always there, waiting for you. She could flee, she could fight, or she could embrace her fears, walk with them until they were old, familiar allies. Corette trusted her fear like she trusted little else in this world. And now, it was telling her something important. "I don't think anyone painted this." She stepped forward, running the tips of her fingers over the blue pigment of The Well. It blended so seamlessly into the stone around it, and she scratched at a bit of the rock with one finger nail. The chips of stone fell into her hand black and flat - no trace of blue paint. On the cavern wall, the image maintained its perfect, even coat of blue. Corette held out her hand to Karin, offering her the chips of stone. Perhaps she'd wish to analyze them in some way. "I'd be willing to bet that we could destroy half this wall, and the images would never move." @kenod @Rushu42

Could be planning to sell them on the black market. Which brings up another question: since Shardblades are dead spren, would their illegal sale count as organ trafficking?

Good question, Corette thought, and she pulled out her little palm tablet. There was some kind of document cache downloaded onto the little device, and she scrolled through, looking for any mention of the cave paintings. To her irritation, a good deal of the information was redacted or hidden behind password-protected walls. She could circumvent those in all likelihood, but it would take time. A brief memory of the skittish little Ghostblood boy quickly assembling a bomb in the first cavern gave her an idea. If he was keen enough to do that, perhaps he could crack into this little safe as well. But those were thoughts for another time. She eventually found mention of the mural, and while details were frustratingly slim, Corette still felt a chill run through her as she read the brief summary aloud. "'Cave paintings seem to depict some sort of story or legend involving a group of people moving through the cave system'..." she scanned through the text, skipping over theories on paint formula, possible cultural implications, and other such minutiae, "-- ah, here, 'subjects depicted include a man with glowing hair and vestments, several huminoid luminous yellow faces, a woman with a cracked visage accompanied by two other figures...'" Corette continued through the list, then looked up at the group that had assembled around the wall. "We're all mentioned here, in some way or another." She looked back to the image of all of them clustered around the dark water of the cavern labelled as The Well, then scrolled through more of the document. What are we all looking at? It would have to be quite spectacular to get everyone's attention. Even Whisper was among the group, peering downward like the rest of them. Corette continued reading, in silence this time. 'The scenes culminate in the assembled party looking down into a deep, flooded cavern with attentive reverence. Speculation on the significance of this location differs [update: See Footnote 32]' Corette raised one brow, then quickly scrolled to the bottom of the document, flicking through the various footnotes until she reached the tiny superscript "32." After reaching Cavern 5, hereafter called 'The Well,' the significance of this location as referenced in the mural is likely related to the evidence of the growth of [REDACTED]. Further investigation and confirmation is now highest priority. A tiny smile lifted the corner of Corette's mouth for a bare moment, and she scrolled back up before locking the tablet and calmly slipping it back into her pocket. So, there was another reason for their presence here. And it was waiting for them, deep down below stone and water. Waiting for her. @kenod @Rushu42 @all others at/near the wall

Yeah sure! Why not?

Corette lead Althea and Karin back through the forest of stone trees, musing on Fasi's words. The girl was easy to write off, but something she'd said had caught Corette's attention. "The last two people who were your problem vanished and are probably dead..." Corette had done a counting of the party, and while she didn't much care whether or not someone had gotten lost, there was no one missing from the scouting group. So who were the two lost souls, and how did Fasi know about them in the first place? Corette shook her head a bit and refocused her attention; now was not the time for idle speculation. Not with that mural still unexplained. The mist thinned out again, and Corette knew they were nearing the right place when she spotted a narrow fissure in the earth; she'd seen it earlier. She held up a hand, then looked back. "We need as much light as we can get," she called. "Point your headlamps towards this wall. There's more that I couldn't see with just my own light." The hair rose on her arms again as she stepped back into line with the other two women, eyes catching on that slender little figure holding the long knife. Someone was watching Corette - someone had seen her here, at this very moment, weeks ago. Months ago. Perhaps decades ago. Someone knew her future. So how far had they seen ahead? Did she even want to know? The light from all three headlamps illuminated a much broader swath of the stone, and a new color caught her eyes: a deep blue. Water - what appeared to be a deep pool of water. It looked strangely familiar... Corette slid her pack off one shoulder, digging around for the map of the cave system and pulling it out. She unrolled it, careful not to look down too sharply and dim the light on the wall. Where was it... where... there. One of the deepest caves they'd found so far, a long sheer drop into dark water. Neat little black letters on the map next to the cave spelled out "The Well." She looked back to the painting. It showed her image again, mixed in with others, clustered around the cave, all gazing down into the water. "Told you that you'd want to see this," Corette said, rolling the map back up and tucking her hair behind her ears. @Sorana @kenod

Corette raised a brow at the girl. "I thought you could take care of yourself," she said, looking at the shattered stone with minor amusement. "If you had been in the scouting party proper, you'd have recalled that I told everyone to bring their own Investiture sources. As it is, you're not an official member of ACE, which means you're not my problem." She cast an irritated glance back into the misty trees. Ruin you twice, Rig, where are you? He drinks my whiskey, he drops me in the water, he leaves me to deal with rogue teenagers... Corette gave a small sigh, then looked back towards Fasi. "Stancel will figure out what to do with you when she gets here, which should be soon. The main group is moving this way. Till then, stay out of trouble. Maybe one of the others has a spare sphere for you." She shrugged once, then made a mental note to keep her Bronze on alert for the girl's signatures. Wouldn't do to have her snooping about where she ought not go. Karin and Althea still stood nearby, looking to Corette expectantly. Corette nodded her head towards the far cavern wall, where the cave painting waited. "Shall we?" Trusting the others to follow, Corette began to move into the misted trees. @kenod @Sorana @Rushu42

If you want! Feel free to gather a group and set out on a new adventure if you would like. I won't be able to participate this era, I'm about at mental capacity and I don't want to leave any plot holes this time. But the world is built and ready to be played around in, if you're eager for more! :]

I'm curious as to why you'd need to kill the spren. It could possibly survive if it maintained its bond with the persona who swore oaths. Then you'd have one Radiant, and one non-Radiant.

The only way you’d get that much raw Stormlight is through an Alleystorm. In addition, if the bonded spren is killed it won’t matter how much Stormlight is around. They will no longer be a Radiant, and will be unable to heal themselves with Stormlight.