DragonHeir

A message shows up in the corner of Nick’s glasses. It’s from SIMON and says, “whoa whoa whoa Nick, calm down. I know he says it’s magic, but it could just be some sort of precursor tech or a strange organism.” Nick grumbles to himself, “Nobody ever lets me mess around with cool stuff. Not a xenosuit seed, and not this, apparently.” Then he continues speaking to Kaleb, “Sorry for asking so many questions. I was just excited; I don’t have any magic. Until just now, I was confident it wasn’t real, but then I showed up in a wasteland with no idea how I got there and a time traveler or something is talking to me, so I’m reconsidering some assumptions I had.” He shrugs, “how much would you be allowed to explain or demonstrate? Would I be allowed to examine the frost? We’re kinda stuck here, and it’s my actual job - or at least it will be once I finish college - to take items or creatures that do interesting things on their own, and build something useful from them. It’s how these suits were made, and it’s how I’m gonna get us out of here.”

Nick’s visible eye widens, “Magic? Can you reuse a crystal? How much frost can one crystal make? Can I have one to look at?”

“You’re the one who moved me, right? Thanks for that.” The suit doesn’t allow facial expressions to be seen through it, but he sounds grateful. “There was a jungle? How did we get here?” “My xenosuit woke me up because it reached enough biomass to have both me and it in a functional state. It’s still gathering more from the air, but it’s just putting it in storage in case I need something. Unless they start to go bad, you should keep your rice balls. The suit can manufacture food for us, but it won’t be particularly appetizing; making a steak instead of protein sludge takes specialized equipment I’m too low on resources to consider growing.” @Ancient Elantrian “Interesting…” Nick muses, “how does that work? Simply freezing the creature or machine would be helpful, but depending on what exactly happens, I might be able to generate power or construct a machine that requires cooling. Or both. I could make some sort of laser…”

Oh. Ignore what I said above, then. “Huh. Maybe this is some kind of machine ecosystem. That’s happened before. SIMON, you’re recording, right?” Turning to the others, he says, “We’re going to see if we can get on to one of those. What do we have to work with?” @J. Magi @AltonicKeys @Ancient Elantrian

Nick puts his hands out in a calm down gesture. “We’re all right. We can just go down to the digging machine and ask them for directions. As long as we’re out of the way of where it’s digging, we’ll be fine.” He proceeds to do just that. @The Stormfather If Aki (@J. Magi) and Larry (@AltonicKeys) want to follow Nick or talk to him before he goes to see what’s happening, feel free.

“I’m wearing a xenosuit right now. It’s designed to help me survive on other planets by-“ he cuts off as the helicopter passes overhead. “You really are serious, aren’t you. That’s probably a helicopter. Those have spinning blades that lift them off the ground.” “I’ve got no clue what that thing is, though. SIMON, set my suit to… never mind, forgot we were out of supplies.” He turns back to Kaleb and the others. “Maybe someone down there can help us, if that crazy drill doesn’t shred us by accident first.”

“Ok… a xenosuit would work better, wouldn’t it? Where are you from, anyway? You might have heard of my dad. He discovered the Ferrians.”

“Any idea where I can get some better supplies for my xenosuit? Maybe if I had access to a lab, I could get it to feed off this sand, but as is, I need Earth-like biomass.” Noticing the antlers on your helmet, he cocks his head to the side. “Are you from a cosplay convention or something? You’re dressed like a Viking.”

A figure stands up from the ground, and walks over to you. As it gets close enough, you can see that the figure is wearing some sort of black jumpsuit that covers his entire body. Some sort of clear substance allows you to see the right eye, but the left is covered in the same fabric the rest of him is. Black strings hang off of the suit, connected to locations in a line along his side. The figure sticks out his hand, and says, “I’m Nick Bryer. Where are we?”

Nick sits up, groaning again. The filaments of suit that had been stretched out around him fall around him. “SIMON, do you recognize that?” Evidently hearing a reply, he continues, “how’d that happen?” Standing up, he walks over to the nearest barely visible silhouette in the sandstorm. Edit: @Ancient Elantrian you’re still playing, correct? I see you are online.

It does indeed. Slower than can be seen without paying very close attention, the rice ball is absorbed by the black fabric. The filaments patching cuts in both the suit and Nick’s skin slowly come together, leaving only patches textured slightly differently. The slash on his eye grows a clear substance through which that eye can be seen, presumably so Nick can see. An hour or two later, Nick’s eyelids flutter. He groans, touching the side of his head, presumably at the button that will turn SIMON back on. “SIMON, you there? What happened?” His visible eye opens all the way, and he blinks a few times. “Where am I?”

“A bio-suit is the living garment, which in this case my charge is wearing. It can grow to perform whatever function is needed, in this case patch Nick’s wounds and replenish his blood, but, like all living things, it needs energy and materials to grow. Thank you for bringing the suit into the sun. If you can acquire additional sources of materials and energy, please place them on or point them at the fabric. I am shutting down now. If you need me, tap the corner of the remaining part of the glasses.” Then, SIMON falls silent, and the suit merely soaks up sunlight and continues to grow.

A muffled voice comes from the right side of the figure’s head, “I am SIMON. My charge, Nicholas Bryer, is heavily injured for reasons my memory is too corrupted to determine. Please bring him and the biosuit he is wearing into the most sunlit area nearby, and collect any sort of biomass you can find. I am shutting down to conserve battery for stabilization efforts, so ask any questions you have now.” Nick’s body is limp, but he is breathing slowly. He doesn’t react to your attempt to move him.

@Lotus Blossom The spike speaks into your mind: All right. I’ll give you one moment to decide. Do you want to win, or do you want to die? @Edema Rue The spike speaks to “Corin” as well, seeming like it’s whining. These people are boring. Give me something else to do.

@J. Magi @AltonicKeys @RoyalBeeMage @The Stormfather Once the warping stops, regardless of where you end up, a young man lays on the ground (or equivalent surface) next to you. Black fabric covers most of his body, including his head, but there are slashes through it, through which cuts and burns can be seen. His right eye, visible from a slash, is closed, with a cut above and below the eye socket, and what appears to be the nose bridge from a pair of glasses sticking out from the side of the rip, its edge broken. Black filaments stretch out from the fabric, both fanning out around him and growing into the cuts, seeming to scab them over. Larry’s communicator displays one possible connection. (If it has a connection request menu. I don’t know how those things work.) It reads “Nick Bryer SIMON optics interface”.

@The Stormfather

I don’t know, but I want to find out. Maybe you can put a shardcounterweight on the end and swing it around? Or Lash two nonmagic counterweights diagonally in different directions, then have it fall forward at whatever you want to destroy.

Aronin Eltoris, the last alchemist from the short-lived alchemist guild from a decade ago, turned the tap that connected the quite illegal underground workshop to one of the Verdant streams. Filling a cup, he walked over to his mushrooms and watered them with it, then wandered over to his worktable and poured the rest into a mostly full pot, small amounts of Aqua and Crimson mixing beneath it. The two opposite substances crackled softly as they mixed, the small explosions heating the liquid. "I'll need more of those, soon," he said to himself, striding over to shelf and selecting a vial of Valor. "Interesting." He stepped onto a ladder, looking up towards a glass contraption. "My condenser finally did something..." Corking and unsealing the flask beneath, he stepped off the ladder, and went back over to the pot, pouring in the Valor. "Let's see what we have here." He uncorked the flask, and put a hand to his forehead. "Huh. That sounds odd. Buzzing..." Aronin Eltoris, the last alchemist from the short-lived alchemist guild from a decade ago, took an empty flask he'd set on the table, and fit it into the substance condenser. Then, he walked over to the far wall, and turned the tap that connected the quite illegal underground workshop to one of the Verdant streams. Filling a cup, he walked over to his mushrooms and watered them with it, then wandered over to his worktable and poured the rest into a very full pot, small amounts of Aqua and Crimson mixing beneath it. The two opposite substances crackled softly as they mixed, the small explosions heating the liquid. "Looks like I need a bigger pot. Maybe the Verdant is expanding as it warms?" he said to himself, striding over to shelf and selecting a flask of Quicksilver. Moving back toward the work bench, he took three more pots and ladled a scoop of heated "Verdant" into each. He placed one onto a heating contraption, one he left as is, and then he poured the Quicksilver into the third. Then, he walked back over to his shelf. "Interesting." He stepped onto a ladder, looking up towards a glass contraption. "My condenser finally did something..."

“I have enough for a meal or two… we’ll probably teleport to somewhere that has more food next.” Vall fuzzes out for a second, and you can see through him. “That was weird… here, take these.” He hands you two eggs, a sharp tip of a plant that would make a good knife, and some purple berries. Then, he fuzzes out again. “I think I’m going back home. Goodbye and good lu-“ Vall disappears.

Well, if you don’t want a strong power… left shoulder would give you Connection manipulation. You could make yourself easier or harder to notice at will… or your leg could give you cognitive realm teleportation… The final Change begins. @Lotus Blossom also: you both feel a flash of amusement and excitement, almost like the spike is laughing. That’s fun. They let me watch, you know, before they put me in the arena. These two are in love… -more cruel amusement- Anyway, if you two don’t hurry up quick, I’ll let that guy decide who to give me to. And I’m betting they want you to fight each other. Have fun! (I’m just assuming that you’re close enough together that the spike can talk to both of you)

Rina (That's her name, right?)

Jasnah

Ah, but you have a third person(ish) now. You were also supposed to have Red, but then he died. Monsters can be much stronger than tributes...

Better Soulcasting.