2020-08-21: Tales of Adventure: The Hollow Earth

Tales of Adventure: The Hollow Earth
Arumi, Astra, and Eden go on an adventure of Dinosaurs, Nazis, and Ancient Cities
IC Date	August 21, 2020
IC Time	2 PM
Players	Arumi, Astra, Eden Huxley, Sammi as ST
Location	The Hollow Earth
Prp/Tp	N/A
Spheres	Traditions Sorcerer
Theme Song	Escape from the Temple

Arumi brings Astra out to the lab for the BIG DAY. Changing into her bright orange, Stellvia-inspired flight suit, she grabs her plasma rifle, gets out her backpack-mounted hyperdrive core out. Putting it on the workbench, and pulling out the handheld control mechanism.

"I have two suits ready for you, AStra. You didn't decide between yellow and green, so I made one of each. Are the jackets ready? I had them stitched to your specifications, but I know you were working on treating them."

Astra says, “I haven't had an entirely successful test of the lining yet, so we'll call these prototypes?" Astra says with a hint of nervousness as she paces around the lab, "We'll see how they perform in the field then I'll examine them for damage when we get back." She finally decides on the yellow jumpsuit and finds a spot to start changing.”

Arumi smiles as she takes hers, holding it out in front of herself. "Very cool. I'm happy to try out a prototpye. EVerything we're traveling with is a prototype. Strapping a hyperdrive onto my back is pretty stupid, honestly, but Professor Urquhart didn't think it was a bad idea. Once I have the space suits he thought we could even go into Etherspace, and just... swim in the Ether."

She puts on the black leather flight jacket, emblazoned with her name on one breast, the Sons of Ether insignia on the other, and arm patches with designs such as the Royal Ethernautical Society insignia and Queen Victoria's Cypher.

Orange suit, black jacket with orange lining, white backpack with matching white controller. "I'm ready to put the backpack on and go whenever you are. Actually, could you carry some supplies, like some water and coffee from the fridge? And some pocky. I have some pocky up there."

Astra peeers at Arumi as she zips her jumpsuit up. "Pocky!? Ah.. that's fine for a snack but shouldn't we be packing protein bars!? Something that'll make for a few solid meals if we get stuck who knows where?" In her mind they're going to be hacking through jungle before they reach Agartha. She does put a few bottles of water and coffee in her backpack though, and maybe some pocky too, but she;s scrounging the lab for some proper food to bring along as well.

Arumi shakes her head and giggles. "Thank you but I don't have anything like that. I usually eat before I come out here, or after I come back, you know? I wasn't expecting to be gone long enoughf or it to matter, so I didn't plan anything like that."

Astra sighs, "We should be ready for anything! How do you know for sure where we're going to end up? what if we're a day's walk from the city?" She actually seems a little excited by the idea, "Or.. God, what if the thing just dumps us out in the middle of the city we violate some custom or something!?" As she frets she transfers a box of Kind Bars from her own backpack to the expeditionary backpack, it;s not much but it'll help.

Arumi looks at the Kind bars. Seeing words like 'wholesome' and 'healthy' on them, and smiles. "Well, hpoefully it won't come to that. I'm pretty sure I can target the land outside the city itself, so it's not a long walk. The hyperdrive micro-wormhole is really precise. Point to point travel anywhere in the multiverse within its range, and my range covers roughly anything this side of Ceres, apart from some weird dimensional pockets within other planets. The Professor warned me about THAT, not to try to visit Hollow Mars so casually."

She then grabs her backpack and puts it on, strapping it in, sliping the plasma rifle under one arm, and holding up the controls.

"Don't pack more than you want to carry. Ready?"

"Oh I left extra room to bring back souvenirs don't worry!" Astra smirks, then peers at the plasma rifle and she slings her backpack on and steps up next to Arumi, "I thought I was ready... Where's my plasma rifle!?" she asks hopefully.

Arumi shakes her head, and bitse her lip. "I haven't been able to make any yet. I as hoping to make some AFTER, um, after the ship is built, and then hopefully we could get Arclight Research's lab established, since we were going to get an Etheric energy node in it that I could use. Fortunately I'm actually not a bad shot, all things considered."

"Anyway, let me set the coordinates for the hollow earth, about 100 yards from the known edge of the City of Agharta." Shifting dials, tapping a small screen. "Coordinates laid in. Powering Hyperdrive." At that, her backpack shudders, and a red glow emits from the ball at the tip of the antenna on her controller.

Pyschoportation is not an exact art or science; rather it's a controlled state of being which functions better when one is calm. For the most part Eden was a very calm being, often tranquil compared to the rage filled monsters she was fighting. Ambidextrous hands firing hardened rounds with applied science into frenzied beasts, the drone would surely get ripped apart. A heavy claw strike from the Glasswalker etched a hairline scar over her augmented shell of flesh. Bleeding profusely the wound was relatively minor in scope and superficial, what was not - the exchange of inertia and the impact that sent her flying off the rooftops of the tall office building. Plummeting to the ground with deadly force she made a jump. The initial goal was to land inside the office space; yet something went terribly wrong...

She jumped alright, teleporting from one location to another. Still falling through the air, the woman crashed into a giant muddy swamp. Surrounded by filthy and murky water, her head was above the swamp in no time. Where she quickly swam to shore. The world around her was prehistoric; botching her teleportation and ending up in some place foreign.

Crawling from the murk, Eden began to rapidly slough off mud and wetness. Her spiritual body wanting to return to cleanliness and order. Giant patches of mud quickly dried and flaked off, the bullet holes in her torso sealing shut rather rapidly. Slipping off her shoes and socks, to let them dry - the drone reaches into her pockets and pulls out her cigarette pack she shakes dry and her golden zippo. Lighting up, she checked her cellphone. It didn't work here and had no signal, water leaking from the electronics as she tossed the defunct junk over her shoulder. Mostly clean now with only the vague hint of being formerly wet and dirty. The presentable Eden walked barefoot, kicking over a small nest of eggs while inspecting her guns. She needed them functional in case more combat ensued. The hairline scar on her face no longer bleeding, but glowing red. It might take an hour or two before that fully healed. Blowing out smoke, she looked for any indication where she might be.

The world is moving, shifting twisting, pulsing it is a long trip, it is hard to navigate for the old grey matter. But a there it wins, plotted time to wrap speed number 9.

But the where is not the question it is the universe. They are gone from earth, but around them is a vast jungle, with long hanging vines, the tips of them glowing with something close to dew, dripping down diamonds on to the forest floor. The sound of animals, water, it is a jungle out there, the sound of a waterfall spilling down into the pools of water, this bit sounds close. That is where our heroes find themselves, staring at a girl with a hairline scar, that is recently stopped bleeding, it is nowhere near the plan drop off point.

Arumi hits the button, and the effect field does indeed swallow up Astra and Arumi, turning the world inside out, and bringing them here. She lowers her goggles into place over her eyes and starts scanning. "I think we made it, but how close are we? Maybe the book I used is out of date..."

Astra grabs onto a tree branch to steady herself as the portal closes, "I see.. trees, and vines.. and more trees. No cities." She says as she tries to peer through the underbrush "What'd I tell you? We need to be prepared!" She says as she peers at her Mentor. "Maybe I can ask directions..." She's actually looking for an animal she can try to communicate with, but finds herself face to face with Eden instead, "Hey there's a girl bleeding over here! Are you okay!?"

Eden aims her gun at Astra, it hovers briefly in the direction of her face before roaming to Arumi and aiming at her in a deadly fashion before being retracted. Eden locks back the slide and ejects the shell, cleaning the round with a cloth and pushing the fabric through the barrel to spot clean it. She does it with the twin pistol as well, before loading both weapons and holstering them. "Hello, trouble...", she calls out to Arumi, "We probably shouldn't be here.", looking back to Astra and touching her scar. "Yeah, I'll be ok. It's merely a flesh wound.", blowing smoke into the air. "Where are we?", stepping closer... shoeless.

Arumi is too busy scanning her immediate surroundings first. "We're near something, Astra." She points in one particular direction. "There's a... station sof some sort in that direction, not that far."

But then Astra finds Eden, and Eden speaks, and Arumi looks. Jaw dropping, Staring a moment. "Eden" she says, frozen momentarily in shock."

When Eden manipulates a weapon, she responds by slipping the control mechanism into her backpack, and opening up her plasma rifle, slipping the Zorg ZF-1 style device onto her hand. "We're here on purpose. But.. how... how did you get here? What is going on. Are... how did you GET here?" Her voice goes softer the more she says as she tries to process this.

Astra puts her hands in the air as the gun's pointed at her, "It's cool, not looking for trouble." She says as she takes a step back, slowly relaxing as the guns are put away. "What're the odds of running into someone who speaks English down here? What happened to you anyway?"

Eden rolls her shoulders, "I'm here on accident. Botched teleportation job. Haven't been here long. Fell down the wrong rabbit hole.", wiggling her toes in the dirt and earthly soil. "That's a nice plasma rifle Arumi, you use it a lot for building those satellites?", Eden says with a hint of teasing in her voice. Looking to Astra and raising both hands in the air to indicate peace, "You mind if I catch a ride back with you guys?", slowly stepping forward and reaching out with her right hand to Astra to shake hands. "Eden Huxley."

Arumi gestures from Eden to Astra "Just don't shoot my lab assistant..." she murmurs. Approaching slowly. "It's a prototype. Thank you. I had no idea the military had teleportation plans."

Finally looking back to Astra. "Astra, Eden and I met over Sushi, where she gave me advice on dealing with Generals, and again at Joint Base Prospect, at the canteen. The odds are basically ZERO that we should meet someone from the same city. I mean, the only rational explanation is whatever caught Eden, got sucked into the vortex of my hyperdrive, and pulled her nearby. Or whatever brought Vic, maybe. Maybe her group's experiment has lingering effects."

She takes a deep breath. "I... I Can bring you back, Eden. But you can't tell anyone what you see. Not everyone in government would, um appreciate what I do. There are um. Secret societies. With Space Marines backing them up. Not joking."

Astra says, “Astra Sindrisdottir." Astra replies, shaking the woman's hand uncertainly as she notes she and Arumi seem to know each other, "Are you gonna be okay without shoes? I kept saying we should pack for a longer trip!" She sighs as she turns her attention to Arumi, "Those are all excellent possibilities as well as examples of why we should be better prepared next time." She smirks, "And what you've never heard of Jump Rooms? Military's had teleportation for decades." She says like it should be obvious.”

"It makes sense that your hyperdrive pulled me in. A larger force will definitely effect a smaller one.", enjoying her cigarette a bit more. "If needed, I can sign a non disclosure agreement with you Arumi; assuming that it's mutual. Not everyone needs to know I was here or the potential dangers of your hyperdrive effecting other devices in development. Really, I would just like to get back home without a prehistoric monster coming back with us. The environment indicates it is suitable for life and I've seen eggs. We are not alone.", Eden responds while looking to her bare feet. "I'll be ok. I've been worse off before.", flicking some ash and resuming to smoke. "So... what are you two here for?", Eden asks slipping her hands into her pockets.

Arumi laughs. "I'm not going to ask you to sign anything. Just be mindful. Please. It's very dangerous." She nods. "Explorers have seen dinosaurs here. WE're here to see the city of Agharta. Let's start going in that direction. I Saw an energy reading that looked like transport. If I can get line of sight to the city I should be able to pop us straight there, visti the city, then pop back to my lab."

Astra leans in closer to mutter softly to her companions, "We're being watched. there's someone in camouflage in that tree over there." She nudges her head in th direction on the tree.

Arumi was pointing to the east, by the way.

There is a man young looks to be in his mid twenties, in the tree low to the branches. His outfit military in nature, his blond hair and bright blue eyes watching as his hand is holding something that looks like a rifle. It is metal, shining lightly in the sun light, as he watches he is speaking into a radio that is mounted on his right shoulder, german.

A chain reaction is set off, elements mixing causing sometimes volatile or beautiful reactions. The German military man in a tree could only bring back memories of WWII and the Nazi's with their secret Thule society - whether that was the case or this was something different; Eden downloads a few language programs from her spirit. Waving at the man with the rifle and speaking fluent German near instantly, <<Hello there, German boy. We are just harmless frauleins lost down here. Do you have anything to trade? Come down and join us, my girlfriends are very nice and sweet. We have supplies, would you like to barter?>>, yeah it was horrible flirting but better than getting in a war or ambush with unknown numbers. Eden looked to the girls, "Be friendly, maybe they'll help us out.", tossing her cigarette to the ground. <<You like smoking? I have a fresh pack?>>, waving the cigarettes at the man in the tree.

Arumi sees the Nazi. "I hate Agharta Nazis..." she mutters softly, but lets Eden speak. She starts backing off, slowly, heading in the direction of the train station she pointed to. And gestures with her head to Astra, to follow.

The german looks down at the girls, as he radios softly.<Vistors, confirmed.> The german is soft, as he leaps out of the tree, his hand is holding the rifle towards them, as he looks up and down over them for a moment."Come with me, leader wishes to meet all vistors." His voice is passion filled, youthful filled with pride for his work, as he looks around for a moment, as he beams at them."Frauleins are coming with me, to meet the others." He motions with his rifle, as he looks over at Arumi with a wicked smile.

Astra peers back at Arumi, "Is there a good kind of Nazi?" Her eyes focus on the rifles motioning for them to go with this Nazi Kid. She's not a violent person but she really wishes she had a plasma rifle about now, or even a good sized rock.

Arumi takes a deep breath. And when Astra points out that there ARE no good Nazis, well, she agrees. And so she raises her arm, and takes the shot.

Arumi takes the shot, the tangy Sci Fi twang of her plasma bolts firing out. Striking the leering Nazi and turning him into flaming ash. "Run!"

Eden follows barefoot and slips her mirrorshades onto her face. She was going to try and be sneaky and peak at the outpost where they were headed with her clairvoyance, but apparently her senses are all screwed up in this dimension. It was just one of those days. Mercury or another planet must be in retrograde. Watching Arumi start a battle. It was one of those days.

Astra goes wide eyed when their problem suddenly goes up in smoke, "That thing works way better than it did in the lab!" She sounds impressed as she notices the Nazi's radio seems to have survived unscathed, She quickly snatches it up from the jungle floor before running after Eden and Arumi.

Running quickly, as they are heading towards the station now a man in a redsuit is standing there checking his watch, as he looks down."ALL ABOARD ONE TRIP THE RAINBOW CITY!" His voice is calls out, behind him is a little small pod, that is waiting for people, as he closes his pocket wacth as he looks around."Looks like, it's just you and me old girl." As the group arrives.

Arumi looks to the others. "I think we'd better get on the train and get out of here before the Nazis come. Gives me time to activate the hyperdrive for another shot. Home if necessary."

"How is there even a train here? I guess there's been more contact between here and the surface world than the legends let on." Astra waves at the Conductor, "Wait for us!" She cries as she books it toward the train, "Hey you don't know any Mice do you?"

Eden asks politely as she can in German to the red suited man to see if he was a Nazi, <<This isn't a final solution train, is it? Like Holocaust, going to a concentration camp? Rainbow City isn't another name for Auschwitz is it?>>, eyeing Arumi and Astra. "How the fuck we end up in Nazi world? Is it even the right year, Arumi?", helping the other two on board. Eden was a bit faster and stronger in that regard.

"The ride to the city is free, it is a service we offer, to those that are not assholes." As the man speaks he snaps his fingers, as they are inside of the bullet now, as the nazi are rushing forward. Guns ready for action, but they see that train stoping, backing up as it is launches itself forward at a massive speed, before them they can see a very large city, a city to end all cities, the concept of a city was built on this.

Arumi takes a deep breath when they get out just in time. "How do I explain this." She sighs, breathing hard. She's of... average physical fitness. The lower half of average. "This is... the Hollow Earth dimension. IT has dinosaurs, ancient cities, and holdout Nazis that hid here.. after the war. I dont' remember if the Rainbow City is another name for Agharta. If it's not, then we'll call that our destination instead, Astra?" She then reaches over to swipe a coffee from Astra's backpack.

"I'm sure I've heard Agartha called the Rainbow City before, but even if this train dumps us in Alabama it's safer than with the Nazi's" She says with an affirmative nod to Arumi. She passes the Radio to Eden, "This thing's in German, can you do anything with it?"

Eden catches the radio and tinkers with it a bit, "If they chase us here, maybe we could hear them if they use it. Otherwise it might be out of range Arumi. It's pretty old and not like our sat-radios or anything like that.", taking a seat. "Well, this has been... an experience. Tucking her mirrorshades away.", that red scar on her face almost completely healed. Eden must had some type of advanced life rote.

Arumi refreshes herself with coffee, and the magical bean juice, along iwth sitting down, helps her memory. "That's right. No. the Rainbow City is connected to Agharta but different. The City of Crystal. Really hard to get to, so we got lucky." Then just gulps the rest of her coffee, and sighs heavily. "Shame about the radio. Keep it though. We might return. Wow, you're looking better Eden. You.. I thought you were hurt worse than that. I'm glad."

As you leaving the train, your in a busy city, people trading talking, walking around you all sorts of odd creatures, critters, fauna, trading, talking enjoying life. You are standing the center of it building high above, you it seems vistor are normal as no-one is giving you a second glance.

Astra nods in agreement with Arumi, "It's always handy to have a way to spy on Inner Earth Nazi's" She takes a breath, "Sorry you had to shoot a guy." She doesn't notice how Eden's doing because now she's too busy looking around at the city and it's inhabitants, and if they're not staring at her, then she's staring at all of them! and taking pictures, lots of them. Saved to her memory card, and absolutely not synced to the cloud, not that there's any reception down here anyway.

Arumi takes a good minute just gawking at the sights, and the aliens, and everything. "Wow... this is.. this is amazing," She manages to murmur to Astra "Shooting a space Nazi will probably get our Nando's covered next time we're in London. And yeah I Should take you next time, Astra." Then looking to Eden "I'm glad we ran into you, what with the armed Nazis and all. What is that gun you have by the way?"

Eden looks to her holstered pistols, "They're called Yin and Yang. To help me maintain a perfect equilibrium...", the shoeless Gammatron Cleric said. She didn't reveal she specialized in gunkata, but Eden gave a nod. "... they're my babies. Rather not show them off unless putting bullets down range at a hostile. Really, they are reserved for RD's, Arumi. Dangerous ones.", inferring she might not view Arumi as dangerous even though she just witnessed her kill a Nazi with a plasma rifle. "Well, I say we get some food to settle our nerves. Maybe a souvenir from this place. Then get back home to our beds and pretend this never happened.", winking to the two of them.

"Food sounds like an awesome ides, we just brought snacks." Astra says with a hint of annoyance. "How do we know what's good here?" She asks, "Then after lunch maybe a little shopping before we head back!?" She looks to Eden's holsters and gives them an approving nod.

Arumi might have had a complete panic attack when Eden said 'RD' BEFORE they had an adventure together. But this far in? She's much cooler about it than she would have been. She goes wide-eyed, swallows hard, and lets out a nervous giggle. And then, she shifts hands with her plasma rifle to offer her hand to Eden. "What happens off Earth, stays off Earth. And nobody ever needs to know." she agrees, with a nervous breath, invoking the old, informal agreement.

"Let's eat, and then I'll pop you... uh... where's good? Coronado work? By the base? I have pretty precise coordinates for a good beach spot there."

She then leads the way down one street, finding a pair of chunky sandals with crystalline soles, negotiating to buy them with a bottle of coffee. Exotic for exotic. She then gestures to a food cart, which is selling... somes sort of meat.

Eden offers a wave at the conductor and wraps a hugging arm around Arumi. "Different environments have different rule sets. If you can't adapt, you'll be replaced by those who can.", indicating that whatever Arumi might be worried about wasn't an issue. Stepping forward into the Rainbow city, and smelling deeply. "Let's follow our noses and see what we find.", Eden seemed comfortable in the city. The city of all Cities. After all, the Weaver made cities and that's exactly what drones protected.

"How do the two of you know each other anyway?" Astra asks as she wanders toward the food cart Arumi pointed out. It's most definitely a ramshackle affair, but the meat looks and smells tantalizing and unlike anything she's seen before. And there's a drawing of a Stegosaurus on the sign, implying that's what the meat is. Hopefully? Anyway it turns out a bottle of coffee is worth a plate large enough for all three adventurers to snack from!

Arumi will reciprocate with the hug to Eden, and then following Astra to the cart, she smiles. "We met at Ukiyo Sushi Bar, that really great place. And again on base." Then looking to Eden. "I don't know if you knew, but I had no idea. Until today. Small world. Oh hey, dynachicken. Amazing."

Eden hoists a wooden skewer with dino-kabab meat and shrugs, "Nothing is ever as it appears, is it? - Probably even now.", taking a bite of meat and chewing it. Not sure if she was ready for the local meat sauce. Slowly devouring it, but giving a nod to the others that it tasted ok. It was likely better than ok, or even quite tasty. Just drone taste buds tend to make everything rather bland. "We're both military contractors, Astra. Both of us deal in space and sub dimensions. Where the technicalities or bureaucracies of Earth, don't always translate. As long as your not a marauder or Nephandi. I probably /individually/ don't care. Humanity must be protected and that's my job, in short. Long as you're not hurting humanity. Your not on my radar. But that's my viewpoint. Not everyone else's.", pointing to them with the kabab. Eden ate like a military member, her food was gone and she grabbed more.

Astra peers at Eden, she's definitely way more military than Arumi is. Gears start turning in her brain. "Not on the radar's a good way to put it." She muses as she nibbles at a skewer of dynachicken, "This does *not* taste like chicken, it's way better!" She says as she takes another bite. "You wouldn't happen to know someone who could give us permission to launch a ship into orbit would you?" She asks with a hopeful look.

Arumi takes the meat and has some as well, nodding to Eden. "I agree completely. On Earth, it's politics. Out here, it's about the future of humanity, nothing more, nothing less. Oh this is really good." Eating happily, but carefully. Not wanting any more of a mess on her new space suit. Astra's question gets a laugh. "What happens on Earth we'd better not talk about. Space is space, Earth is earth."

Eden licks her teeth, making sure they were clean even though nothing was stuck in between them. Eyeing Astra, "Depends what your launching and for and what reason. Requesting airspace is usually not an issue. In example you can request airspace for a hypothetical missile launch. So maybe you reserve it all week, and nobody knows when exactly your launching. Sometimes a missile launch never occurs due to launch conditions, issues with body, whatever the case might be. Reserving air space is relatively easy, especially if you have the military backing you or another three letter agency. That's not your real problem...", looking back to Arumi and her apprentice. "The real issue is launch codes or radar. You launch a device that nobody knows what it is, Air Force and other authorities will shoot it down in a heartbeat. It's just how things go. Radar aka I.F.F. which stands for Identify Friend or Foe, will pop off and not know who you are or what your launching. They'll investigate and likely shoot you down. It would be a mess. So options are spoofing, pretending to be something your not. Which if you get caught has more issues landed on your heads, hacking or jamming which is the same threat to you. Or potentially, trying to salvage from a defunct machine. If your already in the system as an ally. You just need air space clearance and nobody would be the wiser.", stretching over her chair. "But this is all hypothetical of course. I wouldn't suggest launching a foreign vehicle or missile or whatever it might be. My official stance is to advise you against such practices. But space junkyards exist. You could likely track down the parts you need to disguise yourself."