Raiders of the Lost Arts Log Exploration Log for Jan-15 to Feb-22

[yuezun]

Who: The Raiders of the Lost Arts + friends they might bring to the ship
Status: Closed
Where: Exploration on the High Seas! + An island stop
What: With the Leviathans leaving Avaleci on the 15(ish), the Phantom Moon also undertakes it's first long voyage of exploration and discovery.
When: Jan 15 through Feb 22
Warnings: Include any content warnings


First Week: Ship Life
The first week of travel didn't see them stop at any islands. Everything they passed was already labeled on the map with a name, a small description, and sometimes a settlement. It seemed the path they were taking was one taken often enough by the leviathans that it saw quite a bit of traffic. While these islands might be worth stopping at another time, the crew had expressed an interest in islands less traveled and known. So that meant it was mostly just ship life being ship life.

Second Week: Land ho!
The second week was also mostly ship life, but about halfway through they had left the common shipping lanes the Leviathans dictated and entered an area where fewer and fewer islands on the maps were given names. Mostly just descriptions and more than a few marked as 'last expedition not heard from again' with a date. Those were examined through spy glasses at a distance for the various things the crew had expressed wanting to explore or encounter on their first expedition. Space to continue live testing outside of the ship without causing harm to the scenery was also taken into consideration.

And near the very end of the second week an island was finally selected. This one had a name: Leasknom Reef. But otherwise there was no settlement noted and the only exploration notes that could be found was 'fucking seals'.

Third - Fourth Week: Leasknom Reef
Well... 'fucking seals' was accurate. It seems Leasknom Reef was a seal mating ground and was (probably) largely left alone because of that. There was, however an expanse of the island's shore that was mostly left alone by the seals. It lay outside the protected bay that the seals definitely called their own and was deep enough for larger predators (sharks) to get too close to the shore for the seals' comfort. Which made it a perfect mooring ground for the Phantom Moon.

Otherwise the island boasted a wide variety of plant life, much of which was as unfamiliar to the hired sailors as it was to the riftfares. There was space for testing experiments. And the island was close enough to a few others that the longboats could be rowed (or pushed with magic) to them for smaller groups to explore and make notes.

Fifth Week: Return Sail to Nogard
While the Phantom Moon could realistically stay out from it's main port for much longer, the first sail was not intended to be a very long one. They had only packed enough supplies for a couple months of travel and communication with the port authority on Nogard said the Leviathan would be passing close enough to their waters (assuming travel trajectory didn't change) for them to meet up near the end of the week and follow the leviathan to it's next place of rest. Which would make resupplying and deciding on their next destination (or return to Leasknom Reef if they chose) much easier.


OOC
Treat this as you would your own logs. Top level for your characters with prompts and tag around. We have 10 people on the crew and friends are welcome to be brought along for a few days or a week or two via teleports with the ring of returning tuned to the ship.

Comments

Emet-Selch (will match format)

[emet_sulk]

1. Ship lyfe

While some may find a prolonged voyage boring, Emet-Selch simply relishes the chance to have some peace and quiet for a change. Relatively speaking, anyway. He doesn't really socialise with the rest of the crew, even as their numbers slowly grow and new faces occupy the remaining rooms. Those more easily intimidated by his taciturn nature will may never even get his name and Emet-Selch certainly doesn't bother to go out of his way to greet them.

He is most commonly found sleeping in surprising corners of the ship, high up enough that one has to make the effort to actually reach his resting place, or hidden enough that you would only find him by accident or if you knew of that little hiding spot already. He doesn't join the majority in the dining room for meals but that doesn't mean you can't find him there - a body still needs feeding after all.

However, when he's not lazing about, he spends his time in the technology lab at his own bench, trying to build something. What is he building? Perhaps he'll tell you if you ask. Or maybe you can see him testing it out at the back of the ship, throwing something on a long, long lead into the water and letting it sit for a while before he pulls it back up.

2. Leasknom Reef

Emet-Selch can be spotted observing a group of seals lying on the beach. He seems to be sizing them up, finger tapping on his chin.

"--surely better than geese," he can be heard muttering.

Sounds like someone's sick of the goose meat that everyone brought in from the hunt last month.

3. Avaleci (much later in the trip probably; he'll teleport there if the ship is docked for a period of time so he knows where to return)

A volcanic region! Emet-Selch can hardly believe his eyes when he sees it. It makes him wonder just how it managed to form and where the lava originates. The super-hot temperatures have to be generated somehow and if it isn't coming from the enormous pressure underground, then--

The Ascian shakes his head roughly. No. First things first: he needs to see if there's some kind of fire crystal equivalent suitable for warming a room.

Thus Emet-Selch can be found standing over some of those very crystals, frowning as he holds his hand over them to measure the intensity of their heat. "Now, how to take you back with me without burning a hole in the ship..."

4. Wildcard

For anything else etc.

3

[torinoko]

[Well, the answer may appear in the form of the temperature growing much, MUCH colder around this one chick. Also, she's peering around his shoulder out of nowhere.]

Ice usually helps, but Rem had some fetching oven mitts.

[emet_sulk]

[ Feeling cold at his back and overwhelming heat at his front is a disconcerting sensation. He half-turns to give her a glance-over. ]

These are likely to burn right through such mitts unless they are the type worn by a blacksmith.

[ Curious about this individual, he tries to peer at them at an immaterial level and see if there is anything unusual about their soul or physical presence. What is the origin of that cold...? Magical radiation? ]

[torinoko]

Worked fine for me. I didn't ask where she got them. And cat paws might look rather adorable on you.

[As far as her magic goes, it's unorthodox. She's essentially creating an aether-based chill system around a tight core of ice-aligned mana, and charged it into her earrings. it drops quickly to her feet and spreads out but draws up the ambient aether slowly to cool it. It's incredibly efficient and probably breaking several laws of thermodynamics because Misaki has never given a single solitary fuck about rules a day in her life.

Also she appears to be containing far more mana than any human should ever be able to hold. It's mixed in with something--two demon contracts that are present and with her, one that's on such a deep level that whoever she has it with probably has some of her mana, and one so vast that it irreparably changed the very nature of her being.

Less seriously everything about her is catlike. It exudes essence of cat.]

[emet_sulk]

[ Cat paws. Emet-Selch wrinkles his nose. It's been a long time since he has felt like someone is trying to tease him. ]

...Well, I cannot conjure oven mitts right now. Or ever. [ He scowls at the reminder. Without the ability to create, he's just another mage. ] And there is precious little ice aether to be found here. I'll need to return to the other side of the mountain, I suppose...

[ Ugh. EFFORT. But seeing the way she channels ice magic around her has given him an idea of how to carry the crystals away. ]

[torinoko]

Lucky you, I have them with me.

[TA-DAAAA. Look, kitten mitts!]

Do you need a source of ice to produce it?

[That's a more genuine question, this time, at least.]

[emet_sulk]

[ Those mitts are getting a very pained and also strangely resigned look. ]

...I do. I need some ice to be present and you seem to have a surfeit of it.

[ Obviously, though, he's not uncouth enough to simply take it from her. ]

[torinoko]

I appreciate your candor, at least.

[She laughs, and holds a hand out, mana concentrating until a very, very large chunk of ice appears, just absolutely packed with mana.]

...It is a little hard to keep this from melting in here, so please take it quickly.

[emet_sulk]

[ He holds out a hand towards the ice and very quickly - perhaps so quickly one might think the volcanic heat did indeed spontaneously melt the ice - extracts it into its pure form as aether. For a moment, it dances about him like pale streaks of mist. Then: a snap of his fingers.

The ice aether streaks towards the cat paw mitts she had offered him, imbuing them with an icy cold surface. He takes them now and slips them on with a nod of thanks.

Thus armed, he crouches and starts to break off a few fire crystal shards. Only a few for now; he'll come back when he's better prepared once he understands how they work here. ]

2

[afflatusexarch]

Best mind what you say, lest you bring something worse upon us.

[ Completely understandable that someone would be tired of eating goose. Thankfully, G'raha isn't so... Picky. For better or worse he is perfectly content with eating whatever is available.

But the issue with this particular location is... Well it is rather loud, isn't it? Mating season and all. ]

Though I do wonder why THIS location.

[emet_sulk]

What do you mean, why this location? Is the corsair's creed not to explore uncharted lands?

[ He watches as a particularly lusty male seal tries to make his appeal to some of the females. It's not going very well. ]

[afflatusexarch]

Ah... I don't mean us. Rather, I was referring to the seals.

[ As in why this place? What draws the creatures here? ]

[emet_sulk]

Oh.

[ He takes a sweeping look at their surroundings. He's not an expert at animal behaviour so he can only guess based on his memory of old, old studies. ]

Mayhap the climate makes it ideal for their breeding season.

[afflatusexarch]

Hmmm. Mayhap that's why we hadn't seen anything of note anywhere nearby.

[ Wow. This is almost a pleasant, normal conversation ]

[emet_sulk]

[ Truly a momentous day. It should be marked on the calendar. ]

There are oft predators lurking nearby hoping to prey on the young when they're born. You should tell the others to take care if they intend to go for a swim.

[afflatusexarch]

I would have thought the temperature of these waters leaning towards "too chilly" for that particular activity. Though I wouldn't be surprised if there were individuals that wished to try regardless.

[ His tail is moving back and forth. He's actually quite excited to be somewhere new. To get out and explore.

Oh G'raha is quite the adventurer at heart. And this place is only enabling it. ]

[emet_sulk]

[ He turns to G'raha with eyebrows raised. ]

After all that time spent in Sharlayan, you've never even tried to swim in its waters? I thought you scholarly types would embrace the thought of exercising both body and mind. The two oft go hand in hand after all.

[afflatusexarch]

The Students spent just as much time in Sharlayan as they did the Isle of Val. Even so, you know it is not where I was born.

[ You know. Considering the whole "G" and Allagan Eye ]

[emet_sulk]

[ He shrugs, turning back to the seals. ]

And how long did you live in those warmer climes? One doesn't become an Archon overnight and you are far from your previous age of over a century.

[afflatusexarch]

Physically speaking, yes.

[ Not so much mentally. It's... Complicated. That's all. ]

I certainly did not have the luxury of taking a dip on the First. Usually I was quite busy earning that Archon title. That's not to say I wasn't... A handful.

[emet_sulk]

Ah-ah! [ He wags a finger. ] Save your life story for the Warrior of Light. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to listen to it.

[ He wanders over to the shoreline. Stares out over the sea. If not for the seals and the silhouette of their vessel not so far away, he might have been able to pretend he was home.

He heaves a quiet sigh. ]

[afflatusexarch]

Then do not ask questions.

[ Easy enough! He won't answer thigs if you don't ask them, old man. G'raha huffs. Tail swishes a bit in irritation. ]

[emet_sulk]

'Twas a rhetorical question as I'm sure you knew.

[ He half-turns back, levelling an impassive gaze at the other man ]

Unless you think there is some merit to us growing familiar with one another?

[ It could have sounded sarcastic...but it doesn't. The Ascian waits with an inscrutable expression to see how G'raha responds. ]

[afflatusexarch]

I'll have you know that no, I didn't realize it was rhetorical in the least.

[ His tail doesn't stop moving. In fact, the fur has bristled a little. Red gaze meets gold as the other question soon follows. ]

Is it really a surprise that I might not desire to be constantly antagonistic towards one another?

[emet_sulk]

I was your enemy before and I could be again. 'Tis better to not take the chance, isn't it?

[ He holds their gaze a few moments longer then turns away again. When he thinks about it - really thinks about it - he doesn't hate the Exarch all that much. It's just...easier to maintain a status quo. A distance. Because then it doesn't feel like more of a betrayal of his people than failing them already does.

He rubs at his eyes, suddenly feeling very tired. Living is difficult and he's done enough of it for one lifetime. ]

I'm not Azem. I don't take joy in wandering.