The Euclidian Chatterbox

Player Log

Character Perspective: Eucalyptus

01.1 Some ado about Water Stones

aka The mystery of the Flowing Dress

So I'm like taking a bath in the Plaza Fountain, and Puddles, Ruby and Moonglow are around too. Nearby are also two strangers that stand out, both looking at the fountain with unusual expressions. One is a woman in a very striking and eccentric piecemail dress (Tulip), the other one is a woman in a smith's apron (Petal).

Ruby approaches the woman in the dress, and Moonglow and I approach the smith. Petal is upset that water stones are being used for "frivolous" means, such as art, exotic architecture and pleasure rather than exclusively for purposes that are practical and directly useful, such as keeping buildings dry, irrigating the earth and spreading them to villages with less access to water. We try to talk about alternate means of creating fountains and convince her about the general benefits of relaxation and how art helps stimulating that effort, because ultimately she wants to be helpful to the community.

Moonglow and Puddles follow Petal home to see if there’s anything more that could be done to help her. Meanwhile, Ruby has done his best to cheer up Tulip and convinced her to display her dress to the public and asked me for a little help. There are many wonders to behold at a fancy dress show, so of course I tweeted out to the wind that a fantastic, magical dress show was about to take place in the plaza and recommended that everyone took a look.

The show started out with the dress floating around, technically with Tulip being invisible while wearing it. Then there was foxfire to douse the panic. In the crowd I found Magnolia, she was pretty colourful. I danced for her, she was completely stunned and mesmerized. Meanwhile Ruby had sort of lost control of the crowd and in trying to calm the people down he told everyone he was a god, but one of the particularly astute kids there challenged the fact and eventually kicked the legs from under the argument by, well, kicking Ruby in the leg and walking away.

Moonglow and Puddles had found that a part of Petals ire was that water stones had gone missing from the already limited supply, sometimes by blanks being replaced with raws. We all went over to The Chaos pool for further investigation. The Chaos Pool is an interesting location, it got its name because people decided to discard all of the broken water stones there. Its about 8 meters wide and roundish, with a small island in the middle. Sort of like a water doughnut, but in a state of constant, chaotic whirl. Also there's like a contest going on there, but there is no prize, just praise. The coal is to successfully make it across to the middle. I notice that although the pool is chaotic, the water never spills over the outer edge, and sure enough there's a Spirit in there that enforces the rules of the game. Chaos Pool is an impressive spirit, that in addition to talking about its game, also reveals to us that they recently met a person in a very fancy looking dress that they helped by giving some water stones. It sure sounded like someone we recently met..

Petal had tipped us about stones going missing from the Warehouse and the Toy Store. We headed for the Warehouse to continue our adventure. The front doors were locked, but luckily the side door was not, so we didn't have to sneak in through the waterfall drain. The storage room was lit up with bottles filled glowing liquid. The liquid didn't smell like anything special, but the cork was nice and chewy. Ruby however drank a whole bottle, but didn't glow afterwards. He did say he felt very wondrous. Meanwhile Puddles barked because he had found Tulip in another room, sitting there with a collection of papers. Moonglow startled her so much that she fainted when he made the papers fly in front of him so that he could study them. They were filled with lots of pretty drawings and some scribbles and uninteresting text. Ruby still looked upset, even though he was trying to hide it, so I gave him a good hug to cheer him up. But sure enough, Tulip was our culprit, so we brought her back to Petal and woke her up to receive a bit of a scolding. Petals place is filled with both worked and unworked water stones, she seems to be consumed with her work.

02.1 Crafts and Recreation

aka The Creation of the Flowing Dress

Petal called us (Me, Ruby and Magnolia("Noly")) to help her out a little. She actually wants us to help Tulip by looking out for her, trying to keep her from going outside and provide her with things that she might need.

On the way over to Tulip I notice that "Noly" has really embraced the roly of Trust Steed/Paladin of Ruby. I mean, you really got to admire those that are that dedicated to what they do. Arriving at Tulip's place I notice that someone has played a prank on her door bell by surrounding the dangly bit in the bell with cloth. But of course that cloth was no match for my beak! Well inside the place is a bit of a mess, not exactly a neatly organized workspace. We try help her with one of the many dresses, that is in various states of incomplete, but she always seem to fall back to that Water Dress she wanted to make with water stones. She really has trouble focusing, and apparently rarely finishes a project. Helping her pass through her obsession might help her finally move forward. So when she asks us convince Petal to provide water stones for her project we naturally head over there.

Well, after a little detour of course. Ruby still feels like he has something to prove to the citizens of Sky River. And with his trusty paladin at his side they head towards the plaza and I stuck to them in case they needed any help. Naturally I tweet out to the wind that the Gods are at it again in the plaza. An event so spectacular that noone should miss out. Sky certainly made the thing memorable and put Ruby back in his place.

So after the detour we arrived at Petal's place. She wasn't immediately thrilled about the idea to help Tulip with her dress, but she took it from the horse's mouth that her current project wasn't something she should be doing right now. And fair enough there was some truth to that, because when I looked at her workplace I noticed that all the finished stones were the same and still the same as a couple of days ago. She seems to have been constantly working on drying cornerstones for quite a while without much pause. So much she was close to burning out and the quality of her overall work was suffering and causing more broken water stones than usual. A Master that desperately needed someone to push her in another direction and luckily we were there to provide some respite. We urged her to start with helping Tulip and then move to a different project, like field irrigation. Both would help the community as a whole in their own way. The collective happiness would pay things forward.

Over the next few days we helped Petal and Tulip. And with focus and melody the work went smoothly. Tulip finally finishing a project again and Petal with a new perspective on aesthetics, and renewed and refreshed spirits.

03.2 Dress like what you are, not what you want to be

aka A Spring by any other Name

So we are like chillaxing, around the plaza fountain, towards the end of the day, being al cosy and such when suddenly out of nowhere really cold winds pass through town. Nyan stands up and proclaims that we should all head to the Hot Springs. I, Sapphire, Puddles and Bork tag along with him.

Settling in around the hot water, all is set for a nice and quiet end of the day. Some people are talking about Tulip's fantastic new Water Dress. I notice that the focus of the local water spirit is much cooler than the warm water around it and is heading towards those people. Its full attention is on those people. It really likes hearing about that dress, but the people decide to leave when the water around them gets cold. The spirit is excited and communicates to me that it really, really wants to be a water dress. The others have also gathered around to hear what the spirit wants. Not knowing if its just a fleeting passion for shapely experimentation or not I go with the flow. Nyan wants none of that, and says it cant be done. Knowing what I have seen, I know that spirits and shapes is just a matter of power and imagination. Tulip is very great at dresses and shapes, and especially dress-shapes, so I tweet at her to come over and help one of her new admirers. Meanwhile Nyan heads over to talk to Lapis.

As Tulip arrives, she doesn't think she can help, but we get her and Hot Spring introduced. The spirit tries to shape itself into a dress, but it soon becomes clear that not only is it not powerful enough to become more than a cone-shape, but its latest obsession isn't just to be like a dress for a day, but actually transforming its nature from a water-spirit into a dress-spirit. Now that is beyond any of our powers, let alone this infant-like spirit. And as Lapis arrives, with Nyan, he puts it more aggressively by telling it that it can't be a dress and throws a rock in the water.

Its clear to me that the spirit isn't fully happy with its current occupation, even though it is very helpful and thus should be happy. We have some discussion around how to be helpful to the situation and decide to seek out Sage and Sky, and maybe Chaos pool. Since its getting late we head to sage first and after that try Sky in the morning. While we head towards the Inn to talk to Sage, Puddles and Bork retire for the night to sample on Bork's cheese reserve.

Sage used to be a Fire Spirit, so he had some great insight on how it was to be a spirit. He was cared for and attended, and the full focus was on him, so he knew exactly what he was when he spawned. He obviously didn't know how to be a water spirit though. But it became clear that Hot Spring had spawned without such focus since they were just a small lake that people enjoyed, but didn't give much thought upon.

Sky, being the Village Spirit and all, and often observed as water, could perhaps help like a parent or legal guardian for Hot Spring and perhaps help teach it, we thought. So after waking up in the morning we group up and as soon as we step out of the wagon formations, we serendipitously stumble upon Tarragon. What Luck! She explains that Sky has a very ephemeral day today, and we would need to summon them at the Shrine if we wish to commune. So after following her through her morning rounds around the Nets we head towards the shrine.

At the shrine, in front of the gates, Puddles begins a summoning ritual and tells us all to think thoughts like a city-spirit. As Sky impresses us with their full presence, it becomes clear to me that Sky isn't just a very large and very powerful spirit, but has risen beyond that and evolved to a God among spirits. Sky tells us that devoting themselves to the teaching of a spirit is no longer within their scope, and defers the problem-solving back to us. They do offer an item of power to help ritualistically bind Hot Spring to its station. Which solves part of the problem, so that we can focus on dealing with Hot Spring's inexperience, Self-worth, passion, and general happiness.

We further consult with Chaos Pool for some deeper insights on how to be a Water Spirit specifically and a spirit generally. Chaos Pool had a more chaotic spawning, with both lots of Focus and no Focus, at the same time, but still enough Focus to root a solid identity. They also had a pretty solid gig going at this pool, so we discarded any thoughts about encouraging them to travel.

We then set out to prepare for an extensive and presentative ritual involving teaching Hot Spring about themselves, coming to terms with what they are and being happy and passionate about being an actual hot spring! And then followed by an Epic Pool Party to celebrate! I tweet it out for all to hear so that they can come and enjoy the party.

Just before beginning the ritual, we also had to prepare Florian for her new role as "Shrine Maiden" for her newest BFF, and generally getting used to seeing strange things, as we all transformed into more leisurely and/or more appropriate forms for the ritual. After seeing Glimmer in her full, draconic form she still needed some face licking from Puddles to calm down (even though he was in human form). She eventually came to accept the new terms of her occupation when she realised one of the perks was that she could get free massages in the Hot Spring after closing hours.

We all took to our designated roles in the ritual and successfully turned Hot Spring's frown upside down, and they willingly and proudly took and merged with the Rod of Binding. In the ensuing Epic Pool Party we could see that the spirit was passionately proud and happy, and enjoying people enjoying them. And as it was late, this was the late crowd that knew how to party. With the power of the wind collecting steam and smoke in the right places, I made sure that the retelling of the party was appropriate for all ages.

04.1 Beyond the Spiralling Void and the Depression, there Lies Hope (Arch)

aka Are We There Yet?, aka Down the Rabbit Hole or How to Overcome Depression

It is again time for the Caravan to leave and carry on. We have said our goodbyes to Sky River and preparations have been made for the journey.
We have been summoned by Iris; Chert, Glimmer, Moonglow and I are assigned to the Forward Accessibility Scouting Team (FAST). She briefs us that the Caravan's next destination shall be the Village of Hope Arch. She has acquired 2 old maps and a travel log from previous journeys through the area that gives us an idea on what to expect and how to proceed.

We plan our first Rally and Decision Point and take to the air, while Moonglow's floating pens and paper starts drawing what we see. The first part of the journey should be just forest, but you never know with the ever-evolving geography. Sure enough, not too far along the forest road we encounter a large clearing developing to the right of the road. Its a field filled with flowers I've not seen before. It really looks like nothing of interest for the sake of the caravan, but curiosity brings us closer to the field. Chert lands in the beginning of the field and the flora immediately reacts by retracting away from him. There are some rodents in the field, but it becomes clear that shying away from larger creatures is just about all these plants do.

As we carry on we reach the end of the forest and into the expected grasslands. We see some changes in the topography whit some hills and tears warping and damaging what would otherwise have been a straight road. The maps denotes there is "Something Strange" to the south. We decide to investigate a little further to see if it is something that would pose a problem later.

We come upon a desert-like area with a humongous spiral with smaller holes encircling one large hole. At the edges we could see that a little by little sand was falling into the holes. We can't see the bottom of these holes from up above, so, against our better judgement, we take a dive into the larger hole to see how far it goes.

As we descend down into darkness Glimmer starts to glow to offset it. I start to notice that the winds are accelerating its downforce, so I direct it to better suit our needs. In hopes to save some time Moonglow gives a stone a glow and drops it. It goes beyond our vision and there is some dissent on whether we should go back to our mission or try to get to rock bottom. Moonglow forces the decision by dropping Chert. So we rush down to save him and eventually we actually catch up to the glowing rock as well. As we look around, the speed of the stuff that falls is so fast that it appears almost like a solid, smooth wall. It also becomes apparent that the amount of stuff going down is strangely enough more than what actually goes into the hole. As an experiment the glowing rock is tossed at the falling sides, but it is gone in an instant.

As we keep falling we can no longer see the topside of the hole. But in what would otherwise have been a hopeless situation, Chert gets a sense of familiarity with this void. As if this place connects with a hub of the secret cat paths. Together with Moonglow items are made to allow us to follow Chert through the darkness and travel out of the Void.

Autumn has arrived as while we were gone. We exit from behind a wagon in the middle of the forest. There we briefly surprise Ruby, Firestone, Puddles and Bubbles along with the caravanners Auburn, Heather and Juniper. We exchange some brief pleasantries and stories and as we leave Chert gets a frost ring from Ruby and Ruby gets a pair of Wings from me.

We catch up with the caravan again and explain our findings to Iris. I surmise that even though the Spiralling Void is ever expanding, so is the world around it, so it would never actually reach Sky River. I do though, give Sage a tweet out about it so that they and any future caravan from there have a heads up about it. So the caravan will stock up on extra wood from the forest and repair the Road wherever it needs be as it progresses through the grasslands. And with that we take off again.

At the crossroads of the first Decision Point we can see hills to the north and a savannah to the west. As we planned, we explore the northern route first. Past the hills we see mountains and the Road unfortunately around the hills and over the mountains, so it is very much inaccessible. To the west of the hills is a Huge patch of Farmland. On a hunch I fly over the hills to see if there is an easily possible route from the Road there and into the farmland, and sure enough there is. So we fly over the farmland to explore it further. And there is a lone house there, just as indicated on the oldest map.

The Farmlands have a river branching out in it, sort of like a delta and there's a solid irrigation system going through it. At the house we are met with the smell of newly baked pie. Chert crawls in past the pie and finds the house empty. From above I spot a sole person working in the fields, I also get a sense that this Farmland is a Spirit. I guide the others towards him and land on his shoulder. The Farmer's name is Dill, he really, and I mean really, enjoys solitude. We still manage to convince him to be helpful though, so that he can participate in any brief trade that passes through, a possible new Road would just pass through the southern edge of the field anyway, where the nearby forest provides ample supply of wood for any bridging across gaps, ditches and rivers.

At the opposite end of the farmland starts a desert, which is not ideal, but we can potentially check that out later. We head straight south to see if the previous cliff-edge Road has become any better, which would mean that there would be no need to make a new Road-path from the east of the field. That Road was however still a sudden drop, so no go. The Caravan was still far from our planned rendezvous at the crossroad, so we went westwards to see how the savannah-route would fare.

The Savannah itself looked easy enough, but the Road out of it went into marshlands, which are notoriously bad for the Road's condition. An alternate route could be made into a grassland filled with river streams instead, but it would be very time and resource intensive to make all those new bridges. The maps indicate that there is an Oasis in the desert, so we take our unideal options back to the caravan rendezvous. Together with Iris we come to the decision that the caravan will take the northern route and brave the desert. The river and the farmland and the eventual Oasis offers the better set of resources for the journey.

Scouting ahead, as usual, we find that the Oasis has become a Jungle with a freshwater lake, so better than expected. The Road of the stony wasteland also looks much better than expected, but there is an issue with a sudden depression in the terrain. It is currently only one meter deep and would take about half an hour to cross, but it would also eventually turn into a canyon. The Caravan could easily just pass this gap now, but in the long term just doing that would possibly waste the effort that the Caravan was doing just now in the area of Dill's Farm. It would be possible to bridge this area to overcome the depression with a more lasting effect. The map still gave us a possible other option though. And with that in mind we scouted further ahead and reached Hope Arch without any other problems.

After overnighting we then fly south of Hope Arch to get a bearing on how that side of the cliff turns out. Past the grasslands we see a new, beautiful forest with a frozen tree in the middle of a lake. It has appeared in between where the grasslands meets the salt flats. To the north we look at the collapse in the cliff, but the buried Road there just isn't a feasible alternative to building a bridge over the depression. I tweet ahead our findings to Iris and we eventually rendezvous with the caravan in the Jungle. The Jungle offers enough material to build a bridge over the eventual canyon and it is decided that doing so would indeed be a worthwhile investment into the future of the Road. So only a few days behind schedule, the Caravan reaches Hope Arch.

05.1 The Boy who Cried Sheep

aka A Henge in Sheep's Clothing

The sunsets at Hope Arch is truly something to behold.
So, I am like hanging out with Ruby, Puddles and Nyan enjoying it. However our enjoyment is briefly interrupted when we hear the sobbing and crying of a child from below. I spot the child by some sheep and we head over to find out what's the matter.

The boy, called Forest, is crying so much that Puddle has to lick him before he has enough composure to explain that he is crying because he has lost his favourite sheep, Mist. We get a description of the missing sheep and search through the field of grass for any signs of her1. We find two other flocks in the field, but there is no sign of this particular sheep. We decide to end the search for the night and continue tomorrow. It turns out Forest standing put and waiting. He usually sleeps among his herd though, so getting him to sleep isn't too much of a trouble.

We have some theories on what might have happened since the missing sheep suddenly disappeared without much sign of how. Our search continues and we look through the tunnels of Hope Arch just in case the sheep somehow got lost in there. We eventually come upon Clover, a very stern man, but also a shepherd. He is not very pleased at hearing about this and head outside to talk to Forest while we tag along. He tells us a story about Coriander and explains why Mist was their best sheep, as she was so gentle and easy to work with and even made the other sheep more relaxed and compliant. After giving Forest a talking to he suggest we search the forest edges to see if Mist went there or not.

Sure enough, we eventually find a small path with some tufts of wool on them that smell of sheep according to Puddles. Its a very remarkable forest, with all the colours of Autumn in it! And the signs point to that it is inhabited by a spirit. Eventually following the narrow path we do find the sheep. She is in a sorry state, stuck in shrubbery that's entangled into her wool. It turns out that Mist, as we suspected, is a Henge. Stuck out here without any connections, the solitude had drained her of her inner wonder and she was stuck in her sheep form.

I transformed into my angelic form and pulled out my trusty machete and cut her loose from the foliage, and Ruby made it rain so that she again could assume a human shape. Cutting our way back out the path I was worried that the spirit of the forest might get wry with us. My concern did indeed bring out the spirit, in the shape of a squirrel. But it, Autumn Forest, wasn't bothered with the mere cutting through of a pathway. It was however very excited and talkative.

Nyan is not very amused by Autumn Forest and sneaks ahead towards the village while the rest of us continue the conversation. The spirit tells us some interesting stories about itself and shows us the frozen tree in the middle of its lake. It even gathers up some leftover moonlight and makes the tree sparkle with splendour!

Back in town it is explained to the two shepherds that Mist is a Henge, and she tells them she left because she considered her job to be done, but was surprised that Coriander never told them that she was a henge. A bit wiser about her actions she decides that she will wait and travel with the caravan instead when it eventually departs from Hope Arch.

06.3 Archian Grafitti

aka Kids These Days

07.1 Prismatic Spray-for-all!

aka Colored Clouds

08.2 Eat, Shed.. Love??

aka Baaaah-d Romance

09.x Intermission: AF

10.1 Chasing Heaven

aka Travel Trouble

11.x

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