Auranosa Intrepid Town

[Jackie Cat]

Settlements are self-justifying. They spring up where there is something that draws people to live and work, and then, because there are people there, yet more people will come, to meet the needs of the growing town...

Intrepid Town was one of several 'adventure towns' in the state of Auranosa. It was hard to say which was the 'biggest', or the 'best', as the competition between them to grow and thrive was relentless in all seasons. Each began as little more than a glorified encampment, a flagpole, and unearned ambition, and Intrepid was no exception. Parts of the settlement were still basically just elaborate tents and gazebos, such was its informal and scrappy nature. Every part of it felt temporary – its main street lined with temporary vendor stalls and street food wagons (the smell of baked goods fairly permeated the centre of town), its outer wall a slipshod palisade of wooden stakes (that clearly migrated further out every few weeks or so).

Many of the actual buildings were irregular, individual affairs, built in and around what stonework and terraces remained of the ancient settlement Intrepid had been built on. Their awnings were brightly coloured to draw attention, many of them styled after the appearance of their proprietor. Here there were lit torches and tangerines suggestive of a fire-type shopkeep; here there were rough-hewn limestone columns framing an entrance paved with cobblestone; here there were creamy curtains patterned with the distinctive triangles of the Togetic line. In the middle of town, a sprawling tower of a building had seemingly sprouted from the ground below without any thought given to planning – this edifice, strung with balconies, raincatchers, rope ladders, planters, clotheslines, windmills, radio antennae and more besides was the Intrepid Guildhall, where dungeon-delvers lived, trained, and conspired so long as they were in the region.

At all times of day, even with the sun down, adventurers would come and go from Intrepid, generally in pursuit of some new archaeological lead, or returning home with injuries and/or treasures. Either would do nicely as a prize to show off to strangers or brag about to friends and rivals while taking leave in town. There was no stopping an Intrepid guilder who'd put their mind to something, and as those with a 'poor attitude' soon found themselves in possession of a ticket home, those that remained were generally a sort one might favourably describe as 'irrepressible'. Or perhaps, 'incorrigible'? The average guilder would take even that as a compliment!

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[Jackie Cat]

As it turned out, the hours or days of travel they had anticipated proved unnecessary. Not far from the exit to the Walled Gardens was a small campsite hosting a party of dungeon-delvers, easily located by Virga on her initial scouting flight. These other adventurers were all too keen to learn the secrets of the rift, in exchange for the use of one of their spare Escape Orbs. Before long, the Wayfarers had been plucked from the camp and placed just outside the orb's last port of call: the adventure town of Intrepid.

A short distance from the settlement's entrance, Koraidon Sada was conversing with Gladion about their previous tangent...

"But I wouldn't have done a lot of the shit Neo has. Lovrina, one of the Cipher people, she told us she'd traded the ARK Unit with the CDE for some tech. And they also got Leona from the CDE somehow. Was the Leona part not transactional? Neo just give her to them for shits and giggles?"

"Absolutely no shits or giggles were involved," she said, in complete seriousness. "Come. Let us discuss this matter on the move.

"Gladion, I am inferring that you think the exchange with Cipher to be an unscrupulous bargain. Is that more or less the case? It didn't seem that way to me at the time. My understanding was that we were helping to apprehend a dangerous criminal, conducting an otherwise-impossible test of paramount importance, and building a relationship with another human-majority organisation comparable to our own. My own principle interest was, of course, in the scientific discovery."

The dragon frowned, her stride slower than usual. This conversation was something she was not at all used to, and some of the ideas she was considering were entirely novel to her. The process appeared uncomfortable, from how her crest drooped. Perhaps asking what was on her mind would encourage her to share her more personal thoughts...?

"As for the ARK Unit—we did receive a package of computer electronics from Cipher at the time that we entrusted the Unit to them. But it was not a 'trade', so far as I was aware. What Director Parallax told me at the time was that the Unit's Radiance was proving impossible to metabolise, and worse: a serious threat to their continued health. His own efforts to keep the energy in check were not sustainable or reliable. Cipher Admin Lovrina supposedly had a personal expertise in the manipulation of Shadow-type energy, which Director Parallax theorised could be used to provide an effective treatment for the Unit. This was in aid of preserving their life. The arrangement was that the Unit would be returned to us once these treatments were effective and safely replicable. Even so, letting them out of his own care clearly troubled the Director deeply. I confess I never knew what to say to him to comfort him. I simply redoubled my dedication to my own work."

There was definitely more going on behind the professor's eyes, but it seemed she wouldn't volunteer much in the way of subjective impressions without prompting or encouragement. This was a 'report', and she was not among friends (had she ever been?).

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade was grateful that the journey back to civilization hadn't been too long, all things considered. She hadn't been looking forward to trudging for miles through the desert while still feeling drained from the last mission, but here they were on the outskirts of town before sundown. Good thing, too; she was getting hungry, even with the dungeon fruits that'd tided them over.

Her usual winter cloak was slung over her shoulder; she hadn't needed it, what with how far south they'd been teleported. It was nice being able to enjoy the cool, dry air outside of the preserved jungle within the dungeon's time capsule. Even some of the desert greenery had started to bloom (almost as if spring had come early...)

Jade listened to Sada's explanation, trying to get a read on how the professor felt about any of it, but it was tricky. Part of her suspected that the professor didn't much know herself, if the whole concept of 'feeling things' was still pretty new to her. The account of the dealings with Cipher checked out, though. Hadn't Lovrina straight-up admitted that Cipher had scammed the Covenant, way back when they'd confronted her in Terminal Two? No way she'd ever intended to give Sage back at all.

Director Parallax... that Umbreon they'd crossed paths with in the CDE basement. Another one of Neo's personas.

"I'm... guessing Director Parallax wasn't too pleased with how they double-crossed him, then," Jade ventured.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“Yeah, that’s what I was saying…”

Gladion turned the new information over in his head. He did believe that the version of him wanted them to cure Sage. Even the evil version of him Nova had mentioned didn’t have a history of callous and intentional disregard for the well-being of Nulls.

But he’d also allowed for the situation that made that necessary in the first place. He’d made a living thing for the Coven to use as a tool, as a source of radiance. And then he’d Faba’d it. And then he’d given away Sage with no way to ensure their return. Gladion didn’t feel great about any of that.

Sada seemed to earnestly believe they’d been taking a “dangerous criminal” out by summoning Leona. But she also… well… Soft social skills didn’t seem to be her forte. The question was if Neo had believed it. (Or Parallax? Gladion got the impression Neo was the one who’d directed the Null thing. Was Neo a radio codename?)

“I am also a criminal. And with my partner, I’d be considered dangerous. Maybe you believed that, but… I’d expect a version of me to know better than that. To take into consideration how fucking bad it would be for someone like us to be handed right over to the people who hurt us and victimized all over again. A risk he ignored. And which came to pass.”

A woman named Leona had been the one summoned when he’d been aiming for a man named Seth. That should have been enough to stop him handing her over right there.

“I can’t know for certain exactly which things he did or didn’t know about what was going on. But what I do know is that he made a lot of choices that led to Sage and Leona being hurt. And he consistently made the wrong ones every damn step of the way. Whatever the balance between incompetence and malice was, he should’ve done better. So now, I gotta find him. Then it’ll be my turn to make some choices.”

He didn’t know what those choices would be yet, or even what the options were, but it was clear from his tone that that Gladion didn’t want to do anything particularly forgiving. Whether he would also make his choices incorrectly would remain to be seen.

 

[Ambyssin]

For his part, Nova mostly followed in silence. Craning his head up and basking in the sunlight thanks to his Fire Memory. Like some sort of weird photosynthesizing birddogfish.

"I think you guys are, like, focusing too much on steps two through five and missing the first step." His cheek bolts turned once. "Why was Sage built? And how? Did your 'employers' find some poor, innocent soul and cram them into a body like this? Or was 'science' used to play god and make the sort of life meant to rival Saints?"