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Sojaveña Wilds Twilight Quarry

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"I do not eat... but I can cook."

"Void Shadows... yes. That is what this one is," Mhynt said. "They're also called wraiths, but I don't know the term here, if they have one at all. They're lost souls who had become hollow echoes of their past selves, corrupted by a dark force. In this case, Alexander." Mhynt's eyes darkened. "I wouldn't be surprised if we could become these things if we Shadow ourselves too much. Etch this into your mind: this could be our future if we're reckless."

To Nova, the Void Shadow paused his cooking again. He seemed annoyed. "I am... a special job. The others are guards... or are only awaiting orders. But cooking is important. Soup is power. He travels to towns to gather ingredients."

"From shops," Mhynt deduced. "These cans look familiar. How does he get there?"

"He took me... through a land of purple dust and red skies..."
 
"...So this world truly does have a Voidlands," Mhynt agreed. "And... somehow, Alexander is using it for Dungeon travel, or something like that. It looks like your theory was correct..."
 
Dave raised an eyebrow. "Uh, 'Voidlands'?" From context, sounded like some kind of... alternate dimension? Like he could take a shortcut through it?

"And... does that mean he personally travels to Blaguarro or Frontier Town to... buy more soup? Do we know if he's gone there recently?" He turned back to the Void Shadow. "Also, does a Charmeleon named Owen ring any bells?"
 
No... this was wrong. Someone was killed and made to do Alexander's bidding? To make soup for him? This was so bizarre... what about soup was 'power' here? Did it have magical properties they didn't know about?

Grace liked soup, but she couldn't get behind this.

"What's a Voidlands...?" Grace asked, concern in her voice. She didn't dare touch anything, and the Treecko plush bothered her for some reason. "And... is there really power in soup?"
 
"Charmeleon... yes. He has soup here often with Alexander. He goes... every tenth day. He will go in two days."

Mhynt paused in her befuddled staring to look at the others with wide eyes. Did this suddenly become a useful conversation? Alexander leaves on a routine, and his next time leaving would be in two days...

"Soup is power," the wraith said to Grace. "Never underestimate soup."

"And back to useless conversation," Mhynt murmured.
 
"What power do I get from this, then?" Nova waved the empty soup bowl around. He was partly looking at Mhynt, wondering if she had any further explanation about the nature of this mysterious Voidlands thing.
 
"Satisfaction."

"Voidlands," Mhynt said, "if it's anything like how it is back home, operates somewhat like an... underworld. Not a place you want to go to, for one." She shook her head. "Beyond that, though, I can't be sure what Alexander does within them. Or how corrosive its environment is to the spirit."
 
Nova tapped a claw on the ground in thought. "Corrosive to the spirit? Like... shadows?" He leaned closer to the others and whispered, "Do you think it could be related to Powehi at all?"
 
"That's a good guess," Mhynt agreed. "Powehi... From what little we know of him, he doesn't seem to care about the nature of who works for him as long as they get the job done. Alexander must be doing something for him beyond... whatever this is." She gestured at the kitchen. "Still... Is this enough information? Or should we risk diving deeper, or asking more questions here?"
 
"I think we ought to press a bit further," Nova said. They had a future date, but it still behooved them to try to find out the secrets lying at the heart of this place.
 
Dave glanced at the Void Shadow. "Do we just leave him here?" Technically he seemed happy enough as a soup chef for the moment, but he'd indicated he'd previously been alive, hadn't he? Was there any saving him, at this point?

"At any rate, we seem to have gotten our answer to how he travels. We can see if we find anything interesting else further in, but if we run into serious trouble, let's get the hell out of here."
 
Mhynt nodded. "Okay," she said. Eyeing the chef, she said, "If we take him, Alexander will know we were here... we can bank on the idea that this chef is only here for cooking and won't tell Alexander anything. A chance, at least... I doubt he's paying attention to what we're saying. Chef?"

"Would you like some soup?"

Mhynt nodded at Nova. "I could go either way, but for now, let's at least investigate further. Having him with us while we do that is... unwise."
 
"Agreed." He leaned to Mhynt and added in a whisper, "Take some for the road. We might be able to use it as a distraction if need be."
 
"...Right." Mhynt, perturbed, took a few cans while the Void Shadow was not paying any attention. She slipped a few cans into her bag and then made herself discrete behind Nova.

With little else to be found here, they stepped back and retraced their steps, making their way deeper into the Twilight Quarry. It was starting to look familiar again... but Alexander might be around this time. If he was supposed to leave in two days, the likelihood he was here now was higher.

In a few minutes, they would be back in the pit again. The Quarry proper. And... the shadows were getting stronger again. In fact, it was somehow more pronounced than before.

The party has gained 5 Shadow.
Click to expand...
 
The air was getting oppressive to breathe. Dave hadn't been to the Quarry before, but he'd heard of the battle that'd taken place last time the Wayfarers were here. Fucked-up zombie Pokémon, Owen nearly beaten before being taken away.

This was just an investigation.

Dave glanced at Mhynt. "Didn't you say earlier that you were sure Alexander had just left the dungeon? How does that square up?"
 
Grace was an Adventurer. A Helper. She'd even been here before, and yet despite all her experience, she was still... anxious? Even as she sucked in breaths while following the team, she could feel her heartbeat pumping in her little togetic body, and no matter how many times she tried to swish her tongue around, her mouth felt dry.

It was just a scouting mission... what could possibly go wrong here?

"After this, I'm going to try and double down on training with Shadows..." murmured Grace. "I want to make sure I'm not at risk of being corrupted just by being here."
 
"...You're right," Mhynt said, though the Shadows and the adrenaline seemed to cloud her mind. "Then what did we sense? Is he truly not here? Perhaps he leaves for other things, too... That's reasonable. Though, we don't know what for..."

They stopped once they'd finally reached the top of the pit.

"Going further will only repeat what happened last time," Mhynt said, surveying the hazy place. Did it seem darker, somehow?

"But what could we do instead?"
 
"I guess we have to go with the other senses?" Nova's pink eyes glowed ever so slightly as he drew on his ESP. "Hearing and smells, too." He slightly wiggled his triangular ears before dipping his head close to the ground.
 
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