Novelux Whisperwind Comb Mystery Dungeon

[Jackie Cat]

As Koa and Laura walked forward, more details presented themselves. Fragments of other worlds, buried in the deepest part of Whisperwind Comb, joined seamlessly with generations of Taleska lounghouses and cabins. This place was made of the memories of its collective visitors...

Near the far end, where the light – a flickering oil lamp – had sparked to life, they could see a structure made of darker timber, broad Obstinea pines like they had way out west. Were it not for some colourful chalk patterns on its surface, it would look a little like a certain cabin just past the outskirts of Frontier Town. On the porch frame, just visible as they neared a good angle to see, was a symbol painted in white – the abstract pokéball motif of a Pokémon Centre...

...not this again...​

​

...here to help...​

More whispers. They sounded... a little like what Nova had just yelled?

"Brisa...?" called Laura, padding closer. "...Brisa Escarpa?"

...Escarpa...​

With Koa, she approached the door – carved with claw-marks in Escarpa script, rendered illegible by Betel's weakened influence – and knocked on it with one paw. And on impulse, she opened it.

...any harm...​

She had a split second to register a mass of fur and teeth before it launched into her, bowling her over. She landed flat on her back, pressed into the boardwalk. Feline eyes regarded her from above a feral snarl.

Brisa Escarpa narrowed her eyes.

"...Y'ain't a phantasm," she muttered.

She looked sidelong at Koa, sparks rippling across her mane. Her eyes flicked to his jacket.

"Not clanners, not locals, no way you're from the lanterns, neither."

Over to the rest of the party, across the cavern.

"Just who the fuck are y'all?" she asked, pushing off from Laura.

...here to help...​

Brisa sat back on her haunches, tail flicking with restrained tension. She stood down. No fight today.

 

[Tetra]

A pokeball symbol? One of the other Wayfarers or... Starr was human, wasn't she? He pressed onward, following Laura, hoping that Brisa was here so they could leave this dungeon behind for good...

A shadow of blue and dark fur lunged from the cabin and tackled Laura. Koa shifted reflexively into a fighting stance, hackles raised and paws clenched. Then he made out the attackers face. Brisa! Deja-vuStill tense, he stared at her as she regarded them, then stood down.

"Just who the fuck are y'all?"

He paused, not sure how to answer. 'Friends' or 'allies' didn't really feel right. And Brisa didn't know any of them, except Jade. "We call ourselves the Wayfarers," he said awkwardly. That didn't tell her much, not when she had been hiding down here for awhile.

It wouldn't have been hard to figure out they weren't from Forlas, so being honest seemed the best route. "We're offworlders and friends of the Escarpa, and we've been looking for you. We don't mean any harm." He made a point to sit down and relax.

"You met one of our group already, Jade. And my name is Koamaru."

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova had almost tripped over a small piece of stone that he hadn't seen. He looked down at it and kicked it away, where it rolled vaguely in Laura's direction. The stone appeared to be the crumbling remains of a zamazenta head.

Oh, Koa had apparently found the person they were looking for. Probably. She certainly didn't trust them. And Nova didn't blame her. What was it that he'd heard from Wyatt, Sparkwright, and Douglas, again?

"You're... the Blue Mesa, right?" Nova tilted his head. "The lady who had some shady greninja stalking her around Novelux? We just came in from the Soja last week. Heard about what happened. Several of us chose to come here and try to help you out." He pointed his feathers to the others.

 

[Jackie Cat]

"We call ourselves the Wayfarers. We're offworlders and friends of the Escarpa, and we've been looking for you. We don't mean any harm.

"You met one of our group already, Jade. And my name is Koamaru."

With each piece of information – offworlders, Escarpa, Jade – Brisa seemed to ease up, her hackles falling and face relaxing.

"Koa," she murmured, almost as if it reminded her of something.

She nodded, and said, "th'name's Brisa. I'm of the Escarpa Clan by way of my ma, though I'm sure I sound none like a clanner."

A tiny, weary smile flickered at her mouth in the lamp-light. Her fur was matted and her nictitating membranes kept showing – she looked exhausted.

"You're... the Blue Mesa, right? The lady who had some shady greninja stalking her around Novelux? We just came in from the Soja last week. Heard about what happened. Several of us chose to come here and try to help you out."

"Y'have it almost right. They called me 'Mesa Blue'," she corrected, cocking her head. "Pardon my sayin' so, but you resemble precisely no kinda 'mon as I've ever laid eyes on, fella. Reckon that makes you as likely t'be from past the stars as anywhere..."

Laura cleared her throat, and found her breath.

"Nova's a Silvally. There's only one Forlasan Silvally – that we know of – and our team has two, so..."

"So they'll catch attention whether they fancy it or otherwise," completed Brisa, catching on.

The Meowth nodded. "I'm Laura. I'm human—"

"I figured – most of you are. Meanin', if you ain't lanterns already, they'll be after you fer sure."

Lanterns. That had to be her name for Covenant members. Laura remembered now, the 'mon at Teardrop Station had lantern-motif badges, didn't they? And their whole ideology was something about carrying light...

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova nodded respectfully at Brisa, only for his head to snap over in Laura's direction.

"Silv... ally?"

He blinked several times, like Laura had just spoken gibberish. Nova quickly tried to compose himself.

"What about you?" He tried to crouch down a bit, mindful of not squishing Mhynt on accident. Maybe if he made himself smaller it'd help calm Brisa's nerves more. "Are you okay? This dungeon's... definitely proven a handful. And we haven't been in it for that long."

 

[Tetra]

"Koa," she murmured

Koamaru he mentally corrected, before letting the thought go. Oddly, he didn't feel inclined to correct her.

Carrying the light... He hadn't been with the group that spoke to the Covenant but the phrase was familiar...

A swarm of questions buzzed through Koa now that he was sitting before Brisa. Why are they after you? Do you know where Starr is? Do you know who summoned us or where Jesse went? Do you know why we're here? Then again she didn't look like she was in a great mood for a deluge of questions and strangers. And if she'd had to endure whatever secrets the dungeon had done...

"Um... We have a lot of questions but... do you need anything? I still have some berries and medicine and food if you want."

 

[Namohysip]

"We've come here in part to see if you were okay. And from your countenance, you aren't," Mhynt said flatly. "Do you need help getting out of here? We're presuming that Escape Orbs work. But more importantly, we'd rather you come with us than remain isolated as our conflicts reach a greater stage."

In all honesty, Mhynt wasn't totally sure what the purpose of this entire trip was once they'd found her. But she wasn't keen on having anyone go through this place again. She could deal with the psychological torment of herself. But she wasn't keen on revealing... that part of her past. Mhynt was lucky Nova hadn't seen it directly. But...

Mhynt was still ignoring parts of the Comb that resembled those obsidian buildings.

"For what it's worth, I'm not human, and I've never known a human directly. I've never seen what one looks like physically. Not personally, at least. They've been described to me. And all of us are from different worlds, some far more different than others."

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Are you okay? This dungeon's... definitely proven a handful. And we haven't been in it for that long."

"Um... We have a lot of questions but... do you need anything? I still have some berries and medicine and food if you want."

Brisa scoffed lightly, but her eyes betrayed a kind of hunger.

"I've run the Comb afore now," she said, with a weary grin. "I know its tricks. To tell the truth, I ain't only hidin' out down here – I've been waitin' on the whispers to give me somethin' useful to use 'gainst the lanterns."

She eyed Koa's bags.

"Havin' said that, I could use some victuals other'n cave critters..."

The Luxio didn't look malnourished, exactly, but she did have the keen look of someone downright sick of their daily bread, so to speak. She looked physically healthy enough, too, just... half-feral and sleep-deprived. She was muscular under her disheveled looks, larger than the adolescent Luxio back at the clan camp. It could be that she was close to evolution.

"We've come here in part to see if you were okay. And from your countenance, you aren't. Do you need help getting out of here? We're presuming that Escape Orbs work. But more importantly, we'd rather you come with us than remain isolated as our conflicts reach a greater stage.

"For what it's worth, I'm not human, and I've never known a human directly. I've never seen what one looks like physically. Not personally, at least. They've been described to me. And all of us are from different worlds, some far more different than others."

Brisa raised a brow at Mhynt's reference to 'our conflicts', then chuckled mildly.

"My partner's human," she said, looking briefly pained. "My pa, too. Y'get used to the tells, the difference in the aura. 'S'like scentin' petrichor off the dust, or pickin' out one footfall from another."

She shook her head, and sighed.

"Your bein' here tells me I've lingered here long enough, I s'pose. No idea what happens if'n ya crack an escape orb down here, but in either case, I'm expectin' a brawl once I hit the surface again. Y'all look like y'can fight..." Brisa's eyes scanned the party as she mentally played out a dozen battles. "Y'mentioned Jade – what're half a dozen or more summoned offworlders doin' on Forlas in one party, anyhow? You make it sound as if the world's fallin' apart up there."

 

[Namohysip]

"Give it time," Mhynt replied idly.

 

[Ambyssin]

Nova wasn't sure if that was a quip or Mhynt being realistic, but he snrked nonetheless.

"The, uh, short version is some offworlder creeps brute forced their way into Forlas using a dungeon far up north." He glanced at the cave ceiling. "They've been exchanging notes with these... Lanterns you mention. And setting up a whole operation dedicated to kidnapping folks and turning them into bloodthirsty shadow pokémon."

He traced a gold claw in the dirt. "And that's on top of whatever the Lanterns are up to." He looked down. "Which includes building someone who looks like me. And selling them to the kidnappers for scrap parts when they wouldn't make radiance for the Lanterns."

 

[Weazel]

Oh, well, as it turned out, there was no scouting required. Their target was literally right here. That… Certainly made things much easier, though the spelunker in Archie couldn’t say he wasn’t disappointed. And they’d put together such a huge expeditionary force for this little adventure, too. Half of their number still weren’t even here. And Mhynt was already talking about taking an escape orb back to the surface with the Luxio – they were still waiting for people!

“This isn’t our full number,” Archie said quickly, “Either total or in the dungeon right now.”

He quickly counted off in his head, “There’s maybe a dozen and a half, or two, of us total. There used to be more, something like double that. Twelve of us came here. We’re just… The first six to make it through all that.”

He gestured vaguely behind him, figuring the Luxio would get what he meant.

“So, if you’re expecting an ambush, we’ve got the numbers for a serious fight,” he added.

 

[Tetra]

Koa dug through his bag as Brisa spoke, pulling out his own stock of food and handing some to her. The best of what he'd brought, since she looked like a trainer who'd spent too long on the road without a good tasting meal.

"Your partner... Is that Starr?" He frowned in thought. Trying to explain everything about Betel might take too long. "Actually we were hoping one of you might know more about why we were summoned. Someone brought us here but... They don't know why. Just some kind of call for help, and we've been trying to figure out why."

Koa nodded toward Nova. "That other group of offworlders we helped stop aren't the main problem apparently."

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Thanks, kid."

Brisa nodded as she eagerly took Koa's offered food – yes, Starr was her partner. She demolished the rations in seconds, wiped the back of her paw over her mouth, and went back to talking.

"Sure are more'n enough offworlders around since she fell to earth," she muttered, drily. "Bein' part-human is gettin' less an' less peculiar by the day. Sounds like it's gotta be related, but I'm still piecin' t'gether why as that may be..."

Laura scratched behind her ear, thinking.

"Well, we kinda guessed you went east in the first place because Starr was summoned for something?"

Brisa shrugged. "Sure, but we didn't exactly get a legal document from on high 'bout it. Just... cryptic fuckin' dreams. We went east 'cause we were lookin' fer my pa."

"Jesse," filled in Laura. "You were following his tracks. Did you find him?"

Brisa nodded, her expression more bitter than sweet. "Yeah, sure did. He'd gotten mixed up with the Lanterns, made hisself a nemesis of that Greninja ya mentioned – Matthias. That motherfucker was stronger'n anyone I'd ever fought afore then – 'sides maybe the Cyclone."

She smirked subtly, relishing the memory of going toe to toe with a Saint.

"Anyways – we fucked up. Caught a ton of heat fer producin' a nuisance, got ourselves captured... I got out 'cause yer friend Jade fell to earth inside the goddamn lockup they had me in. Couldn't find Starr, but I felt I had an obligation to get that girl to safety. We got separated on the tracks to Novelux, so I holed up in town fer a spell – 'til Matthias came within a whisker of me. Hightailed it here – figured it'd let me back in."

Laura nodded, wondering what mechanism of the dungeon had prevented Matthias and his allies following Brisa to the heart.

"So... were we summoned because Starr got captured by the Covenant?" she muttered. "Wait, but no, Starr was Auriga's summon, so..."

Brisa's whiskers twitched as she skewed her mouth and clicked her tongue. "Auriga, Beacon, the goddamn Voice of the Desert. Whatever you wanna call her, she declined to give us an instruction manual fer savin' the world."

Laura's ears pricked. "You spoke to Coven— to Lanterns about her, then?"

"Overheard enough to learn that they're obsessed with her, sure." Brisa shook her head, and sighed. "Look, are we expectin' an ambush or not? Should we hang fire 'til yer friends get here?"

Laura shook her head. "Not unless they made quick work of the rest of our team back in town. But we should still probably hang on for the ones still doing the dungeon trial."

Brisa shrugged. She'd been down here on her own for weeks – a little longer made little difference to her.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Oh, yeah. It sounds like this Matthias guy wanted to snag a machine that, uhh, undistorts dungeons?" Nova wasn't sure if he'd remembered Sparkwright's explanation. The guy talked a lot. "Some teammates decided to protect the machine. So, if they were successful, Matthias probably isn't coming."

He slid down onto his belly, sighing. "There's at least a few folks still on the dungeon's higher floors. And we can't reach 'em, so... guess we're waiting."

Nova draped one foreleg over another. "Met the Cyclone before I came east. That drumstick's... uh..." His cheek bolts turned once before he deadpanned, "Seems like a real hit at parties."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Brisa snerk'd at Nova's quip.

"That drumstick's not for parties, fella. He's fer testin' a warrior's mettle. More fun than any shindig I've ever been to."

That tracked. Brisa was a battleheart.

Laura concentrated. Maybe now there were a bunch of them down here, Betel could get in touch...?

Betelgeuse...? How's it going up there?

Hello, Laura! I am relieved to identify your souls as living and secure.

Your fellow heroic spirits were successful in battle against Greninja Matthias!

Matthias has retreated, and the device is secure.
​

Laura exhaled in relief.

"Yeah, we're good. We won back in town."

 

[Ambyssin]

"I know," Nova said to Brisa. He scratched some of his dusty pelt with a hind leg. "Was a bit too busy helping Mhynt with scouting a shadowfied dungeon to join the folks that beat Drumstick." He clicked his tongue. "But what fallowed was a wild fight. Swarmed by shadow blobs. Shadow lightning raining from the heavens. I took a meteor to the face..."

 

[Tetra]

"You fought the Cyclone too?" he asked, a note of interest creeping into his voice. Wait did she mean... "...alone?" Even though he was sure they were even stronger than when they'd fought the Cyclone, that meant Brisa was strong. Incredibly strong.

He shook himself, realizing he was probably getting sidetracked. "So Auriga siad nothing at all about why Starr was summoned, or even what Jesse was after?" he sighed, unable to hold back his frustration. Did not a single entity here care to explain themselves even a little? How could they do anything to help ifthey didn't know what they were to help with?

And the Covenant had just locked her and Jesse up. For what? What had they actually done wrong? "So... those Covenant guys still have Jesse locked up? Do you know why he was there? I think... he knew something from Auriga but I don't know what."

 

[Namohysip]

"Well. It seems clear that once we have a proper headcount on everyone who entered the Dungeon," said Mhynt, "we should be fine to return. I expect after that we will be trying to consolidate any and all intel you know, Brisa, and then make our plans from there. We have a few things to worry about and a lot of different sides vying for control of this apparently very insecure world.

"We've got the Lanterns, as you call them. We have another group of humans invading with Shadow powers. There's also a someone who can also control Shadows organically... but as of now, I haven't seen him do anything truly world-endangering. He's more a nuisance at this point." She grunted, arms crossed. "But I'd still advocate for killing him off anyway."

 

[Jackie Cat]

"But what followed was a wild fight. Swarmed by shadow blobs. Shadow lightning raining from the heavens. I took a meteor to the face..."

"Nice." Brisa nodded appreciatively and made a low whistle. "Must'a been all kinds a' wild."

"You fought the Cyclone too? ...alone?"

"Huh?" Brisa looked back over to Koa, momentarily nonplussed, then gave him a friendly smirk. "Ah, not quite. Had my partner by my side fer that one. Though I reckon I'll take him solo some day soon..."

As she said this, the Luxio sounded absolutely serious.

"So Auriga said nothing at all about why Starr was summoned, or even what Jesse was after? So... those Covenant guys still have Jesse locked up? Do you know why he was there? I think... he knew something from Auriga but I don't know what."

"'Fraid so, least so far as I know... on both yer counts. My pa didn't much care fer our gettin' involved, so he was pretty circumspect about his solo mission. Salt and sand... Starr got fragments, impressions. Like a whisper an' a shadow outta the corner of yer eye. I figured she'd know it when she saw it, whatever it was she was called to do."

Laura palmed her chin, thinking hard. "What about that stuff you overheard from the, uh, Lanterns? We know bits and pieces, it could help...?"

Brisa tch'd, and cocked her head. She looked haggard. Like some half-mad hermit, in a certain light.

"Saints and stars," she swore, softly, "I can't reckon much sense of it, but some chatter about buildin' a lighthouse kept comin' up. Sounded like a figurative sense of the word, not a literal physical structure, if y'get my meanin'...? Somethin' about how, if they couldn't commune with the Beacon, they'd make their own. To light the way."

Laura's guts plunged unpleasantly. "You mean, make some kind of artificial Beacon?"

...oh.​

Brisa sighed, and shrugged. "Maybe. I'm tellin' ya the half-heard ravings of some fellas off their mental reservation. Don't go quotin' me in the Gazette, ma'am."

Laura's ears burned. "How'd you know I was with the Gazette...?"

Brisa cocked her head again. "I, uh, didn't. Huh. Guess you got a reporter's persistence."

...artificial...?
​

"Well. It seems clear that once we have a proper headcount on everyone who entered the Dungeon, we should be fine to return. I expect after that we will be trying to consolidate any and all intel you know, Brisa, and then make our plans from there. We have a few things to worry about and a lot of different sides vying for control of this apparently very insecure world.

"We've got the Lanterns, as you call them. We have another group of humans invading with Shadow powers. There's also a someone who can also control Shadows organically... but as of now, I haven't seen him do anything truly world-endangering. He's more a nuisance at this point. But I'd still advocate for killing him off anyway."

Brisa nodded in agreement. "Honestly, I don't mind headin' out now. Sooner I can get a good drink, the better."

Laura tamped down the feeling in her stomach and cleared her throat. "Alright, well... Some of us can head back, and a pair can stay behind to wait to rendezvous with any who make it through. We ought to be able to pass a message along if it turns out everyone else is waiting for us at the entrance, I guess."

She glanced at Isidora, wondering when they'd get to actually talk about what happened. After all this, it'd kill her to have their progress set back by the Comb's meddling. Of course, whatever the Sneasel saw had made her apologise...

"I think we could all do with sleeping off the memory of this place," she finished.

"Y'ain't fuckin' wrong," concurred Brisa.

 

[Ambyssin]

Betel's voice was small. But those two words said a lot to Nova. There were things he could say. Or think or whatever. But this... did not feel like the appropriate place. Or time. Maybe he could keep Betel grounded instead with simpler questions?

Hey, Betel. Are there any other Wayfarers you got contact back with? Did the dungeon kick anyone out instead of letting them pass?

"Mhynt and I can help take you up. And get you somewhere to lay low." He was more than happy to leave this place behind.