EVENT #07: ASPHODEL CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

[vivalamods]

EVENT #07: ASPHODEL CONSTRUCTION PROJECT PLANNING

The Corsairs have been mobilized and preparations are underway. As negotiators are dispatched to Vindess to prepare for the evacuation under Imperial noses, the crafters and suppliers set to work, preparing the new settlement and whatever airships can be spared for the evacuation. Some Corsairs have even taken it upon themselves to build or “liberate” more airships for the effort.

As always, when the goal is certain the Corsairs move as one. Together, they will see Asphodel completed. All hands are needed, the question is, where do you lend yours?

MISSIONS

Prepare Asphodel: Get the new settlement of Asphodel up and running to receive the refugees from Vindess.
Priority: Critical
Challenges: Corsairs will need to keep the settlement hidden while also making suitable housing and preparing farms and other amenities to sustain life. It will require a large amount of excavation to get in order, as well as construction of homes, furniture, and other facilities. The work will be backbreaking and the timetable is extremely aggressive.

Prepare Citizens for Evacuation: As the citizens of Vindess toil under Imperial lockdown, the Corsairs must prepare the entire population for evacuation.
Priority: Critical
Recommended Roles: Negotiators and Infiltrators
Challenges: Corsairs will need to convince the entire population to evacuate. There are a number of methods that can be employed, while many are going to be reluctant the Imperial crackdown has shaken the settlement and unease is high. There is evidence within the Imperial offices that Infiltrators can recover that show mass executions with lists of “dissidents” have been scheduled for April which the Corsairs might make use of if they choose to investigate. Other options include capturing potential dissidents and taking the entire willing population while executing or taking prisoner loyalists, or other methods the Corsairs determine for themselves to make this happen.


Acquire Airships: The Corsairs always need more airships, and moving an entire population will require heavy effort and can use as many ships as can be mustered.
Priority: Optional
Recommended Roles: All
Challenges: The Corsairs don’t have the major Ether Stones that serve as the airship engines and will need to either capture or salvage resources to increase the size of their fleet. While the Corsairs have been investigating airships that don’t require Ether stones, that research is still a distant dream, but some Corsairs may want to spend some time pushing that investigation along to see if they can make it a reality sooner rather than later.

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Comments

[newmemorywhodis]

A shame; reading minds would probably make communicating with Link much, much easier.

"For Ultrahand," he says. "The one that sticks things."

The one she'd described as being like - what was that word she had used again? - right, like 'superglue'.

[singlemilletgrain]

"Ah!"

Yes, she understands.

"...But there is nothing to even stick it to." Just saying. Not that sticking a wheelbarrow to anything in particular would be useful, she doesn't think. "Do not be in a rush, Link. If I have learned anything in my years, it is that nothing will proceed before it is meant to. Urging it only inspires impatience and careless mistakes. And after all, you have only just gained an entertaining tool."

[newmemorywhodis]

"It lifts things." So even if there wasn't anything for Link to stick it to, there'd still be ways to make use of it.

When she urges him not to rush, he falls silent. And he understands; he really does. He'd had to claw back his own strength not just once, but twice - and both times it had been a long and arduous journey.

"...It's useful," he mumbles. And that's the core of it, really: Ultrahand would be so useful. And Link always needs to be useful too.

[singlemilletgrain]

"Do not fret. We are perfectly capable of lifting things as well. Architects and masons have been restoring buildings since time immemorial without the use of supernatural powers."

This may seem like an attempt at mollifying Link, but Shu has a long history of doing things the long and hard way without relying on any powers beyond that of an average human. Perhaps, at least, she speaks from personal experience.

"The important thing is to ensure that our work is of sufficient quality."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link hums. Not quite an agreement, but an acknowledgement. He can see where she's coming from. People have been able to make all sorts of things, without access to Ultrahand.

Still doesn't quite suppress that feeling that he could be more useful.

For now, though, there's still the wheelbarrow. "You need it?" Maybe he can at least bring something that she needs over for her?

[singlemilletgrain]

"Not at the moment. If you would like to help, though, there is a small mountain of topsoil that needs dispersing in this area. And once we are finished, to be transported to less arable regions of the settlement."

She responds, sensing his need to do something productive. Link seemed a bit more in his element blowing up sand worms than swinging a hoe.

[newmemorywhodis]

Sure, there's no explosions involved. And Link might be more used to using a hoe as a makeshift weapon than a farming tool.

But Link is also someone who never shirks a task once given to him. Sure, sometimes he might get...distracted...along the way. But he always completed it...eventually.

So Link nods, and moves over to start dispersing the soil. It's a task he does diligently, albeit with frequent pauses as he stops to collect lizards and bugs that have been disturbed.

[singlemilletgrain]

Wait, do those piles of dirt form a circle missing one point? Maybe if he dumps a pile of the same height in the empty space, something exciting will happen.

Shu continues with her task as well, though her eyes wander over occasionally to watch Link's progress. She notes one particular moment with bemusement as he chases a skittering beetle a good ten or fifteen feet away from the wheelbarrow and holds it up proudly.

"...Did I ever ask you what happens to living creatures that go into your bag?"

Horrible things, probably.

[newmemorywhodis]

Link has most certainly noticed that dirt circle, and is already eying it. He doesn't have high hopes, however - he's tried this sort of thing before is Esthere. And still he has yet to see even one korok.

As for the question about his bag...Link pauses. Scratches his head a moment, thinking about it. And then shrugs; he doesn't think she has asked about that.

"They come out how they go in," he says.

[singlemilletgrain]

Yahaha~ whispers the gremlin inside his mind.

"Hrm."

Did it perhaps control the flow of time in some way? ...What if she shoved her head inside? If a bomb flower could fit, her head probably would. Ilphyl could speak to animals, right? Maybe they should interrogate a lizard and see what conditions are like inside the bag.

These are the thoughts Shu entertains but does not speak aloud.

"And... remind me what you do with them, again?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Ilphyl has in fact spoken to some of Link's lizards. It made for a rather interesting conversation; one that confirmed that time does not in fact pass for anything inside the bag.

Although said lizards still had to contend with the existential crisis that was the entire world appearing to change around them in an instant. Not to mention their eventual fate - what does Link do with them?

"Make elixirs."

[singlemilletgrain]

"Hrrm..."

Sounds...

"...Oh. Medication?" She blinks a few times. "Why, that is an ancient custom of Yan. It has fallen out of favor in recent years as the practice of healing Arts has been codified, but in times past, the peasantry used to believe that certain species of lizards were good for kidney function. How curious that you have such a custom."

[newmemorywhodis]

Kidneys? Link's never made an elixir that has anything to do with those. Shu gets a faintly puzzled, blank look for reaching into his pack once more.

This time, he pulls out a different lizard - one with dark grey, blackish scales. Said lizard is indeed still alive and wriggling, despite being in the pack for an unknown period of time.

"For Fireproof elixirs," he says, before putting it back and grabbing another one. This one is green, with a triangular head. "For Sticky elixirs." Then a slender brown one, which is "For Hasty elixirs".

[singlemilletgrain]

Of course they are for magic powers. Why wouldn't they be? Shu rubs at her forehead briefly as Link explains, deciding not to voice the obvious objection that there was no way that eating a lizard could make you fireproof.

"Well. ...Perhaps they also have beneficial effects on the spleen that are overshadowed by the magical ones."

This is probably a joke.

"I don't know that the lizards here have any magical properties, though."

[newmemorywhodis]

Link shrugs; he has absolutely no idea what the effects elixirs have on the spleen. Maybe Zelda would know. Or she doesn't, and if Link ever asked her, she'd immediately try to run an experiment to find out if they do.

"Can't hurt to try." And try Link would. Repeatedly.

[singlemilletgrain]

“Ah. Yes.”

Poor lizards.

“Do be careful, though. Not all… creatures are safe to ingest.”

She makes a mental note to start growing plants with antitoxin properties when spring is in full bloom again.

“It might be more useful for you to, ah… create a breeding program. For the ones you have. — Carefully though! It would not do to introduce an invasive species into this world.”

[newmemorywhodis]

"I cook them first."

See, Link had already learned that. The hard way. His stomach had survived all prior dubious experimentations; it would survive again.

"Ilphyl's breeding them." And Link doesn't know much about invasive species. But presumably Ilphyl does, so...it should be okay. Probably.

[singlemilletgrain]

"Cooking only inactivates a few types of toxins. Many poisonous berries and plants are not inactivated by heat. And, for instance, if you leave a bowl of food out for a week and try to cook it, the toxins created by bacterial growth will likely still kill you."

See, now she's worried enough that she's dropping the tiller and coming over to look at the lizard.

"Do you know the proper ways to test potential food for toxins?

[newmemorywhodis]

"I don't leave food out."

He has a magical, time-pausing void-containing leather pack for that. He could carry meat around for months. Even years.

As for knowing how to test food for toxins...

"...Zelda knows," he says. She was always fascinated by that sort of thing, and could ramble for hours about the testing process. Meanwhile, Link always just relied on his own knowledge and experience. And finding out the hard way.

sorry for the enormous delay!

[singlemilletgrain]

"Mm."

Zelda might know, but Zelda was not here. She would probably be a little less strict about teaching Link these things, but Shu is not a benevolent princess of a magical kingdom. Shu glances at the lizard.

"Most lizards in my world are not toxic. However, always avoid brightly colored specimens or ones that secrete a fluid when handled. Those toxins will not be broken down by cooking. In regards to plants and berries, there are several steps to take before eating."

She picks off a leaf from a random weed lying about.

"First, crush it and rub it on your skin." She does so. "Wait a few hours or as long as you can. If there is no adverse reaction, do the same with your lips. After that, cook a small amount and ingest the smallest bit possible. If you do not feel ill after a day, you may proceed."

No worries, it's all good!

[newmemorywhodis]

Link looks at her for a moment, with his usual blank, unreadable expression. Is he taking this information in, vowing to always be careful? Or is he thinking about how all those steps sounds like rather a lot of time and work?

Hard to say, really.

What he does do, though, is reach into his korok pack - and pull out a bright, black and yellow frog. It's a local species, not one from Link's home. And it absolutely looks poisonous.

"Like these?"

[singlemilletgrain]

"..."

A chilly gust of wind blows by, despite the fact that they are in an underground cave system.

"...Yes, Link. Please do not eat that or apply it to your skin."

Shu takes a small step back.

"To be frank, I don't think you should be touching that."

It is possible the toxins have already caused irreversible damage to Link's brain, but maybe Shu can try to heal it.

[newmemorywhodis]

But what if it turned out to be a really useful frog? What if making an elixir from it would make Link poisonous? That would be pretty neat.

It seems like this idea upsets Shu, though. So begrudgingly, Link nods. Fine, he won't it eat. Even if he wants to.

The frog is returned to the pack.

[singlemilletgrain]

Shu does not see any need whatsoever for Link to make himself poisonous, unless he is planning on being consumed by a large monster in the near future. This does not seem like a good plan in general. Once the frog is gone, she breathes a faint sigh of relief.

"Does everything in your world have specific mystical effects when consumed?"

[newmemorywhodis]

Link shakes his head. No, not everything has mystical effects.

"Need the right ingredients." Otherwise, you got dubious food. Or just something that made you feel better.