SeeD field exam (backdated to just after the SI invasion of Deling)

[wrnpcs]

While attempting to map out the newly-risen archipelago off the northeast coast of Galbadia, navigators came across a castle-like structure in the middle of the ocean, reporting loud drilling noises and disturbed wildlife in the area. Believing the structure to have originated off-world, an Esthar-based energy company with interests nearby has hired SeeD to decommission the rig, whatever its purpose may be, and to bring back as much of the equipment as possible for further research.

[The Headmaster is missing, Galbadia has fallen, and tensions are fraught all round, but that's no excuse to spare the aspiring cadets of Balamb from the usual gauntlet. After all, they might be needed soon enough. That's how Namur and Starfire come to be dropped off at a small port town - on the Trabian side of the border, which wasn't quite part of the initial briefing - and ushered onto a rather battered tugboat, which wasn't either. After that, they're on their way.

The silhouettes of the islands of the mysterious archipelago are visible even through the fog off the shore, but before long, one of them indeed starts to resolve itself into a shape that marks it out from the rest - a tall, slender, multi-spired shape. And as the boat moves even closer, it'll become clear that not all of the haze out here is ordinary fog; it could be smoke or steam, but there's definitely something drifting lazily away from those fairytale towers.

Apart from the noise, that is. The drilling noise is easier to notice, though. It begins as a thrum through the water when the castle is still a somewhat indistinct blur on the horizon, rises into a roar - and then, just as the churning waves threaten to turn the little boat away altogether, subsides, leaving the surrounding waters calm again.

There's another barrier to entry, though: now that they're closing in on it, the castle seems to be perched on a solid block of concrete or something like it, and the walls are both smooth and sheer. The owner of the boat, a chiselled woman with greying hair, mutters something about not knowing where to dock, not wanting to get much closer before the apparent drilling starts up again (it always seems to, she says), and really, really not being paid enough for this.

What now?]

Comments

[om_nom_namur]

[Namur checks his stocks of every bit of magic he knows or thinks he knows, slips Shiva into his elemental attack junction, and nods at Kori.]

Call the shots, Sweetheart. Which way y' wanna go?

[trainedbywarlords]

[Kory is of course nervous. This is the exam she's been leading up for over the past year. At the same time, she is very much determined to complete the mission.

She's checked her stocks a few times on the way over and now she's left staring up at the castle]

The most logical way is up.

[Given that she can fly, that isn't a problem]

The first thing is to take better stock of what we are dealing with and what we need to do next.

[om_nom_namur]

[Namur kicks back with his arms behind his head, resting his feet on the side of the boat- much to the boat owners disapproval.]

A'ight, so what y' wanna do 'bout it? Boss me 'round a li'l bit, huh? Sheheheh.

[trainedbywarlords]

[Kory looked at him before looking back at the building in front of her. It wasn’t very daunting for her, but she could fly. He really couldn’t. He could swim, but she wasn’t sure just yet about sending him underwater to check it out… they though could possibly do both…]

I suspect there isn't much chance you can make it up. So... let's try going down first.

[om_nom_namur]

[Namur glances up at the thing, though most of it's a blur.]

Whoever made it's gotta have a way in, assumin' they ain't birds or some shit.

[He leans in close, a sly look on his face, whispering.]

How much y' think Miss Where's-the-Dock's gonna flip when we jus' hop off right here an' go swimmin'?

[wrnpcs]

[Hard to say, but she is watching them huddle, and tapping her foot rather impatiently. Weren't they being paid for this, too?

For now, the waters remain calm.]

[trainedbywarlords]

[Kory can't help a small grin at that. That was an amusing thought]

Well, let's find out. We'll check out going down first.

[And that's when she walks over to the edge of the boat, stands there for a moment then jumps into the air and dives backwards into the water, waiting first for him]

[wrnpcs]

[The water is freezing, so murky that it's near impossible to see through, and unpleasantly viscous. Still, getting a little closer, it might become possible to tell that the concrete platform doesn't extend nearly as far down as might be expected to support a castle of this size - and are those legs it's perched on? Struts of some kind, at least.]