Message 18: Darkness Falls Across the Land

[unrecovered]

[For those of you who are good at body language or just know Wash, the tilt of that helmet does not look happy. At all.]

The lights on the Mother of Invention are set to ship's night. It's barely afternoon and already sunset in Ponyville. Twilight Town looks like it's five minutes away from being full-on night, and in Traverse Town, the stars are gone. No cloud cover or anything - just gone.

On top of that, this- [He pulls out the empty AI chip and holds it up for the camera to see] - has started speaking in full sentences. In Sora's voice. About how he can't hold them off anymore, and how we need to find him and fight.

If anyone knows anything, now would be a really good time to say so.

For now, don't go anywhere alone. The last thing any of us need is to be ambushed by this "them."

Comments

[dork_of_keys]

[Sora, unfortunately, is just as clueless.]

I... have no idea what this is about.

[Other than that it's slightly disconcerting that he seems to be the one bringing everyone here somehow. But he can't exactly change that now. He can, however, do everything possible to make sure everyone gets out of this okay.]

Hmm. It might be a good idea to go and check on the Keyholes...

[unrecovered]

[Yeah, he kind of figured.]

You said you'd been to the dream world before, right? What exactly happened last time you were here?

[It may not be relevant, but Wash is willing to take that chance.]

Take someone with you.

[dork_of_keys]

[It's not the first time, but he usually manages to get by anyway.]

Well, Riku and I were here to wake up a few sleeping worlds. And to take a test. That test was kind of hijacked and that was when Xehanort almost made a puppet out of me. But Riku got me out of that.

[Sora doesn't doubt the possibility that the two things could be connected. He's just not sure what the connection could be exactly. They'll probably be finding out soon enough, though.]

I was planning to.

[He just hasn't decided if he's going to ask someone or see who he bumps into on the way. His Spirits, meanwhile, protest the idea that they somehow don't count as bringing someone along.]

[unrecovered]

[Back the fuck up]

When Xehanort almost WHAT?!

[He's. Not gonna let that go. Because that sounds like a big fucking deal.]

You think that might be important?!

[dork_of_keys]

[Whoops. Sora thought he'd mentioned Xehanort's plan needing 'vessels' and that he'd almost ended up being one of them. Looks like he might not have. Either that or Wash just wasn't one of the people he told.]

Er... I thought I'd mentioned it already...

[Hoo boy. Of course, if he did mention it, it was probably quite a while ago. Maybe long enough that it was kind of forgotten./i>]

[raisethemoon]

If we are ambushed, at least we shall have found "them"!

[unrecovered]

Says one of the few people who would probably survive said ambush.

[raisethemoon]

We do not even know what they are, Agent Washington. Thou'rt perfectly capable.

But perhaps you are right that we should strategize. If you will excuse me briefly, I am going to see what can be seen in the collective dreamscape at the moment. Our enemies do tend to attack it.

[unrecovered]

We know they're the reason we're all here. Indirectly, but that's still a good reason to be cautious.

Let me know if you find anything.

[raisethemoon]

I do not intend to be long.

[brodakota]

...

[um...someone might be off on his own, well, with Theta.]

Did you want to meet up?

[unrecovered]

[...North. North why. Have you learned nothing. Pot, kettle, etc.]

...where are you?

[brodakota]

[Freelancers don't learn lessons until after things have reached their worst and then a little while later.]

Mother of Invention. Just on the bridge though.

[unrecovered]

[Of all places. Of course.]

Do you need backup?

[brodakota]

Think I'm alright. I'm just about done here and then I was going to head to Ponyville to set up the last safe house.

Unless you want to come.

[allpurposescarf]

Which "them" might we be talking about, here?

[unrecovered]

If I knew that, I wouldn't be asking for information.

[allpurposescarf]

Well I can think of any of a number of "them"s, but if they're supposed to be things that your mysterious voice would know that might be not be them. Different places and different sorts of things to fight.

Unless-- no, it couldn't possibly be. Not if you said the voice was Sora's.

[unrecovered]

If it's not relevant to here and now, then I don't want to know.

[Rude, yes, but he's just out of damns to give about anything that isn't the situation at hand.]

[allpurposescarf]

What about things that might be relevant but aren't relevant for certain?

[unrecovered]

...sure. Why not. What's on your mind.

[allpurposescarf]

If it's a "them" we're being asked to find, it's most likely either something that isn't a force the speaker recognizes or one that they don't want to speak of, for whatever reason. Or one that they know but we might not.

[earthshatter]

Stars have vanished before. If they've done so here, it can't be good.

[unrecovered]

What happened when they vanished last time?

[earthshatter]

I believe Sora might know more of the details. But for any star to do so, there would likely need to be a significant amount of darkness present. For all of them to stop appearing would thus be worse still.

[unrecovered]

From what I can tell, they're all gone from Traverse Town. If there's enough darkness here to do that...

What - or who - do we need to be looking out for?

[earthshatter]

The most likely candidate to have brought so much darkness to bear would be Xehanort.

[unrecovered]

...probably should have seen that coming.

If it is him, is there a trick to stopping him, or do we just kill him?

[earthshatter]

He should be able to be killed normally. However, he will likely put up a fight once we do manage to find him.

Late tag is late, sorry.

[colorbymemory]

[Namine noticed the whole "stars going out" thing and yeah, it's making her nervous.]

I'll be careful.

Nah, you're good

[unrecovered]

Good. Let me know if you need anything.

[colorbymemory]

Thank you, I will.