Escape On Thera

>Now, there's room for less important prompts.

That you do! For now, let's check your stats. It's new and improved.



Racial abilities are the unique skills and traits that many of your people share. The Yaren have a long history of living in forested areas and have sticky fingers that let you climb walls with little trouble. Other than that, you're able to stun and intimidate enemies. Some might flare out their frills to do so, but you have to make do with your cape.

Innate abilities tells what kind of magic you can naturally generate and use. The element one gets is dependent on the person's disposition, desires, and other factors like that. Most people have one or two, and you know at least one of yours already.

Spirit is a fairly rare element, though you're not entirely sure what's it supposed to be about. Like the Goddess of Secrets and Thresholds, Clavis, there's a lot people don't know about it. People say that Spirit is a pretty lucky element to have, but you doubt that a lot considering that you've ended up in a place like this. Still, you ended up learning one of your skills as well.

You've always heard all sorts of voices in your head ever since you started developing magic of your own. Though you try to ignore them sometimes, they've also been very helpful, even if they come up with weird things that you don't even understand, like "pumpkins", seriously, can anyone explain that? You've asked the Baylan about this, and all she said was that they're supposed to be voices from another world.

>do you have telekinetic powers? You moved the box without touching it, or was it just my imagination?

...let's just say that the powers that be didn't seem to have animated that panel properly. That's it.

>Yet another victorious conquest to add to the long list of successes that is your life. Time for a victory dance.

You... guess you can dance a little? You don't know if you can call it a victory since you didn't try to kill the creature. Then again, it was going to kill you so... hooray?

>First, examine the inside of the tube. is there anything there that might explain the state of the creature? Or maybe a feeding/waste removal mechanism?

You're not really sure what the tube is for, but on closer insprection it seems that this rotten goo has a bit of an aether charge in it. Water if you'd guess from the properties. And if it's gotten this black, it's definitely been overused in some way. Though you're not sure why keep the thing in there with it. Was it to contain it? Heal it? Strengthen it? Either way, you're not sure, but exposure to that much aether isn't good for anyone. Poor thing.

The wires dangling inside also seem to be laced with some kind of chemical... what sort of mad laboratory even is this place?

>Second, take a look at the items inside the box. I assume it's not actually lunch-related. Oh, and just what material is the box made of?

You don't know what the box is made out of, but sure as Enki, you know this it's a Conduit-Maker's kit which consisted of everything you need to polish and set Essence Aetherlites into Conduits! It's also got some thick gloves for handling Aether as well as a satchel to keep Aetherlite crystals in. The satchel seems to have a bit of weight in it when you picked it up. Turning it over nets you a very good quality Water Essence. Nice!

Unlike those fragments you have Essences have a bit more charges in them and most importantly, are reuseable! It takes at least a day or two to fully recharge a crystal though.

>Collect the crystal bits. See if you can reassemble them.
>Collect crystal samples. Get an insight of it. You seem fairly well versed on this subject.
>Third , see if you can collect a few of the unrefined aetherlite shards. You should have enough conduit fragments for them. And a pipe bomb could always come in handy. Or blow your hand off if you're not careful.

You wear your gloves and collect the shards of fire aetherlite left by the monster, careful not to jostle or drop them. You don't think you can fuse or reassemble them though, they started off as irregularly shaped chunks after all.

Judging from its deep red color, you're sure these things have a high density of aether inside, though you're going to need to polish the crystal to a sort of round shape in order to make them anywhere near usable. Any other shape and the aether just leaks out of the crystal over time.

>Earlier, you exclaimed "Twelves' mercy!" That seems religious. Who're the Twelves?

The Twelve are the gods that helped create the land of Thera with the Creator, Nevos. After Nevos's passing the Twelve were tasked with taking care of the world and the people they created. Each god had a different view on how to best take care of their people, and they fought and argued over it for a long time. But eventually they decided that they should teach them their knowledge, so that the people they created may one day become worthy of the gifts Nevos and the gods had given them.

At least that's what you were taught when you were young. Growing up, things were a little more complicated than that. Though everyone worshiped them, some are more worshiped than others depending on where you are, and some even have different versions of the same story depending on who you've heard it from.

Kineo, the Sculptor, is one of the Twelve. So are Vakna the Healer, and Clavis the Dancer. Each one commanded an element that best represented their ideals and philosophies.

Diligent, unrelenting, and always perfecting, Kineo was always associated with the unyielding nature of Metal, and many of your family did end up with Metal as one of their abilities - but not you for some reason. It's still possible that it could happen though.

Vakna on the other hand was always a famous goddess for being patroness to mothers and the sick. She never turned away a soul that needed her help, and she would cleanse them with her healing waters. However, to those she cannot help, she's also become the goddess of mourning rites.

As for Clavis, she's as you've said, mysterious and whimsical. Her name spoken always in hopes that she might grant them a bit of good fortune, whether in a small game of Patha or in the most darkest of times. She was said to be privy to all the innermost secrets of every soul, and with her key, unlock things within them thought to be all but impossible.

There are more, but you don't want to drag this any further.

>Oh, and have you checked what's on the ceiling yet? Are there any unlit lights, odd devices, or creatures there?
> Ask the creature in the vent if it's sentient.

Yes, yes there are things up there. Time to leave this place! And you're not spending a moment more to talk to it.

>Fourth, check the panel. Maybe now that it's active you can determine its exact function.

You guess it needs a Water charge to activate. That's simple enough. Spending a charge on the panel makes the bars open.



You find yourself in one of the west wing's corridors. Now what?