Chapter 1: Forgotten Empire

Curses begin to stream from Iwakashi as his bulky form sinks into the damp and fetid swamp. It had been some fair amount of luck that he hadn't sunk into the morass before now. "Blasted swamp! Even the seas would have been better!"

He flails about as he struggles to wade his way free. The Croagunk's chiding do little to cool his head, "If you were down in this pit. I might be able to better show you why I think so glowingly of myself." He stays silent in his energetic struggles for a moment longer. "I mean to bring peace to Ransei. The Kingdoms rail against each other, straining and struggling. My companions and I are going to bring them to heel. They may strain against our might but they will struggle in vain. My purpose is to fight and so I shall." The words are forceful and proud. If this frog wanted to know what he intended, he now knew. He might have to contend with an angered Earthenborn but he knew.

Vaulting and scurrying, Lootbox makes his way across crumbling walls and rotted wood to the balcony of the second story. The room itself appears as though it may have once been lavish, but has long since succumbed to mold. Items of great value left to be consumed by whatever life drifted in on the breeze. The only thing that seems salvageable is the finery that rests upon a skeleton loosely draped in an ornately carved chair at the balcony's edge. Just as the mimic is forming his opinions about the place, there is the faint snap, and rattle of bones. An arm that lay discarded to one side jams itself into socket. The jaw hinges back into place. The figure on the throne stirs. "WHO DARES BRING THE LIGHT OF LIFE INTO MY TOMB!"

The sockets of the skull were surprisingly expressive, and as they settled on this new guest the menacing voice that seemed to emanate from the being turned to one much more personable. "...Oh. Sorry about that."

---

The dragonfly settles under Crimson's palm, buzzing every so often. As a simple creature, it has simple desires, and is very easy to join with the power of Crimson's mind alone. She, like it, knew hunger. Knew thirst. Knew a desire for safety and security. Her will would be its. A quickening between minds began.

---

"We are our true selves at our worst, I have heard said among the tall ones." The Croagunk watched as Iwakashi tore free of everything with little effort, weeds slithering off of his body with so much water. "You had no need of my help to get free of the marsh, for you to ask means a future of significance. I will join you."

Feeling the beginning of a connection, it causes Crimson to relax. It is not the same as the connection of the hive, but it is still more comforting than the emptiness that she had been feeling so far. While the two minds, the two beings, are not one, there is still something. And after all the nothing, the nothing that she'd promised that she'd never return to... it is everything right now.

She revels in that for several moments, before opening her mind some to it, letting it feel around. She knows that she's spent too long around humans, though, when she asks it, +Do you have a name, child? I am Crimson. You... feel like a Viridian, but I don't know if that's what you are.+ It's something that she would never have done with any of her hive. Those are akin to more part of her, extensions of her. This creature... even connecting, it's separate. And so it feels right. And that concerns her.

"An escape." The skeleton retorted as to Lootbox's purpose in his chambers. "Cursed as I am to remain forever 'as all things stagnate way whence my soul went', I wasn't willing to risk breaking a leg jumping from the balcony. The witch even saw fit to cave the roof over the stairs!" He pontificated with much gesturing, using the popular air quotes as he described his fate. "I was once Lord Yōsei, in the time when this place was a home, before the sea and the populace rounded upon me."

---

+Viridian?+ It answered as the creature's cognizance was elevated far beyond what it would have ever reached alone. There was a brief burst of color as it searched for meaning of the name. +I will be Viridian.+ Silence passed between the dragonfly and its master, as it drank in information. Question and answer, understanding and purpose, a mental communion between two beings.

---

"No need for one. You are the first creature that I have ever addressed in this way. What is a name to a creature with no peers?" The Croagunk responded, trudging along after Iwakashi as he made for the Castle.

If Iwakashi's face wasn't always etched with some brand of frown, one would almost get the impression that he was worried. "I saw no sign of Rion outside. She may have slipped my notice...though it seems unlikely." Thoughts roll through his mind at what could have happened. "Perhaps that mysterious ticking noise has something to do with her disappearance. I was preoccupied at the time but it seemed to sound from nothing and shortly returned to nothing. Perhaps Othna decided four was too many...."

"Odd," she chitters, pensive. "Well, if that is indeed the case... there's really nothing that we can do about it now." That doesn't mean that there's not something that could be done about it later, though. She really doesn't like the idea of being able to be snatched from time at the behest of another.

She then hears... something... from above. Oh. It's Lootbox. "If I could get up there now," she retorts, raising her voice back so that the ooze can hear, "then we wouldn't be having this conversation, because the stairs would be clear. Unless you found other stairs, and would like to direct me to them?"

She turns to Viridian, saying, "While I cannot fly, you can. Can you go and tell me what exactly is going on up there that requires such immediate attention?"

"There is... something or someone up there with Lootbox," Crimson says to Iwakashi. "I do not believe that it is immediately a danger, given that the yelling was regarding clearing the stairwell and not... well, anything else. But... it is a concerning presence. Perhaps we should step outside, and see if we can make our ascent?" She sends to Viridian to meet her at the window to the upper level. For one thing, if the presence does turn into a problem, she does not want to lose her only bond. She doesn't wait for the rockman to respond before heading for the outside.

Shaking away the thought of the missing member for now, Iwakashi turns to the problem of the collapsed stairwell and the inquisitive Lootbox. Crimson stalks out, leaving Iwakashi to gesture to the croagunk and stomp after the scurrying bug. The tower's outside was hardly better than the inside. Perhaps he could scale it but he didn't trust the masonry after all this time moldering away.

With his lack of trust in the tower there was only one real option. Bellowing, "Lootbox. What are you barking on about? We can't get up there with a rubble filled staircase!" He pauses for a moment hoping the mimic would actually come to the window....oh he was already at the window. "Crimson says there is something in there with you. Is that why we need to clear the stairs?"

"You'll never get anywhere on your own. We don't have time to waste. I'll see what I can do from down here." Iwakashi returns to the foot of the stairs and begins his task. Rolling rubble and rocks out into the courtyard. It was going to take longer than he would like but Lootbox would likely be up there all day anyway. Best to hurry the process along.

The Croagunk observed the Earthenborn's trial. First settling in the hallway, facing the stairwell. He watches as Iwakashi works loose the stone. A handful of trips and the frog joins his master.