Glitched Memories

After the boss battle in the tower, Rylen had only briefly returned to the farm before setting out again. Apparently, something had spooked him during the fight, enough so that he had to travel as far as the Ninetails Dominion and back. The Beastmaster never really goes 'radio silent', so it isn't as if he had disappeared or was unreachable. No, he simply seemed as if he were very concerned about something, something he didn't want to talk about until he had confirmed it.

However, his boat was due in this morning on the return trip. So it is just a bit beyond sunrise when the Pooka makes his way back to the farm with his peko in tow. He looks a bit tired, but otherwise well. His travel jacket is thrown over the back of the Peko, wearing a sleeveless shirt beneath it.

First stop: The barn. "You deserve some rest, my boy." Rylen murmurs as he pats the neck of his peko, making sure the feed bins are full before he closes the gate to the pen and then stretches himself out, "We both do."

    Xander was out for an early morning jog. It was old habits and one that he let himself get out of, so it was time to get back into normal routines! Jogging, even if not needed in the world of Elder Tale, was one of them.

This meant that the Salamander saw Rylen coming back home and decided to make his way over. There he stood silently, observing the tired elf-like humanoid. Taking note of his movements and including his own words to his peko.

At this point, Xander leaned against the barn door's frame nad crossed his arms over his chest. His heavy scaled tail gave a soft flick before he spoke up, "Why, hello there stranger." He says calmly with a very gentle smile on his face.

"Hey there, tall dark and handsome." Rylen replies back, his own expression shifting to a soft smile as he lets his arms drop back to his sides. "Never thought I'd say this, but... it feels good to be home." Before building the peko ranch, the Pooka had been nomadic, never really spending much time anywhere. Yet, he had built this place to be a home, not only for himself, but for others.

"Sorry about taking off like that, but I had a tight time frame to get to Breg Epona. Otherwise, I'd have missed the chance to test a theory." That smile falters ever so slightly, something that reads to just how concerned he might actually be from what he found. "Though I think I've been left with more questions than answers."

He walks towards Xander, then stands in front of him. There is still a hint of that hesitancy in him still, as if he didn't want to reach out and be rejected. Yet, his hand still moves to brush the Salamander's shoulder. "Come to the house with me? We should talk about what happened."

    Xander raise a brow, before he shrugs gently. "This world we are stuck in is crazy. We have to go to where we have to go to in order to get shit done. I'm not going to hold anything against you running off suddenly." After all, he was a soldier. He gets the concept of sudden deployment, as he watched that happen with his dad while he was growing up.

When Rylen cames over, he stands up fully and allows the Pooka to rest his hand on his shoulder. He just stares at Rylen, before reaching over and giving the man a hug. "Come on," He gives him a pat on the back, before sliding away. "Lets get you inside. Comfortable and then you can explain to me what the hell your adventure was all about."

The hug is, perhaps, just a little unexpected, but Rylen's response is warm, the gesture actually seeming to help relax him a bit. When he leans back from it, the elf gives a grateful smile. There was a time when his heading off that suddenly might have caused a rift between them. A time when Xander didn't trust as much in the fact that he would always return.

As the two walk back across the barnyard, Rylen greets a few of the workers, offering them his usual open smile. It isn't until they get to the main house that he seems to let down a little bit of that performer's persona. "I guess I should start by asking how much you've heard about the boss fight?" Rylen asks. "I tossed up a notice in town before I left, and I believe the Lady Amalthea was going to put something up for Scale Emblem."

He, obviously, doesn't want to waste time by going over things that Xander might already know. The disconnect of information between the Alliances means that Rylen simply doesn't know what has been told to those in Scale Emblem.

    Xander goes to follow, though in the public eye he is keeping his distance a bit. Even when they get to the house proper, he is still a tad distant. "I heard that there was some strange whale. That several people got killed..." He frowns a little, even his voice hinted at the fact he didn't like to hear it. "And I think that is about the sum of it."

His jaw clenches a little at his own thoughts before he continues, "But I did read the report, so that did give more clarity. Though I may need to talk to Amalthea... I know what she is going through. She... Probably could use the shoulder."

"Well, the main boss was a Hippocampus." Rylen explains, "Though it wasn't obvious at first, the more damage we did to it, the more it became clear that it was some kind of undead." He heads towards the upstairs of the main house as he explains it, likely to be able to have some privacy while they talk. "One of the swordfish got me across the chest, but... nothing serious."

Once they arrive upstairs, Rylen walks over to the couch which is set in front of the fireplace and sits down, leaning forward to untie his boots. "All in all, nothing particularly notable about the boss. That whale, though..." He shakes his head, "Never seen anything like it. I mean, I'd heard about glitched monsters, and saw a couple in the distance when I helped some of the Ezzo refugees, but... this was different."

"The thing was massive, had five health bars, we could barely damage it." He explains as he looks over to Xander, "But then it started sucking everyone down. I only got out because one of the kids I'd been working with used his water magic to shove me out of the way. Unfortunately, he got killed in my place." Ry shakes his head at that, "Guess I taught him too well about bravery."

He frowns then, looking concerned, "The thing is... across the board. Anyone who knew someone killed by the whale. We just started forgetting things about them. I couldn't remember the kid's name for the longest time." Pulling one boot off, Rylen adds, "I had to go to the kid's respawn point, just to prove to myself that he was okay."

    Xander listens to Rylen as he explains everything, follow the other man along and just leaning against the wall as he observes and listens. It is only when Rylen gets to what took place does the Salamander look down. The part that gets a sudden head snap up is when Rylen explains forgetting people. "... Wait? What?""

The Salamander stops leaning against the wall and walks over toward Rylen. "So, lets me... Get this straight. People got killed by a whale and those who survived... Forgot them?" He asks with all the hand gesture included.

"How does that work?!" He exclaims with his own question, now pacing around a bit. "I mean, I can kinda get maybe the individual who was eaten having some trouble memorize things. Given traumatic event, but how do /you/, untouched, forget the said person?"

"That's the concerning part, isn't it?" Rylen asks, looking towards Xander. "It wasn't those who perished who had problems, which would be understandable, given the trauma. No, it was those who survived." He starts on his other boot, making quicker work of it and then leans back on the couch. "I can confirm that it was experienced not just by me, but by Lady Amalthea, and Lady Yuri as well. Though I believe it may have been different people in each case."

The Elf touches his fingertips to the side of his head, "The thing is, I didn't forget him entirely. I remembered helping him train, and his excitement about his first boss battle, but for the life of me I couldn't remember his name." Rylen pauses then, brows furrowed. "I still can't..."

He raises a finger, as if he were about to explain the even stranger part, "But, when I saw him again, I could remember it. We talked, and he was fine. Seemed happy to have helped keep me alive." Rylen then motions vaguely to the room, "And yet, here I am and I can't remember his name again. It's like it's right there, but I can't grab it."

    Xander listens to what Rylen has to say. This causes the Salamander to start to pace. "I am fairly sure there /was/ no whale back when we did the tower before the expansion. Then again, nothing has been right since the first boss."

The Salamander continues to walk back and forth. The concern on his face, including his brows knitting tighter. "Actually, each time we go up a floor, things get stranger and stranger." He then pauses to think about that a bit more.

"You know," He looks over to Rylen. "I wonder if it is because of the tenth floor." The Salamander rubs his chin. "The tenth floor was broken as shit. The boss was bugged and because of that, no one could defeat it. Maybe the closer we get to the tenth floor, the more the code has degraded. It could be slowly impact other levels lower down."

Xander then gets a more concerned look on his face, "Which means a possible chance that /If/, big if, but if that is the case..." He looks directly at Rylen, "Such things that you all experience could become worse the higher we go... And enemies like the whale could become more likely."

"There wasn't." Rylen confirms. Though the two hadn't known each other before the expansion, the Pooka had some experience with the tower, at least enough to be familiar with a few of the floors. "The name was completely glitched out, so we know there's some kind of problem with it. Though I was surprised we were able to do any damage, at all. Apparently the people from Ezzo couldn't even damage the glitched monsters, there."

His gray eyes follow Xander as he begins to pace. "Honestly... I have a few theories of my own when it comes to all that." Rylen hasn't shared his thoughts with many people, perhaps because they might seem a bit 'out there' by some. Still, it makes perfect sense to someone who has had quite a bit of interaction with the Tower Landers.

"I... don't think this is the same Elder Tale Online that we played before." He explains, sounding faintly hesitant. Maybe Xander's opinion on this actually matters to him. "I've seen enough evidence to believe that the Black Wave brought us to some other, very different version of Yamato. The Landers have memories back hundreds of years. They exist in places they didn't before. Enemies are different, the lands are different."

He looks up towards Xander then, "The more I find out about it, the more I'm convinced that we are in a different version of the game, entirely. One that could be very dramatically different than the one we know."

With a soft sigh, he adds, "It's possible that there is corruption in a lot of other places in the game. Though the whale is the only thing I've seen in the Tower, thus far."

    As Rylen explains his own theory, the dark scaled salamander comes to a slow stop. His hand does not leave his chin and he closes his draconic eyes. There was a long bit of silence, as he seems to take in the information.

Slowly his head tilts just slightly in continued silent thought, before his hand lowers and he looks over to Rylen. "I can't-- really argue with that logic. While a part of me wants too. I can't. It would explain how were all suddenly level one. Why all of our old achievements, gear, mostly vanished. Perhaps why like Arashi's weapon broke."

    Xander then goes to rest his hands on his hips. "I've been playing the game since launch. Raided in it. Challenged people for their gear. Defended new players. I know /this/ game, or did... and as I tried to explain to people early on, nothing was right."

"Monsters were more intelligent and even the Landers..." Xander pauses in thought, before he rubs the bridge of his nose. More silence falls over him, with his hand then falling by his side. "I think... I think we might need to hit up a library with some old books. Maybe something in there could be used to figure some of this shit out."

"In the end, the fact that this world seems to be significantly older than the Elder Tale Online that we all know is fascinating, the corruption is the main source of my concern." Rylen leans himself forward, resting his weight on his elbows as he watches the pensive movements of the Salamander. "If glitched monsters can influence our memories, it suggests that there might be other unseen dangers to us. Beyond just dying, or losing progress. It seems like there may be threats to our very selves."

He pushes himself up to his feet, moving over to stand next to Xander. The elf reaches out a hand and brushes it over the Salamander's scaled fingers. "There are certain people I've met in this world that I have no intention of forgetting." He states, serious.

Then, with the suggestion of a library, he hrms to himself. "I've never been much of a library person, but it's possible that it might shed some light on the history of the world that we're missing out on. At least anything that wasn't part of the original lore." He raises a white eyebrow, "How much of the lore were you familiar with? I never really spent much time with it..." It wasn't his style of play, really.

    Xander watches as Rylen stands up and walks over. As he goes to touch the Salamander's hand, he doesn't move it away, but he also doesn't really fully act in kind, beyond a gentle movement of acceptance.

Those draconic eyes look away for a moment in more thought, before he looks back to Rylen. "Sadly, I don't know much either. We probably need to find someone in the New World Alliance that maybe knows something. I've heard they are really into the world. Like, you know, wanting to live in it right?"

Xander grunts softly, "Surely one of them knows the lore inside or out... Maybe someone in yours? Sadly the Scale is full of raiders really." He chuckles. "We are, uh, not the most lore knowledgeable. I just the basics as an example."

    The salamander closes his eyes and goes to rest his forehead against Rylen's. He was silent for a moment, though there was an odd rumble that escape from Xander, followed by an exhale of air. Perhaps simply de-stressing sigh.

After that moment he says softly. "You really should go get a shower, try to relax. Goldenblade did come by looking for you... But.. I can fill you in after you get some rest."