digitaldatacenter | The Forest Village

The Forest Village

[ Now that the group is free, they can explore the forest village to gather info and supplies before heading out. Eric is going to be training in smithing with some local digimon.

The entire village is nestled beneath the trees, hidden in its boughs. A giant tree-turned-castle is in the center, with the smithing near the eastern river. An open-air market exists beneath the tree, around its base, where things both familiar and foreign are sold and traded. Clothes are scarce, although there's an Archnemon who works as a seamstress if they can find her.

Most shops are in the literal tree houses, though, especially the more specialized ones. There's cafes and an inn and the library that NeoDevimon works at. If it exists in a town, it's here somewhere, you just have to find it. Everyone largely seems to be chill, but there's definitely the sense that things are tense beneath the surface. ]

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[Of course it is.]

Dorumon? This is your language, yes? I may need some aid for my computer to have enough information to learn to translate this.

[He is trying to figure out if he can get the Digivice to interface with his computer on another screen, but that's slow going without tools he's used to.]

[ Well, if he keeps at it, he does eventually get it up and... It garbles a bit at first. Then actively seems to be translating itself for him. But also because you interfaced this together, you have an app from it that's just the screen of your digivice and its functionalities on your computer. You have a few choices to pick from, now that you have this up in your own language. ]

> Map
> Messages
> Notes
> Clock
> Calendar
> Status
> Encyclopedia

[Dorumon looks over as it's starting to turn to Galra glyphs; there's a beat where Dorumon gives Lotor a questioning look and Lotor just shrugs. Dorumon yawns, rolling over and letting the ball drop to the blanket, and curls up, sleepily gnawing on one of the bones.]

[Lotor, meanwhile, is going through each and every one of those menu options, seeing how much he can get to from them.]

[ Congrats. The very first thing you click on is a map. It glitches at first, taking a moment to come up. But then it does, and for a moment, he gets a vibrant, clear map of the entire huge island this place is on. But then the screen glitches and he can watch as splotches of gray take over chunks of it. And finally, he's left with a mostly grayed out map. It would seem, given the reactions of some gathered mons who are now watching his screen, that this is indicative of how far the glass has spread. ]

[Lotor studies that, half glaring at the screen with a thoughtful frown.]

Well, it seems we're not going to the swamplands until we find a way to push that back.

[As much as he isn't fond of the Galra side of his heritage, he knows a "Victory or Death" scenario when he sees one, and this is definitely only those options.]

[It also means a vanishingly small window to move in - but rushing too hastily won't get anyone anywhere.]

Once I've seen what else I can make sense of here, we need to prepare and leave - hopefully we can find some clues to work with along the way. [Skirt the south edge of the glass just enough to maybe see about samples to test, then head for the snowfield capitol to see what else can be gathered...]

[Well, a map is a start for planning; he's going to move on to the Messages prompt, turning over resources weighed against what little they know so far.]

[ He's about to maybe wish he'd done this somewhere a little less public in about three seconds. Because the screen glitches... And then projects a larger screen above him, to give a clear view. In it, he can see a woman all in red with a crown on her head. In the background, one can see what is clearly former knights infected by the glass doing battle with random civilians. It's a grim sight. ]

We are not sure how to word this. First, we hope that this message reaches our Allies. Or better yet, we hope it reaches the ones we had planned to call forth to save us as our own efforts have failed. We are Rafflesimon. We rule the marshes, home to many a digimon who was once shunned elsewhere. And it is with a saddened heart we must report that the Swamp Citadel has been breached.

[ The screen shakes and there are screams as something in the background explodes. She looks behind her for a moment, grimly, before turning back to whatever is recording. ]

...Please. Save us. Our people... They deserve not this. We can only beg of you to find a solution--any solution to the problem. And we... We are sorry. We tried to stave it off once it took the mountains. But it claimed one of our knights. And then he spread it to the others and now... A coup.

[ Another, much closer explosion, and she looks back again. The screams are eerily beginning to die out, as is the motions of anything moving in the background. She turns back to the screen again. ]

...We are out of time. The video is set to be sent adrift in the digital river, so anyone may eventually stumble upon i--

[ She lets out a screech as something attacks from behind, obscured by smoke from the explosions mere moments ago. She glows brightly and then splits into two different women--a rose-themed one, and a lotus-themed one. They both are on the ground, reaching for each other. The camera they'd been using is also on the ground no, so the view of them is from largely beneath. The background is almost entirely glassed over. ]

Rosemon! I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry! I was too stubborn, I should have asked for help, I--

It's all right, Lotosmon. It's all right. Help will come. You'll see.

[ Their fingers barely touch as their own forms freeze in glass, fingertips just barely touching one another. The eerie stillness takes over and the feed sits there for a minute. Most would click away and stop by now, because there's plenty of time left on the video, but doesn't seem to be anything happening. Lotor, however, notices very slight movement to the camera. As if it's being gently poked. Suddenly, though, a hand comes from behind and grabs it. And Lotor, who rolled a fucking 20 on this, will notice, in the seconds before the video ends....

The hand looks human. ]

[Well, he ... probably just accidentally traumatized some of the townsfolk; Dorumon's pretending to still be half asleep but both ears are perked up turned toward Lotor and the screen, tail less wrapped around themself and ticking.]

[He reaches over to pat Dorumon's head. While he's definitely acting like he's just addressing Dorumon, he's not really making any effort to keep his voice down; after all, everyone who just overheard that video is going to need at least the idea there's something on their side.] Well, that's why we're here, is it not?

[He's gone full Command Confidence - this is a Challenge etc.] And if this world is structured on data, then it has to be reversible - just a matter of finding the way to restore it to a prior state. [Which might be easier said than done, since it means finding a way to interact with the structure of the Digital World, but obviously someone has done it - so it has to be possible...he's just not going to say that part in front of everyone.]

Now, let's see what else we have to work with so far... [He's going on to the Notes section, but he's maintaining persona; too many villagers that are probably VERY rattled.]

[ Luckily he's gotten past the big whammies at this point. The Notes function is just a notebook he can keep track of things in--complete with an actually accurate speech-to-text function. Everything else is pretty straightforward, with Status basically being a way to see how Dorumon's faring if they ever get separated. The months on the calendar are very different, and unrecognizable, going by their own system. Months here seem to be roughly twenty-five to twenty-six days, the clock function includes a stopwatch and alarm, and the encyclopedia is basically a record of all unfamiliar terms he's learned in relation to the digital world. Nothing much else there. ]

[He knows there should be more to it; he's going to keep poking around a little while Dorumon naps - he wants to be as well prepared as he can before they set out.]

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The Forest Village

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