destinyquest

[destinyquest]

Trouble at the Farm: Part 3

Evening, Somewhere in the forests of the EDZ Donnie had taken lead on scouting a path through the woods. Although she had only just been Risen, she felt naturally inclined to stalk through the unfamiliar territory. It also gave her a moment to herself, and a chance to emotionally cope with the incredible and terrifying day she had just had. It seemed like just yesterday she was tending to her farm, and now she was living in some sort of nightmare. As she deftly maneuvered the forest with a low profile, she would occasionally catch glimpses of the Exo Hunter and Awoken Warlock trailing her. In spite of his smug and charismatic personality, she couldn't bring herself to trust the robot. Last she remembered, robots were best at delivering packages and making coffee; she couldn't wrap her mind around the complex consciousness that defines an Exo. Even Nil wouldn't be able to comprehend his existence, if asked. The first alien Donnie met tried to kill her, and one of them actually did. The second alien species she met, this one significantly more human in appearance, saved her life. Although he has his quirks, she felt that he was at least honest. Zulgren spoke with a matter-of-fact tone of voice that, from most men, would be grating to Donnie. Something about his personality convinced her and convinced most people who met Zulgren that he knew even more than he was saying. His tone didn't come from a place of over-confidence, rather from a staggering wealth of knowledge. Most Guardians know this personality trait of void Warlocks far too well, not all are able to stomach it. After the sun set, Donnie picked a well fortified and hidden campsite. Even though she had been extremely active all day, she realized she wasn’t feeling hungry at all. The fireteam takes shelter in the cover of an ancient oak tree, and Nil begins to pick up firewood. He seems intent on winning the trust and approval of his new fireteam and forms an awkward fire pit out of some relatively damp wood he'd found lying about. He then attempts to set a flame by rolling a twig between his hands, spinning it as it bores into another piece of wood. Donnie has been watching as Nil attempts in vain to get a fire going. "Do you need a hand there? I remember, there used to be this show called Survivor and they had to start a lot of fires- I think that method you're using isn't gonna work too well." Nil grumbles and looks at his sad pile of wood. Still crouched over the fire pit, hiding his shame, he focuses his Light into Solar energy and throws a flaming knife into the heart of his kindling. The fire pit erupts into flame as Nil jumps to his feet in a celebratory pose. "First try", he says, smugly. The team make themselves comfortable and begin to settle in for the night. Nil performs a light-hearted dance to entertain his fireteam, claiming it is a "dance of his people." Donnie recognizes it as "The Robot" dance. "Some might say this dance is offensive to robot-folk, but sometimes you just gotta please the people", Nil says feigning a noble attitude. Zulgren is not watching the performance, instead he is staring deep into the sky. His eyes are not focused on the stars, but on a point beyond the glittery veil draped over the sky. He feels a gentle breeze pulling him in this direction, to a place he cannot see, to a location farther than he can comprehend. He is the first to fall into a deep slumber, levitating slightly off the ground. Donnie takes first watch as Nil also starts to doze off. She watches as Nil flinches slightly in his sleep, his lights dimming, blinking suddenly, then dimming again. She hears distant gunfights and the constant turbulent roar of the Traveler's Shard in the distant mountains. Eventually Zulgren relieves her of her duty and she manages to get some sleep. Morning comes, and Zulgren approaches a still groggy Donnie to ask her something that has been on his mind since they'd met. "Your Light, do you know how to wield it?" "I'm sorry, my what?" "I... I recognize the Light affinity you have. When you were Risen... I think you also share a connection with the Void." "The void?" Donnie asks. She rubs her eyes as she realizes that she has still not awoken from this nightmare, and wonders if it could get any more bizarre. "Reach out your hand, Donnie. Do you feel the energy within the spaces of the atoms? Do you feel the nothingness that binds everything together?" Donnie tentatively holds out her hand, and starts to lightly wave it around. In spite of her skepticism, she does feel something: a subtle yet thick fog of magnetic energy. "Close your fist, and collapse that energy into the space within your palm", directs Zulgren. Donnie chuckles lightly, and shakes her head. Zulgren stares intently at her, with unnerving stable eye contact. Donnie realizes he is not joking, and closes her fist and begins to concentrate. A moment passes, and Zulgren senses that Donnie's faith was wavering. Her fist still clenched, she mutters, "Nothings happening..." "The Void is not just the absence of light, but also the dark. It is not the vacuum of space, it is the space without the vacuum. There is infinite distance between every atom in the air, grasp it!" Zulgren suddenly sounds more intense. Donnie lets out a soft gasp as she feels something within her fingers. Slowly, she unfolds her hand and observes a violet orb. Staring into it, she sees the midnight sky. Zulgren gives something that could resemble a smile, and says to himself, "A Nightstalker, as I thought." Donnie anxiously asks, "Uh... hey... what is that? What's in my hand? What did I do!?" "That is a void smoke bomb. Throw it." Zulgren calmly instructs her. Donnie delicately tosses the orb a few feet in front of them. As the orb touches the ground, it bursts into an impossibly opaque dark cloud. "Whoa." Donnie is dumbfounded, "I didn't know I could do that." "Now you know. Let's move." Zulgren abruptly starts walking. Dinklebot indicates (with his usual dull tone of voice) that the Whispering Falls Lost Sector is only a short walk from their campsite. They spend a brief moment burying evidence of their campsite and hasten their pace towards their objective.

Mid-Day, Whispering Falls Lost Sector The fireteam comes across a babbling brook and begin to follow it upstream. The brook grows in volume until it is a sizable river, nearly 10 feet across. By mid-day, they reach a large pool being fed by a roaring waterfall tumbling over a wide and rocky cliff-face. Donnie approaches the cliff face to inspect it. With a brief cursory glance, she turns to her companions and curtly states, "There's loot behind that waterfall." "How do you know?" asks Zulgren innocently. "Well, in video games there's always loot behind the waterfall." "Video games?" Nil asks, interested. "Oh, y'all don't...?" Alexa, Donnie's ghost, pops out excitedly, "Oh I heard about those! Used to be a source of entertainment for humans during the Golden Age. Humans used to have so much free time when they weren't fighting for their lives." Donnie frowns, as realization dawns that she will never be able to play the Dragon Age series again. She puts this upsetting thought aside and turns to properly investigate the waterfall. Peeking as close as she dared to the frothing water, she is able to confirm that there is some sort of cave entrance behind the waterfall. "See, told you." Donnie claps her hands and readies herself to climb. Taking a slight running start, she starts to grasp at the stone but is unable to grasp the slick rock and falls flat on her back. "Ouch." Donnie rubs her lower back as she stands back up, "Hey Zulgren, do you mind boosting me?" Nil has been staring nervously at the pool since they arrived at the falls, calculating it's depth and relative position to the hidden cave entrance. "Hey, uh... guys? I can't swim" admits the Exo. "What? What do you mean you can't-" Donnie starts to ask, but Nil simply points at his face with an exasperated expression. "Heavy metal doesn't float well, and, well... Yeah I can't swim. I might be able to climb in there, but if I fall then one of you better be ready to fish me out." Donnie and Zulgren ponder this unexpected setback. While they discuss alternative ways to enter the cave, Donnie notices a poorly maintained stone path leading away from the pond into the woods. "Ok, if Zulgren and I can hop in and take a peek, maybe we'll be able to help you climb in too. If that doesn't work, we might be able to explore that path and see if we find something else to help us out." The fireteam agrees on this plan of attack, and Zulgren begins to help lift Donnie into the cave. Donnie manages to crawl in, and turns around to give Zulgren a hand. The two push through the intense volume of water hammering down on them until they are both fully inside the cave. Between gasps for air, Zulgren hears a strange noise from within the cave. Unmistakable beeps and clicks: hexinary. Although he cannot understand what they are saying, he is certain there are some Fallen constructs within this cave. As he gets to his feet and his eyes adjust to the darkness, he sees the walls are lined with surveillance technology. He gestures to Donnie to be quiet, and turns his attention to a blinking Fallen control panel attached to an installment in the cave wall. Dinklebot pops out from behind him and begins to assist him in hacking the control panel to learn more about the cave and it's invisible inhabitants, but before they are able to learn anything valuable the control panel shuts off. Echoing through the cave, Zulgren hears the hexinary chatter amplify. Although the cave path disappears into darkness ahead of him, he makes out the glow of a floating construct approaching him and Donnie. The two Guardians start to inch back towards the mouth of the cave, as the floating construct enters within visible range. It is a shank, but instead of a repeater blaster assembled to it's underside, this one has a small satellite dish attached to it's head. Zulgren turns to Donnie and says one word, barely audible: "Jump." Nil is staring at the pool of water, about to summon his ghost to check on his companions, when two Guardians come bursting through the waterfall and splashing into the water below. Donnie and Zulgren swim ashore and breathlessly explain to Nil what they saw. Then, the three look to the waterfall, expecting Fallen to come bursting through. Instead, all they hear is the roar of the waterfall. "Seems the sound of the waterfall hid our escape" Zulgren notes. "Ok, we need an easier way into that cave, so that Nil can join us. Let's see where this path leads" Donnie points at the stone path she noticed earlier. The fireteam follows the path only a few yards into the woods and come across a small log-wood shack. Scratch marks line the walls near the door, and the window is shattered inward. As Donnie and Zulgren inch cautiously towards the door, they hear a heavy thud followed by scrambling from within the structure. "Oof. I'm good." Nil had attempted to dodge into the house through the shattered window... and landed on his face. "Uh, oops. This doesn't look good" says Nil. Donnie and Zulgren rush in through the front door and see Nil standing over three human bodies. Their flesh is lacerated and seared with jagged lines. Judging by the odor, their bodies have been here for a few days. Donnie gags, while Zulgren and Nil begin to inspect the bodies and the interior of the cabin. The space is quite small, barely enough space for 3 humans to live comfortably, and only enough resources to support a meager lifestyle. Zulgren finds a small steel key attached to a belt on one of the bodies, and uses it to open a large metal tackle box at the foot of one of the beds. Zulgren and Nil meet Donnie outside, who is getting some fresh air and trying to clear her mind of the grotesque scene she had just witnessed. Zulgren holds up some climbing gear he had found, and some fishing line. The gear includes more than enough rope and carabiners to help the three of them scale the wall, so they head back towards the waterfall. "Quiet, when we enter... ok?" Zulgren sternly warns his fireteam. Donnie and Nil nod and the three quickly ascend into the cave with the help of the climbing gear. The sound of the waterfall is reverberating throughout the mouth of the cave, but Zulgren can make out the distinct sound of hexinary chatter ahead of him. He signals for the other two to follow behind him as he sneaks forward. As they venture deeper into the darkness, they come across two carved cavities in the wall. Past the dark cavities, they see the path forks abruptly. Zulgren leans to peek into one of the cavities and spots the Sentry Shank that had chased them out earlier. He starts to gesture to explain the situation to the other two when another Sentry Shank appears from one of the forks ahead of them. "Ok, go!" Zulgren commands as he charges into the cavity, hand raised. Nil jumps into action and summons a dagger of solar energy. Zulgren's hand glows with violet energy and blasts the shank in front of him into atoms. Nil charges towards the fork in the path, his hand at the ready. The shank turns, and tries to move out of the way but a blade of pure solar energy carves into it's circuitry. The smoldering shank crumbles to the floor. "BOOM, nailed it!" Nil celebrates. Electronic lights suddenly begin to glow behind Nil as three more shanks suddenly become aware of intruders. Donnie notices the lights are coming from one of the forks ahead of her, and dashes with her pitchfork leading her assault. She enters into a small room and finds herself face to face with three more shanks, except these ones have blasters. Nil and Zulgren also rush in to help, and they manage to quickly dispatch two of the shanks with minimal effort. The third, realizing it's predicament begins to raise an antenna. Before it can signal an alarm, it is abruptly impaled by a pitchfork. Donnie dislodges her pitchfork, and the three Guardians freeze. The sounds of combat echoed briefly against the narrow walls of the cave and then died. Silence fell, and they could again hear the distant thunder of the waterfall coming from the entrance. As they left the small room where some shanks had been hiding, they returned to the fork in the path and inched cautiously down the other path. After a few minutes of tense sneaking through the damp and claustrophobic space, they come across a sharp bend in the path. At the crease of the bend an armored corpse is resting on the ground, with a small heap of shattered metal by its side. Nil rushes to the body and gently lifts the torso, looks at his companions, and shakes his head. Alexa appears in front of Donnie and approaches the pile of crumbled metal. Her frame seems to weigh down heavily, and her light dims temporarily. "His ghost has been destroyed. He isn't coming back." whispers Alexa, her voice wavering. "I knew him well" mutters Nil. "Oh no, I'm so sorry Nillion", Donnie can't tell if he's being serious or not. The armor is lacerated with tendrils of energy, and the helmet is severely crumpled. A hand cannon lies shattered on the opposite side of his destroyed ghost. "I can scan his- what remains of- his ghost to see what did this." Donnie nods silently at Alexa, who begins to point a beam of light at the pile of metal. After a brief moment, Alexa begins to softly play back what data she can recover. They hear the sound of the waterfall roar within the recording, and then the sound of the ghost speaking. "Leon, I don't like the look of this. We should call this in." "It's going to be fine... Fallen don't usually send high ranking officers to distant outposts like this. Besides, I've been itching to put some Dregs in the dirt." The playback is just barely able to produce the sound of wet footsteps slowing to a halt. "Did you see that?" "What? I don't think there's anything there..." "I swear, I thought I saw-" Suddenly, the sound of electricity rips through the air. They hear Leon gasp in pain, followed by a few blasts from his hand cannon. "Come out and face me you coward! Fallen scum!" Then, they hear a deep voice growl in Eliksni. "What the- AGH!" There is more gunfire, and then the sound of metal ripping through metal. "Leon!" yells a distressed ghost. The recording ends. Donnie, Zulgren, and Nil all look at one another. "Where is it." Zulgren says suddenly. "That is what the Fallen said, in the recording." They stand and Zulgren gestures towards the darker end of the cave. Nil grabs the body and hauls it over his shoulder. "Wait, what are you doing?" asks Donnie "Well, I don't want to leave his body here... seems wrong." "Oh, I guess. We could also grab him on our way out..." "It'll be fine, lets go." Donnie shrugs and accompanies Zulgren in delving deeper into the cave. As they progress, the walls begin to widen. They come into a large open room, so great in size that the far wall is completely shrouded in darkness. The only thing they can see from the other end of the room are tiny blinking lights in red and blue. Zulgren recognizes this to be from Fallen technology, and due to the near dead silence, he figures these lights do not belong to shanks. Donnie and Zulgren creep slowly towards the far side of the room while Nil falls behind slightly, encumbered by the body on his shoulders. As the far wall comes into view, Donnie and Zulgren see two large Fallen barricades; the far wall is a slightly concave feature completely stuffed with stolen goods and technology. Donnie gestures to peek around one of the barricades, and Zulgren leans up against one side. Donnie begins to sneak around one end and sees a Dreg sitting cross legged on the cave floor, sharpening its blade. Beyond this Dreg, she sees another hiding behind the other barricade. She turns around to hand-gesture at Zulgren, who nods in response. They count down, then Donnie charges out at the Dreg closest to her as Zulgren does the same. They are both able to subdue the Dregs with ease, but something catches Donnie's eye. She looks at the wall with the stolen goods, and rubs her eyes. The light is bending in strange angles, making it hard to focus on some of the objects. "Hey, Zulgren... what is-" As she turns to point at the wall, she realizes that she no longer senses the aberration. "Whoa... something weird is going on here..." Suddenly, an arc of electric energy slashes at Donnie, who yells out in pain. Nil quickly places Leon's body on the ground and draws his hand cannon. Donnie growls as she wildly swings her pitchfork in the direction of the invisible attacker. Her weapon makes contact, and for a brief moment she is able to perceive the outline of a formidable Fallen creature. Unlike the Fallen with two arms she'd faced previously, this one had four extremely large arms. Just as soon as she caught a glimpse of this creature, it disappeared. "It's a Marauder!" yells Zulgren. Nil focuses his vision in the direction of his teammates as he approaches them. He senses some unnatural light diffraction and quickly fires his hand cannon in its direction. His bullet blasts into the cave wall. Zulgren reaches out his hand in the same direction that Nil fired, and blasts as much void energy as he can muster. The violet energy from his hands explodes outward and encompasses a large Fallen creature. The Marauder stumbles backwards into a corner, its cloaking disabled from the immense damage it suddenly took. This Fallen is significantly larger than the Dregs lying at their feet, and lets out an aggressive shout at Zulgren. Nil and Donnie charge up to flank the Marauder and box them into the corner. Just as Donnie is about to lunge with her pitchfork, the Marauder disappears from view. Something large shoves between Donnie and Zulgren in the direction of the middle of the room. "Crap! Spread out!" commands Donnie. She backs away from the corner and stabs her pitchfork in the direction the Marauder dashed, but her weapon is unable to connect. Zulgren runs in the same direction and thrusts out his hand, also unable to find their assailant. Nil dashes in another direction, wildly throwing a punch at the air. Nil growls in frustration, and focuses as hard as he can in the dim light. He hears electricity crackle directly behind his neck, but is unable to react in time. A blade charged with intense arc energy tears down his back, dropping the Hunter to a kneel. Nil yells in agony as he feels the ripping pain nearly bring him to lose consciousness. "No!!" Zulgren quickly raises his pulse rifle, but is unable to hit any of his shots. Nil raises his eyes to meet Zulgrens', and though his body is still writhing from the savage attack he just took, he manages a wink. As rapid as the wink he gave Zulgren, Nillion-7 whips around while drawing his hand cannon. He falls onto his back onto the cave floor, aiming his weapon at a point 8 feet above him; he fires. The bullet penetrates under the Marauders chin with such force the creature is lifted into the air. The large Fallen creature crumples to the floor, uncloaked and dead. Nil sighs and rests his head on the rocky floor. "Nailed it." The cave is silent again, and being unable to see any other avenues for exploration, the fireteam decides to unhurriedly loot the various Fallen salvage. Donnie finds a small concrete token with a sigil inscribed on it, and a blank dog tag. Nil finds an expired ramen coupon and a brass-colored coin-sized tool. Pressing it emits a small burst of flame; he pockets it quickly. Zulgren uncovers a small marble made of an impossibly dark material, it is oddly warm to the touch. As he lifts it to inspect it closer, Donnie asks, "Whatcha got there? Find anything interesting" Zulgren quickly palms the marble, and grabs the first item at his feet. "Nothing. Just found a..." he looks at the object in his hands. It is an engram-shaped stress ball. He squeezes it. "A stress ball." Donnie nods slowly, "Ok." She sits down against the cave wall, and rests for a moment. As she watches her new companions sift through the wreckage of their conquest and feels the fatigue of combat catch up with her, she realizes this waking nightmare was not one she was going to wake up from. This was the world she lived in now, one devoid of sheep and goats and relaxed iced tea on the porch. One where a strange little robot brought her back to life twice in the same day, and where some aliens want to kill her while others want to help her. Zulgren mulls over the events of the day, absentmindedly squishing a stress ball in one palm while rolling the dark marble in the other. He could feel a mystery clawing at the back of his mind, something was not as it seemed with this mysterious new Fallen House. Although he was deep within a cave, his eyes locked onto a point far beyond the walls. He knew it was foolish to hope that he could find guidance in such a distant figure, but he wondered what she would make of all this, whether she would have figured it all out by now. Nil plays with his newfound Cabal lighter, having almost forgotten his near-mortal wounds.

[destinyquest]

Trouble at the Farm: Part 2

Afternoon, The Farm Three Guardians emerge from the forest and enter the perimeter of The Farm. Ever since operations were established at the Tower, few Guardians visit The Farm. Those who did, found it to be a quiet respite from the constant battle for life and death on other planets. Today, there was a slightly unusual sight: multiple combat frames patrolling the perimeter, and a human wielding a sniper rifle atop the barn. She notices the approaching Guardians, and waves. A falcon lands on her shoulder.

In the middle of the Farm, near the fountain, the locals have established a makeshift market. Civilian humans and awoken are milling about, exchanging their goods and services, and making small talk. Children are playing soccer in the field nearby.

Donnie was overjoyed to see familiar territory, even though it is being guarded by robots. Her joy is quickly turned to awe as she notices something enormous embedded into a distant mountain, spewing turbulent black clouds into the sky.

“What is THAT?”

“That would be a shard of the Traveler. Remember how I said the Traveler saved us? Well, that was part of it’s sacrifice.” explains an exasperated Alexa. Donnie’s Ghost had been trying to catch up her Guardian on everything she’d missed, which was proving difficult.

“We should go talk to Suraya”, said Zulgren. The Warlock points at the woman standing on a scaffolding upon the barn. “She needs us.”

As they climb the stairs towards Suraya’s post, Donnie is relieved to see some familiarity: stables with livestock, farm tools and equipment, humans. She could not understand, however, why the humans did not look at her with familiarity. Most seemed to show faces of awe and fear.

Suraya turns to greet the three, “Hello there! I’m assuming Zavala sent you?”

Nil and Zulgren nod, Donnie asks “Zavala?”

“Oh yeah, she’s... uh... new”, chuckles Nil.

“Hi! I’m Donnie, nice to meet you!”

Suraya is pleasantly surprised by Donnie’s effervescent personality.

“Well hello, its nice to meet you. Name’s Suraya. Suraya Hawthorne. Normally I think we’d make sure you go to the Tower but-”

“I’m sorry, can... uh... I have a question.”

“Yes, Donnie?”

“Do you have any farm animals? I would love to see some sheep, or some goats, or anything like that?”

“Well... um.” Suraya squints her eyes, “I suppose...”

She takes a lengthy, uncertain pause before asking, “Why exactly do you want to see farm animals?”

“Well, I used to be a farmer, and that’s about the only thing that could make me feel more normal in this strange world I’m in now.”

Suraya sighs in relief, “Ok. Yeah, that’s fine. We got some horses and chickens in the barn over there. I wasn’t sure what you needed the farm animals for, sometimes some Guardians can be a little... weird.”

She eyes Zulgren, who has now taken out a small bone from his pocket. He is holding it up to his ear, listening intently. He then whispers into the bone, and puts it back into his pocket.

“Anyways... before you go say hi to the farm animals, I kinda have a life and death situation here...”

Donnie covers her mouth in embarrassment, “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t-”

“No no no, its ok- I supposed I should’ve just led with that,” chuckles Suraya. “The reason why I asked Zavala to dispatch some Guardians here is because we’ve had some increased Fallen presence at the Farm for the past 2 weeks. Like... violent, aggressive, Fallen presence. It is really unexpected and I’m honestly really worried. They’ve left The Farm alone ever since operations were relocated to the Tower. Why would they attack here? It’s just civilians, peaceful civilians just trying to live their lives!”

“Oh yeah, we took care of some Fallen on our way here!” chirps Nil.

“You did? Well, that’s good and bad news. Good that you took care of them, not so good that they’re still on our doorstep. They already destroyed a civilians home on the outskirts. They lost everything- I... I should’ve been here. At least they escaped with their lives, they’re living here now, at the farm.”

“Indeed”, says Zulgren, “we were also unable to recognize the House these Fallen are from.”

Dinklebot, Zulgrens Ghost, emerges from behind him. It begins to project an image of a symbol painted onto the clothing of a dead Vandal. The symbol shows a crescent, with abstract clouds emerging from it.

“I captured this image of their house symbol on a Vandal we dispatched near here.”

“Fascinating. That’s definitely not House of Dusk, or any other House I recognize,” muses Suraya.

The group all stare at the mysterious symbol for a moment, before Suraya interrupts the silence.

“Perhaps Tyra can help. She’s down by the market,” Suraya gestures towards a platform near the market where an elderly Awoken woman is working at a cryptarchs’ station. “I’m open to suggestion on what else can be done here. For now I’m gonna head back to my patrols. I won’t be far in case any of you need me.”

Nil is distracted polishing his hand cannon, while Zulgren is back to whispering at the mysterious bone.

“Well it was nice meeting you!” says Donnie enthusiastically.

“And it was nice meeting YOU! I look forward to seeing you again Donnie.” Suraya smiles and walks off. As she does so, she mutters to her falcon Louis, “I don’t know about those two vanguards, but I like the new one. What do you think? ... Yeah, me too.”

Donnie, Nil and Zulgren walk towards Tyra’s podium, glancing at the market as they pass through. The cryptarch is lost in concentration analyzing an engram. She is momentarily surprised to see three Guardians approaching her. She had gotten used to most Guardians visiting Rahool at the tower, but welcomed the change.

“Greetings Guardians, engrams to decrypt?” asks Tyra.

“Actually, we are here because of the Fallen.” Zulgren informs her of their mission.

“Yes, this makes sense. Hmm. The mystery house, and the sudden attacks. It is a conundrum.”

Alexa peeks out from behind Donnie and offers, “The Fallen were the last race that the Traveler visited, do you think they’re here for the shard?”

“It is possible, indeed. There was a Hunter with that theory... what was his name... Leon! Yes, he was a sharp one. Went to go investigate a nearby Lost Sector, I believe it was called the Whispering Falls?”

“Do you know where this is?” inquires Zulgren

“Hm? Oh, yes. Let me see...” Tyra begins to rummage through the mess of her table and procures a small data bank. “Here, for your ghost.”

Dinklebot scans the data bank. “It is a 2 day journey.” he says, monotonously.

“Ooh! Maybe we can take the horses!” chirps Donnie.

"Do be careful, and see if dear Leon is ok. I haven’t heard from him since he left.”

The three Guardians begin to head towards the stables, but along the way Donnie and Nil are distracted by the market. Donnie finds an armorsmith selling a stylish spinweave armor piece, and approaches the vendor. Billy the armorsmith had never really interacted with Guardians before, and wasn’t sure what to make of the one approaching him now.

“Hi! I really like that armor you’ve got there, what is it?”

“Hey... um, its spinweave. Really high quality.” says Billy, through a forced smile. “Sorry, I just, we don’t have Guardians here that often.”

“Oh, well I’m Donnie! It’s nice to meet you, what’s your name?”

“Billy.” he says, lowering his guard. “You’re a lot nicer than I was expecting. I just don’t really know what to make of people who, you know, come back from the dead.”

“Trust me, neither do I” chuckles Donnie. “I would love to buy this armor, how much of the blue glittery stuff is it?”

“450 Glimmer. This is the only Guardian armor I have in stock, and it’s as high quality as it comes.”

Donnie checks with Alexa on how much Glimmer she has before turning back to bargain a little.

“So, any chance I could trade you my armor for the spinweave?” and, forgetting that she had taken a beating from a Vandal, says, “Its in perfect condition!”

Billy looks at the unsightly laser-riddled and scarred leather armor Donnie is wearing, and decides that she could use better armor more than he needs the extra Glimmer. Besides, she was the kindest, and only, Guardian he’d ever met! He gives her an amicable discount.

Nil finds himself at a weaponsmith’s stand, inspecting the various wares. The weaponsmith steps out from behind the tent to greet the Guardian. “Hello there!” they gesture towards his impressive collection. “If you have any questions about my hand-crafted weaponry, just let me know.”

Nil raises a mechanical eyebrow. “I happen to know a thing or two about gunsmithery myself, I’m Nil. Nillion-7”

The weaponsmith smirks, and decides to play along. “Oh, is that so? Friend of Banshee?”

“Friend? More like BEST friend. Banshee and I go way back.”

The merchant sees straight through Nil’s blatant lie. “Right, well. You see, I happen to know Banshee-44 quite well... and I don’t remember him ever mentioning a Nil.”

Nil realizes his error and meekly offers a correction, “I mean, Banshee doesn’t know that we’re going to be best friends. I see him as a best friend.”

The weaponsmith nods and chuckles. “Whatever you say Guardian. If you chose to buy anything, let me know.”

Nil mutters to himself as he walks off towards the stables. There he finds Donnie wearing a fresh set of spinweave armor. Zulgren is inspecting the horses, stroking his chin very slowly.

“Oh hey Nil! Do you know anything about weaponsmithing?” Donnie asks the Exo.

Nil cheers up, hearing that his skills are needed. ”Well, yeah! What’s up?”

“This pitchfork kinda... sucks. No offense Alexa, but I can’t hit for shit with this thing. Got any ideas on how you could improve it?”

“Hm... I could give it a nice plasteel handle and reinforce the blades on the end there. Gonna cost some Glimmer.”

“Done! Here.” Alexa transfers some Glimmer to Nil’s ghost, who then immediately starts working on improving the pitchfork. Nil and his ghost make quick work of it, considering he is accustomed to tinkering with machinery far more complex than farm tools. By the time he is done, the pitchfork has a plasteel-lined extended grip making it easier for two-handed wielding, and the metal points have been sharpened and reinforced with plasteel as well.

Donnie thanks Nil for his help and they return to Zulgren. The warlock is cautiously approaching one of the horses at the stable.

“Uh... hey Zulgren. Shouldn’t we ask if we can borrow this before we-”

Before Donnie is able to finish her sentence, Zulgren leaps onto the horse’s back. The horse immediately starts to buck and Donnie rushes to calm it down. Through their combined efforts, they are able to ease the creature’s shock from being so suddenly mounted.

“Ok. Maybe lets not steal horses from these nice people? I’m going to find Suraya. Nil, want to come? Nil?”

Donnie looks around, and Nil is nowhere to be seen. Suddenly a robotic face emerges from a haystack in the corner of the stable.

“Oh. Hey. Are we not stealing horses?” asks Nil, still in the haystack.

“Did you just... hide?” responds Donnie.

“Uh, I just thought we were about to steal horses and I figured I should be stealthy.”

Donnie rolls her eyes and walks out of the stables. She immediately spots Suraya walking the perimeter of the Farm, sniper rifle at the ready. Donnie waves at her, and Suraya waves back as she starts walking towards her.

“Hey there, was Tyra able to help you guys figure out more about the Fallen?”

“Yeah! We’re actually about to go on a quick mission into the woods, and I was wondering if we could borrow three of the horses in that stable?”

Suraya purses her lips and frowns. “Ah, yeah. I’m sorry you don’t have Sparrows but I can’t let you borrow the horses. They’re the only horses we have at The Farm and the EDZ can be dangerous. It’s not that I don’t trust you, and I definitely know they’d be for a good cause-”

Donnie cuts her off, “Don’t even worry about it. I totally get it. We’ll be on our way!”

Suraya smiles, “I really like you, thanks for being so understanding!” She nods, and returns to her patrols as Donnie jogs back to the stables.

“Sorry guys but looks like we can’t take the horses,” says Donnie as she enters the stable, “Suraya doesn’t want to risk anything happening to them and- ... WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HORSES?”

Three of the horses are glowing unnaturally.

Zulgren was looking proudly at Donnie, but his expression soured quickly. “Well. I had enhanced them with void energy, but I suppose we will leave them.”

Donnie rushes up to one of them, “Is- are they OK?”

“They are enhanced,” says Zulgren, in the same tone he might use to explain that horses are animals.

Donnie inspects them, and aside from the fact that they are glowing, they seem calm and in good health. Cautiously satisfied, Donnie begins to leave the stables with her two companions.

As they leave the perimeter of The Farm, they pass by Suraya making her rounds. She waves at the fireteam, “Good luck!”

Donnie smiles nervously, “Thanks! Um... You may want to check on the horses-”

“What?! What did you do?”

“They’re alive! Don’t worry!”

“ALIVE?”

Suraya runs off back in the direction of the stables while Donnie, Nil, and Zulgren sheepishly run into the forests of the EDZ. Dinklebot begins to chart their expedition through the woods as the intrepid team watch cautiously for ambush and surprises. The distant never-ending battle between the Light and the Darkness is a murmur deep in the woods, and the turbulent roar of the clouds billowing from the Shard of the Traveler is but a tremble beneath their feet.

[destinyquest]

Trouble at the Farm: Part 1

Mid Day, Somewhere in the EDZ near The Farm A frantic Ghost darts through the forest, scanning the ground at every opportunity. It bursts into a clearing, and comes to a sudden halt. It senses something beneath the ground here. It would be risky, but this might be their only chance at survival. Something moves above the Ghost, atop a small stony hill. The small construct looks back down at the ground.

“Please... I hope there’s someone good here. Please be good.”

The Ghost concentrates, and begins to pour all the Light it can muster into this inconspicuous patch of grass. The shape of a Guardian emerges from the Light, and slowly sits up. She has slightly tanned rough skin, and her hair is tied back with a bandana.

Donnie blinks, her vision slowly focusing on the bright forest around her. Everything is so loud, and so bright, and ...

“AHH what the!?”

Her eyes focused on the strange construct hovering in the air in front of her, and she immediately threw a punch at it, batting it away.

“Hey what the heck!” complained the Ghost in retaliation, “I just brought you back to life and THATS how you thank me?”

“What... what are you?”

“I’m your Ghost, and”

“Whoa, you’re my Ghost? I just... touched you. Does that mean, am I...?”

The Ghost looks around impatiently, and something catches it’s eye.

“Ok, I don’t really have time to explain, uhh... take this”

Before Donnie can protest further, the Ghost begins to transmat a weapon from it’s body. The transmat energy subsides, and a pitchfork lands into Donnies hands.

The ghost recoils, “What the, that’s not-”, but is interrupted by two Dregs bursting from the trees nearby, charging at the Guardian. The ghost turns to Donnie, “Ok, you’re up!”, and blinks out of existence.

Donnie, bewildered, stands up as quickly as she can. One of the Dregs lunges at her before she is able to react, cutting her with one of it’s arc daggers. She attacks back, stabbing with her pitchfork, but is unable to land a hit. Somewhere above the two dregs in front of her, a line of energy blasts into her shoulder, knocking her down.

She attempts to resist, but one of the Dregs quickly sinks it’s arc dagger into her. She loses consciousness quickly as the wounds overcome her. Everything turns to darkness, the last thing she sees is that strange construct hovering in front of her face.

“Seriously? Already? Alright, let’s try that again.”

Donnie feels air rushing into her lungs, and energy coursing through her body. Suddenly, she is back on her feet again, still face to face with two stunned Fallen.

Morning, Tower Hanger An Awoken Warlock is walking towards a Hawk prepping for takeoff in the Hangar. His nose is buried deep in a tome, scanning a constantly shifting map of strange symbols. His concentration is broken by a Hunter approaching, who appears to be dancing.

Bemused, the Warlock turns his attention to the Hunter, who finishes his jig and introduces himself. He bows dramatically, his bright vermilion eyes glinting within his gold and gray exo frame.

“HELLO. My name is Nillion-7, or Nil, Nil-7″.

The Warlock nods, and gruffly responds “Zulgren”. He continues to walk towards the Hawk. He’d been given strict orders by one of Zavalas officers to report to Suraya Hawthorne at The Farm, and had no intention of being distracted from his goal.

Nil holds his introductory pose as he watches Zulgren walk off. He figured the two of them shared the directive, since they were the only Guardians heading towards this ship. The rest were civilians loading supply crates headed for The Farm.

“Nil’s a family name, since you asked!" Nil shouts as he jogs to catch up with the Warlock.

Zulgren’s ghost pops out from behind him to inspect this talkative Hunter.

“Well hey there! I’m Nil, whats your name?”

The ghost squints its eye, “Dinklebot.” and then disappears back into Zulgren.

“Talkative”, mutters Nil.

The two Guardians embark onto the Hawk. There is only space for the two to sit directly next to each other. As the Hawk starts to take off, the two sit down in silence.

Mid Day, Near the Farm, thousands of feet in the air The intercom in the Hawk buzzes: “Hey, uh... are there two Guardians aboard? Did I see that correctly?”

Nil looks at Zulgren, who looks at Nil. Nil nods, Zulgren does not react. Nil clears his throat, and says “Yeah, uh, hey! Nil here. Whats your name?”

“What? I ... uh... Nate? Anyways I got a distress call from a Ghost, apparently some idiot Guardian got themselves pinned down by some Fallen near the Farm. Can I drop ya’ll off here?”

Zulgren looks at Nil with dread. “Can we jump out now?” he asks.

Nate chuckles and says “Well, let me get a little closer to the ground first, we’re still thousands of feet in the air.”

The Hawk begins descending rapidly. Through the window, Nil and Zulgren see two Dregs flanking a Guardian wielding a... is that a pitchfork? The loading door lowers and the two Guardians leap out. Nil lands with the grace of a dexterous Hunter. Zulgren floats, void energy gently letting him down on the ground.

Immediately upon landing, Zulgren senses a being lurking behind him. He turns and rushes up against the Dreg sneaking up on him and thrusts out his hand. Light itself seems to bend away from his hand as Void energy rips out and blasts the Fallen. The energy envelops the Dreg entirely and explodes, leaving zero trace of the creature’s existence. Zulgren smirks.

Nil sees the pitchfork-wielding Guardian and runs up behind one of the Dreg attacking her. He holds out his hand and focuses his Light into the shape of a knife, burning with Solar energy. He lifts it above his head and snaps his hand forward, launching the flaming knife with incredible velocity.

The knife flies right by the Dreg’s head, and embeds into the grass next to Donnie’s feet, who yells “AGH! More monsters!!”

From somewhere above a stony ridge, a line of energy blasts a spot on the ground next to Nil, who quickly dives behind a tree. Zulgren focuses on the source of the shot and sees a Vandal upon a perch on a stony ridge nearby.

Nil takes a deep breath, entering a trance like state. He then jumps out from behind the tree, rapidly drawing his hand cannon as he does so, and shoots one of the Dreg attacking Donnie. The Dreg collapses immediately at Donnie’s feet. The other Fallen, startled at the sudden demise of it’s companion, immediately begins to run away.

Donnie takes this opportunity to lunge with her pitchfork, but falls short, again.

“What kind of garbage pitchfork did you create, huh!? Hey! Are you there? Uh... Alexa??”

“Hey it’s not MY fault you can’t hit!” says her Ghost, from somewhere.

She runs after the escaping Dreg, pitchfork raised. Nil turns his attention to the Vandal on the ridge and begins firing as he approaches. Zulgren takes out a pulse rifle and begins firing at the sniper as well.

Donnie continues to chase the Dreg, making only small hits here and there. Finally, her Ghost speaks up.

“You want something to hit at range? I’ve also got a scout rifle in my memory banks.”

“NOW you tell me? You give me a shoddy pitchfork when you had a GUN?”

“Well, we’ve been a little busy! And... we’ll talk about the pitchfork later.”

Donnie’s Ghost emerges and transmats a scout rifle into her hands. Donnie aims and fires at the fleeing Dreg. The shot clips a branch on a tree.

“EVEN THE SCOUT RIFLE DOESNT WORK!” yells an exasperated Donnie.

“Come on, try again. You got this!” pleads her ghost.

Donnie takes aim one more time, and this time her shot hits the Dreg square in the back. The creature falls to the floor, as Donnie meekly accepts her minor victory.

“Ok, maybe this gun isn’t absolutely terrible.”

Nil and Zulgren continue their assault on the Vandal until it is overwhelmed. The sniper grabs it’s rifle and begins dashing off the ridge and into the forest. In it’s hurry, it didn’t notice Zulgren step out in front. Zulgren reaches out his hand... and in a flash of void energy the Vandal ceased to exist. Zulgren closes his fist, clenching tightly.

Silence falls over the forest. Nil turns to begin looting the belongings left behind by the defeated Fallen. Zulgren joins him in separating the useful loot from the trash as a terrified Donnie approaches them, her scout rifle aimed at their feet.

“Uh... hey you two...”

Nil stands up and quickly introduces himself, “Oh hey! I’m Nil-7, I’m a Hunter and uh... you’re welcome.”

“What... are you?”

Donnie’s ghost whispers in her ear, “He’s an Exo, the 7 means-”

“Means I’m 7 times as cool as Nil-1. 7 times more awesome.”

Donnie’s ghost lowers their voice further, “- he’s about 7 times more senile.”

Zulgren takes off his helmet. “You’ve never seen an Exo before?”

Donnie is startled to see a man with light blue skin and piercing blue luminescent eyes. Her ghost explains, “... and he’s an Awoken.”

“Well, aren’t we all... awake?” mutters Donnie. Her ghost sighs and explains, “Awoken are a race from- are you reefborn?”

“Yes.”

“Well, basically he’s an alien from a weird part of space.”

“Uh huh... and uh... this might be a weird question, but, are we on the same side?”

Zulgren tilts his head, “You’re a Guardian aren’t you?”

“A what?”

Donnies ghost approaches Nil and Zulgren.

“Hey guys, this here is Donnie. She’s... new.”

Nil’s eyes widen. Zulgren sighs, “Ah, well that makes more sense.”

“Yeah, as you can imagine, I haven’t really had a lot of time to explain. I’m hoping you both could help me out here a bit? Also, uh, I think my name is Alexa.”

Zulgren frowns, “well, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to get you to the Tower soon. We are going to The Farm, come with us.”

Donnies eyes light up, “The... the farm? That sounds WONDERFUL! I can’t wait to go the farm!”

Before Zulgren can ask what she means, Alexa explains, “So, I think Donnie was a farmer before her first death. And, uh, she remembers that life shockingly well, even though it was thousands of years ago.”

“Wait wait wait... what? I’ve been dead for...”

Zulgren, Nil, and Alexa all look at one another.

Donnie pulls something out from her pocket. Its a jar with a disgusting brown liquid inside it.

“So I guess that means this sourdough starter isn’t any good anymore...”

Zulgren gags, and slides his helmet on again.

“There’s a lot to explain, lets start walking,” Alexa encourages.

Uncertain, Donnie follows Nil and Zulgren as the three Guardians start strolling towards The Farm. Alexa wonders if they chose well, but reminds themselves that for better or worse Donnie is their Guardian. Donnie wonders what manner of nightmare she’s woken up in. Zulgren senses something familiar about Donnie’s Light, and ponders about the path that led him here, and where it may lead from here. Nil is juggling knives.