ic Spring Cleaning (IC)

[Brown Dynamite]

Port of San Juan

 

San Juan, Puerto Rico, US

Wednesday, April 1st, 2020

3PM local time

"He has not called me once."  Princess Thaelia of Atlantis explained to her former roommate Giang Trang.  The conversation had gone as such for the former roommates.  Catching up on their lives, the latest subject was her awkward not quite courtship of Elias Silvestri.  "I own a cellular device, and yet no distance calling."  Thaelia was dressed in ceremonial Atlantean armor, an object wrapped in a large cloth the size of her body tucked underneath her arm.

Thaelia, Giang, and Heroditus were in the port of San Juan.  One of the busiest ports in the Caribbean.  Which on this day had an entire passenger ship dedicated to them.  But, the trio would not be actually utilizing the ship.  Though the pier was crowded with many dockworkers and potential passengers traversing, no one paid mind to the otherwise empty dock as they approached.

Unlike when General Dalekos had dragged Heroditus out of Claremont some months ago, Thaelia didn't set up a meeting with Headmaster Summers.  Simply arriving at Claremont and essentially kidnapping the Atlantean scholar.  Leaving Giang with the job of apologizing to the Headmaster, who was both already aware of the kidnapping, and subsequently tracking them down.  Where Thaelia explained that she needed inquisitive eyes for a task.

The Atlantean Senate had unilaterally requested that three abandoned Atlantean outposts be investigated.  After reports of salvagers in the area they dare not have Atlantean technology taken by those who may wish to do Atlantis harm.  Though at least that was the public stance, never one to mince words Thaelia openly theorized to the others that certain members of the military may also be looking to reoccupy some of those outposts.  Their first stop was to be her grandfather's base of operations during surfacers' second World War.

[Dr Archeville]

Artificer

 

Being carted off to Puerto Rico by two strong and beautiful women might be a dream for some teenage boys, and Heroditus had to admit that it was the most pleasant extraction he had endured.  That he had been grabbed while in the middle of an experiment in chemistry class -- testing electrolyte levels of various sports drinks and fruit juices by measuring their conductivity -- had soured him somewhat on it, but when one of the Royal Family asks you to do something, you should generally go ahead with it!  Besides, he knew Giang and Thaelia (the latter mostly by reputation), and knew they would not be dragging him away from his studies unless it was an urgent matter, one calling for his particular set of skills.

 

But when he found out exactly where they were going, and what they would be doing, his enthusiasm shot through the roof.  He had discussed such outposts with Giang, several months ago, but thought it would be years before he would have the chance to actually see one.  Much less three!  He remained glued to the few maps Thaelia had brought for most of the trip, and tried to recall whatever family legends he could about those outposts.  The Stylianos clan rose to prominence after the Sinking, but those outposts were made long before it, so we would not know much.  But if any of my ancestors had worked on them after that cataclysm, there might be something in the family lore.  Think, Heroditus, think!

[Thevshi]

Tsunami

 

Giang listened sympathetically as Thaelia complained about the lack of communication from Elias. While the subject was not exactly new, Giang knew it bothered her former roommate, even if Thaelia would not fully admit how much it might. In any event, while the Asian young woman might not have brought it up quite as regularly, Thaelia had certainly listened to Giang's similar musings regarding John Smith. "Elais…often allowed himself to be consumed by a singular focus." She offered in response. "But still not a particularly good excuse."

 

Giang was dressed in the costume she wore as Tsunami, a skin-tight bodysuit that was colored in several shades of blue, their pattern seeming to almost flow and shimmer like water, along with a blue domino mask that covered the upper part of her face.

 

While the entire situation with Thaelia pulling Heroditus out of class at Claremont and Headmistress Summers reaction to the incident had not been a situation Giang had really wanted to have to deal with, now that she was back with her friend, the Asian young woman could not help but feel happy at the opportunity to spend time with Thaelia once more. As they reached the edge of the pier, she stopped and focused back on the Atlantean princess directly. "So, how far is it to this former facility your grandfather used?"

[Brown Dynamite]

Thaelia pointed off to the ocean excited waving her index finger.  "We are not long now.  Our journey will take us another hundred miles that way.  Followed by a descent to the Ocean floor.  It should place us in the general area. If it goes well."

 

The Stylianos clan had kept a documented record of the navigational mess that was the Bermuda triangle.  The cause being a dimensional fault line, a nexus where different dimensions overlapped.  There were dimensional rifts, fissures, and visitors.  Making it possible that a straight line wasn't always a straight line.  Although Heroditus could recall that his house had taken geomantic readings none proved to reduce the navigation hazards that existed within.

"American soldiers called it the Aquarium.  As for Grandfather he did not record the exact location on any parchment.  We should be most wary when treading these waters.  The Queen Mother sent a warning.  German mystics believed Atlantis to exist in the Triangle.  They had learned of Utopia's existence.  The fiends most vile required great efforts to remain isolated."  Thaelia revealed the second hand knowledge.  Personally, she didn't actually know what efforts had been undertaken.

[Dr Archeville]

Artificer

 

"Wary indeed," Heroditus nodded, "these waters are tricky to navigate even for Atlanteans.  It is a shame so many Surfacers have been lost here," he muttered, not really sure about the numbers but having heard numerous stories, from both those below and above the waters.

 

"Ah, Princess," he spoke up, though kept his tone reverent, "do you know what condition your grandfather left this 'Aquarium' in?  When he left it for good, did he have time to carefully shut down and preserve everything, or was his final departure a more rushed affair?  Will there be any defenses within which we must contend with, or areas blocked off by debris?  Or perhaps some great guardian beasts lurking nearby?"  Thoughts of an underwater base had been rattling around in the back of his mind for months now, and he was growing more excited -- in his own measured Atlantean way -- as they continued onward.

[Brown Dynamite]

Glamazon

 

Thaelia squared her feet forward and pulled her index finger back.  Her tone more steady and subdued than usual.  "Truthfully.  I do not have and an answer to your query most appropriate.  She did not share such details.  And the surfacer archives at Claremont only covered that his final battle with the Wolf of the seas took pace during the time frame before he left the Americas back to Atlantis.  However, she did inform me of its importance as a staging ground before the great siege."

The siege in question being when the forces loyal to King Thallor retook the throne of Atlantis at the end of not only the second world war but war after coup at the time.  The Atlantean princess had no reason to believe her grandmother would have any reason to withhold information about that time.  It was simply that her life was still tied to the surface world.  As she hadn't quite made the seas her home yet, even her grandmother's experiences with the Aquarium were limited.  

Of course if the timeline was so tight.  It was actually strange that the queen mother had so little information to give.  But, obviously the Atlantean princess had never thought to question family she held in reverence too deeply.

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

After some time they charted  the route and began swimming one hundred miles off shore.  Up until they began descending everything had gone uneventful.  The darkest depths of the Mariana Trench had all manner of wildlife and .  But, what wasn't immediately apparent was signs of the Sea King's former facility.

 

That wasn't to say there weren't signs of an Atlantean outpost at all.  Atlantean carvings remained on stone structures laid out in a circular pattern.  There were scattered weapons all about.  And signs of lighting.   All these things pointed to Atlantean activity at some point in time.

 

In the center of it all was what appeared to be half of a giant frog with some sort of German letters.  Swimming around one would be treated to a clearer view.  It was some sort of abandoned robotic submersible that had been cut cleanly in half.  The insides imploding under the pressure afterwards, but there were no nearby remains. So the passengers did not die with the vehicle.