Location: King's Pass Bridge
Scout Team Beta and Seer were walking up the bridge that led to King's Pass. Seer was fiddling with her crystals, in order to 'reassemble' it, apparently the crystals were all part of some shattered whole. The team had spent much of the day observing the town, and asking questions to any locals that were willing to talk, as well driving off any bugs that thought it would be a good idea to attack an elderly moth.
As they reached the ledge of King's Pass, a snap could be heard behind them, when the group looked back, they saw Seer had managed to combine the crystals. The greater whole glowed a yellow light.
"I did it" Seer whispered to herself, she could hardly believe it.
"So is that it? Or…." David asked.
"Oh no, no, there are more shards left, but the crystal is much more powerful than it was."
"We'll keep a look out then," Said David.
The group made their way deeper into King's Pass, some areas were easier to follow than others, as Seer sometimes had to piggyback on one of scouts, as her advanced age prevented her from traversing more physically intensive parts of the area.
"Who the hell put down so many metal spikes in a pathway" Chris complained.
"Either masochist, sadists, or both" Matthew said jokingly.
"Hey David you gonna torture and execute the desighners of this place?" Chris said with passive aggression
David didn't respond.
"Maybe tell them how they committed a war crime, and then proceed to commit a war crime" Chris said, the aggression being much less passive.
David just stood there, silently. Chris didn't care if David was technically the leader of Team Beta, this shit had to be curbed. Chris was fairly certain that Allen and/or Vilmire would agree.
"I am going to make this very clear David, what you did back over at the mountain top was fucked up. You aren't going to do it anymore, understood? No matter how deserving you think they are."
David stood there for a few moments, unmoving and silent as a statue. He stayed that way for several tense seconds.
"Fine" David said briskly, then turned around, and continued walking down the path.
"That went better than expected" Chris said to no one in particular.
The group continued moving through the caverns of King's Pass. Chris was uneasy, that felt too damn easy, considering how quickly David's mood shifted before, he was half expecting him to do something violent. Maybe he actually put two and two together that this wasn't the Siberian campaign, Chris didn't know, and it was making him a bit stressed.
Matthew appeared to pick up on this, and patted him on the back.
"Hey, don't worry, David is a nice guy… most of the time, just… a bit overprotective, and still scarred by Siberia"
"I hope you're right Mat, though I do wonder, how do you know David?" Chris asked
"Hmm, we served in Korea together for awhile before his unit was reassigned to Siberia, he was usually pleasant to talk to"
"I take those… moments like the ones on the mountain were the exception" Chris said
Matthew chuckled nervously "Yea… he has the strange ability to go from sweet and caring to brutal and callus, I don't understand it myself."
Chris thought about it for a minute "Hmmm, maybe he was being protective of the children? You saw the look he gave those small moths. Plus the words that officer was using weren't exactly the kind a Geneva Convention abiding military would. Considering the conditioning he received in Siberia, it wouldn't be too out of the question that he brought up the war crime in order to justify killing her to himself, not that I agree."
Chris was torn from his ramble when Seer taped him on the leg "Excuse me friends, but you keep bringing up new and strange places, what is this Ka'riah you speak of?"
Chris regarded her for a moment before answering "Korea is a peninsula that is very far away, its in the region we call East Asia, and before you ask, no, you will likely not be able to ever visit there due to the vast distances involved."
Seer ruffled her fluff a bit "Not that I am calling you dishonest friends, but you speak of many far off lands, and when ever asked, you say that they are far away, and that we won't be able to visit them. I wonder, if they are so far, how did you go there and fight a war no less?"
"It's a long story-" Chris began but was cut off
"Get your grapples and climbing axes ready, we need to go up!" David yelled over to them.
"Alright, I carried her last time, you take this one Mat" Chris said.
"Sure"
Matthew bent down, Seer put her arms around his shoulders, and held on tight. The climb was a pain in the ass to say the least. The openings were narrow, Matthew at to push Seer up a few times while still having one hand on his climbing axe. But soon enough, they were topside, and out of the caverns.
The group began surveying the area, there wasn't much around, a lot of open space, but the group continued onwards. They past an odd looking statue, which Seer told them said "Here Lies Gorb, The Great Mind" (Unfortunately the crystal didn't translate writing).
They walked until they hit an area that looked like the way down the mountain. This time David was the one to carry Seer as they started climbing down. They were at one of the many ledges on the way down when something quite bizarre happened.
"Hello friends!"
The group turned suddenly to where the noise came from. To the shock of the scouts, there was a figure that was wearing a scarlet robe, a smiling theatre mask, and a physiology that was unmistakably human, sitting down at a hole in the mountainside.
"I am trying to light a fire, and, well, I appear to not have my flint on me. Would you be so kind as to giving me a helping hand" The scarlet clad human said in an uncomfortably jolly tone.
Seer looked at the figure with suspicion, there was something… off, about them, but she couldn't tell what.
The scouts looked at each other, what would be the harm in helping someone light a fire? Besides, they would like to know more about a possible wasteland human population.
"Alright, we'll give you a hand, show us where your campsite is" Dave said.
"Oh wonderful, wonderful! Come with me" The scarlet clad human said in his much too joyful for comfort voice.
The group entered the cavern, it was dark, the scarlet clad human led them to a strangely ornate campsite. The campfire site was oddly complex, it was made of metal and used quite a bit of coal.
"Now if you may please light the fire" The scarlet clad human said, bowing slightly.
David took out a match box, and took out a match, and lit was then that Seer realized what this was.
"WAIT DAVID DON-" Seer yelled but it was too late, David had already thrown the match at the nightmare lantern.
The coal burst into scarlet flame, and the sound of an accordion could be heard, the various unlit torches in the cavern were now lit, burning in a similar scarlet.
The scarlet clad human gave a bow.
"I hope you enjoy our show" He said before disappearing in a burst of scarlet flame.
The group just stood there in shocked silence for a few second.
"What the actual fuck" Chris said, what the hell had they just witnessed?