"Oh, hey! You who just got dropped in! You're inside some kind of energy shield, so see if you can't try and find us a way in...and by the way, you can call me Al, and this is Li."

"Hi!"

Continue checking the totems, try to find a pattern or anything that might be a sign as to where the shield comes from.

"Hmm...judging by the shape of the shield and it's lack of curvature, I'd make the guess that this shield is either a square or some other non circular shape. Either way, you should focus your attacks on the shield's corners, where the shield should be weakest. Also, because of the amount of energy that was given to Dunrim after a few seconds of draining, well, I'd estimate it has around 1.3 gigajou-"

Al glanced at her with a pleading look...and Li laughed.

"I mean, it must have a lot of power inside it...but if the shield is recharging itself, that means it must have some kind of power supply. That'd be the best place to start if we're going to get through this shield. Why not try drawing power from the shield, then try putting it back in the shield?"

"That makes sense. If power is being generated to meet demand, then the shield could be overcharged. If it has a battery, then the shield wouldn't be recharging itself in the first place."

hurrr durrr I forgot to action for Seraphimo.

Take energy from the shield and feed it back in after it has recharged.

caekdaemon - Al-Aris [1]:
Al-Aris: "Oh, hey! You who just got dropped in! You're inside some kind of energy shield, so see if you can't try and find us a way in...and by the way, you can call me Al, and this is Li."
Li-Rala: "Hi!"
The man proceeds to roll down the hill he sits on. Hm. A strange form of greeting, but you've seen all types.
You then examine the shield further, and begin to walk along its length to find its corner.
Li-Rala: "Hmm...judging by the shape of the shield and it's lack of curvature, I'd make the guess that this shield is either a square or some other non circular shape. Either way, you should focus your attacks on the shield's corners, where the shield should be weakest. Also, because of the amount of energy that was given to Dunrim after a few seconds of draining, well, I'd estimate it has around 1.3 gigajou- I mean, it must have a lot of power inside it...but if the shield is recharging itself, that means it must have some kind of power supply. That'd be the best place to start if we're going to get through this shield. Why not try drawing power from the shield, then try putting it back in the shield?"
Al-Aris: "That makes sense. If power is being generated to meet demand, then the shield could be overcharged. If it has a battery, then the shield wouldn't be recharging itself in the first place."
A quick look stops her before she says too much, thankfully. Your search for a corner bears fruit very quickly, with you finding a gentle corner a dozen meters or so away.
Hm. You seem to be halfway between two of the statues here. So, does each statue get its own flat segment of shield? What happens if you break a statue? Would the shield just change shape to accommodate? That would be annoying, you would have to break every statue.
...What would happen then even? Would it vanish? Turn into a perfect circle?
This shield is annoying, but also interesting.

Appearance: A big and bulky man that appears to be middle aged, with a full head of black hair and surprisingly dark eyes. He claims to be Middle Eastern in origin, but to an observer he would seem to be a little...pale.


Seraphimo - Dunrim [-]:
You walk back to the shield, and laying both hands on it, you draw a good portion of the shield's energy into yourself, letting it dim then regenerate back to full. Then, with the energy still in you, you dump it all back into the shield in one big go. The shield wavers, rippling like a pond with a pebble thrown in, but holds, as the energy disperses itself through the shield before it all fades back to normal. It quickly regenerate the energy when you drained it, but to disperse extra took a good 30 seconds. Interesting.

Appearance: His face is full of soot and he looks a bit pale but otherwise he looks like a normal human. He is a little shorter than the average human and he likes to wear fully protective clothing. His origin is claimed to be somewhere inside Europe though he's not telling where.


TheKebbit - Wassily Nuñez [-]:
You examine the ground where the shield meets the earth. Perhaps you can go... under? Certainly worth a shot. You look around for a flat stone, or a thick branch, or some kind of digging implement. Mikey seems to become interested during your search, and comes over to help. With him, you find a large sturdy stone, and use it to dig away at the base of the shield a bit. At first it's going well, until you get a ways down and the dirt directly under the shield comes away. The shield does NOT extend down to the ground, but a second after you clear it away, it buzzes and grows to fill the vertical space you've created. Damn. It WAS a good idea, but whoever created the shield thought of it too.



CaveCricket48 - Linna [6]:
Linna: "Oh neat, I can practice healing."
You push yourself back up to a sitting position and assess the damage with a quick feel. Small gash, bit of a nasty bump developing, nothing too terrible though. A quick Minor Heal and the bump recedes and the gash closes. You note that head injuries bleed a lot, even if they aren't very serious as you wipe your red covered hand on the grass.

As you're healing yourself, the guy that Johnny just dropped off throws himself to the ground and log rolls down it to hide behind the hill he's sitting on.
Well he seems promising.

Appearance: A young woman that seems a bit thin but stands on a sturdy pair of legs. Her short dark hair is still long enough to nearly cover her eyes that are already concealed behind thick glasses, making it difficult to read her expression.


maart3n - Mikey/Heph [-]:
Deciding Wassily looks like he knows what he's doing, you go to help him out. He seems to be looking for digging implements, and with your help you manage to find a good large rock. Then, the two of you get to work on a small hole at the edge of the shield. As you watch, Wassily carves away the dirt directly beneath the shield, revealing open space!
Which is promptly filled by the shield expanding to fill this new gap.
Dammit.



CrazyMLC - Matt Sterling [10]:
Al-Aris: "Oh, hey! You who just got dropped in! You're inside some kind of energy shield, so see if you can't try and find us a way in...and by the way, you can call me Al, and this is Li."
Li-Rala: "Hi!"
Oh no, not this dream again. You look around rapidly for a tree to hide behind, but there are none around. There are some stone statues near those people, but that would necessitate going near those people. You make do by log rolling backwards down the hill you're on, taking cover in the gentle rolls and valleys the terrain has formed around here.

Wait a moment. Something feels off.
You... have clothes.
This ISN'T that dream again. What is going on?



Events: The six continue to experiment with the shield. It seems to be a many sided polygon, with each side represented by one of the many totems standing around the perimeter of the burial ground. It goes up for... a ways, and can grow downwards to block newly created space there as well, meaning it can probably do the same to upwards if it needs. Unless it's already got all the up it needs, which could very well put it in space. Hopefully it isn't that bad.

"Alright, so, this is what we know : The shield looks to have multiple sides," Al-Aris picks up a stick and starts drawing the possible layout of the shield on the ground. "Each side either sustained or controlled by one of the totems, perhaps the totems even act as vents to dissipate excess energy, but that'd take more experimenting. Now, as I'm sure you all know, squares are structurally weak - force is concentrated upon the corners, making them easy to break through. That's why planes have round windows instead of square ones. Now, if we can manipulate the shields shape and turn it from this..."


"Into this,"



"We can turn the shield into a square, making it much easier to break through without having to deactivate all of the totems and risk setting off a failsafe. Now, this is what I suggest : Dunrim, you draw more power from the shield and stand ready to put it back in, but divide it into two bursts of equal size if you can, and stand at one of the four corners.. Linna, stand by the corner opposite of Dunrim and swap with him after he puts the first burst of power into the shield. That'll allow him to put the second in the opposite corner before the energy dissipates, which should cause the energy to build up at the other two corners before the shield collapses. Me and Mikey will get rid of the totems and force it into the shield, and Wassily, you've got the hardest part : I need you to throw a fastball."

"Go find a rock, put some distance between yourself and the shield - enough to accelerate to top speed - and then when the energy is put in the shield, rush towards us as fast as you can and throw the rock while running here. If it hits the shield's corner at the same time as the two waves of energy are meeting, the charge should blow us right through and bring the shield down."

"So, to sum it up, take a look at the map and find your positions."



"Mikey and I will help throw power on the opposite corner to the one being struck by Wassily's ball if we can, but even if we don't this should be enough to get us through."

"But what if Linna can teleport through the shield?"

"Too risky if they've got something that blocks rematerialization. It could get her killed, better to be safe than sorry."

"Alright then..." Li smiles and turns towards the man stuck inside the shield. "Don't worry! We'll have you out of there in no time!"

Proceed with the plan - start knocking out totems, either by pushing them over or by decaying them to dust.

RRRRRRRRRRRUUUUUUURULL

caekdaemon - Al-Aris [6]:
With your observations, you think you know enough to form a plan. You gather everyone around, then grab a stick and begin scratching out a diagram on the ground.
Al-Aris: "Alright, so, this is what we know..."


Al-Aris: "...Mikey and I will help throw power on the opposite corner to the one being struck by Wassily's ball if we can, but even if we don't this should be enough to get us through."
Li-Rala: "But what if Linna can teleport through the shield?"
Al-Aris: "Too risky if they've got something that blocks rematerialization. It could get her killed, better to be safe than sorry."
Li-Rala: "Alright then... Don't worry! We'll have you out of there in no time!"
With a few words of encouragement from Li to the man Johnny dropped inside the barrier, the team moves out to begin the plan. You start by trying to decay a nearby totem, as Dunrim also gathers energy from the shield next to you. You think of your Decaying Flash Strike, and try not to concentrate it, but form it into a long, thin point. Like a needle, or a beam. Surprisingly, it works! Or rather, it works surprisingly well. You're taken aback by how easily you shape the decay energy, but don't stay on the thought for long. It's probably just the nature of your Embodiment, letting you freely control it like this.

The beam of Decay energy hits the shield, burning against it for a moment before piercing through and continuing to the other side and hitting the totem! Moving your hand slowly, you begin carving a channel across the totem, unsure if you're doing actual damage or just marring the surface. The shield ripples around the finger-sized hole your constant beam is making, but is holding strong aside from that. This changes when Dunrim lays both hands on the barrier and draws energy out from it.

The area dims considerably, with the area around your beam dimming especially. In fact, the barrier seems to have vanished entirely. The lack of barrier spreads out smoothly from the small hole you made smoothly, but about a meter out it stops vanishing quietly and begins shattering silently into strange shards of energy that vanish as they twinkle through the air. Surprised, you step back, and see the adjacent two panels begin to extend horizontally to fill the void...
And stop.

They filled about half the space that the broken shield covered, but a quick hand wave verifies it, they've stopped expanding and there's a big gap in the shield now. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, you jump through the hole before the shield has a chance to re-seal the hole or something.

Appearance: A big and bulky man that appears to be middle aged, with a full head of black hair and surprisingly dark eyes. He claims to be Middle Eastern in origin, but to an observer he would seem to be a little...pale.


Seraphimo - Dunrim [7]:
Dunrim: "It seems like a good plan."
You go to the shield next to Al-Aris, and lay your hands on the barrier. It slightly pushes against you as you touch it, but the force stabilizes after a moment. You then focus for a moment on the energy of the shield, drawing it out and into your hands, storing it for later use as a projectile against the shield. Then you notice something change, and your focus breaks.
The energy in your hands goes nowhere, thankfully, but you notice you can't draw any more out, and you then notice that the shield is vanishing and shattering. Hm. Did you do that? Did Al do that? You both did that.

Appearance: His face is full of soot and he looks a bit pale but otherwise he looks like a normal human. He is a little shorter than the average human and he likes to wear fully protective clothing. His origin is claimed to be somewhere inside Europe though he's not telling where.


TheKebbit - Wassily Nuñez [-]:
Al-Aris takes a moment to explain his plan for getting through the shield, and afterwards you take out the Chart of this area, and mark a strip of Sea leading over to the shield. You notice out of the corner of your eye that several sticks and rocks shift to the side, clearing the strip of Sea of its few debris to make it easy to navigate. As you look for a sizable rock to catapult at the shield, you hear some shouting over by the others, and looking over you see that they seem to have broken one of the shields. Didn't even need your rock.



CaveCricket48 - Linna [-]:
After hearing Al's plan, you begin walking to the far side of the shield to prepare for Castling with Dunrim, but only get past a single totem before you hear a few shouts from the others. Looking over, there's some chunks of twinkling something floating through the air, and the others are all looking shocked at a section of the shield. Then, Al jumps through the shield. Or, what used to be the shield you guess. Hard to tell when you're not up close.
Hm. Guess the plan wasn't needed?

Appearance: A young woman that seems a bit thin but stands on a sturdy pair of legs. Her short dark hair is still long enough to nearly cover her eyes that are already concealed behind thick glasses, making it difficult to read her expression.


maart3n - Mikey/Heph [-]:
Mikey: "You, yeah you in there, start ♥♥♥♥ with those wood things. We need them down."
Aaaaand he ignores you. Dammit.
You instead head over to the shield, and in doing your part, begin punching the shield. You wish it was alive, or dead, or both. Then you could do something to it. But your powers aren't so useful against things that can't live and can't die. Luckily, it seems your punching has paid off, as the shield breaks into pieces before the MIGHT OF YOUR FISTS. Or the Embodiment assault from the others, who can say.



CrazyMLC - Matt Sterling [6]:
You're unsure what's going on. One of the dream-people yells at you. Or at the other dream people. Dream people can't talk.
You need a sword.
You approach one of the statues around you, away from those strange dream-people, and examine the thing. It seems to be some sort of animal-esque totem. Hm. You believe you can Construct this, with some use of imagination. You could make a totem yourself quite easily, though making something from that may be...
Let's try. Nothing gained from not. You focus your Construction, and imagine the totem becoming a sword. It's some sort of dark, weathered stone, but you can feel that it falls under your Masonry, so you attempt to use that. Carve away the excess, shore up the remainder. The shape will need to be... simple, Construction is not well suited to handheld weapons. But, with some work, a stone sword emerges. Large, smooth polished surfaces, most definitely needing two hands to wield. Stone does not make for a good blade, so it needs to be big to compensate. Though, that makes it dangerous in its own, heavy way.
...
Can you uh, can you lift this sword?

...Wait, you just totally destroyed one of these totems. Oh, um. Is that okay? You may have done a bad thing.



Events: Everyone waits, seeing what happens with the new gap in the shield, but a few minutes pass and it continues to stay open. Convinced that it won't suddenly close and cut them in half, the others follow Al-Aris through and join him and Matt inside the shield. They look around a bit, and find that there's a lot of hills, and little else. Thankfully, that just makes it easier to find the target, which ends up being a small stone pedestal in the center of the burial grounds, surrounded by several rings of medium sized rocks, partially covered in moss.
The pedestal, the stone rings, and the totems surrounding the grounds end up being the only remarkable things in the burial grounds. The pedestal itself has a quiet thrum of energy to it, not actually audible, but detected via the Embodiment each person carries. They can tell it carries a large amount of power, and should not be approached carelessly.

Get hype!