Log:Tranquility Lost, Scene 3

Tranquility Lost 2021/10/01  Artemis Blockbuster Dialydd Engelicus Linda Kid Tengu Magda 3

A warm after-school Friday has been interrupted by incursions of dinosaurs! The heroes have beached the plesiosaur that appeared in the bay, but are now faced with some 32 triceratops, roughly where Nicholston meets Lowtown.

So far the heroes have kept anyone but themselves from being trampled by the prehistoric beasts, and have redirected the stampeding herd northwards down a side street, now clear of civilians (or rather the front of the herd - the latter part has yet to turn off Sea Breeze Blvd). Linda has located and desctroyed the time portal before a tyrannosaur could follow the hetd through, in so doing triggering a holographic message frm the Timekeeper, claiming responsibility and trying to extort money from the governements of the world.

Currently, Linda has caught up to the rail end of the herd, Artemis and Dialydd are atop the lead triceratops, Englelicus has rolled to his feet, just behind the lead triceratops, amid the herd, Kid Tengu has dinosaured and caught up with the heard of the herd, after being trampled, and Magda is scouting ahead getting civilians out of the way. Dialydd has said that the leader should think it's in a safe place now and the heroes should let it be. 

Artemis tries to not aggravate the lead triceratops she's reading atop of. Instead of trying to steer it, she just hangs on lightly and gives it some reassuring pets.

Linda flies above the herd swooping down toward Engelicus. "I can get lift you out of the middle of the herd if you like?" she tells him, ready to catch hold and flie him up away from trampling dino feet.

Engelicus doesn't antagonize the dinosaurs further. He just flies up..and out of their reach.

Engelicus waves off Linda, "I am fine. Thank you."

Engelicus sounds...annoyed, more than anything.

Linda nods to Engelicus and flies up as she activates her x-ray vision to check for any potential danger spots on the herd's path.

Blockbuster was enjoying a Friday afternoon, flying lazily over Colonial Bay and generally just enjoying the beginning of autumn from well above the city's hustle and bustle. Sometimes even Summer needs some alone time. And then there was a lot of unfamiliar roaring, screaming, and emergency sirens somewhere in her general proximity. Circling around, Blockbuster descends upon the sounds of chaos and rolling thunder near the junction of Lowtown and Nicholston.

Dropping into a low pursuit of the triceratops herd, Blockbuster sails along near the lead triceratops as an inexplicable bar of red and blue flashing lights manifests over her shoulders. Even the piller of light on which she sails through the air has shifted to a flashing column of red and white light. Tilting her head, Blockbuster looks over at the heroes riding the lead triceratops and calls, "Do you guys, like, have your license, registration, and proof of insurance for, like, this dinosaur stampede?"

Linda calls out, "There's a line of cars trying to get around the herd. They're coming down Seaview street parallel to Sea breeze and are heading for a side swipe collision unless stopped."

Luckily the herd doesn't seem any more spooked by this than by the rest of their strange environment.

Dialydd takes a deep breath as he reaches out to reinforce the waking dream of the lead triceratops. He prepares images to feed into its mind but waits for a few moment to see if his previous efforts are working. He calls out to Blockbuster, "Bill the Timekeeper! Whoever that is!"//Full Phase Hold

Magda glances back at the light show, hears Linda, then calls out, "Golden Girl, traffic control!! Take Engelicus and the cop" -- meaning Blockbuster -- "with you!!"

"Is the Timekeeper, like, in charge of this street race?" calls Blockbuster to Dialydd, eminently puzzled.

"He's the, cham fool who summoned them here to extort money!" calls out Dee to Blockbuster.

The lead triceratops starts slowing, believing itself to have reached safety. Of course, six-ton dinosaurs don't stop on a dime, especially when the herd behind them has to slow too, so the herd advances another 15m - enough for the head of the herd too be in the Sea View intersection! It hasn't come to a complete halt yet, but is more walking than running.

Kid Tengu sees where this is heading- literally. He wasn't a fan of being trampled the last time and he can't figure it'll be better the second time around.

He reaches out and attempts to grab & ride a dino himself.

Engelicus looks over to Linda, "Would the drivers not see the creatures and stop? I am confused."

As the lead triceratops starts to slow, Dialydd calls out, "Can any of you get these...whatever they are greens and water? IF they are like mecheita they will like them."

KT's sticky fingers find plenty of traction on the dinosaur's rough hide- enough that he can pull himself on the creatures back with some ease- even tossing himself into a position behind the frill of the magnificent beast, all one one smooth motion.

"What is Mecheita?" KT asks/shouts over the din of the stampede as he looks towards Dialydd

It seems that driver of the first line of cars wasn't that observant - at least the whine of the repulsor-brakes started rather late.

"Large herd animals of my peo...What is that driver doing!?!" Dialydd shouts from his seat behind Artemis on the lead triceratops.

Linda sighs, "There's your answer," she tells Engelicus as the lead car applies brakes far too late.

Artemis shrugs to the demigod at his question. "I believe he be sending the texts whilst his eyes should mind the road," she says over her shoulder to Dialydd. The world is full of gods and monsters today.

Engelicus flies down in front of the car and plants his feet, trying to stop the vehicle if he can.

Magda grimaces, but better sedate triceratops than rampaging 10 ton ones. As she stays with the herd, she gestures with her hands, forming a barrier along the flank of the dinosaurs -- enough to give them room to move, but (hopefully) well in front of the oncoming vehicles.

Engelicus catches the car...and digs in, finally feeling like he's succeeding at...something. He manages to bring the vehicle to a stop just short of the dinosaurs.

Artemis only probably hears Dialydd murmur, "Lords bless!" when Engelicus succeeds stopping the hovercar.

The line of cars whines to a sudden halt. There are minor bumps, but no great crashes, as the the automatic systems cut in.

Kid Tengu looks at teh Godflora with something akin to awe- though his Abraxxian pride keeps things professional. He's about to try something crazy when a barrier is erected between him, his ride & the rapidly approaching wave of traffic.

He lets out a sigh of relief, grateful for the chance to look around to see how he might help best without being trampled.

Artemis chuckles. "'Tis Engelicus ye should be petition thy blessings from," she comments to Dialydd.

While maintaining the waking dream in the lead triceratops mind, he reaches out to the mind of one of many juveniles in the center of the herd. He sends the same waking dream to that youngster.

The juvenile, oddly, seems less fooled by the image.

Dialydd smiles slightly as he thinks <>

With the herd halted, Artemis smiles. "Well done, Brother Engelicus! But now we must cease treating the symptoms and cut the offending limb off!" She floats off the triceratops and draws her sword. "We must track down the Timekeeper and judge him for his actions!"

Linda lands on the rooftop beneath her and takes a deep heavy breath. She's listening for any futher disturbance while trying to recover from her previous efforts.

Linda relaxes a little after a few moments, "I can hear some bad language from the drivers who are stuck and a bit of panic from people near the herd but nothing at the moment that seems urgent."

Blockbuster keeps pace with the triceratops herd, barrel rolling up into the air overhead again. She floats out of Artemis' way, letting the warrior woman sail up into the air past her while she keeps an eye on Dialydd until Blockbuster reaches the middle of the intersection. Once there, she slows to a stop and makes a nice big orb of pulsing red light to try to keep traffic some signal not to keep advancing into the traffic jam.

Linda contacts SG and informs them she is with a group of heroes in the city. Asks if she should alert the heroes and ask them to stay together in case they are needed up at Tranquility.

The triceratops come to a halt, following their leader. Who starts eating from a garbage bin it thinks is a bush. THe tail end of the herd, unfortunately, is still on Sea Breeze. Stampede stopped, but not the traffic jam!

Blockbuster maintains altitude and the aura of slowly pulsating red light to give commuters some idea of not driving forward. Danger. Caution. Yield to cross-Cretaceous traffic. All of that good stuff.

Dialydd watches the lead triceratops to make certain it doesn;t choke, then slides down off the back of the dinosaur. He glances around at the other heroes then calls out, "Anyone know where these, cha, animals belong?"

"I be told there be such a place, called a Zu. 'tis a country," Artemis completely misunderstands Zoo versus Zu.

Linda flies over to the heroes gathered near the herd. "Can I have your attention please. There's a incident at Tranquility Prison. It's on lockdown and some prisoners seem to be missing. Starguard asks if we can stand by in case heroes are needed."

The lead triceratops seems happy enough. The others, less so, since they still see the strange grey alien landscape. At least they can't hear the tyrannosaur any more.

KT assumes a less predatory form and leaps into the air, sprouting wings in time to take flight and rejoin the others.

"I don't think they keep dinosaurs in Zu, but maybe I missed that in Geography class." KT says as he gets within earshot (for everyone else).

Linda says, "I think Artemis means zoo, not Zu. #"

Some of the dinosaurs eye the cars warily. They don't know these beasts, and though smaller than them they're not so small as to be negligible. Unlike, on the whole, the humans.

"But, cha, those are the same words, sera, yes?" asks Dialydd.

Artemis looks confused. "I said Zu." The words sound the same to her, too.

Still with the herd and keeping an eye out for people too stupid to get out of the way, Magda liberates her PDA. She has people to try and get a hold of.

Artemis scoffs. "Why stand by when we could go forth and deal with the trouble?"

Linda says, "Zu is a nation in Africa. A zoo, spelt with two 'O's is a place where animals are kept. There's a zoo in Coloinal Bay City, in the north of the city."

Artemis stares at Linda. "How am I to know which when both sound the same. Is it...Zoo and...ZOOOooooOoo?"

The alien youth nods slightly then says, "Homonym, cha, yes. Does the Colonial Bay zoo have a means to hold these animals? They would seem to need a lot of grazing space given their size."

Linda lifts her hands palm up, "I don't know. Have to ask them I guess."

Blockbuster tilts her head at Golden Girl.

"Ummmm... No offense or, like, anything, but I'm not really built for space."

She offers a bright smile and a shrug as she returns to traffic control. You know. Traffic control as a traffic signal. Idly Blockbuster ponders mysteries of the universe, like where that cop that Magda was yelling about earlier got to; she never did hear cop sirens or anything like that.

Dialydd looks at the dinosaurs. "As magnificent as these animals are, I wonder why I have not seen images of them before now. And the others on the beach and in the water." He moves carefully through the herd, slowly, so not to spook them.

He then responds to Linda. "I am willing, yes, to aid. And, cha, you seem knowledgeable, who is this Timekeeper and what connection does he have to these creatures?"

Linda taps her ear, "I'm in communication with Starguard as I'm a cadet member of SGG. That's how I heard of the situation at Tranquility. But I don't know anything about this Timekeeper. First I heard the name was just now when that hologram played."

Magda mutes her PDA for a moment. "Timekeeper needs to be taken care of," she says. "World-class threat. Be nice to talk to him, though, find out why."

"So. Like. How are we getting all of these dinosaurs back to over 60 million years ago? Is that a thing we're going to be, like, responsible for too?" inquires Blockbuster, looking around suddenly in thoughtful confusion.

The dinosaurs, indeed, seem to be the more immediate problem. Even the leader seems less satisfied as it tries to eat a lamppost.

"I hope not. That's stupid. Isn't there an island off the coast used for exactly this kind of thing?" KT asks aloud.

Dialydd raises a hand like a human student would. "Pardon me, I am confused. This Timekeeper brought these, cha, dinosaurs forward in time 60 million years in order to extort, cha, I think Linda said, 10 million Aearth dollars?"

He then looks at the dinosaurs. "We need to move them out of the city proper or into a park. Is one nearby?"

"You'd think he'd want, like, at least a dollar a year," muses Blockbuster. She pauses and looks at Kid Tengu in visible confusion. "Ohmigosh! There's, like, a dinosaur island right off of the coast? Where? Why haven't we, like, gone before?"

Artemis frowns. "If we do not address the cause, we will have a multitude more of these dinosaurs to deal with. Why do we delay when we can go forth to Tranquility?"

"Kid Tengu!" calls Magda. "Stop taking selfies of your dino-riding self and find us a police officer, we need some LEO assistance for traffic control to get these beasts into a clear area. Dialydd, do you think you can keep them together but move them along to where-ever the police guide you??"

Magda gets a call back already!

Engelicus blinks. "What is this Tranquility you speak of? Another realm?"

Dialydd makes a double clicking sound then says, "Apologies, yes, I can keep the leader occupied and they seem to follow her, so, cha, a qualified yes."

Magda answers the call. "Gutzu."

"Space prison," chirps Blockbuster to Engelicus.

It seems one contact had the bright idea of calling someone in Scotland. Seems they would love to have a plesiosaur for Loch Ness - to populate, or repopulate it, as the case may be, with the legendary monsters!

Engelicus nods. "Ah. I see.

Scotland is less interested, however, in a herd of triceratops. :P

"Where is the nearest park? One with many plants and some water?" asks Dialydd of the gathered heroes. "They need foor and water. And once there I can start sending them to sleep. Sadly they are too large for me to take into Dream."

Magda opens her mouth, closes it, then says mildly, "You'll have to find out if it can take freshwater instead of salt."

The person representing Scottish tourism is gravely disappointed. But they're still willing if it can manage fresh water.

KT looks surprised at Magda. "You tell that to #CodeDark's base! They hunger for our selfies." He protests before taking to the sky to get a better view of the immediate area.

Drivers and the emergency services clearly are expecting the heroes to sort out this problem, and are getting less patient.

Magda grins at Kid Tengu's protest -- she hadn't even looked back to see if he was. "That's why you'll need an aquatic paleontologist. I leave that to you; the pleiosaur is here. I regret I must leave so abruptly, though; there is a possible Tranquility breakout." And with that she hangs up, turning in hopes of finding a police officer.

Dialydd looks at the other heroes. "Let me take one into Dream. I will, forge a home for them there in the short term, but I need one with me."

He walks over to one of the other adult triceratops. The alien youth reaches out a hand and places it on the dino's side. As he does, his clothing and appearance change then the dino and he shimmer out of existence.

Engelicus listens quietly to the others as they discuss the situation,a nd then says, "So...this Timekeeper is a time traveller, and brought them from this planet's past? And it was probably another version of this Timekeeper along your timeline than the one in custody now?"

Engelicus looks to ARtemis, "We could kill him. Then that would confirm that it was a part version of him."

Engelicus says, "Sorry. A past version."

Linda goes to help sort out the traffic situation while waiting for Starguard to decide if the heroes are needed.

Artemis nods to Engelicus. "Aye, 'twould be proof of that. Mortals should not meddle in the flow of time."

Kid Tengu continues scanning for the nearest officer before expanding his circle.

Blockbuster continues to act as a giant traffic signal.

Police officers are on the scene, and have largely been trying to stop drivers from doing anything to frighten the dinosaurs again, while the heroes sort things out.

KT dives down and halts in front of one of the nearest officers. "The Eldest One demands your immediate attention." He smirks at that, as he turns and points to Magda for the officer.

Magda goes to speak to the officer, to arrange for possible slow movement from this location to a park, with Dialydd riding herd -- or, if it's a success -- "Reroute people until it's clear. You do not want four-ton juveniles and ten-ton adults stomping some pissy little Volvo into paste with its pissy little driver inside."

Dialydd, the Dreamer, returns to the world in a soft shimmer of kaleidoscopic light. He takes a deep breath then walks over to another adult triceratops. Without speaking, he starts the process again. And then returns about 30 secnonds later to do it again...and again...and again...until finally there is only the leader left. IT takes some time in all.

The police - with Blockbuster's luminescent aid - manage to redirect traffic while Dialydd sorts out the dinosaur infestation problem.

Linda makes her apologies to the police telling them she's been called by Starguard. Then returns to the gathered heroes, "More information. Some of the missing prisoners have been identified. Timekeeper is one. Someone called Auntie Rotter is another. Starguard asks if we can seek out and capture the escapees. Maybe we should go to Starguard for a fuller briefing to start?"

nods. "A good idea."

Magda nods. "A good idea."

Artemis lets out a restless sigh and turns to the divine in her vicinity; namely Engelicus and dreamer. "By mine guess, I could fly us to Tranquility in but a quarter of a earthly segment of rotation. I believe it be 15 'minutes' by Earth measurement."

Artemis turns her head to Linda and sighs again. "We be too late in this distraction." She shakes her head and explains to Engelicus, "The prison of Tranquility is the most secure Urth has. So it should be little wonder why they suffer so many ills."

Blockbuster keeps bobbing in the air, helping the police to redirect traffic until Dialydd is done with his work. She looks at the other heroes and shrugs her shoulders a little bit.

Magda calls out to Artemis, "Know your foe before throwing yourself into battle, Godflora ..."

Artemis waves off Magda's explanation. "And whilst you wait and look to thy books for research, mortals will suffer. Some must engage the threat directly and be prepared for anything!"

One by one, the triceratops are shifted to the Dream. When it's done, traffic can move freely again - and the heroes are free to check out Tranquillity, should they wish.

Engelicus nods to ARtemis, "I am certain it would take me some time to fly there myself. Much longer.

Magda smiles a little. "Not books, but those same mortals who know what is going on. But go, if you wish; we will listen and learn, and be there momentarily afterwards by my guide. -- as we were against the other realm's mighty hero."

"I wlll be there as soon as I get all the animals to safe pasture," murmurs Dialydd as he goes over to get the remaining ones.