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[Look, it's been a long month and while she knows it's just a thing Lup can do, she wasn't anticipating the change just then.]

... Good.

[So she did check on him. And if Lup was here and she had left her body behind, obviously she wanted to join her, so no further questioning was needed there. At least at present. Right?]

Come along and take a look, then. This opportunity will not last us long.

Yeah, yeah. Geez...

[Lup floats away from the wall, turning in a slow circle to check their surroundings and ensure that there aren't any rogue spiders nearby.]

Isn't this stuff literal poison to breathe, or something like that? It doesn't look great.

If one were actively breathing it in, it would be a problem for them, if they did not have any... abilities to deal with it.

[As for herself, she's been in outer space without need for gear or to breathe really, so what's the difference between no atmosphere to poison atmosphere? That's her logic. The most she does is keep her cloak up a bit, particularly when speaking, just on the chance that there might be a limitation she was unaware of, but all the more reason to be cautious about time.

While Lup begins to scouts for danger, though the area seems almost suspiciously clear of spiders for the moment, Honerva resumes what she was originally doing, which was... taking pictures, some of the breach and then of the other nearby structures.]

This city was a good deal larger. It seems to have retreated in on itself systematically before now...

Seems that way. It makes sense- the city's already too big for the population it has now. They probably shrunk it down as the situation got worse. Smaller shields are stronger, in the long run.

[She can't take pictures - her hands would just phase through whatever she tried to hold for too long, so she'd left her communicator at the house - so instead she floats over to one of the ramshackle buildings and sticks her head through the wall to see what's within the wreckage.

On the other side, her voice is somewhat muffled.]

Doesn't look like it was a sudden evacuation, here. They probably saw it coming.

[She realizes she can't quite hear Lup as well and she glances over... to see her poking her head through walls. That'll save some time.

Honestly though, she'll just send a telepathic message to her instead to cut down on having to actually talk.]

It is likely. With this having happened, they may try to limit us further. Does the inside resemble the housing available to us?

[It would be interesting to note whether or not the buildings were "prepared" for normal people to live in or not, or if they had been simply, homes.

Even so, she continues her careful looking about. Broken buildings ... were those bones of a creature? Either those remains were around for a while or this atmosphere took care of it... or probably a combination of factors.]

[Lup recognizes the wisdom of that, tossing a Message back and phasing fully inside the ruin to examine it more thoroughly.]

The architecture is similar, yeah. Older, and most of it's rotted away, but pretty familiar.

[Fair to assume it was part of the same city.]

These conditions only make it more difficult to discern the onset of such a decay and how many centuries it has persisted.

[She's careful not to touch anything, using her magic to very gently shift through some of the exposed dirt for anything useful, basic archaeology. Even a rock would be useful--there really wasnt much time to spend doing this, she could feel the heaviness of the air starting to weigh on her and it was not great. Then again, so much about this atmosphere was so unnatural that anything might be muddled up even with the ability to examine further.

... Seems doing that disturbed a small lizard that was hanging out in the rubble nearby to hide from spiders. Huh. What an unexpected sign of life.]

[There's definitely something extra-grim about the atmosphere here; Lup isn't even capable of being poisoned in this form and she still feels... weird. A discomfort that really ought not translate into her spectral body, like a stifling weight on her soul. She can't put her finger on it yet, but...]

To be fair, they did warn us that it was bad out here. I know you're all magic-bullshit, but don't push your luck, okay? Rather not test the death process here.

[Ordinarily she'd be less worried about herself in these circumstances, but... hm. It's not like liches themselves are unkillable- she's died in this form a few times, too.]

I don't intend to. But we should know more about what we're dealing with while we can discover it for ourselves.

[Dying's not on her list of things to do, thanks. Even if she doesn't think that a scouting venture like this can really harm her. Surely, it's only the fact that they can "sense" the air is so bad that it's playing mind tricks on them, making them think it's worse? She wouldn't put it past the world to be more dangerous to them psychologically than not.

She takes a few more pictures, though more rapidly. Such things could be examined later with more clarity, especially when there was hardly anything physical to find, though she makes her way back toward where she'd last seen Lup poking about.]

[There's a long moment where she won't find her, and then Lup rises up from beneath a mostly-shattered window sill, hands raised and skeletal fingers wiggling. Boo! Very spook. Except not really, because this is Honerva we're talking about.

She half-turns and points downwards, then phases out through the wall again to Honerva's side.]

I think somebody left their dog in here. There's an animal skeleton in the corner, and no ground entrances I can find open.

[If anything, Honerva does at least snap a picture of Lup when she appears, or tries to, anyway. A little fun thing for later. Even if she doesn't so much as react to her display otherwise, but it's... something, at least.

Her words of course, when she joins her, are strange but concerning.]

If they had taken such measures to remove all else, it seems... odd that they would be so negligent.

[She's still using telepathy even with Lup being right there now. Which is probably strange, but with her exploring, she'd wrapped herself up a bit better.]

[It's a good thing she's a lich undead and not a vampire, or that would be a very disappointing photo. She offers no objection, though; Honerva's not the sort to show it around to just anyone, and most of those who truly matter have already seen it.]

Maybe it got lost. Or maybe there's a hole somewhere I didn't notice- can't say I gave this place the most thorough of searches.

[She shrugs bony shoulders. It's sad, but she's seen enough animals die in her lifetime to acknowledge that sometimes there's no saving them. You have to roll with fate and nature.]

Anything in particular you think we should be looking for?

[A nice little snapshot for later. Maybe. For now she nods. Cursory glances could only provide so much information.]

Ideally, for any signs of significant differences in the architecture, such as remnants from their civilization before they changed. Currently there do not seem to be any indications of where they might have stored their own remains, unless they completely disposed of them.

[Which ... did seem likely given the tone of some of those found records. She gets a few closer shots of the building.]

As well as potential sites that may have once contained underground facilities. If the atmosphere was this bad, perhaps they had other ways of dealing with it before they advanced. But there is not enough time to be so thorough.

That would be a lot of bones to bury... I'll keep an eye out, though. I've also got a few ideas for some experiments we can run before we bail, but that can wait.

[She has a feeling at least one of them will be unpleasant, so she'd rather not rush into that.]

I can't take any pics, so I'll grab you if I see anything worthwhile.

There are some other aspects I would like to test as well... however with your being incorporeal, it may be difficult to introduce a flow of this world's specific energy to an area. Though we can see how other forms fare...

[Even if it was safer for Lup this way. A thought for next time, perhaps. For now, she returns to peering around with the camera. She's starting to feel slightly tired, but she's been out here a little longer than Lup has, anyway. Not enough to stop her just yet, though.]

Let me know what you see, then. What else did you have in mind?

"Other forms" was kinda the idea. I can Polymorph like this, though it'll probably look a bit weird. I was thinking we could pick a form and see how long it takes a normal thing to die out here.

[Which is. Grim. But that's why she's telling Honerva and not like, a little kid.]

I can also conjure little flowers or plants to check basically the same thing. That one's less taxing, at least.

[Lup, didn't they just have that conversation about not dying out here.]

... I was referring to other forms of magic, such as conjuring your fire, and other elements, and seeing how they fare and interact with the quality of this air.

Plants would work as well.

[Only Honerva would call a broken Polymorph spell "dying". You're talking to an expert on real dying, here.]

Oh, sure, we can do that too. But you don't know how to talk to plants, do you?

[are you secretly a druid, Honerva.]

[Lup talking about dying in any form so casually is disturbing to her, okay. Even if she hadn't considered thoroughly what Lup had meant. Perhaps the form could serve as a good timer of sorts, for when they'd have to leave...

Eugh.]

... No, I cannot. Though to be fair I do not recall having an opportunity to attempt such a thing before. [Why talk to a plant when it was only a form of energy?] It would be easier to track their rate of depletion, but we would lose time to observing it.

[Perhaps not the best test for a limited situation.]

Tell me more about your form plan, then. What risk is there to you, when it depletes?

Mm... let's multitask, then. Just keep an eye on it.

[She floats back over to Honerva, reaching up to her head, ghostly skeletal fingers weaving a circle as arcane energy draws in. When she withdraws, there is... a flower crown! Right on Honerva's head. The leaves are vibrant, and the flowers colourful, though it only takes a few seconds after the magic fades for that colour to dim a little.]

Not really a risk. When the form dies, I'll just change back- at most it'd be like getting a papercut. It's a lot harder to kill me like this.

[That was kind of the point of doing it to herself, so.]

Your form would affect the way you are able to think and perceive as well.

[Should Lup go ahead with the change, she'd just have to double her own mindfulness somehow. Hopefully. Though in any case, there was still seeing how other tests fared in this environment. The varied elements, and of course, life and death.

While she couldn't see the flowers, she definitely was aware of them this way. Whether they'd dry up from the noxious air or change in other ways, that would be interesting...]

Yeah, but I can drop it whenever I want. It also depends on which one I pick, so don't worry about it.

[She shrugs and floats towards the next building, intent on giving it a proper examination. They don't have time to stand around debating the merits of one dumb plan after another. It's all reckless, who cares.]

Then I trust you will choose wisely.

[She does feel responsible for Lup being there, and even if they'd known there'd be danger in this.

But she does know that Lup knows her stuff, even if they're both on the reckless side. As messed up as they both were, they really didn't get to the sort of states they were in by not knowing what they were about, when it came to testing and examining.

The atmosphere felt cloying, more weighted, but perhaps that's just because she was wrapped up so tightly now in her attempts to ward it all off. She continues her own examinations, taking pictures of the exposed, broken bits of wall. A selfie, to gauge the appearance of the flowers. Shifting through the ground, still looking for changes in the soil's coloring, as time continues to pass.]

Oh snap, the pressure's on now.

[Her tone's a bit whimsical as she pokes through the wall, silently examining the interior. Within thirty seconds she pulls back again, shaking her head. Nothing really new or unique, just another house. Same style, same design, not even a pile of bones to poke at. It's weird how a result like this can be both reassuring and disappointing.]

Any buildings that aren't, like, residential? I don't know how much we'll learn from collapsing old houses.

[Consistent enough at least to confirm the city had been something like this for a while.]

Not yet. There must be some marker of another district somewhere, if we compare where we are on this outer wall to how the inside of the city is structured...

[She glances back toward the wall as she considers their current distance and position.]

However it is likely they had already installed their more important buildings centralized from the start, like their research facilities. Given their priorities. Perhaps the same goes for the temples as well...

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