EVENT | LANDFALL | KITHIKA | BOTTLE

[cherrywood]

Characters: ALL!
Date: February 12th - 28th
Location: Kithika, inside the bottle
Situation: The discovery of an artifact from the first war against Malicant reveals the land of Kithika within a dimension of the Death Plane... and just happens to be contained inside a bottle.
Warnings/Rating: Please indicate content warnings in subject headers as applicable.

OOC INFORMATION ♦ CITY OF KEELIAI ♦ INSIDE THE BOTTLE ♦ THE WORLD EATER
Arriving in Kithika is unpleasant for the most part. Transport through the glass vessel deposits you in the middle of a thick and murky swamp, with air so hot and humid it feels as though one is breathing through a wet towel. This is a place of perpetual night and there are no celestial bodies visible overhead through the twisted vines to break up the blackness, making the only light visible that which comes clumps of marsh fungus that emit a steady glow in a variety of muted colours: pale blue, whitish green, watery mauve. The only other light comes from those who can generate it themselves and that will reveal numerous broad-leaved trees, in some places standing too thick to move through. Below, knee-deep water laps in swirls at their legs, accompanied by the occasional slithery feel of something moving in the bracken against wet limbs, gone before it can be identified. A variety of strange noises from creatures of the swamp fill the air with buzzing and hoarse croaking, interrupted by the screech of mosquitoes the size of hummingbirds darting past and hungry for a meal.

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OOC NOTE: Characters will not be able to progress past the Temple and the Grounds for 48 IC hours after which point, the way to continue onward to find the dragon will be discovered. The second log will be posted on the 17th, to help spread out the tagging. Thank you!

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OOC INFORMATION
Landfall Questions | Approved Item Requests | Player Plot - Kryptonian Rampage OOC

CITY OF KEELIAI
Emperor's Orders: Miasma Explained | Marshaling the Forces | A City Under Siege | Halting the Scourge

INSIDE THE BOTTLE
Crossing the Swamp | Decayed Grounds | The Sullied Temple | Stone Idols | Item Discovery

THE WORLD EATER
Battling the Dragon | Soul's Poison | Kryptonian Rampage | The Guarded Pool | Weighing the Options | Aftermath

Comments

[open]

[hulkintraining]

By the time Teddy entered the temple he was drenched in swamp water and mud. When he had decided to enter the bottle and help defeat whatever evil that was at work, this was not how he had imagined doing it. The light of the fungi he had managed to pick up was beginning to fade but he kept it on hand as he slowly progresses through the temple. No way was he going to check the place out in the dark.

By the time he came across the wishing pond he had already swapped the fading fungi for a much more useful candle he picked up in one of the rooms. He approached curiously, kneeling down and shining the candle light just over the pond. With the light he could make out the shimmering of objects at the bottom. Numerous pieces of jewelry and trinkets. "It kind of looks like a wishing well. Except for being a pond and instead of throwing loose change in it people throw...other things."

It took a few moments for him to notice the tablet. But once he did he merely glanced at it and shrugged. It looks vaguely like a language he has seen before, but not enough to place it. "That's not very helpful," he muttered.

[spideyfanone]

Kurt had a natural talent for sneaking, and as he skipped candles without thinking about it (he could be over-reliant on his low-light vision) and avoided the water for the most part (avoiding wet fur was worth the time and occasional nasty welt that he got out of coming by tree). Aside from carrying a little more sulfur-scent around with him thanks to all the teleporting he had to do, he had all his usual advantages of shadow-colored fur and enhanced agility.

So popping out of a shadow and interjecting awkwardly without announcing his presence was entirely possible. That it wasn't actually a good idea didn't occur to him. There was a reason Kurt had gotten himself stuffed in so many lockers in junior high. "Good fortune, transport, something something, thing... change? No, don't think that's it. Bah. Switch?"

There was a lot of Latin in science class, but he had no grasp of grammar.

[hulkintraining]

Teddy jumped, nearly sending himself into the sky, when the other kid appeared from out of the shadows, attention focused on the tablet. Thankfully he had managed to suppress an entirely manly screech. He never would have lived it down if word had somehow made it back to Cassie.

After taking a moment to calm down Teddy took the time to study his new companion which his attention was held elsewhere. He looked very familiar, like a certain older X-Man he knew, but...younger.

"Um...Kurt? Did something happen to you?"

[spideyfanone]

He left off squinting at the plaque and turned to Teddy. "Geeze, everybody knows that guy." His accent belonged to Brooklyn, not Bavaria, and he was skinny, scruffy, and only ready for high school if you were generous about it, but he had to admit that there were only so many blue goblins around. What got to him was that the other one seemed more than capable of normal human interaction and even appeared to have friends and junk. It was a problem for blaming the bulk of his own miserable weirdness on being blue and fuzzy. "Nope. Multiversal double. Waggoner, not Wagner, though also a Kurt. Hi."

[hulkintraining]

Ah, that explained it. Now that he knew this Kurt wasn't the one he knew he was able to pick up on the subtle differences. Like the accent for one. But otherwise he just looked like a younger double of the older Kurt Teddy knew. "Yeah, hi. Sorry about the confusion. I didn't know there was two of you around. I'm Teddy."

[spideyfanone]

"No problem. I'm getting used to it. I mean, I've met doubles of just about everyone on my team." Sometimes repeatedly. "It's weird until you get your head around it." He turned back to the sign to glare at it some more as if that would make him remember more Latin, which this didn't even quite seem to be, strictly speaking. "Okay, all I can think of right now is Lorem Ipsum..."

[hulkintraining]

"I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I haven't run into any alternate versions of myself yet." He wouldn't be surprised when it finally happens though. Just another one of those job hazards you eventually have to deal with when you're a superhero. Doesn't mean he's looking forward to it...

He gives the sign another glance over despite knowing there's no way he can help. It all just looked like strange symbols to him. "Okay...is that supposed to mean something?"

[spideyfanone]

"Super trippy," he agreed distractedly. "I... Wish I'd paid attention in Spanish." Then he might have a better idea of how to deal with this kind of word order nonsense. He also wondered a little why pseudo-Latin in a world that seemed to have an otherwise pretty eastern aesthetic, but that probably wasn't important. "It definitely says a thing. Like, object. And something about changing or switching, and that's good luck, somehow? Given all this stuff that's here..." Kurt looked over the bits and pieces of trinkets in the pond. "Take a penny, leave a penny?"

[hulkintraining]

Teddy studied the trinkets laying at the bottom of the pond. Maybe it was a type of wishing well, in pond form. Those are supposed to bring people luck. But usually you didn't have to take anything from those. But if there was one thing Teddy knew, it's that this place doesn't go by the same rules as his own world did. "So if you leave something in the pond, you need to take something out in order to have good luck?"

After a moment's consideration he shrugged and stuck his hand into the water. He pulled out a small trinket, turned it around in his hand, before shoving it into his pocket. "Um...so I guess I should leave something similar behind." It seemed that something small and shiny would suffice. After a slight hesitation Teddy touched his ear and pulled out of his earrings out. He dropped it into the pond. "Well...let's hope that worked out. We could use all the luck we can get."

[spideyfanone]

Kurt was a compulsive acquirer of small, shiny things, especially the kind that seemed useful. He pulled a couple of spare nuts and bolts from one pocket, but since that didn't seem very valuable, he picked up a mildly interesting rock rather than one of the nicer bits of jewelry. "Probably can't hurt. Though every other magic thing in this stupid dimension is definitely out to get us. At least this would be a kind of a goofy trap, so hopefully it's not one."

[hulkintraining]

"I don't think it is. But that's more my gut instinct than anything." He shrugged and looked at the pond again. It certainly didn't seem malicious, but it certainly wouldn't be the first innocuous thing to try and kill them that day. "Nothing we can do now but wait and see."

[spideyfanone]

Kurt doesn't ever trust his gut--not since the cupcakes and unicorns incident, anyway. "Yeah, after killer trees, this probably won't actually be what takes us out. ...If nothing else, I'd be embarrassed."

[hulkintraining]

"Death by malicious trinkets found at the bottom of a pond? Yeah, that is definitely not what I want my gravestone to say." Teddy climbed to his feet and stretched. "I wonder if we have time for a nap before continuing on?"

[spideyfanone]

"That... is not a question that occurred to me." He looked around quickly in case he'd missed the comfy bed section of the creepy swamp ruins. Sure, he's slept in some weird places. He spent years sleeping in a creepy glass tube of death. But it's just not a go-to impulse.

A trillion years late

[iguanasolution]

Frank was honestly used to 'evil things' not being quite like one had imagined. He hadn't been on the quest to the doors of death for that long before he had been brought here, but the time he had spent in the Argo II had been... intense, for lack of a better word. And Milyn had warned him they didn't know what they could find once they went inside the bottle.

But he had to admit the pseudo-wishing well made a pond was indeed kind of unexpected. He was honestly kind of doing his own thing, not paying attention to others before he assessed the situation- when he heard a familiar voice and walked towards him holding his bow close to him.

"What isn't helpful?"

[hulkintraining]

Teddy was still in a crouched position in front of the sign when Frank approaches. He face was set with exhaustion and confusion, his mouth pulled into a tight frown. He hadn't expected their trek through the bottle to be easy, but it would be nice if the signs and things were written in English. Or at least some other language he could recognize.

"This sign," he glanced up at Frank, shrugging,"I can't read it. I'm not sure any of us would be able to read it. It's not a language I recognize anyways."

[iguanasolution]

Frank just gave it a glance, he wasn't really expecting for it to be in a language he could understand. He didn't know many languages anyway, and anytime he had tried to make an effort to learn some more Kedan language his brain had decided to go on a strike and refuse to learn it.But then a familiar word caught his eye ('fortune'?) and he frowned as he approached the sign.

"Wait. It's not really Latin, but I can still read it? Most of it anyway. It says it will give us fortune to leave something here, and take something in return." A tilt of his head.

"I don't know about you, but I could use some luck if we're going to fight the unknown."

[hulkintraining]

He scooted over a bit to give Frank a better look at the sign. Of course it would be some version of Latin. Hasn't anyone let this universe in on the fact that Latin was a dead language? Dead apparently to all but this sign and Frank.

"Latin? Really?" He shook his head. "So it is like a wishing well. Except for it to work you have to take something as well. Sounds easy enough."

[iguanasolution]

"Yeah, Latin" he said, giving Teddy a grin. Back at home he used Latin often, since it was the only language his friends could understand without their heavy dyslexia kicking in, but in here it was... almost the first time he'd really used it. It made him feel nostalgic in a way.

"Let's hope it is as simple at it sounds, so far the walk here hasn't exactly been easy. I don't have much to give, though- I mean, I'll probably need the arrows."

a trillion and one years late

[langsyne]

All things considered, riding stowaway isn't a bad way to go. Instead of expending waaaaay too much effort and ammunition fighting off trees and bugs and other various creepy crawlies, Scott had instead mini-fied himself and hitched a ride on the shoulder of the nearest person to him. It'd been kind of a bumpy ride and yeah, it was probably cheating to go into the bottle that way, but hey, Scott's never been a particular stickler for the rules.

And it means he's alert and observant when he finds himself at the temple, a cluster of glowing fungi held in his gloved hand. Judging from a flickering globe of light nearby, he's not alone here. He ambles his way over to Teddy and squints at the tablet.

"I'm kinda sorta regretting never taking Romance Language 101 in school now because I have no idea what that says." But, more importantly: "You okay? Made your way through the swamp no problem?"

[hulkintraining]

Teddy was too busy glaring at the tablet to notice when he was no longer the only one in the room. It took hearing Scott speak to break him out of his thoughts. "Romance Language? You mean like French? I took half a semester in that before dropping. I'm pretty sure that's not French."

It wasn't any language he'd ever seen before, of that he was sure. Which made things more difficult because if he could recognize it then he could at least ask around and see if anyone knew that language. He could still do the same, he guessed. But it sounded like more energy than he had at the moment.

"I'm in one piece, to the disappointment of the trees. I think it rates a little higher than no problem though. What about you? You look like you managed okay."

[langsyne]

At the return question, Scott merely shrugs.

"Bit of a bumpy ride but not too bad overall. But I also kind of hitched a ride as a stowaway and watched everyone else battle their way though."

He does, at least, have the good grace to look a little embarrassed at taking what's virtually the coward's way out, and continues on in a bit of a rush. Hopefully Cassie hasn't said anything too idolizing about him; he really doesn't want to ruin some kid's image of him one sentence into a conversation.

Leaning forward, he squints at the tablet. Sadly, the squint hasn't magically transformed the words into a language recognizable to him.

"You said something about wishing well though, right? Maybe we should toss something in, just in case."

[hulkintraining]

Instead of looking heartbroken and let down Teddy actually cracked a grin. He didn't think finding a way to avoid conflict was a form of cowardice. Especially when he assumed Scott would have given up his ride to help someone who needed it if he came across such a person.

"Smart move. I've never tried using my powers to shrink myself before. Maybe I should give it a try next time. It would probably have saved me a few bruises." Not that...he showed any signs of being bruised. Not anymore. Doesn't mean they hadn't hurt when they happened though.

"Maybe. There seem to be a lot of stuff sitting at the bottom of the pond. Money, jewelry, other small, shiny objects. I'm just not sure we should risk disturbing anything."

[langsyne]

Sometimes Scott forgets Pym particles aren't the only way of downsizing one's self. Maybe it's because he's spent so long in a world of his own making surrounded by nothing but, or perhaps it's because he's met so few true shapeshifters, but either way, his eyes flick to Teddy with some interest and he straightens, the (not really) mystical tablet forgotten as he studies Teddy.

"Can you really do that? Not the actual shapeshifting part, I know you can do that, but going really tiny? I mean, not that you have to be super tiny to hitch a ride, but when you shapeshift, does it have to be into something that actually exists, or could you do it based on just one dimension, like size or shape?"

There's animation in his voice, perhaps a bit more than there ought to be given their situation. But hey, you never know, maybe figuring this stuff out now will help them in the future, against.....well, against whatever else is lurking out there in the fog.

[hulkintraining]

Teddy doesn't seem to mind this new line of questioning. It's not as if he gets asked to talk about his powers very often. There's nothing really mysterious or unique about his abilities. So he takes a few moments to consider Scott's questions before answering with a shrug.

"Probably? I mean, my Hulkling form, while vaguely modeled after the Hulk, doesn't really look that much like him right? It's more a creation of my own. With the claws, wings, and protective armor." He raps his knuckle gently against the armored shell like plate that covered his shoulder. "And I can make myself bigger at will. So it makes sense that I should be able to do the reverse, right?"