tushanshu_logs | EVENT | LANDFALL | KITHIKA

EVENT | LANDFALL | KITHIKA | BOTTLE

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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Naugus can't help but snicker at Hawke's misfortune of tasting the nasty muck, but he sobers up again when he realizes it's pretty gross and difficult to slog through it. The depth of it is well over his boots and is already filling both of them with swamp water, which will just not do. With a huff, Naugus summons a vortex of wind around and under him, pushing off into flight.

But that's short-lived when a tangle of thorny branches that he's sure were not there a moment ago block the mage's progress. He grumbles and attempts to swoop around it, but his maneuvers confirm that the branches are moving and are very intent on grabbing hold of him. With a small cry of alarm, Naugus does his best to touch gracefully back down to earth, but he doesn't manage it without getting a mess of scratches and his poor cape getting shredded.

Angry at the blockade and the ruining of a perfectly fine garment, Naugus turns on the trees, his claw extended forward, a gout of flame erupting forth and engulfing the offending foliage. They burn easily enough, but not without a series of shrill screams. Naugus' ears go as flat as they're able in reaction to the sound, now just frowning, wide-eyed, as he watches the writhing trees crackle and burn.

"...Well. Isn't this all just something." He looks back, wondering where their third companion could be. "Styx? Are you coming?"

The first breath of air on this side of the bottle had hit Styx like a horse-kick to the face: that hot, heavy stink, muck and fungus and fouler things. Stagnant water. Decay. Distant croaks, and the whirr of thirsty insects. It's...not the same, no, certainly not so soon after that mage-dream of old and regrettable things, perfectly detailed down to the last shitty puddle. But it is close enough, even without the sound of little scrabbling goblin feet disappearing into the mist.

"Yeah," he says, and then, less distantly, "Yeah, I'm coming."

What he wouldn't give for - but it's a stupid wish, and he's selfish enough for a lot of things but not selfish enough to finish making it. Even just to himself.

The water comes nearly to his waist and reeks like the catacombs, but his movements are careful. Feel where you're going, don't shove your foot under a root like an amateur, brace yourself for the surprise brushes and bites from things you can't see cause it's gonna happen either way and making noise about it is a death sentence. Speaking of noise, however. His voice is light when he speaks again, and why shouldn't it be? Everything's good here. Everything's good. "Heh. The two of you never met a problem you couldn't bash in the face, huh? Fuck, it's like I signed on with orcs again. I'm gettin' nostalgic."

"But maybe we take a closer look around before we do things the hard way, yeah? There's other noises out there besides that bonfire you just lit, and if there are things living here they gotta know how to get around better than this. Which means there is a way to get around better than this. Unless we're supposed to fight every fuckin' tree in the place, what do I know."

Hawke stops for a moment to watch the fireworks display. So far this is the most Hawke has seen of Ixis' magic beyond flying around. At least it's not completely different from the things he's seen. Now it's his turn to smirk though. "Looks like you won't be cheating your way through this." Despite the snark, it's really something of a disappointment. Blasting their way through this mess would speed things up a lot.

"Bashing things are simple. I like my answers simple," Hawke answers Styx, still smirking. He's got the right of it though. There must be a better way to slog through this mess than bashing themselves against every wall they come across. Time to actually use his brain for something more than just a smart mouth.

His head moves on a swivel as he searches for anything that might prove useful. In the distance he can hear more trees screaming. It seems some people are set on doing things the hard way. Something slithers against his leg and for a moment he stiffens. Whatever it was, it wasn't another vine and it's gone before he can guess. Something tells him he's better off not finding out.

"Something is down there," Hawke warns and as he turns his head towards the others he spots something, a glow. He points toward it in case the others have yet to see it. "What's that?"

"What, we're supposed to stop attacking the trees just because they make a little noise? If that's the criteria of when to stop attacking something, we'd never get anything done. Besides, they started it."

Let the other two puzzle out a pacifistic method of advancing. Naugus slogs ahead, plumes of flame erupting from his claw or simply appearing in the very air around the trees. It gets loud around here with him keeping that up, the shrieks and screams of the dying forest completely drowning out any other sounds of the swamp. Naugus acts like these noises aren't bothering him, but his ears are completely flat and folded back.

There is a look on Styx's face, beholding the blazing, screeching mass disaster unfolding before him, as though he cannot quite decide whether to be aggravated or put his head in his hands and laugh himself hoarse. "Yep. Real fucking nostalgic."

He shakes his head, turning and with careful steps making his way towards the nearby glowing patch before Naugus can bring in every predator within a hundred miles. If nothing else it might be edible, or if it isn't it might be toxic enough to be something he can use, or - actually, now that he thinks about it - he waves the human over, raising his voice to be heard over Naugus' glorious trailblazing.

"Hey, how's your night vision? He's got all the torches he wants and I'm a goblin, but this shit here...it burns without burning anything up. Could come in handy for you if we run outta light or get split up later." Preparedness is never the wrong choice in life, as far as he's concerned.

Hawke on the other hand, looks quite annoyed by the whole ordeal. If this screeching his ears are going to start bleeding soon. That, and everything in this damnable swamp will be able to find them in seconds. If there's anything in this swamp beside giant mosquitoes, like something slithering beneath the murky water for instance, the three will be the first target.

Catching the signal from Styx, Hawke moves over towards the goblin near the glowing patch he saw before the inferno began. "Right now? It's doing a whole lot better than my hearing." It's hard enough to hear himself think over all that racket, and here Hawke thought he wasn't subtle.

"Better than wandering in the dark waiting to get ambushed." Hawke doesn't believe for a second they're alone in this swamp. Not since the whole point of entering the bottle is to find the evil lurking inside it.

Hawke plucks some mushrooms from the patch. Without anything with which to carry them, for now he'll just have to hold them in his hand. As he lifts the glowing fungi he notices movements from the trees, slight but definitely there. "Did you see that?" Though he's not sure if Ixis notices anything right now beyond torching the trees around them.

Naugus is indeed quiet absorbed in the matter of burning every tree in his path. He's gonna teach these stupid plants a lesson. Block his flight, will they? Scratch up his face, will they? Ruin his cape, WILL THEY?

Although the screaming finally gets to him properly, and Naugus has to pause his assault to awkwardly cover his large ears. (Hard to do with the left-hand claw.) Guy might have the most sensitive ears out of the lot of them, so he's just heaping nothing but misery onto himself here.

"I think I'm going to vomit," he mumbles as he squeezes his eyes shut, ringing ears still covered. At least with his pause, the last few trees burn out, reduced to glowing embers and questionable pools of black tar, the screeching starting to fade out with them. Wrapped up in his discomfort, the mage doesn't hear or see Hawke's warning of something lurking in the shadows.

He'd turned as Hawke reached to pluck the improvised 'torches' from among their glowing kin, because as far as his priorities were concerned they'd scavenged up a useful thing from the muck (story of his life) and now he really needed to do something about that fucking noise because the novelty didn't seem to be wearing off anytime soon for the party mage. That's when the problem at last solves itself - and perhaps fortunately so, because it means Styx doesn't have to spend time arguing with a guy that can turn him into toasted goblin with a gesture.

(Escape a continent full of bonfires only to end up torched in the end anyhow. Funny old world.)

Not that he's going to fall all over himself to be sympathetic either, and when he catches the words over the slowly fading screams he sighs and shakes his head. "You brought that on yourself, you know. I just hope you got that shit outta your syste--fuck, what?"

He turns back sharply, one dagger already in hand, looking for whatever probably-life-threatening thing Hawke just noticed.

Hawke gestures a hand towards Styx to let the goblin know to stay still for a moment. He knows he saw something from the trees, not in them but actually from them. As he approaches a tree it almost appears to lean away from him. When he backs off a few steps it returns to its original position. Gears turn in Hawke's head. This time he thrusts the fungi at it only to see the tree do so again.

With the screaming finally gone Hawke sighs in relief before turning to face the other two members of the party. "Maker, it's about time. My head feels like it's about to split open." At least now they don't have to shout over it.

"While you were busy destroying your eardrums, I think we may have stumbled on a solution." Hawke points to the fungi in his hand. "Seems that the trees here don't like the light." The more time Hawke spends here the more he finds himself saying the oddest things.

Naugus wanders back over to the other two, ears still flattened and voice a little too raised for conversational. He can't hear himself very well over all the ringing in his head.

"What? They avoid the-...Well, fine, fashion a mess of torches with the stupid things and we'll trudge onwards. I thought I saw something resembling cobblestone back over that way." He points at where he'd been making fiery progress up until it about made him sick. "Perhaps civilization or remnants thereof lie in that direction."

He glances at Naugus, who was only a moment ago so burningly invested in attacking the trees to punish them for retaliating after he'd attacked them...like an orc who'd punched a nail and then punched it again for daring to hurt him. But with a shrug he decides it's not really worth it to say anything more on the subject - he'd made his point already, and at least Naugus did apparently get it out of his system.

Hopefully. For a while, at least.

...hopefully.

"Bailed out of still more trouble by a bunch of fucking fungus. What has my life become?" Returning his dagger to its proper place, he carefully steps up and gathers a little for himself. Just in case they do get split up, because that's just the kind of luck he tends to have. "I like the sound of cobblestones, though. Long as we don't run into whatever put 'em there. This doesn't strike me as the kinda terrain where we'll run into friendlies."

Edited 2014-02-18 23:16 (UTC)

"We could always try fire if we run into trouble. It worked so well last time after all." Styx may think the point has been made but Hawke is still more than happy to stick a few more jabs in there. Ixis will probably keep hearing about this one for a while.

"Finding some solid ground would be nice. It would be nice to actually see my feet again." With fungi firmly gripped in one hand, he draws one of his axes with the other. "Just in case we run into someone who doesn't feel like talking," Hawke says to the others. If things get too hairy he can just drop the fungi and go for once of his smokebombs too.

For all the good the fungus has been proven to provide, Naugus pointedly does not take any of it, instead just pulling what tatters remain of his cape closer around his shoulders and slinking behind the other two adventurers.

"I hesitate to shadowmeld in such a place as this, where the in-between may be in the thrall of whatever black thing rules this land. Though not to say I'm frightened at the prospect, or will disavow any use of it. If need be." He nods to himself. "Yes, if need be."

Despite how much trouble it caused earlier, Naugus still summons a lick of flame at his fingertips, not projecting it so angrily as he had been before, but keeping it literally on hand should something new arrive that will make less of a fuss at being burnt alive.

As they progress, solid ground does eventually present itself, if grudgingly, roots and swamp rot breaking apart what stones are laid, sending what order they were once laid askew. But it seems to be leading somewhere, as evidence of civilization often does. It appears they are approaching a temple...

Styx is more than ready to scramble up out of the water, though the bottle-land's notion of solid ground is no less disgusting than the muck they're leaving behind - and he would have loved to avoid a few stretches of that, but you couldn't pay him enough to climb any plant in this reeking dump after watching how his companions' luck with the damn things played out.

"Ugh. I wasn't kidding when that lady called us down here, give me a fuckin' magic bottle that can hold a world inside, see if I don't come up with something better than this shit. The whole place looks like a sick cow sneezed on it. And did a few other things after."

As they come to the edge of the restless trees at last he tucks his collected glow-fungus into a pouch to free up both his hands. The white hilts of the Sisters of Mercy aren't looking so pretty after the first leg of this grubby adventure, but they feel comforting in his gnarled old fingers just the same. Even if this turns out to be another one of those freaky ~mystical~ ordeals that can't be solved with a quick knife to the soft bits, walking onto these creepy ruined temple grounds with daggers in his hands still seems like the thing to do.

"Looks like whoever used to be here had religion. Church of the Sick Cow's Shit. Services every day, all lost souls and clean boots welcome. Careful with the collection plate."

It's habitual with him.

Edited 2014-02-24 10:14 (UTC)

Alright that just makes him laugh. Despite the muck that has most certainly gotten into every little crack on his armor, Hawke remains in good spirits. Despite any complaints he might voice, this is the kind of thing that Hawke lives for. At the moment he feels right at home, more so than he does within the walls of his suite.

Even after breaking through the treeline Hawke continues to grip the fungi as he takes point. There's no telling what could be roaming the grounds here. If they find something maybe it will react to the light in a similar fashion as the trees. Or maybe it will just make him a target. Who knows. At least he has Ixis and Styx to watch his back.

"Somehow this doesn't surprise me," Hawke says with a smirk. "Whenever there's trouble there's always some fallen temple or weird ruins standing a the center of it. It's like a law of the world. Birds fly. Fish swim. Ruins mean trouble."

And of course, where there's trouble there will most certainly be Hawke. "You know, if there is a collection plate I'm sure they won't need it anymore." He turns his head, grinning wryly at the other two.

"Ruins means artifacts, usually of notable potency." Naugus' ears have only now started to cautiously lift from their pasted-back position, probably due to him realizing he can't hear so well over all the ringing still going on in his skull. "Perhaps...I shall spend a little time poking about for just that."

Or for however much longer he can stand this dump. Unlike the other two, Naugus is not much for down-and-dirty expeditions, stuff that ends up with mud in his boots and concerns over how the hell these mosquitoes got so big in the first place. Frustrated that sheer firepower (literally) was a no-go plan, at least when the flora is concerned, Naugus personally hopes these ruins will be a little more interesting, a little more fruitful.

"The place sings with dark magicks. It's seeped into every stone, every-" The wizard stops short suddenly, eyes going wide like he'd just heard or felt something shocking. Then he melts into shadow, literally. He just sinks into the darkness at his feet. There is the fleeting movement of an indistinct shadow slithering hastily away on the ground, towards some crumbled ruins that don't seem of any particular note. And then, moments later, it zips back, rising upwards and taking the form of the mage once more. He looks downright gleeful. Like he found something amazing.

"My opinion of this realm has completely changed. COMPLETELY. I found something from my zone! From where I came from!"

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EVENT | LANDFALL | KITHIKA | BOTTLE

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