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

[nowthatsfunny]

[The man appears to be ignoring Tess completely, in favor of coming after Ellie directly, a wild look in his eyes and a nasty fucking machete in his hand. He gives Tess a serious case of the creeps, and she imagines that he would even without the fiery background to intensify the effect.

She draws her gun, cocks it, aims right at his head.]

Hey, fucker, why don't you pick on someone your own size?

[He doesn't react, as though Tess isn't even there, so she fires without a second thought, and it - does nothing.]

What the fuck?

[mightythinice]

Tess...

[her voice is strained. Tess's gun being pointless doesn't bode well for her own, and all she wants to do is just back up and run. Especially as David brings up the worst of her memories of that winter. She takes a step back, and her foot kicks a brick.

She reaches down and grabs it, throwing it straight at his face]

Go to hell and stay dead, you fucking asshole!

[the brick buys them a second, and Ellie dashes to hide, hoping that Tess will do the same.

She's not sure she can do this again. It was hard enough knowing there was no way Joel was coming this time, but David wasn't even human. Who knew what would kill him?]

[nowthatsfunny]

[There are a lot of questions running through Tess's mind - at the top of the list are Who is this guy and why does he know your name? and Why can't I shoot him?

But somehow, she gets the feeling that explanations, if they're to be had at all, will have to wait. This creep means business, and he's clearly fixated on Ellie, and there doesn't seem to be much of anything Tess can do about it. Except follow Ellie into a crouch behind an old wooden booth, the fire still wreathed around the front doors and a tingle down her spine reminding her that whoever this guy is, he's creeping around, looking for them - for Ellie.

She puts a hand on the younger girl's shoulder.]

I am not gonna let anything happen to you, okay? We're getting out of here. Me and you.

[mightythinice]

[she tries to look grateful, but she can hear David stalking around, looking for them, and the grateful look fades to a grimace and a nod]

Maybe... maybe if we get the machete from him, he'll go the fuck away.

[her whispers are soft, trying to match the din of the fire so he doesn't immediately hear them, though she can hear his step on a plate not even two rows over. David was good.

David was a Hunter, through and through.

Ellie backs out from her hiding place, sneaking around another table and then stares out at the aisle, to see if she can get a good lock on his back. Then her eyes dart back to Tess. Tess knows how to flank people.

Tess was the one calling the shots back in Boston.]

[nowthatsfunny]

[In just about any other circumstances, Tess would figure this for a cakewalk - they're two against one, after all, no matter how skilled he is, he's just one guy. Not even infected, just a guy.

Tess has beaten a lot worse odds before.

But that's the thing - how do you flank someone who doesn't even seem to see one of you? The whole point of a flank is to use one person to distract the guy, while the other gets the drop on him. But he hasn't been reacting to Tess at all, not even to her gunshot. She's not sure she could even physically grab him. But what other option do they have? Loathe as she is to let Ellie near him - the way he looks at her sends chills up and down her spine - still, Tess creeps around the other way, hoping to do something to get his attention.

Tess has never felt more like a ghost.]

[mightythinice]

[Ellie wishes he would see someone besides her, but she doesn't know what to do to make this seem less like she's alone. Tess is there, but David... David doesn't even act like he should. Or maybe he's acting exactly as he should.

Still, she trails behind him, hoping and praying that whatever Tess does, it buys her the chance to stab him in the fucking neck. She needs that more than anything, to get free of this.

She's close to him now, just a little more, just a little--]

[nowthatsfunny]

[Little rabbit, she hears him call Ellie, and god, but Tess has never wanted to throttle someone so badly in all her life. But the more she sees and hears, the more she experiences this, the more it's obvious that it's Ellie's battle to fight. For better or worse, Tess is just a spectator.

She stands, though, a bottle in her hand, and she throws it at the guy's head, expertly aimed so that even if it goes through him like mist, it won't strike Ellie behind him.]

Go to hell, you fucker.

[mightythinice]

[this one time, just this once, the bottle hits, and David stumbles back as Ellie lunges forward, her knife plunging into his neck as her arm reaches to fight the machete away from him.

She doesn't want this to be like it was the first time.

She doesn't want to feel trapped underneath him and helpless for even a second. No, she wants to kill this fucker cleanly this time, to not even give him the chance]

Die, you motherfucker! [she screams, pulling her knife out and plunging it in again, the machete knocked a few feet away on the floor]

Tess!

[nowthatsfunny]

[Tess darts forward immediately, grabbing for the machete. It feels real and heavy in her hand. Whoever this guy is, or was, he's not going to hurt Ellie, ever again.]

Get back!

[Once the kid is out of the way, Tess will swing the machete down at his neck with all her strength, fully intending to take his head off with it.]

[mightythinice]

[well, she falls backwards, stumbling away from David, watching as the blood spatters everywhere, as his head slides straight off from the velocity of the hit.

She doesn't want to cheer, she just wants her breath to get back under control, as things slowly return back to normal, as the blood vanishes. Things going back to the temple, weapons vanishing.

But Ellie braces herself against a stone statue]

Holy shit...

[nowthatsfunny]

[It's an abrupt, disconcerting shift - suddenly, Tess's hand is empty of the machete, the fire is gone, and her eyes are clumsily readjusting to the dim light of the temple after the bright, angry fire.]

Ellie? Are you okay?

What the hell was that?

[mightythinice]

I'm-- I'm fine.

That [she exhales and rubs her face, taking a shaky breath to try and pull herself together. She continues after a moment,]

That was David.

[nowthatsfunny]

[Tess's mind is full of questions and worries - who the hell is David? What did he do to you? Are you okay? What in the actual fuck?

She can barely grasp what she just saw - a hallucination, a dream or memory of some kind? She can't quite articulate most of that just yet, though, so instead she approaches Ellie carefully, dusting herself off and checking the clip in her gun.]

Someone from - our world?

[mightythinice]

Yeah, something like that. He's dead now.

[she pulls her face down for a moment, letting out a frustrated sigh. She doesn't want to talk about it-- he had been the limit of all the bullshit she'd faced on that stupid failure of a trek.

And his death hadn't even been worth it, not now that she was dead.]

[nowthatsfunny]

[Tess can't even imagine - doesn't want to, frankly. She's known a few people to look at her the way that guy was looking at Ellie, and yeah, they were all better off dead, in her estimation.

It's also better to just not ask anymore questions. Ellie has clearly been through enough.]

All right, new rule: don't touch anything if you're not sure what it is. I promised Joel I'd get you back in one piece and I'm not gonna break that promise.