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

[shorttempered]

Yeah. It's called a secret identity, it's supposed to protect the non-superhero people in our lives from our enemies. And people know my real name... I'm just trying to limit the number of people that know I'm also Invincible.

....Seriously? [That would have been so useful to know when he was forcing his way through the swamp.]

[dracobin]

It sounds very tricky, to keep all those stories straight. [But he tilts his head, interested nonetheless; it sounds exciting, too.] Is it very hard to keep your identity secret? Only you smell the same, and sound the same, so I knew it was you, at once.

Oh, yes: we did not think of it at first, but then Sabriel grew cross, and kicked a mushroom, and we saw how the vines moved away from it. [Beat.] But you must have come the same way, surely? Did the plants scream at you, all that time?

[shorttempered]

You have no idea. [It was the main reason Korra found out.] It's easier back home, where my two lives don't really intersect much. When I'm Invincible, I go wherever in the world I'm needed, but Mark just lives in Maryland. Here, though, I'm confined to Keeliai which really sucks. [He sighs.] Luckily people back home don't have your sense of smell.

[Mark kind of hates you right now. For learning about that.] No, only when I tried to fly past them. Once they ruptured my eardrum they were perfectly content to try to beat me to death.

[dracobin]

But surely it must take some time to travel? What do you tell your friends and family, when you are away?

[He winces in sympathy.] They did the same, when I tried to fly past the trees and get my bearings: I did not think plants could move so quickly, at all. It is rather as if they did not wish us to reach this place, is it not?

[shorttempered]

I'm... kind of really fast. I can make it from Maryland to Africa in 5 minutes. [He doesn't think Temeraire knows what either of those places are, but he has no idea how many miles that actually is.] And my family knows, I mean my dad was a superhero before me, and so's my younger brother, and my closest friends know too. It's just acquaintances and neighbors and stuff that don't.

Definitely not. But isn't that how it always works in these types of quests? Literally everything is against you? [He's just guessing here. The closest he's come to a quest like this was in a video game.]

[dracobin]

[Temeraire's pupils widen significantly, and he snorts in surprise, sending another small spray of water into the air.] Maryland, that is an American state, is it not? Why, that would take us near to two months, by dragon-transport! Is it--[what is the word]--genetic, then, this speed of yours?

I would not know; I have never been on a quest. It seems very unfair, to me.

[shorttempered]

[Oooor maybe he does. Mark nods.] On the East Coast. And it's genetic, yeah... I'm half alien. I get it from my dad's side.

I've never been either. But I've read about them, and it sounds about right. I think. I mean they were fiction books.

[dracobin]

Oh, your father is an alien! Is it very difficult for an alien to make an egg with a human? Only, the books I have read here seem to think so.

[At which point he cheerfully turns his attention to their surroundings.] Do the books also say what sort of place this is? If the plants were trying so very hard to keep us from coming through the swamp, it stands to reason there must be something important here.

[shorttempered]

Uh, both parents have babies the mammal way--[Motions around his stomach like he's pregnant.]--but yeah. The DNA is similar.

Not specifically? This is definitely a temple of some sort, but they do usually mention the scenery out to get them. Whatever's at the end of this bottle really doesn't want us to get to it.

[dracobin]

[An uneasy sound.] Sun Tzu would have called it entangling ground: the sort that, once abandoned, is not easily returned to. If there is a trap awaiting us and we must retreat, the return trip to Keeliai will be difficult on this terrain.

[shorttempered]

True, but... I don't know about you, but the idea of facing an unbeatable enemy never stopped me from moving forward before.

[dracobin]

Oh, I was not saying I was frightened! I am sure we will be able to fight whatever is waiting for us here!

[He sits up a little straighter, as if to prove his point about his confidence.]

It is only that the swamp was very annoying, and I should not like to have to go through it again.

[shorttempered]

Oh, I didn't think you were! [Truth be told he didn't think giant dragons could get scared.]

And if this is anything like a fantasy novel, it should all turn into rainbows and beautiful forests after we beat the big bad, so you shouldn't have to.