EVENT | LANDFALL | KITHIKA | DRAGON

[cherrywood]

Characters: ALL!
Date: February 12th - 28th
Location: Keeliai
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
For nearly two days the brave quest takers have been sequestered at the sullied Temple and its grounds, the thick jungle and swamp preventing them from leaving. There are faint tremors that run through the ground and in the middle of the third night, the ground gives a great heave, jostling everyone from their rested states. In one of the Temple rooms, a sinkhole has appeared to reveal not spongy ground beneath, but a dark tunnel leading down into the earth. It doesn't take much to widen the entrance and follow the gentle downward slope that leads out to the north, and a walk of about two hours (which surely would feel like longer to those who don't enjoy being trapped in low, dank places) leads them under the swamp itself. By the time the tunnel slopes upward, the muddy ground has turned hard and packed with small chips of rock and sand; the terrain above is changing and as they emerge upward through a fissure in the ground...

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OOC NOTE: The Aftermath comment will be unfrozen and its direction posted on February 23rd, based on the outcome of the other threads.

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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

[skybluejeep]

"Cora. We're flying. Take a moment and revel in it, okay? Just a little!"

Up they spiral, a little higher, and as they go Stiles begins to see just how enormous this thing is they're up against.

"Jesus..."

[saviormaiden]

"I'll appreciate it more when I'm back on land!"

She grits her teeth a bit and looks around, also noting how giant the dragon is; part of her wonders how anyone could possibly defeat such a thing. Maybe with another beast, but that didn't seem to be an option. (And she refrains from mention it because she knows it'll turn into Godzilla talk or something.)

"Attacking the boils really isn't doing anything," she says.

[skybluejeep]

God, let's not ever discuss Godzilla even being a possibility on the turtle, okay? Things are already bad enough, thanks.

He's scanning the horizon, trying to spot something, anything that looks like it could help. There's a small glint of water on the horizon, but other than that, its the same bleak landscape as always.

"It really isn't. God, this is a hot mess..."

[saviormaiden]

Maybe if King Ghidorah showed up.

"That's one way to describe it," she mutters. Cora looks around, noticing the water—

Wait. Hm. "Let's see if there's anything near the water over there."

[skybluejeep]

Or Mothra. With creepy twins and all.

He turns his head to where she's looking, and they immediately veer in that direction. It takes him a moment of flailing to correct and control their flight again, his heart hammering in his chest.

"...Sorry! Sorry. Still getting the hang of this. You know, Douglas Adams always says there's a trick to flying. It's throwing yourself at the ground and missing."

[saviormaiden]

Cora's eyes widen as they readjust, and she ignores how her own heart is doing much of the same as his. Although, really, did anyone expect to be good at flying around with magic bracers on short notice?

She can't stop a little snicker at what he says though. "I thought it was falling with style?" Yes, of course she likes Toy Story.

[skybluejeep]

"...If I'm Buzz Lightyear, does that make you Jesse? Because I can do a little Spanish crab dance around you if you want."

They're zipping closer to the water now, and he feels like he's getting the hang of it now.

[saviormaiden]

Cora makes a face, then she can't help an amused snort. "No, that makes Derek Jesse. I'm clearly Woody."

She's a little less tense and Stiles gets better at it. "I hope you know how to make it work again once we land, by the way."

[skybluejeep]

"Pfft. That's easy, just have a giant fuck-off dragon open up a fissure below our feet and we'll fly away."

He slooooooowly glances down, and that seems to be the steering mechanism, because they do start to descend.

[saviormaiden]

"It must kick in under danger," she says idly. Then smirks again. "Maybe it'll make a barrier if you get attacked. Wanna test it out?"

She's kidding, of course. (Well, 99% kidding.)

[skybluejeep]

"Yeah, I think I'll pass on your generous offer, Hale. My skin is precious to me, I'd like to keep it intact."

However, before they can get to the water, a strange, invisible barrier stops them. Invisible, but not intangible. Stiles smacks into it face first, which stuns him momentarily. He yelps, and they drop like rocks.

[saviormaiden]

She's about to tease him about how pale he is, but then they're smacking into something and— "Shit!"

Cora actually flails herself that time as they fall, and she lands with a whump. At least it wasn't a deadly height, so she wouldn't have to go back to Derek and tell him that his boyfriend's spine got broken or something.

Groaning, she sits up and brushes her tangled mess of hair out of her face. "5/10 for the landing."

[skybluejeep]

He gets the wind knocked out of him, so he lays gasping like a beached fish for a second, trying to get it back.

"Thanks," he wheezes, "the German judge gave me a four point seven. Brings my average up."

After a moment he rolls onto his back and looks up: there's a gate leading to the fountain. And there are two Fu dogs guarding it. They're giving a very subtle stink-eye to the two teenagers.

"Cora..."

[saviormaiden]

It's a very attractive sound, Stiles.

Cora tries to 'comb' her hair a bit with her fingers as she waits for the bruise on her tailbone to heal up. Giving up, she looks up as Stiles says her name.

Ah, right. She was a bit distracted to notice there were guards. "I guess we have to use the front door."

[skybluejeep]

"Guess so."

He finally struggles to his feet, the glow in the bracers gone now that they weren't being used anymore. Holy crap, he could have been flying this whole time, and never even knew it. What a dork.

He eyeballs the Fu dogs, and takes a tentative step forward.

"Answer the riddle for entry."

The voice is deep, booming, and intimidating. Stiles just winces.

"Oh. Oh good. A riddle. Just what we need to work out when we're fighting a dragon the size of Montana."

[saviormaiden]

And Cora sighs, rubbing at the back of her neck a bit. "At least we don't have to bring them a shrubbery."

She crosses her arms and gives the Fu dogs the best neutral look she can give given the circumstances. "What is it?"

[skybluejeep]

He blinks at her, and then grins. Oh, that was a conversation they're definitely having later. So apparently all Hales have a secret love of Monty Python.

The Fu dog on the right steps forward slightly, settles into a typical guard dog stance. If they don't answer, they might be in trouble. The one on the left side speaks.

"When my first is a task to a young girl of spirit,
And my second confines her to finish the piece,
How hard is her fate! But how great is her merit
If by taking my whole she effects her release."

There's a pause, and then Stiles blinks.

"Um. That's it? That's the riddle?"

[saviormaiden]

"That sounds very damsel-in-distress," Cora mutters and ponders it.

She turns to Stiles. "Anything jump out at you?" If anything, he was pretty clever. They could probably figure it out.

[skybluejeep]

"The second line. Confines her. Confines."

He's doing, like, a Sherlock thing now, going to his own ADHD mind palace. It's a riddle, so the whole point is to listen to the careful wording, the turns of phrase.

[saviormaiden]

Only if Cora gets to be Irene Adler in this scenario.

"She's kept somewhere and has to escape somehow?" she asks out loud. There were plenty of stories like that. "Like the Lady of Shalott or...?"

It might not mean a literal escape, riddles were sneaky like that.

[skybluejeep]

Ah yes, the Woman. Good choice.

"Sounds like it. But...wait, what's the whole thing again?"

The Fu dog looks surprised, but repeats it word for word. Apparently it's never had to deal with an ADHD kid who is obsessed with solving mysteries.

"Okay. Okay! It says 'my' first and 'my' second. That says it's one thing speaking from the first person view. Most riddles aren't about specific people though, they're about things. So it's a thing speaking from the first person view..."

[saviormaiden]

Damn right.

"Yeah, you're right." Cora nods and looks up at the sky as she thinks. "Then it's probably not the place she's being held. A key? No, that's too simple."

[skybluejeep]

"A key. Yes! Hold on, no. Confines. The word is confines, and a key opens things so they're not confined anymore. The opposite of a key! A lock."

And he grins, because he knows they're on the right track.

[saviormaiden]

Cora looks back to the Fu dogs, but they haven't budged. "Maybe, maybe not."

Then she looks back to Stiles. Ugh, he's got a punchable look on his face again. "It's something that's keeping her there, and can release her too then."

[skybluejeep]

"That's just the second part," he says, pointing at her. "We still have to figure out the first."

He's rolling everything over in his head again, looking at it from as many angles as he can think of.

"My first is a task to a young girl of spirit. Wow. That's...wow. Well, you're a 'young girl of spirit,' what do you think it could be?"

Stiles you're going to die now.