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]

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.

[saviormaiden]

"Second part... Oh! I follow." Cora nods and looks back at him.

Then makes a face. "Besides tearing geeky teenagers' throats out with my teeth?"

She was not some sad little Victorian servant girl, thank you very much.

[skybluejeep]

"What is it with Hales and tearing throats out with teeth?" he asks the heavens rhetorically.

Oh, Cora. If only you'd said that last bit aloud.

[saviormaiden]

She ignores that last bit, and goes back to thinking. Fortunately, she's on about the same track and she rethinks her own musings—

Hm. "Finish a piece... she's making something?"

[skybluejeep]

"Yes. YES! Okay."

He's pacing back and forth now, much to the confusion of the guard dogs. Come on, Stilinski. Think. This is what you do, you put together the riddles.

"So it's a thing speaking in first person view. It's either a phrase or a word ending with 'lock.' It's speaking of a girl confined to making something, something she doesn't want to do. But if she finishes it, it'll release her."

[saviormaiden]

Jeez, someone's excited. And put your tongue back in your mouth, ew.

"Making something...something she wouldn't want to be making," Cora mumbles. "Ends in lock..."

Then she thinks of something, it's at the tip of her tongue. "She's sewing?"

[skybluejeep]

And just like that, it comes together in his mind.

"Cora, you're a genius."

He turns to the Fu dogs, and with utmost confidence, utters one word.

"Hemlock."

And the guardians step aside.

[saviormaiden]

"Of course I am," is all she says, although she appreciates it Stiles. It was a mutual effort though.

Cora rubs the back of her neck again as she starts to head towards the gate. "Hemlock? Guess she was more of an Ophelia type."

[skybluejeep]

"Seriously, right? But the last line is what made it click. By taking my whole, she effects her release. You take hemlock, you're released all right. Released from life."

They make their way into the garden area, and Stiles is kinda surprised. It's clean. Overgrown, yes, but clean. The air is fresh, and the trees are normal, and the water is sparkling and clean.

"...Cleanse the corruption."

[saviormaiden]

"Seriously. I hate sewing."

The area instantly smells better, that's for sure. Like a clean forest, none of the rot smell stuck in the back of her throat. It'd be a nice place to curl up and rest for a while, if they had the time.

She looks at the water and nods. "Yeah. Like holy water or something."

[skybluejeep]

"Now the sixty-four thousand dollar question: Do we have anything we can carry it in?"

Because he sure as hell does not. He does not has a bukket, in other words.

[saviormaiden]

She figures scooping it up in their hands and splashing it at the dragon won't help either.

Cora looks around for something, and spots something shining off in a corner. She strides over and smiles when she reaches it, picking one up. "Here's a jug."

She pauses, giving him a look. "Don't make any 'touching the jugs' jokes, for your own sake."

[skybluejeep]

"Heaven forbid!" he protests, feigning innocence. "I would never even -- okay it was the first thing I thought of. Sorry."

He grabs another jug, identical to Cora's, and scoops up some water. He looks between the two jugs, and frowns.

"This is not going to help at all. Like emptying the Atlantic with a teaspoon."