It is a quiet day in mostly reconstructed Cerealia. The robots are busily running into walls that were not there before, the Cybuddy bees are buzzing...and CERES has still not said a word. Attempting to contact them still gets the User Offline error. Strange...
But who cares if CERES is offline? After all, they are the cruel and tyrannical captors. A Cerealia without them must be better than a Cerealia with them. So there's nothing to worry about on this fine, peaceful day. Or, at least, that's what it seems like, when suddenly there's a voice in everyone's head. A chosen few may recognize the voice, for they will have heard it before, but to the vast majority, it is brand new.
Looks like someone has been saved, and a reward granted... and no, you don't have a single choice in the matter.
 Your heroism will be remembered, lost and stolen souls.
You have saved me, and so now, I shall save you.
All of you.
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PHASE I [ day one ] It happens so quickly. One moment you’re in the colony, going about your daily life, and the next, you’re… floating. A moment later, every player character from the colony is transported with a wisp of fresh air to...somewhere very very different. The distance is far, but it is covered in what must have only been a scant moment, and it’s clear somehow, especially to air characters, that it was Caeli’s doing that brought everyone there.
There, naturally, being right in the middle of the jungle.
Everyone is then unceremoniously dropped. You may land on a tree, or in a patch of poison mushrooms (no really, look out for the colorful plant life, it’s probably poisonous) or in the river. There are some strange insects of all sorts and types, some of which have some uncomfortable side effects if you’re bitten, such as swelling or the uncomfortable urge to go hug the nearest person, and there are strange flowers everywhere, some of which glow only in the dark of night or the shade of trees. It is dreadfully humid, however, and a little hard to breathe--unless you’re of the air disposition.
Either way, you’ve certainly landed somewhere fantastical, so take some time to get used to your surroundings. It shouldn’t take too long to find everyone else, hopefully.
PHASE II [ day two ] Of course, this far into the jungle, and making this much noise, it was only inevitable before some company was attracted.
Some are clearly dangerous, some are peaceful as can be and some are somewhere in between; approach at your own risk.
Either way, these monsters are all drawn to larger groups of people and a lot of noise, so it may be best to keep quiet...though the ones that keep their distance may be even more concerning.
Everyone is certainly being stalked at one point or another in the jungle -- and at night, there are eyes watching from the darker parts of the trees.
PHASE III [ day three ] But perhaps if you follow some of those monsters deeper into the woods, you will stumble across an old, run down village of sorts. It looks as though time and the jungle has overtaken it. Exploring it will reveal plenty of homes that were clearly lived in however, by families and by people of all sorts.
There are empty rooms, covered in dust, and a central village fire, long gone out.
Small knick-knacks and various objects can be found… if you want to steal from the dead, you know. It’s a little rude. It appears they led a simple, peaceful life, however; most notably, there is no technology to be found.
And if The Bridge catches you doing it, she will look incredibly sad and ask you to put everything back in its proper place before she goes back to looking very irritated at Caeli. You may overhear words about how this “isn’t the right place” and Caeli’s unrepentant, “It is only a few hundred miles”. Looks like something went a little wrong in the transportation process.
Time to camp out for the night, perhaps. And your CereVices don’t get any reception out here, so no surfing the internet for you. If you try to connect to the internet, for some reason the device starts playing a song. Was that programmed…?
PHASE IV [ day four ] By the fourth day, it’s pretty clear that you’re going to be stuck here for a bit. Pestering Caeli or Maris gets nothing, while the Bridge still can’t be approached for pretty good reasons. So… you’ll just have to make the best of it while they figure out their next approach.
Time to figure out how to camp with few supplies and even fewer nice places to sleep. Maybe try to make a fire (though it’s incredibly difficult, considering how muggy it is here) or try to find some bugs to eat (ew gross).
Of course, you can try hunting, but the prey doesn’t look too friendly, so be careful not to become the prey yourself. The same goes for fishing, it seems.
Some of the trees are poisonous, some of the grasses will cause unfortunate rashes, and some vines will lash out to grab at people (especially colorful ones); basically, this is an entirely untamed alien jungle, so it may not be the fun camping trip you'd like.
Time to work together to survive out here, at least for a little longer.
It’s your time to shine. This is Person Versus Wild.
PHASE V [ day six ] On day six, the jungle goes utterly silent.
The monsters and animals disappear. The extra friends poof away hastily and suddenly. Maris and the Bridge fall silent (though Caeli admittedly continues floating there as ever). If anyone approaches them to ask, they'll just say that "she is coming".
And soon, she does appear. She moves slowly, lacking in feet; they are roots, as though that of a tree. Nonetheless, she has no troubles with moving forward, slow bit by bit. She does not speak, not at first, and behind her, trotting lightly through the woods, there is another. Both feel strongly of spiritual energy, just like Maris and Caeli. And eventually, after observing the people gathered, they can be spoken to.
BONUS [ day ??? ] After spending some time in the jungle, emotions might be running a bit amuck. And those emotions might bring some unexpected...friends. Yes, let's go with friends.
Because if a character is typically grumpy, gloomy, stoic, lineface, or anything along those lines, they may find themselves followed by a bright, happy bird. That bird feeds off of those emotions, and will just cheerfully follow around any lineface character for as long as possible. Or until they smile. The birds are otherwise harmless, chirping happily every now and then and following them around like a friendly shadow.
Happy, cheerful, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, energetic characters, on the other hand, will soon find themselves followed by... a different friend. Or maybe a handful of them. It depends on how cheerful they are. Either way, these creatures feed off of happiness and fun, but they will also chew on hair or an ear if they're allowed to get that close, making horrifying, chittering noises as they follow anyone who is in a good mood.
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
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He doesn't realize the situation until he follows its gaze up into the tree - and even then, he only thinks he understands the situation. Poor Lightning is being hunted by this animal...?!
Patting down the earth around him until he finds a sizeable rock, Zara stands up with a rustle, then hurls it at the poor innocent Kevin. ]
-- Shoo! Leave her be!
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except yes it did, it's still alive and well and it strategically dodged that rock, only to come right back to the foot of the tree and stare up at lightning. ]
It's fine. It'll give up eventually. [ and, almost immediately after she says this, the bird is hurling itself at a branch, spinning off of it, and heading straight for lightning. ] What?
[ that's all she can say before she's captured by the collar of her shirt, left to dangle as the bird uses its talons to swing from a limb. she'll continue to struggle sadly. ]
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Miss Lightning--!!
[ is about all he can say as the bird rushes at her. Why hadn't he hit with that first strike?! Now she's actually in trouble! With a rather graceless stumble, he hops out of the bushes, scrambling to try and reach her or the animal before the conflict occurs. Obviously, there's no way in hell he's going to make it in time.
At first, he thinks she might be dead, but no, she's still moving. What the bird is doing with her, he has no idea, but it's probably nothing good. Unfortunately, he's out of things to throw. With a desperate grimace, he unsheathes his cane-sword, waving it in vain at the bird from below. ]
Let go of her!
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logically, he can't keep lightning in his mouth while also doing this, so Lightning plummets to the ground. she manages to turn on her grav-con unit just in time to land on her feet. ]
Now, while it's disoriented!
[ said with great import because she really wants to get away from this thing. like really.
she dashes off behind the tree, not turning her head to see if it was still pursuing her. ]
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On the other hand, Lightning's sudden escape and subsequent defiance of gravity does startle him. What in the world was that? No time to worry about it now, though - if he doesn't get a move on, too, the bird might start after him, as well. And Lightning has a head start.
There's a small popping noise, and then, a lavender-furred rabbit where Zara once stood. Not for long, though; he's darting through the underbrush after Lightning almost immediately. This way is faster. ]
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but.. where was Zara? she had jogged quite a ways, but she was sure he was right behind her — she even heard footsteps, however light they might be. ]
Zara? [ she calls out, an attempt to make sure he's alright. ]
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He hops out of the leaves nearby where she is, stopping when he sees that she's stopped, as well. ]
-- I'm here. It seems he's abandoned us for the moment. Are you quite all right?
[ well, the rabbit is talking to her now. It looks like any normal rabbit, save for the odd fur color and the familiar black ribbon around its neck. ]
no subject