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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phase ii, part a!!
anything which, as it turns out, happens to be a young man and a tiny dragon fleeing toward him full-tilt with a massive dragon-like creature hard on their heels.
mahanon's reacting before he's quite processed it, whipping his staff off his back and rolling to the side. he pops up a moment later, concentrating on the space between the pursuer and pursued. if it's a dragon, fire might not mean anything-- but he's taking its coloration and apparent adaptation to its surroundings as a good sign.
flames shoot up from the jungle floor, five, ten-- twenty feet high, a roaring wall of flame hot enough to scorch everything in its reach to ash.
mahanon turns and runs after the small dragon (the young man he'd spoken to?). they have maybe another ten seconds before his flames die. ]
Keep going!
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toothless had waited just a moment upon seeing the flames and the newcomer, who had placed the magic between them... but he seems eager to bolt when the directions are yelled.
not yet, not yet-- ]
First, hop on. None of us want to be here when he starts catching up!
[ and for sure, toothless can outfly him. if mahanon does as asked, the moment he's on, toothless'll start to flee. ]
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I can't maintain the wall much longer--!
[ flames that high and that hot are difficult even for more experienced mages. mahanon is lucky that he has the additional power of the anchor helping him.
he doesn't have much time to consider it, though, before the dragon is bounding away. his fingers tighten on hiccup's shoulder, all but clutching at him. no, this is not like riding a dracolisk. ]
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[ because he certainly wouldn't want to strain mahanon more than necessary, and there's a certainty that toothless can at least outrun, outfly, the looming beast behind them. if it could even fly. it's then that hiccup presses closer to toothless, his foot pressing down, a click and the sound of the prosthetic tail fin opening in tandem with toothless's wings.
mister dracolisk rider can take that as a sign that they're probably going to take off soon (it's just waiting for a good point to do so). for now, they're skirting around trees with a surprising amount of speed--a fallen trunk in their way gets blasted by a quick plasma blast from toothless' mouth.
and, somewhat worn, hiccup offers: ]
This is some way to meet up again, huh?
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somewhere behind them, the wall of flames drop and the creature roars, but the elf barely hears it, too focused on the human he's holding onto and not falling off the dragon.
the question earns a short, stunned laugh, though. ] Actually, given the way my life's gone lately, things could certainly be worse. [ there could be two rampaging beasts, after all, and they could fly and breathe poisonous gasses, so he should really thank the gods for small favours. ]
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also, he really doesn't need to look when he can hear the thundering steps. for the answer to his question, hiccup can only laugh sheepishly, slightly breathless. ]
Leeet's not tempt fate. This is the kind of place where if you say it, it'll actually happen.
[ he knows. that's his luck outside of this place, too--but he won't mention that. instead he'll move on quickly, less lightly and more urgently, though still with an odd sort of composure. running away was easy enough, but it occurs to him that maybe they should dissuade mr. chases a lot from running any other people down. ]
Hey, that fire wall you just did there--can you shoot it out? Like a ball?
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he glances back at the question, though, amber eyes flicking over the surrounding jungle, then the draconic creature in the distance. ]
I can. [ he thinks he knows where this is going. ] I take it you have an idea. Though I'd rather not injure it if it can be avoided. [ or make it angrier than it already is. the last thing they need to do it set it seeking folk from the colony that can't escape or defend themselves. ]