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.
|
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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UGH I CANT BELIEVE YAMATO'S RUNNING AROUND calling the bird tsuru
with yamato helping him, the task of rolling the logs goes swiftly, and in all but a few minutes, they've finished rolling the remaining logs that yamato had left behind earlier from what tsurumaru takes to be his chopping frenzy. and while he doesn't know much about making a raft... it couldn't be too difficult to wing, right? ]
I mean, we're swords— so we won't starve, really— buuuut, I'm gonna guess that everything in the river's edible. If you're up for making a raft, so am I.
But, Yamato... [ there's just one problem. ]
Are we going to build fishing rods, too?
UGH HE HAS TO GET TSURU BACK FROM EVERYONE WHO ATTACKS HIM!!
[ So for now he takes a little small chocolaty wheeze with an exhale and he feels fine. Now for all the logs that they have, he rolls some of them closer to Tsurumaru's own, making sure they're close enough. All they need is some rope but where to get that? ] Huh? I don't know how to make a fishing pole, I'm pretty sure Kiyomitsu does. I'm worried that the line would snap or the branch that we use so.. I thought about wrestling the fish that comes closer to the raft?
[ Sounds like a good idea, they need bait and well, Yamato has that covered. Pulling out these little faerie type creatures, their teeth wide that chitter every so often until he uses force to crush their neck. ]
We can use these for bait, they're pretty weird, what do you think?
UGH THEYRE GOING TO RETURN AND EVERYONE WILL KNOW HIS NAME and he'll be so confused?
regardless of what happened to the unfortunate adventurer, this rope is yamato's and tsurumaru's city now. he'll go off to fetch it, returning quickly with at least a good forty feet of rope, which he promptly tosses onto the logs with a triumphant smile. it's time to start tying logs together for their great river adventure...... ]
I really don't think that's going to work, Yamato... [ because whoever's heard of wrestling fish? in riverwater that's probably dirty? not him!
when yamato pulls out the small, chittering creature, he eyes it warily — had it always been there? oddly enough, its chittering is what creeps him out; and he's all too delighted when yamato crushes it in his hand, clapping once he sees it dead, because if there's anything that yamato and tsuru are best at together, it's clapping over things (or people) dying? blood for the blood god! ]
That doesn't make it any better, but... [ he'll never know until he tries, after all. ] Let's still try it.
UGH I THINK SOMEPEOPLE THINK THEBIRD IS HIM IM SO HAPPY
I think these will make really good bait, a lot have been following me around so we have as much as we need. [ He needs to check if these monsters are worth it so throwing the dead one into the lake next to them, he watches as it floats all alone. Just by itself, but there's something about the way that the water bubbles and flabby lips that engulf the poor fairy that Yamato nods and thinks they're good! Good bait? ]
These will work very well, Tsurumaru Kuninaga! [ Perhaps if these monsters are able to bring in the fish, they'll be good enough? Picking up the rope so he can push a log with his foot towards another. ] We're going to do very good work! I'm excited, I wonder if we can find Kasen Kanesada, will he cook for us? [ Better yet. ] I wonder if we should find the Saniwa, do you think he's hungry too. [ Is he okay in the wilderness, has Tsurumaru seen him. ]
UGH IM LAUGHING SO HARD I LOVE THIS? EVEN IF TSURU DOESNT
I don't know about Haru, Yamato... but I'm guessing he's okay. I'm sure some of the other swords are with him! [ and considering there's definitely more than a dozen of them, tsurumaru figures that haru will be okay in the wilderness. he isn't the current concern of yamatonokami "okita-kun" yasusada and tsurumaru "i don't care about 99% of my masters" kuninaga, these dispassionate swords....... ] So, for now, we should focus on catching lots of fish, so that we can bring them back to him — and Kasen, too.
[ as he speaks, he pushes a log next to yamato's, looping the rope between the logs, tying it securely. they do this for the remaining logs, until their construction is starting to look more and more like a raft. ]
UGH I HATTHS HELP!!