It’s been a few days in the jungle now and hopefully you haven’t managed to die just yet – after all, the fun’s just begun.
On the seventh day of trekking the wilderness, each character who has Fire in their heart will suddenly find themselves pausing in the middle of the day. Something in their chest feels warm and it’s heating up quickly. It spreads from their chest to their fingertips, down their legs to their toes. There’s a bark of laughter against their ear, but it seems that it’s one that only they can hear.
Then without warning, there is a bright light that encompasses their sight entirely and the ground beneath their feet seems to suddenly open. At least they don’t have time to be scared as they suddenly lose consciousness after falling for a few seconds.
Don’t worry. It’ll get better. When they wake up, they hear the following message – and then they hear it again, and again, and again as it echoes echoes echoes.
 You’re all spirited, aren’t you?! You wouldn’t be one of mine if you weren’t.
So c’mon, look alive, look alive! I’ve got something I want to show you all. Stay close, stay close, I can't wait until you see where you'll be living!
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PHASE I [ day one ] It’ll admittedly be hard for Ardeo to show you anything though. When you wake up, you see darkness. Blink a couple times and it’s – yeah, it’s still darkness. Oh, that’s not good. But after some mumbling around in the dark, perhaps you’ll find another. Better hold on so that you don’t lose each other as the steps on smoothed rock, the resounding quality of the noise you make, and the faint sounds of dripping make it clear that you’re in some kind of cave. Probably.
All you have to guide you is the occasional glimmer of light as Ardeo flicks his flaming tail and then pads off in one direction.
But try not to run too fast after him since it’s dark and that’s danger--holy shit. Follow Ardeo enough and finally you'll reach the edge of a cliff with no indication of how deep that drop goes. It won't be a fear of tripping in this cave, but rather a fear of running straight off the path Ardeo set you on. Hope you're good at cliff scaling because, good luck. You're now stuck on some very high cliffs, and if you peer over the edge, deep, deep down in the darkness, there's the faint, warm glow of what might be lava. You probably don't want to fall down there.
Of course in response to your yelps of fear, there’s only the same bark of laughter. Damnit, where the hell did that fox go?
PHASE II [ day one ] Who knows how long Ardeo has been playing this crazy game of hide and go seek, but eventually you hear a faint buzzing. It’s fine, probably. No one ever said that you were alone in this cave but it’s better to be dealing with a fly than a bear, right?
So you see a firefly. Or maybe a firefly sees you. That single hope of light and not being doomed to eternal darkness comes over and says hi, floating around you for a moment. It really is quite dazzling, isn't it? Then, apparently deciding that you’re an idiot safe to land on, it settles itself on your clothes and-- ow.
That burns. Maybe you even caught fire a little.
But before you know it, more of them are coming. Little specks of light all ready to land on you and warm you up a little. You must be cold in this cave. Try not to die from their thoughtfulness, because they're really all over the place.
It’s like this happens a lot or something.
PHASE III [ day two ] Maybe you threatened him or maybe you asked nicely, but it seems that Ardeo is willing to take pity on your poor souls. Every few steps, there is now a will-o-wisp conjured to guide you away from the sudden, steep cliffs and keep the insects away.
However you’re deeper in the cave now and it seems to be getting… hotter? You hear the water more and more now. Eventually you reach a flat surface and see an arrangement of craters in the ground. The surface beneath them glows with heat, apparently reaching high enough temperatures to emit a white glow.
The brave may wander close, curious about what lay inside the craters – and they may lose their faces as the water suddenly shoots up without explanation, a geyser erupting suddenly and burning anyone who got stuck in the splash zone.
However, there are signs of people here. Small housing constructions made in tucked away corners, built of stacked rock and supplies clearly from this very spot. However, there's...nobody here to greet you.
In fact, it seems as though a certain event has been reported to them, and so the natives who clearly are still living here won't be making an appearance. You may feel them watching you, and if you poke around in their homes, Ardeo will make a quick appearance to warn you away, but they're far too wary to step out and say hello.
PHASE IV [ day three ] Finally, after however many miles, Ardeo’s done walking. He walks up the steps of a shrine – or the remnants of one. Broken statues of animal-like creatures lay in shatters and he wanders around the area once, circles quietly, and then lays down, curled in on himself. A second later, he disappears in a flash of smoke.
However the will-o-wisps remain as you’re free to explore. You’re now able to see that the walls of the cave are decorated with paintings. However unlike those of Earth, the humanoid-type people in these images all have different modifications on them. Some appear to have fins, others are plant-like themselves, but the most prominent ones all appear to be on fire. It’s kinda creepy, especially since they’re still smiling – and upon further inspection, you’ll find that some of these images aren’t made with paint at all, but rather they’re intricate scorch marks left on the wall. Oh.
However for the children exploring with us today, Ardeo seems to have pilfered some things from the colony that he liked. There’s paint lining the cave walls, as well as the occasional bundle of sparkly puppy stickers.
Seems this is where he lives, and now you can join him here too. It's a great reward! It's really just too bad about the difficulty breathing and the general difficulty finding food in a place like this that won't spit fire back at you.
Welcome to your new home.
[ 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. ] |
Welcome to Cerealia's October event! Please visit the OOC information here, and should you have any questions, feel free to ask them here! You can also check the FAQ for more general inquiries. This event will last for the month of October, or IC 3/15 to 3/30. This log will last from 10/15 to 10/22 or IC 3/22 to 3/26. Should this event log hit Captcha, there is an all-purpose overflow here.
There are 71 characters with the element of fire.
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no subject
[He could try and ask Tyrande on Rei's behalf... but he suspects Rei would have better luck getting a favor out of Tyrande than he.]
If not I could... try. Though I gave up the craft early on, and as I am I have my doubts that it would respond to me.
no subject
I...will do that, then. And if she's unable or unwilling, then I'd appreciate your help. You never know.
[She looks down at her feet now, and her voice takes a softer tone, almost a whisper.]
Do you think we'll break free? I've found no exit from these caves. And I have not the strength to blast out.
no subject
[That was his hope at least, he refused to accept the idea that he may very well parish in here over something as pathetic as being unable to breath, even if that meant actually accepting help from people. Because as it was, he was just as weak as Rei.]
no subject
[Rei takes a shuddering breath, trying to get some semblance of proper breathing down.]
They're in just as bad positions as we are. I've been in touch with my allies. We have a link to one another, and things are...not good. They won't be in any position to help.
no subject
Then I refuse to sit idly and allow this to happen. I have sat still for ten thousand years, I believe that is long enough.
Priestess, can you sense anything about our position?
[Because he's going to do something stupid, and he at least wants to do it in the right direction.]
no subject
I know we're underground, obviously, likely near a Volcano. Beyond that, my senses are dulled. I cannot sense far, but the magic I use to communicate with my friends is being interfered with.
[She looks straight up.]
What are you planning?
no subject
What you have seen from me has only been but a fraction of my true strength.
[He reaches into his pocket and pulls out an old skull. It was obviously nothing human, and it radiated an evil, sinister magic. Even despite being obviously very dead, there was still a form of consciousness to it, and it was linked to Illian's very mind- responsible for the babblings he tries to ignore. Even now it was urging him to use the power, perhaps not in the was he was intending, but the thrill from using the power still carried over to Illidan.]
You may want to stand back.
no subject
And that meant he was probably going to do something dumb. But it may be helpful. Maybe.]
R-Right.
[She will stand very, very clear...]
no subject
The transformation was a taxing one, however. While he felt the exhilaration from the rush of magic flowing through him, it was also draining quickly, so he wasted little time in getting to work one the escape. He began muttering a spell in an odd language, that, like the rest of Illidan at the moment, had a very unsettling feel to it. The incantation was brief, luckily, so the off-putting gibberish was punctuated by a fiery blast straight ahead at a slight upturned angle. He then charged with his glaives drawn, swinging wildly at the wall, trying to tear into it as much as he could. Fortunately the toxic aura that loomed around him aided in tearing through the rock, which was more or less the reason for the transformation in the first place.
Already he could feel both the strain of his transformation coupled with the struggle to breath threatening his progress, but he just did what he usually did and ignored all the warning signs in favor of hitting things until they fell before him. And also as usual, things were setting up to blow up in his face. The more headway he made, the more unstable the roof above him seemed to get. Not that he was paying a damn bit of attention.
It was really a matter of what gave in first, him or the ceiling.]
no subject
It was foolish, perhaps, on his part though. The taint was obvious, and powerful enough that she knew she'd need to transform to contain it should it run rampant and take over. Not that she was truly worried, given that she'd been able to forge a seal to keep out a god, and help bind the demon god Metallia into the sun...but it was a disquieting thought.
And a thought that faded quickly when the ceiling began to rumble...]
Be careful! You don't want to cause a cave in!
no subject
The process was slow, as his agitation from his condition fueled the power, but ultimately he was too weak to maintain the transformation.]
no subject
That was impressive.
[No need to ask if he's alright. He'll deny any injury anyway. She knows that.]
no subject
I should have been able to hold the form far longer.
[this has never happened to him before, he swears.]
no subject
[When he seems to have his breath, she closes the gap and looks up at him, concern in her eyes.]
The skull is the artifact that your people say tainted you, isn't it?
no subject
[He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, then ran it over his face. Paranoia had him on edge, and he looked over to where he had dropped it, but he was unwilling to try and stand in his current condition.]
no subject
Do you want me to bring it back to you? [The question is asked with hesitation. Curiosity, too. Would he react violently to someone else touching it?]
no subject
It tries.
[Even so, he was having some sort of internal conflict over the retrieval of the item. A part of him, a part of him he knew was being influenced by the artifact, felt at though she would try and take the skull from him. He did what he could to simply ignore the paranoia, but he could not prevent it from putting him on edge.
On the other hand, there was a degree of concern. He knew what the skull had done to others, and thought it would likely be a poor idea to expose someone to it. At least someone such as her, her power were in such stark contrast to the skull, he wasn't sure how it would react. Not to mention the sheer number of deaths he had wrought with it while training other demon hunters. It at least gave him an easier way to justify her not handling the artifact, than the mad paranoia.]
It would be best that you did not. It is not worth the risk.
no subject
I will take you at your word, then. But you should avoid using that too much. It's clearly taxing your body. Perhaps a side effect of this world?
[Definitely not something wrong with him.]
Do you need water?
no subject
[Though still exhausted and our of breath, he seemed to be settling down at least. He waffled over accepting the help for a moment, but for once just sat on his pride, even if the his words may have come out a bit strained.]
That would be... much appreciated...
[Ow. Getting that out almost physically hurt him more than the ceiling.]
no subject
[Without a pause, her free hand goes into her back and pulls out a plastic bottle. Unstopping it, she passed it over without a thought, patting his shoulder one final time before letting go.]
Ami-chan conjured it before we were separated. I have two more, so keep it. The top pops on and off like a cork.
no subject
Feeling a little more refreshed, and the anxiety from being separated from the skull for too long had finally reached it's limit, thus he forced himself back onto his feet. He stumbled and teetered before he could right himself, and slowly made his way over to the skull, kneeling down to pick it up and store it back in its proper place.]
Once I have regained my strength I shall continue trying to make progress on a way out.