nysalogs | ❪ event ❫ spirited away

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❪ event ❫ spirited away

PRELUDE

I'll get straight to the point, Thesaens. Dranbu is in dire need of assistance. I have received confirmation that the disappearances we were investigating last month have... escalated. Be cautious as you make your way through Josa Forest. Ideally we could go straight through, but it seems the main entrance to Dranbu is overgrown with thorns and vines, and there's a bit of a glitch with the rail system - the train is having trouble recognizing the Dranbu station as a destination.

I've uploaded a homing beacon to your devices with this message. Once enough of you have arrived in Dranbu proper, it should communicate with the train and register it as a stop. With any luck, that will make getting back and forth much easier for you all from now on. Best of luck.

Entry to the forest is not only overgrown with vegetation, but seems to be growing at an increasingly alarming rate. Any attempts to clear the vines will be met with even larger ones growing in its place, and it only confirms Nurray's findings as true.

The only way in is across the sound from Nadril, entering the forest from its snowy back yard. It doesn't stay cold for long; as one ventures further into the forest, the snow will disappear, as though it was completely out of place in the first place. The red sun's warmth will take its place soon after— and before long, you'll feel too warm for the clothes you came with. That's when you know you've entered the heart of Josa Forest.

WITHIN THE FOREST

The forest seems to be thick with a profound presence that can’t be ascertained. While venturing through it, one will feel like there are being watched or followed. This feeling will only intensify as metallic-scented drops of rain begin to fall between the clearings in the trees. Unfortunately, what many don’t realize at this point is that this is how the forest itself eats. How it subsists and lives through the minds of those who eventually get lost in it. Wandering this far in is akin to walking into a lion’s jaw, or rather… straight to its stomach.

But, the forest has a way of making one stay. While it swallows someone up, it shows them sinfully beautiful and picturesque sights. Even showing them people or things that are familiar to the lost. All of which will urge them to go in deeper and deeper. But, while the forest begins to prey on the mind of their victim— they will suddenly hear an elegant and alluring voice urging them back.

This voice promises them comfort and safety. Promises to be kind and open. Promises she has a place for them where they will never feel displaced or unwanted, or lost. Before they can fully accept, they will find that they are whisked away in Barthala’s embrace.

Some will be taken, wiped of all their previous memories and inserted new ones. Others will find they have no prior memories at all of themselves, only urged to go on with regular life. What is prevalent is the forest's desire to turn you. Metamorphosis is a phenomenon that occurs only to certain individuals, and there is no rhyme or reason to them. Some adventurers would find themselves changing by the minute, the hour, or the process may even take days and weeks. The forest toys with you, but it only wants to draw you closer to its core — as though there's a story there it wants you to see and understand. Will you go on anyway, knowing the forest has already has its claws on you?

I. ALL ROADS LEAD TO —
Exploring the forest is not a perilous experience - Barthala's blessing ensures that paths remain clear of any dangerous obstacles, and keeps anyone who enters the woods from losing their way. However, it will not always lead adventurers where they want to go. Stressed? Your path leads to a meadow, grass drifting gently in the breeze. Tired? You'll find your way to a tree with roots perfectly curved for a nap, the shade a peaceful retreat from the sunlight. The hungry will find streams full of fish or bushes laden with berries, and the curious will come upon elder trees, unique and beautiful. Only those who are truly satisfied with their circumstances, with themselves, can forge their own path, and venture to Barthala's Grotto.

II. BARTHALA'S GROTTO —
The deity's home is host to an abundance of life. Butterflies drift through the air, brilliantly colored and unbothered by any intruders. Foliage blooms in a rainbow of colors, many plants unique to this area alone. With trees arranged to provide a canopy over the path and small clearing, the scene is something out of a fantasy. Any plant life taken from this area will not survive long, though even in its dead, dried state, it retains a curious beauty. Explorers and creatures finding themselves in this area will suddenly find their clothing to be an unnecessary burden - what could be better than feeling the wonders of nature against bare skin? There is nothing unbecoming about such a natural state, any perverse inclinations are an aspect of personal preference. While the presence of Barthala can be felt here - a warm, comfortable sensation emanating from your core - she is nowhere to be found. Only one will have the opportunity to pass under a veil of willow branches and emerge to the cool air of a clear-as-glass spring.

Another nearby grotto is home to a plant with intoxicating effects. Just smelling the leaves is enough to entice most animals, and consuming them has effects on both mind and body. More easily amused, with thoughts that weave deep and distant, along with increased sensory perception can bring the user on a pleasant trip lasting up to five hours.

III. INFLUENCES — (18+)
Every five days, a weed scattered in patches among the forest underbrush blooms. The flowers are small and white, unremarkable except for how clustered they grow. When their petals fall, after only hours of blossoming, pollen drifts through the air. It clings to clothing, to hair, in the throats of the sensitive animals dwelling in the forest. Even those unaltered by Barthala's magic can be affected. The locals of Dranbu claim the pollen enhances fertility, but in practice, it simply serves as a poignant aphrodisiac. Those affected won't differentiate between the warmth of another or their own, a simple need to experience sexual ecstasy overwhelmingly pervaded. The pollen loses its potency after about three hours, leaving behind only a sweet smell.

YOUR NEW (NEW) LIFE

Adapting to an entirely new setting isn’t always so simple. People often say that assimilating oneself to the environment happens fluidly, and before you know it, you’re a part of it. In Dranbu, these words hold an uncanny sense of truth.

When you awake, your day begins like it always has. Your daily routine meets largely unchanged, except a few tinier details. Perhaps, you’ve realized your true calling is an occupation within the villages itself. Maybe in farming up strange medical herbs, maybe in acting as a witch doctor for the people, or maybe you find yourself drawn to the arts and you really enjoy sculpting fellow villagers in the nude. Once you commit these tasks, you realize, it feels like what you’ve always done. As if it were natural, as if you’ve done them for years, and maybe you have? At least that’s what your gut is telling you, and slowly your memories will too.

At the end of the day, when you return home, you realize you’re not alone. You have a partner who shares the same values and whom you love deeply. Or maybe a spouse whom you’re always arguing with. But, even that will feel as commonplace as the rest of your day. All you know is that the day that might have started off not being yours is entirely yours and yours alone.

IV. THE HUNT —
Those taken by the forest, animal features adorning their bodies, will find that their palates have changed as well. Carnivores crave raw meat, while herbivores don't mind snacking on a patch of grass or pulling leaves from branches. For most, there's no reason to cook a meal; once prey is captured, instinct says dig right in! It can be a gruesome sight, mangled bodies gorged upon leaving bloodstained faces, but it's natural. As is the hunt itself - any size of game can be found in the forest, and no one will go hungry for long. The magic that dwells here ensures a catch even for the clumsiest predator. Just take care not to stalk one of your own. For a hungry predator, there's no difference between a deer and a deer-like human.

THE BOUNDARIES BEYOND

For some, placated is synonymous with bored. While there is a sense of wonder in the beauties of nature that adorn the woods, serene forest life isn't for everyone. Those seeking more adventure can explore the challenging slopes of Waco Mountain. Barthala's influence is weaker on those bluffs than in Josa Forest itself, so thrill chasers won't be disappointed. Lose the path, slip on loose rocks, fall into a stream and spend a night wet and cold, there are many perils that come with traveling a mountain-side. Scattered ruins offer some shelter, their walls carved with images resembling Barthala, a dragon, and three other stranger creatures. While the deity's pacification does not flow as deeply through this region, all are still save from mortal wounds, and the veil cast over their memories will not lessen.

If you have made it this far, however, there is no reason to try to return to the main city of Dranbu. Accommodations are always available in the neighboring villages: Phares in the north, and Stroln in the south. These villages are in friendly competition with one another, and will tempt travelers with women and men of their kind in order to draw in business to their hotels.

FINAL OOC NOTES

No REP is available for this log. REP will now be primarily available through achieving NPC quests, which will be available on the 19th! Please keep an eye out for that!

Dranbu is entirely available for exploration! You may find that most of Wyver and Olympia Flora/Fauna may be found in the forest as well. For more information on your characters' (opt-in) Metamorphosis, please refer to the November Outline!

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[Emori has no idea you're not supposed to swear in front of younger people. To her, Clementine is as much of an adult as she is.]

We'll help each other find our shelter. Too bad we didn't pack tents.

[She thinks maybe this will help-- Emori bends over and unlaces her boots.]

Maybe I can dip these into that pool of water.

I can survive without a tent if I have to.

[She is used to just having whatever she can fit in her backback. Say, food, water, her knife/pistol. More for survival than comfort. Still, she can't deny tents being useful too. And more comfortable. Though she does tilt her head a little at the idea of wetting their boots.]

You're sure that won't make you too cold?

[Emori meant her toes when she said 'these' and realizes she was maybe misunderstanding words again. Clementine makes a good point, just because it's hot right now doesn't mean it won't be cold later.]

Well, I'll just take them off. Oh hey, look at this little rock formation. That'd make a good little den for someone.

The rock -- oh. That could work. It's something at least.

[Shelter. Assuming someone else or some animal isn't already using it. Best to check first, but they might be in luck. At the least, even if they don't have a tent, this would get them out of the worst of any weather than might occur during the night, once it gets darker.]

Let's go check it out.

[Emori is already ducking down to go through her pack. She produces a flashlight that may or may not be stolen.]

I'm ready when you are, Clem.

[Emori strides on over to the rock formation, realizing it's a little bigger than she originally thought. She shines the flashlight in and some sort of fox-like creature jumps out. There is screaming.]

Alright. Let's do this then.

[She follows Emori easily enough, using the flashlight to try get a better view of their surroundings, of what might be in the cave. Part of her of course expected that it might already be....er, occupied. But somehow she still starts at the fox.]

Shit, that gave me a fright.

[But she does try to remain on guard, ready to defend herself if the creature feels startled and threatened enough to attack. If it doesn't just bolt off.]

[The fox darts into some foliage and gets low to the ground. For all they could know, it was gone.

Emori's whole body jerked when the fox jumped out, and she let out a small shout.]

Nomonjoka!

No-what now?

[It's not a word or language she herself is familiar with. But probably it's a language specific to Emori's people, her time? Clementine guesses, anyway. Still, it's just a relief to find the cave otherwise unoccupied, so it's some form of shelter for them for the night at least.]

[Emori shines her light into the cave. When she responds to Clementine, she doesn't look at her-- she's just worried about the cave.]

Oh, I told Frank I was gonna teach you guys Trigedasleng. [She laughs quietly.] I said "motherfucker."

Trigedasleng? That's your language back home, I take it?

[She raises an eyebrow at the other, shining her light to check the cave. Glancing around, it seems clear enough. No more animals inside, big enough for them to lie down in. She seems to declare this decent enough, sitting herself down in leaning against a 'wall' of the cave.]

Yes! Raven said it was a mixture of English and something else--

[Emori shines her light over to the wall opposite Clementine. It's not too big, but it could fit them and maybe a few others. She plops down and points her light upwards so they can see each other.]

John and I, we always ended up in a cave.

Something else. I'm not sure I recognize it myself.

[Still. Maybe in time she might figure it. Or at least be fluent enough to use it with Emori. Not that Clementine necessarily knows any other languages, but it might be useful to learn another. There's probably a chance to learn lots, here. From people from so many different places and all.

Clementine stakes out her spot, and gathers her supplies, taking stock and getting out what she needs for the night.]

I've been....all over, really. Barns, hotels, the middle of nowhere in the woods.

[The house of cannibals. The gated community that was supposed to be safe but wasn't. A lot of places.]

[Emori and her found family used the language as a code when they were mixed up in the Bunker's war. Maybe they could use something like that here.

She swung her backpack around and started to get out a few things, including her water bottle that she chugged before speaking.]

I've seen a hotel before. There were lots in the desert. Casinos.

Casinos? That would be new. Wonder if any of them back home would even have any money or anything left. Might be one of the few places people overlooked in the rush to get basics like food and medical stuff.

[Which. Is probably telling and kind of sad that this is the train of thought Clementine has about any sort of building or store or whatever. Scavenging what might be useful. But still, considering her situation, eventually even if she had been initially against stealing, she'd come to accept it as necessary at times at least. To survive.]

All we ever found was alcohol and playing cards. Otan wouldn't let me drink any of it.

[Emori smiles at Clementine, realizing that she had to do a lot of fighting. Emori had to fight, but it was mostly her brother doing the fighting. She could wield a knife easily, but Otan eventually found a rocket launcher. No telling if it was still any good, but it was enough to scare people.]

Hm. And then there's the other end where I'm not sure if people would care if I did drink back home, considering the situation.

[Sure. She was a minor, still. But given everything that they were dealing with, the other, more serious laws that were being broken back home? Well, drinking didn't seem like that huge a deal in comparison to the rest.]

I think he had seen what happened to people who drank. I've only done it once, when we went to space. There was a little alcohol left. It made me feel sick.

[Emori didn't have a concept of drinking ages or anything like that. She just knew her brother was older than her and made the rules.]

I was offered some once. Didn't try it, but. I know people can get drunk from having too much of it. Was that why you got sick?

[Different people reacted differently, their tastes and reactions to foods or drink, after all. Some people might be better able to tolerate drinking alcohol. Maybe Emori just wasn't one of them.]

I think I drank a little too much too fast. That and we were surviving on algae for awhile, that probably didn't help.

[She's been eating well here, and she wonders if maybe she and Clementine should get drunk. It might be fun!]

Algae? Okay, yeah. I can see why having alcohol probably upset your stomach then if you weren't used to that sort of thing, living off of that. Most of the time back home, I managed with hunting or scavenging old cans of food.

[But then, she never stayed anywhere long enough to think about growing her own food, her own algae or vegetables or whatever to eat. To live off of that. She's still adjusting to the idea of having so much available, at any time.]

Food where I lived was alive until you killed it. All the canned food had been scavved already. Except... when we went to Becca's lab. She had a lot of tech. I don't know how she kept the food fresh. John was able to make ravioli.

[Emori gets quiet after that, letting Clem do the talking. She didn't like thinking about Becca's lab, or the machine that tested radiation levels. It scared her so much that she dreamed about it. It made her wary to get in the cryopod.]

Ravioli? Oh man. There's so much that I took for granted before. That we now have the change to figure having again. Food, a roof over our head, all of this.

[It's taking some adjusting to. But Clementine is working on it. She tilts her head, unsure if she should ask, because a lab could be....helpful or traumatic depending.]

A lab? Where she used the tech to help grow food?

I never had it before! He's a good cook-- I mean, I guess, I don't have much to compare it too. It was one of the best things I ever ate.

[Emori doesn't have a tone of anger in her voice when she talks about John anymore. It's more of a dreamy tone. She never stopped loving him. She was just mad.]

No... she was trying to find a way to go into a radiation soaked land.

[She thinks of the chamber again. The one that she almost was put into to test the serum.]

Wait, trying to get -- into radiation soaked land? Wouldn't you want to go away from the radiation......?

[That stuff was poison. Even Clementine knew that much. So of course this...this was confusing, to say the least. But they probably had their reasons? Whatever that was, for trying to get there.]

Well-- the thing is, the whole of Earth was soaked in it. So she wanted to go home.

[Emori knew that feeling, floating in space, unsure of when they'd be able to go back. But eventually she learned to love space.]

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darraig - 2019-01-15 07:27 (UTC) - Expand

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