❪ event ❫ spirited away

[natha]

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! QUICK NAV premise ● faq ● lore ● map ● npcs ● bestiary taken ● atp/emp ● application ● rep/acp ● quest bulletin calendar ● hiatus/drops ● modbox [ FULL NAVIGATION ] elnysa nysalogs nysaisles nysaooc elnyan

Comments

padmé amidala | ota

[officio]

i. i've got a bad feeling about this | into the forest

[ for Padmé, being a recent arrival isn't an excuse to sit back and do nothing. mysterious disappearances and a distress call seem like something important, and so here she is: not too far into the forest, no, just so that the snow is starting to melt around her feet, that it's starting to be warm enough to discard the heavy cloak she'd draped around herself for the trip to the colder parts of land.

she stands underneath a tree that's gracious enough not to drip water all over her, and all but glares suspiciously at the path that leads further into the forest. it's a convenient thing, traveling with someone who can tell there's something wrong, but waiting has never been her favourite thing to do... and she thinks she would have found the forest suspicious, warning or no. ]

I don't like this, [ she mutters and crosses her arms. ]

ii. your eyes can deceive you | inside the forest

[ having grown up in such a lush, beautiful planet as Naboo, she should feel more than comfortable in the forest, but there's something in this particular one that only makes her want to leave it, not explore it further. instead of continuing on the path, Padmé turns and starts heading back towards the exit... but not to leave.

( a. ) instead, if she encounters anyone else on the way, especially anyone on their own, she'll walk up to them and ask, ]

Are you here for the distress call as well? [ because it doesn't seem like a smart idea to go further in the forest on your own, and she's going to stop anyone else from disappearing, if she can.

( b. ) or, if whoever's approaching happens to have anything resembling a gun of any sort, her question changes: ]

Excuse me, where did you get that? I hoped I would've been given one after waking up, especially with how things seem to be down here, but no. [ and she could really, really use a blaster.

( c. ) waiting in a forest that's trying to mess with your head isn't a particularly enjoyable pastime, and several times she thinks she hears something, a noise, some leaves rustling like they might if a large animal was to trot over them. after the third (or fifth? seventh? she's not quite sure anymore) time hearing the sound, she finally calls out, ]

Hello? Is there anyone there?

iii. a wilderness card.

[ nothing here tickle your fancy? want to do something else? feel free to write up a different prompt (can take place elsewhere, too) or hit me up with a PM or over on plurk @ celen! padmé's not going to be affected by the transformations or anything else, so she can babysit the people who are if needed, too. ]

ii-b

[beatupgrass]

I made it. [So matter of fact.] Not here, specifically, but I do, on occasion, cobble together things that are sort of gun-like with what I've got handy... Okay, they're mostly bombs, but I'm working on it. The tech here is iffy.

[He squints up at her. She's got a princess-y vibe, but if she's interested in defending herself instead of being defended, she's officially fine by him.] Not that it's gonna matter here. I ain't seen anything threatening since we got here.

[officio]

[ where someone else might wonder, a talking raccoon, how is that possible, Padmé simply... accepts it and moves on. there are countless planets in the galaxy, after all, surely one of those is inhabited by this raccoon's race. ]

So it seems. I saw more up on the station after waking up, but it doesn't seem like there's much of anything like that, down here on the planet.

[ she sighs. ] That may be right, but I miss my blaster, regardless. It's best to be prepared, in case something threatening happens to appear. Though I doubt we can fight against this forest with normal weapons.

[beatupgrass]

They ain't so good about the tech here. Nadril's not too bad, but that's about it.

[But she's right, and despite feeling the vibe that something isn't right (in the sense that everything feels too right), not a single thing has come to attack them. None of those wolf-creatures they first saw when they went to investigate Nurray's missing people, nothing at all. Just... Peace.]

D'you get a bad feeling about this place too? Nothing that feels this good is ever that good.

ii -c

[triplerose]

[ Loras can't really resist the idea of the forest and a new city. Wyver has been kind to him, but he still feels a vague sort of loneliness in a once again empty home, and perhaps starting again in someplace new is what he needs.

And the forest, in it's way, feeds him nostalgia of Storm's End.

It's a tricky thing, though, walking the paths with a moderate feeling of uncertainty. The voice suddenly ringing out startles him, and he rounds the path to find who it belongs to. ]

I should hope so.

[officio]

Oh, [ says Padmé and smiles at him, seeming relieved that whoever's appeared seems to be, well, in their right mind and all that. and a humanoid, too. ]

I thought I might have heard some animal instead. Are you here looking for the disappeared ones, too?

[triplerose]

No - I simply got caught up in some foliage, rather embarrassingly.

[ But he smiles, because, well, it's certainly nothing worth getting upset about. ]

I was, yes, before I seemed to get a bit turned around. I'm glad to come across someone else.

ii. c

[deadthenred]

This? [ He nods toward the gun he's holstering. ]

I sorta brought it with me. [ When he woke up, he had his gun. And it was a good thing too, since it's a custom build. Bucky had a gun the last time he woke up too, which probably says something about him. ] You're unarmed?

[ He wouldn't want to be here without a weapon. ]

[officio]

I've heard of that happening to some people.

[ her son, for one; the raccoon she'd run into, as well. it seemed that good weapons weren't made on the planetside.

she nods, her mouth twisting. ]

Unfortunately. It's very inconvenient, especially with the state of things, here. [ and the last three years she remembers were dominated by the clone war... and for someone used to living in war time, a weapon is rather a necessity. ]

[deadthenred]

There used to be a way to get weapons from off-world, but I dunno if it still works. [ He hasn't requested anything since he woke up again, since the Natha went silent. ]

Can you use a knife? [ He understands not wanting to be unarmed, here. Bucky's a soldier before anything. ] I can give you my gun, but…

[ There are a couple issues with that. First, the most obvious: ]

You aren't gonna shoot me with it, are you?

ii-a

[prizeneck]

[She seems to be a person on a mission, so Mamoru does turn to the side to walk past him in the opposite direction. When she stops, however, he kinda wants to laugh about the question.

He had heard the distress call, heard about the discussion somewhere in the network he had been given access to. But really, he couldn't say it was the reason he was there.] Are you?

[officio]

Of course, [ comes her answer, as though she can hardly imagine it being for any other reason. (and really, for her, it is about the distress call... but also because she can't not know about what's going on. because she has to see it for herself.) ]

I don't know how much there is to do here, though... especially not on your own. This forest isn't safe.

[prizeneck]

[Mamoru's lip twitches.] I have yet to witness a distress signal from a place that is.

[Unless it's a trap, that is.

He jerks his chin towards the place she came from.] You came from there, right? Find anything?

i

[summertimeblues]

Really? I'm having a ball myself.

[Her company shakes loose a ball of snow from his boots with a grimace that only a true city boy in the clutch of the wild can give. Richie is not having a ball. But a distress call is distressing news, and the amount of times people have gone "missing" on Nysa puts him on the highest alert.

He unzips his coat but neglects to remove it just yet, combing some of the melting flakes from his curls.]

The key is to watch the vegetation, I think. Don't trample the mushrooms, don't smell the flowers. Unless you're a fan of hallucinogenics, in which case by all means!

[He swipes a hand broadly over the scenery. Have at 'er, lady.]

[officio]

[ that is the kind of dry humor that makes her smile, both genuinely amused and prompted by memories of a friend that really aren't that old, even if it feels like years.

if Richie is out of place in the forest, so is Padmé — finding a change of clothes wasn't a priority to her, and so here she is, dressed in the gown she woke up in, the most inconvenient form of dress for a forest outing like this. and yet she seems unbothered, as well as uncaring of the way the snow melts around the hem of the gown. ]

I think I'd rather pass, thank you. [ rather archly said, though with a smile, still. it wanes some as she continues, ]

If the forest itself is trying to deceive us, finding anyone here may be a difficult task.

[summertimeblues]

Smart gal. [He tosses her a toothy grin, compensating for the reserve in hers.] I wouldn't put it past it. All bets are off in this mad house.

[His attention sticks to the garishly long stretch of her dress. How the fabric drags behind her. He thinks of his mother quite suddenly — giving him high shit for mucking up his corduroys in the slush of the Barrens. He does shuck his coat then, whipping off the gloves to stick in the pockets and tossing the affair over his shoulder like Santa's sack'o'goodies.]

Did you just wake up or something? Pardon my — well not to be rude, but tore up as the city is you can find a good tailor on most blocks. If the shit hits the fan are you good to run in those skirts?

i

[nineteenfortyfive]

[Claire looks over at the young woman as she starts to shuck off her own layers. She likes cold. Not Nadril cold, but the cold of Scotland and Boston in winter. This is a little much, and she wipes the perspiration off her forehead as she goes.]

Me either. Nothing about this reads as a good time.

[officio]

If there are people getting lost here... it's dangerous here. Whatever or whoever is causing all the people to disappear, they're hiding it very well.

[ the way they're doing it, she means. ]

Has this been happening for long?

[nineteenfortyfive]

I've no idea, really.

[People disappear all the time. Especially so here, it seems.]

Though I'm hoping it's a whatever, and not a whoever. We've done that once.

ii-a

[romancekiller]

[being out in the forests is something familiar for clarke even if this was a bit different than back on what was left of earth now. it was inevitable that she decided to look into and investigate the distress call because even if it seemed like it was a trap, it was easily just as likely that someone was genuinely calling for their help.

she started out with venturing through the forest with a group but the next thing she realized was that they were nowhere to be found. she frowns, looking a bit frustrated by the situation but she remains determined to catch up with and find her friends too as she walks further along the pathway while keeping vigilante of her surrounding.

it's not long before she notices someone approach her and while she might not know the other woman, she was concerned seeing that she was similarly without a group] Yeah— I am.

Did you come here on your own?

[officio]

[ were Clarke to voice her thoughts, Padmé would agree that it's very likely to be a trap — but knowing that has never stopped her before, and it's not going to stop her now. ]

No, [ she answers with a small smile that speaks volumes as for how little she's worried about her current state of lonesomeness. ]

But my... companion [ my son, she thinks, but the explanation that that'd require is too long for this moment, ] is exploring further into the forest.

ii + c

[directives]

Just me, [ comes the response, said with an air of casual confidence belonging to someone who is used to announcing her presence and having said presence recognized. like the senator, she's small in stature and is only made taller by virtue of the heel on her starfleet issue boots giving her a faux extra inch or two.

she has a device in hand that's giving off a sharp warbling, trilling sound, but unfortunately it isn't a weapon. ]

I apologize if I startled you.

[officio]

[ she lets out a quiet breath — startled, maybe, but it's understandable to be on high alert, here. ]

That's alright, [ she answers easily, knowing just how out of place she must look here, in her senate dress. but she doesn't dwell on that for long, far more interested as she is of what the other woman is carrying with her. ]

Is that a scanner of some sort?

[ she's been told the technology of this place is rather lacking, and she wonders if it's a machine the woman brought with her. ]

i.

[america]

It's hard to imagine anyone does.

[ Steve offers Padme a sympathetic quirk of the lips, melted snowflakes still lingering in his beard and in his hair. He, too, has removed his heavy coat which is now bundled somewhere at his back with his shield - a still impressive star-spangled thing that tends to stick out a lot more than it blends in.

All intentional, of course, but no longer always practical in this environment.

He stands beside her and studies the trees from their vantage point. It's not his favourite terrain (there's a reason he prefers Olympia over every other city so far) but he's here for the same reason they all are. ]

But whatever's happening, it's happening in there somewhere.

[officio]

[ the shield is intriguing, and certainly something she wants to ask about, but there's more important matters at hand... and she doesn't need to ask some things to be certain of them. such as the fact that he's a soldier — the way he speaks, the way he holds himself, it's all right there. ]

Has something like this happened before? People disappearing?

[ she doesn't know anything about what's been going on here, and it's one of the things she's most intent to fix. ]