❪ 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

[thedarkbond]

[There's a very subtle falter in Ren's manner as soon as the words "pasts don't matter" cross Molly's lips - the tiniest hesitation, as if it wasn't something Ren expected to hear said in as many words. But he recovers himself from it so quickly it could almost have just been mistaken as pausing to avoid a loose cobblestone or something.

He...still doesn't want to talk, really, about his own past. But there's something reassuring about even the hint that someone won't care what's behind him as long as it stays there.

There are certain things he probably should mention in this context, though, and Ren laces his fingers behind his back, head turned upwards as if he's deciding what to say.] You know, I agree with that kind of attitude...I've seen it happen both ways before, back home. Someone who was taken to a new life without their choice and forgot everything before it, and then forgot their new life too when they went back to their old one. But I also think it definitely has to be a choice - if someone feels obliged, if they think it's their duty to be forgotten and they force it on someone else for that reason, then it's also wrong, to me. Intentions don't matter if there wasn't a choice involved.

[There's a subtle tightness to Ren's tone in saying that which speaks to him having personal experience with that particular variation as well, but he doesn't elaborate on it.]

...I ran into Allura-san in the forest when it was just starting to get to her, I think. Being with her must not have helped very much.

[mollymocked]

[Molly shudders instinctively, and then pulls his coat closer around him like there's a chill in the air, but Dranbu is deceptively warm for this season, and it's not very convincing. Hearing that learning about your old one really can take away the new one makes him feel like someone's walking over his grave. It's his one true fear, one he'll put out of his head in a moment, but while the conversation lingers on it, it hovers like a fog, consuming everything.

But what Ren's offering is an extremely specific example- a person forcing others to forget them, not forgetting in itself. He opens his mouth to say something to that effect and then closes it just as quickly. No. It doesn't matter. It's just an example.

Part of him wishes that coming back as the person who would become Molly erased Lucien from the hearts and minds of all he touched, anyway, and since that's the antithesis of what he just said, he endures the thought in silence.]

I think I planted seeds, maybe? She thinks she has a father here, and there's no father to be seen. Also, I did blatantly lie to her face about what she's forgetting, but in my defense, the truth is ridiculous and complicated.

[thedarkbond]

[Ren doesn't miss that reaction from Molly, but now doesn't really feel like the time to pry, when they're both concerned with others more than themselves. It's certainly something he notes to add to the patchwork of loose knowledge he makes out of everyone he meets, but for now he leaves it in favour of those lost in more immediate waters.

He does manage a laugh at Molly's explanation, though.] I think it'd be pretty hard to believe what they've forgotten. I spoke to one or two others in the woods, and they couldn't even remember a place outside this city and forest. Being from completely different worlds...I don't think even the most silver tongue could convince them of the whole truth, do you?

[Ren hadn't tried brute forcing it, so to speak, but he'd picked and poked, dropped information and suggested ideas that were a bit closer to what he knew of the normal manner of those he encountered. Subtle tactics that had received as little payoff as he assumes a direct attempt would have.]

[mollymocked]

Noooo. [Molly drawls out the word.] I'd think you were on so many drugs and would happily ask for the shop you got them from, but I sure as fuck wouldn't believe anyone who talked about other worlds.

[The one thing he hasn't tried, however, is Charm Person. And the only reason he hasn't is because he doesn't know if it would even fucking work. He tried using it on Fjord to see if he remembered things he didn't know if he remembered and it failed. He could make the attempt again.]

There... Is one thing I haven't tried. It's a little mean and they'll be pissed at me after, but it usually works for me. I try to only use it when the person deserves it for being squirrely or uncooperative, but I feel like... if there was something they didn't know they knew, it could bring it out if you asked the right question.

[thedarkbond]

[That's about the answer Ren was expecting from Molly, and he gives a light smile, though any continuation he might have made of trying to convince people about other worlds gets set aside momentarily at his other suggestion. That sounds...an awful lot like some sort of coercive magic, since he knows by now that Molly does have magic of some kind, and while Ren isn't outright opposed to it like some people might be, he looks a little doubtful.]

Do you know what the right question would be, though...? If you asked the wrong one, you might end up bringing up something they wouldn't have wanted out in the open if they were in their right minds. [There's something subdued about the smile that follows.] Not to mention that I think a lot of people would be a little more than "angry" at being coerced...if it's your friends you're most worried about anyway, it's better not to risk that if you're not even sure it will work, right?

[mollymocked]

I don't know a lot of things, so probably not. [There's no easy answer to that- he never got to try with Fjord so he has no actual yardstick for what is and isn't possible within the bounds of the spell. He never uses it for that purpose- it's just to get people to cooperate.]

And, to be fair, I've done it to Nott before, and she's over it. [If he did it again, maybe she'd be wet cat pissy in a literal sense, so maybe he should be saving it for times when he knows it'll work. Like when they're actually being squirrely, as opposed to being under a spell.] But that's a fair point. I don't wanna know anything I shouldn't know. I just.... want to break the bloody spell. That isn't my niche.

[thedarkbond]

[Ren can at least relate to that last thing, and he gives a slight hum that sounds a little disappointed.] It's not mine, either...we didn't really have magic in my world, so something like this is outside of my experience. I've gotten memories I lost back and seen people get memories they lost back, but usually that was by the choice of whoever caused it in the first place. And we don't know who's causing it here.

[Ren's best guess would be the forest, somehow, but they can't exactly go and threaten a forest to make it break the spell. And trying to charm-talk it is an even worse (if more hilarious) prospect in terms of actually being remotely effective.]

[mollymocked]

[Molly feels like he's going to swallow his own tongue until that caveat and even then he's uncomfortable with it. Lucien is dead and buried. Lucien does not get to come back. If there's something that can make him come back, then Molly doesn't want to even know about it.

And, unfortunately, this is the situation he's in. Of course it is. He shakes his head, causing his charms to jingle a bit and presses on. None of that. That is a different problem. Focus on the current problem and don't give one shit that it's relevant to the other.] What'd they call that one place? Barta's Grove... Bartha? Something. They talked about it like it belonged to someone.

[thedarkbond]

[While Ren has some awareness Molly seems uncomfortable around this whole thing from his body language, for now he's writing it off as the situation in general. If there's anything else there, it's something to look into later, if he decides to at all.

The name Molly mentions rings a bell, and Ren tilts his head up for a moment to think before he comes to it.] Barthala? If it's some kind of legendary thing, then maybe we should ask around about the stories...

[It might give some sign of what Barthala is known for and if they might be involved.]

[mollymocked]

I do like buying people drinks and seeing what they have to say for themselves. [It's a kind of resignation, like "yes I GUESS I'll do this thing, I normally delight in, but it's going to be hard to enjoy it, under these circumstances." Much like hunting through Trostenwald to find a solution to not letting his family be executed.]

And it's better than sociably pinning every person I run into to see if they know what I'm on about. I don't particularly want to get arrested- that could be how this starts.

[Like true Stepford.]

[thedarkbond]

It'll probably make them talk a little bit more, too... [And in Ren's experience, local legends are usually a pretty easy subject of discussion. Most people want to share that kind of knowledge for one reason or another, whether they like you or not.

He does seem slightly amused at the mention of being arrested.] I think that's probably more likely if you start unsociably pinning people, but I'll take your word for it.

[mollymocked]

You'd be amazed at how many people don't know the difference. [Because there isn't one, Molly. Pinning people is not okay, but he is not talking to anyone who could argue that point to him and he wouldn't hear a word of it even if he was.]

C'mon, then. [He sighs, accepting of his fate, and actively taking the lead on what wasn't even his suggestion. He probably has more experience in towns like this than Ren does. He doesn't strike him as the small town kind of person.] Let's chat up the creepy locals for some information.

[thedarkbond]

[Ren is definitely not the small town kind of person, so he's perfectly happy to let Molly take charge even as he starts to eye up the area around them.] Sounds like fun...

[This is clearly not going to end in disaster of any kind, for anyone involved.]