Vanyel's Map: Blackavar Island

[spoofer]

Characters: Vanyel and any others who signed up here! Feel free to use the CR meme to plot.
Summary: During the late-summer fair, Vanyel acquired a means to create a map, which in turned showed the existence of an island that no one has seen, despite flyovers and long-distance scanning. He has now organized a party to explore it. This log is for casual interaction, camping, and hiking, as well as mod-run plot factors that may affect the "war."
Date(s): October 5-8
Warnings/Notes: Potential minor injury, booby traps, etc.

BLACKAVAR ISLAND

Dead winds' and spent waves' riot

OUTBOUND FLIGHT

All aboard Tony Stark's jet, except for those of us who have flight capability and prefer to go it alone. The airship still looks battered and lacks a weapons array, but can carry eight passengers easy, and most daemons besides. It's a smooth flight over the water, that you may wish to spend chatting with your fellow passengers. Reassuringly, the sensor feed seems to match the map that Vanyel generated exactly, including the shape of the coastline, the location of the city, and the distance to the wall of light opposite the land the interdimensional membrane. All that's missing is the island.

However, as the ship approaches the expected location of the island, the light and water begin to distort, flickering and shredding like a mirage. The next moment, the island emerges, swirling with strange mist. Just like the map shows, it isn't big— a couple miles in each direction at most, but it's steeply mountainous and heavily forested.

TAKE A HIKE

There's a variety of weird shit to look at. The Island Effect is exaggeratedly strong here, primarily regarding the fauna.

The bald, pointed-eared fairies that are merely finger-height on the mainland are as tall as adult humans here, and you might see them peeking through the trees then darting away, unwilling to communicate. In the meantime, the green-backed bison are pygmy, coming in at hip-height, and rambling around beyond the treeline. Likewise, the massive sea dragons are down-scaled to the size of dolphins. Still aggravatingly aggressive, though.

Fortunately, Tony parked further up the beach.

It's warm. Far more humid here than on the mainland, thanks to the churning mist, the flora more jungle-like than deciduous sort back East. The trees press in close, and the incline is steep, promising a challenging hike, albeit one filled with interesting and picturesque natural discoveries. Plenty to bitch about, as you have a look around.


Fortunately, there doens't... seem to be anything particularly creepy to worry about as you break camp for the night, at least in terms of nocturnal predators and the like. The fire will keep away animals who are otherwise attracted to the scent of s'mores.

INDIANA JONES AND THE MYSTERIOUS RUINS

As the search progresses, four stone ruins are scattered throughout the forest. The architectural style bears unmistakable resemblence to the temple at the back of the city, although these are smaller, masked by rotting, toppled trees and half-submerged into dirt. Most of these are marked on Vanyel's map, with a symbol:
✞
But while you're poking around empty arches and derelict rooms, watch for booby traps here or there. Arrows, pits, nets. All of them brittle and rotted now, more liable to drop you on your head than break anything you can't spare— but traps nonetheless. You may have to help disentangle your fellow man from some of that.

At The Stone Door

For some reason, the only door that looks proper sealed looks almost identical to the one that led to the Memory Share chamber. However, instead of the same jet-black stone that characterizes much of the Temple, this one is a warm shade of brown, coarse, and the elaborately graven surface has held up well to the test of time that defeated most of the traps elsewhere.

No handles, no locks. But when you speak, the carvings begin to glisten oddly.

Footnotes

1. Once characters reach the door at the last prompt on this page, mods will be "NPCing" several of these threads. Completed threads will affect the "war plot" coming up end of the month/next month.
   
   
2. Note any violence or injury in your subject headers, thank you.

Comments

[drehnifusbahi]

When the floor opens up beneath them he instinctively latches onto Farraige's arm, and as they fall he looks down at the snake-filled waters and Shouts. "Faas!"

The snakes churn, but anxiously, cringing away from the source of that sound - possibly because of the resounding echo of the Shout as much as its actual effect. As quickly as he can, he casts a Fear spell on the snakes as well, just to be sure.

As they plummet toward what's now a patch of mostly open water, he follows that up with a quick Water breathing spell on himself and Farraige - as well as being the only thing he has time for, it's the only one he knows that can help.

Water is Farraige's specialty, not his, so it's the younger mage's show from here.

[cantseame]

With the water beneath them, Farraige is quick to act. His will stirs the water below them, raising a spout high into the air to catch them and slow their descent. When he makes physical contact with the water he's able to better manipulate the tension of the water, allowing it to slow their descent.

When the two are low enough, the spout falls away, leaving the two to be submerged in the water. Once the two are submerged, the currents are under his control, shifting his hands about to focus the current of the water to keep them both well and clear of any drifting snakes that might still wander too close.

[spoofer]

A strange thing happens when Vanyel casts his spell. The darkness in the room is banished, and the glowing lines along the walls explode with sudden light. It's as though they've been overloaded, their power surging. Beneath the water, too, glowing lines can now be seen - though how far beneath they are remains unclear - and on the island, a door can now be seen. It, too, is glowing bright purple. It's freestanding, appearing to lead to nothing in particular, but it's the only thing on the island. It stands there all alone.

They splash down. If Vanyel's spell had lit the room, Farraige's seems to darken it; Farraige, with his comfortable manipulation of the environment, and the control he brings to the chaos. The lights go back out, as though the thing that had encouraged them has fallen away.

Which leaves our heroes in darkness. The water sloshes around them. Its texture is strange and somehow oily. There's a thickness to it that tugs at their feet the longer they stay still, but even if they move, they'll find it difficult to get very far. As the seconds pass, the water seems to change, becoming more like mud, and then like dark sand. The pair will find themselves buried to their shoulders, yet there's still something trying to tug them down. Above their heads, something light and dusty will fall on them, alerting them to a new problem - there's more sand falling from above, preparing to bury them alive.

But pay attention, explorers. Up ahead, one spark of purple light has not quite faded. It pulses against the frame of the door, on the island. Then it expands, creating a screen of light in which a small, blonde girl can be seen. She's clearly afraid, and sodden with a mixture of slime, pus, and who knows what else. Your view is that of something very large looking down at her, while she desperately tries to conjure ice between her hands, and your enormous, powerful tentacles swipe and smash at her. The boy with the arrows is trying to get to her, but the tentacles are on him too, and Rosie - poor Rosie - is struggling to stay on her feet.

And here you are, trapped in sand far away, unable to get to her. How does that make you feel?

[drehnifusbahi]

He notes as much of that as he can in the few moments before they hit the water - where the lights die down the moment Farraige begins to cast. It doesn't take a genius to realize there's some connection there.

"Wait," Vanyel gasps out as soon as he gets his head above water, reaching for Farraige's arm - which is when he notices how unusually thick and oily the 'water' has suddenly become. How, despite being a strong swimmer (he grew up in a port city, was diving for pearls and shellfish almost from the time he could walk) it's all he can do to keep treading water, to keep his head above the surface of the-

Not water. Not anymore, as it hardens to sludge around them, then to something like wet sand, with something - maybe just the sand itself, but they can't be sure of even that much. Not when it was just crawling with snakes, and there might well have been something far worse lurking down in the depths. He tightnes his grip on Farraige's arm and runs down a mental list of all the spells and Shouts he knows, trying to figure out what he can do to get them out of this-

Then he notices that last purple spark, the purple-edged screen it expands into - and he immediately recognizes the petite blonde woman they're being shown. "Rose," he breathes, afraid himself now - afraid for her, that she'll be hurt. Or that he'll lose her to whatever that tentacled thing is. Before he's even really thought about it, he Shouts again. "Wuld Nah Kest!" Across open ground, the force of all three words of Whirlwind Sprint might well launch them all the way to the island.

As it is, he'll be happy just to get as clear as they can of the dark, clutching sand - whatever it takes, to get close enough to that screen? portal? to help Rose if they can.