bermuda....? ♔ and it will take you to fears you never knew

[behindcloseddoors]

♬ Vessel - Zola Jesus

WHO || Stiles, Fiona, Astrid, Lila, Drax, Snow, Phineas
WHAT || A wish goes awry and the team finds themselves lost in a world of shadow...
WHERE ||Maybe Bermuda. But not.
WHEN || April 14th, 2015 [backdated].
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

It started as a simple enough mission.  Travel to a remote area in Russia where an entire town had fallen from the Shadow World years ago and remained largely entrenched in the culture of that world, to check on a Russian woman who had married the local baron for her parents, who had stopped hearing from her.  The woman had expressed paranoia about her husband's behavior, and upon investigation, the party discovered why: Anya's husband, Stepan, harbored a dangerous secret that threatened not only his family, but the entire town.  Years ago, he made a dark deal with an entity who lived inside a family heirloom called a Midnight Mirror - an artifact of Loviatar used as a magical prison to punish those who offended the goddess.  Agreeing to let this entity take over his body for a year every decade, the shadowy figure helped Stepan to trap his own brothers in the mirror and take over the baronry for himself.  His marriage and the subsequent birth of his child, however, made him change his mind about following through on the next swap, and the shadowy being, angry at him for reneging on his deal, released a plague upon the local town called tallowthroat, a horrible disease wherein shadows birthed out of the inflicted's throats.  

Stepan convinced the heroes to enter the Mirror and destroy the heart of it, ending the threat to the town and freeing him of the deal once and for all.  After a fierce battle against the horrible form the Heart had taken, the Shadow Manor began to collapse, taking with it their only escape route.  Trapped and uncertain what would happen to them if they were there when the entire Manor fell apart, they made a wish on Fiona the genie, to escape to Bermuda.

Where they found themselves seems to be the beach - but they are also in a world still drained of color - trapped somewhere, perhaps, on the Shadow Plane, with no known way to return home.

Comments

[thesleeper]

[Phineas is still getting his bearings after the impromptu surgery. The last thing he remembers is being inside a stomach.]

Did... Did we win?

[killingtodeath]

Sort of? I mean... no more disappearing house, so- step in the right direction?

[bittersweeter]

A step in the right direction to where exactly? [ lila mad. she throws her arm out as if they're unaware of their shadowy surroundings, anger etched across her pale features. ]

[pathology]

We're going to be here until we die. [astrid moans pitifully while digging through her obnoxious hello kitty backpack that contains all her medical supplies. oh look it's xanax just for her. she's not telling anyone after fiona took like her entire supply of valium. that whore.]

[missindependent]

[ it takes fiona a little while to fully regain her bearings, her whole body reeling from the forceful surge of such powerful magic. and the valium probably hasn't done much to speed up her recovery time. but now that the world has stopped spinning, she eagerly jumps back to her feet, her mouth falling open as she hungrily scans their colorless surroundings. ]

Well, might as well make the most of it, then, right? [ her optimism knows no bounds ]

[unlost]

What we need to do is figure out where we are and how to get home.

[This is not a beach party. 8(]

[bittersweeter]

[ lila is on team snow white, something she will not admit out loud because no. but she whirls on stiles when snow speaks about how to get home. ]

What you just did is not an option again, so don't you even think it. [ back to snow. ] Astrid and I will check... [ directions????? she indicates to the left, not seeming to care that she's splitting the party. they'll cover more ground. ] That way. Come on, A.

[pathology]

I warned everyone! Did I not warn everyone? It's fucking monkey's paw shit. I hate you. [/backup dancer to lila's rage. and now she's getting up and following after her.] You know your phone comes with a compass app, right? It should still work even if there's not any reception here. Maybe we'll need it now that it's all ... [she doesn't finish the sentence but her face seems to imply "shitty."]

[unlost]

We have literally no idea what's even out there.

[Concerned Mom face.]

I'm not sure splitting up is the best idea...

[bittersweeter]

We'll cover more ground if we split up. The faster we figure out where we are, the faster we can figure out how to get home. [ diplomacy 48. she turns to look at snow with a tense face making it pretty clear that what she left unspoken is that she needs to be away from people right now before her temper snaps. ]

[unlost]

[And she busts out a wisdom nat 20.]

Fine. But I'm coming with you.

[She's not letting two young girls go off by themselves, sorry kids. She turns back to the others.]

We'll meet back here within two hours.

[In case their phones don't work here or something. (They probably don't, do they.]

[pathology]

[sighs like she's so ~put upon~] I guess that's all right.

[killingtodeath]

Wait- You guys are leaving? That seems like possibly the worst idea.

[thesleeper]

[Phineas is still just trying to piece everything that happened while he was unconscious together. How did everything go so wrong? It was just a simple trip to a horror mirror world. This is turning out just like Egypt.]

[He scrawls a symbol in the sand, and makes the most half-assed binding attempt of his life, mumbling quietly;]

Buer, lend me your strength.

[And then his feet morph into goat hooves. But he also gains fast healing, so any remaining wounds begin to rapidly repair themselves. Check out his cool magic Fiona. Be jealous.]

Is anyone else wounded?

[spinerip]

[Drax is wounded, an it's pretty clear from how he's holding himself and moving that he's... actually not doing so well, but instead of answering that, he observes:]

Your feet have changed.

[missindependent]

[ fiona brushes some more sand from her pants as she strides over to stand next to stiles ] Yeah, splitting up is definitely the worst idea. We'd have no way to find each other again.

[ and then, in a very uncharacteristic show of indignation, fiona jabs her thumb in stiles' direction, adding sharply: ] And don't talk to him like that! For all we know, he saved all of our lives. Yeah, maybe we're lost, but at least we're not dead, and it's not like we don't have people looking for us, too.

[bittersweeter]

Do we? Because I seem to remember that we left Anastacia to wait for us and now she is all alone in a village filled with shadows and sickness. The mirror expels any living thing out of it when it's destroyed, which Anastacia now has to deal with single-handedly. Forgive me for not being entirely certain anyone will come looking for us. Especially considering some mission groups have gone missing for months at a time and no one was sent looking for them. [ ahem, cough, she's literally standing next to one of those people who were missing. ] We have no idea where we are, we have no food except what we packed, and no source of extra fresh water. If we don't look around, we will die. [ lila is small and fragile, but when she is mad, the emotion is almost tangible and anger is currently radiating off of her, hands balled into fists and mismatched eyes blazing. (intimidate 42) without another word, she turns and stalks off, peacing right the fuck out of any further conversation. ]

[pathology]

... What she said. [brb going after lila to makes sure she doesn't explode]

[thesleeper]

[Phineas is not about to get in the middle of that. He lays a hand on Drax, and heals him up. It's not as fast as cleric healing, but it's technically unlimited outside of combat (1D8+6 every 5 rounds)]

Yeah, they can do that... [He says to Drax, regarding his feet...] Neat trick for at parties. I'm just relieved neither of us were eaten, friend. Not yet, anyway. [He casts a glance around the strange shadowy land.]

[missindependent]

[ not exactly sure what that intimidate check is for, except to keep fiona from following, but she wasn't about to do that anyway. instead she just shrugs as she watches the two girls dramatically storm off before they have a chance to hear her tell the *rest* of the group: ] I can make us plenty of food and water, for as long as we require it.

We should definitely check this place out, see what we're up against, just *together*. Well, what's left of us, anyway. [ 'cause fiona gives no fucks when it comes to drama ]

[killingtodeath]

[Stiles raises a hand to Phineas.]

If you've got any more mojo, I'll take some.

[Since we joked about performing surgery on stiles but I'm unsure if it happened. JUST IN CASE.]

We should probably figure out how to make camp or something, right?

[unlost]

[Snow throws a sympathetic look at them as they walk away, but she's not going to be able to stop them, and she can't let them go alone.

See you guys later.]

[missindependent]

[ she nods at stiles' suggestion ] Definitely. That is, if we end up having that much time to begin with.

I mean, last we knew, this world was collapsing. Assuming this is the same shadow dimension we were in, which is probably our best assumption.

I'm also gonna assume we're in this world's Bermuda, you know- [ she kicks at the sand a bit, her eyes finally catching those runes phineas had scrolled. ] given the wording of the wish, and all... [ she trails off, crouching down to examine said runes, her eyes quickly traveling to phineas's cloven feet. eyes wide, she continues to take in the rest of him, her mouth falling open as she watches him do his healing thing. ]

And what sort of magic is this. [ the curiosity in her tone is almost suggestive, and it's difficult to distinguish exactly what kind of excitement she's experiencing at the moment ]

[killingtodeath]

[Stiles just gives a little shake of his head and a laugh at Fiona's tone. She's kind of a trip, but he digs it.]

I'm thinking maybe we can look for something to make a shelter? I mean- I'd say we could wish for it, but that kind of back fired last time, so...

[thesleeper]

[Phineas will heal Stiles up as well, once Drax's wounds are fixed up... Then he responds to Fiona.]

I suppose there's no harm in telling you, seeing as we might be swallowed up by a void at any time. [He muses for a moment;] I mean hell, could be we're already dead and this is some sort of purgatory... [He trails off and kind of looks like he's zoning out.] What were we doing here, anyway? [But he quickly snaps back to focus.] Sorry. Buer addles my memories a bit. Side effect of the magic.

It's called Pact Magic.