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 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.

[spinerip]

If we find building material, a shelter should be a simple matter. [Drax can just punch some trees down that will work. He frowns at Phineas.] I do not feel dead.

[killingtodeath]

Alright, big guy. You can be on construction duty.

[spinerip]

[He clasps a massive hand on Stiles' shoulder.] Come. I will show you how it's done. [Congratulations, tiny shirtless bro, you've been adopted.]

[killingtodeath]

[Stiles looks up at Drax and just grins, then glances over to Fiona and Phineas.]

I guess we're on building supply duty. You guys are welcome to join us. I figure we can try to set up camp around here? Ish? The big guy and I can lug back some logs or something. And by that I mean he can and I'll supervise.

[spinerip]

I require NO supervision! [But off they go to try and find trees I guess but Drax's search check was an 11 so let's hope they're either really easy to find or Stiles is actually looking around rather than charging off blindly like Drax is.]

[killingtodeath]

[Stiles got a 15. I don't think it's hard to... find trees, though. So they'll probably be okay. He points one out.]

Alright, buddy. So what's your plan of attack here?

[spinerip]

[Drax pulls out his knife and gestures for Stiles to do the same. His fists can do a lot, but for some things, knives are better.] Do as I do.

[He goes up to a tree and swings the knife at it (atk 27, dmg 8).]

[killingtodeath]

[Stiles was pretty much planning on just watching Drax take down the trees himself. But apparently he has to carry his weight. Lame. But he got a knife from Drax so that's pretty cool.

...But then his attack is only an 8. Which is probably enough to hit a tree that can't move, but it's still sad. And also only 1 damage. Even sadder.]

You might be better off handling this kinda thing on your own, buddy.

[spinerip]

[Drax turns towards him seriously.]

You will not grow stronger if you give up after only one swing.

[He doesn't need the help. This is for Stiles' own good.]

[killingtodeath]

[Well his next attack is a 3. So maybe the blade gets stuck in the tree trunk now. Stiles just gives him a flat look.]

I think maybe the time for life lessons should come after we build shelter for the group for the night.

[pathology]

[and then the girls come back. astrid decides to announce their entrance with a]

We're back, bitches!

[bittersweeter]

We found a city, or.. something.

[killingtodeath]

What, seriously?! Let's go check that out. Screw tree tents.

[unlost]

[Snow doesn't look so excited about that.]

It looked mostly abandoned, and I'm positive there were things...lurking around in there. If we go, we'll need to be extra careful.

[killingtodeath]

So long as we go together we should be good, right? And if there's creepy shit lurking out there, that doesn't really make the beach much safer. We might be able to get inside a structure and make a home base that's actually got decent defensive capabilities.

[Thank you video games.]

[spinerip]

We will work on your strength training later, skinny one. [Drax claps Stiles on the shoulder, then removes both knives from the trees.]

I am certain I can subdue any threats that lurk within the city. They cannot match the might of Drax the Destroyer!

[unlost]

[Snow nods.]

That's exactly why we came back. Like I said, we'll need to be careful, but we can't just stay here forever. We should be fine, if we all go together.

[bittersweeter]

[ shifts in the background, lighting up another cigarette. gonna make astrid's head explode with her bad health, tbh. also gonna let snow take the lead because she doesn't give much of a fuck anymore. ]

[killingtodeath]

[Stiles points to his eyes, then to Snow's eyes.]

Same page. Okay, so we'll go check it out together. Buddy system, but like- all of us. If there's an answer, it's probably not on the beach. Not sure if it's in an abandoned city, but it's probably a start.

[He looks at the group, waiting for objections.]

Everyone good?

[spinerip]

Let's waste no more time on words. [Drax starts walking towards the city.]

[bittersweeter]

[ lila is 100% not looking forward to this walk with everyone else, but w/e. she'll deal. and drift behind them so she can continue smoking in peace and out of arm's reach. it's not like it'll be hard to find the city again, since they left their duct tape path. la de da, walking. ]

[pathology]

[seriously lmao astrid is like STOP TRYING TO GIVE US LUNG CANCER AND EXPEDITE OUR INEVITABLE DEMISE but she doesn't say that shit and just keeps walking along with everyone else.]

[unlost]

[With the help of duct tape, Snow helps lead everyone back to the creepy city, yay.]

[behindcloseddoors]

[ moving through the streets of the city, anyone who makes a wisdom check of 15+ would get the distinct feeling of being watched. occasionally, the shadows seem to move out of the corner of their eyes, but when they look that way, nothing appears to actually be there.

the city itself consists of buildings that are hard to place in terms of how modern they actually are - inspecting anything too closely seems to make you feel cross-eyed.

a low hilltop overlooks the city in the distance, on which a large, older looking building sits. there is a gaping black doorway visible on its side. ]