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

[heavensend]

I'll be happy to see this place buried again. [ she doesn't hesitate to guide them out, casting a light spell so that they can see through the excavated tunnels that lead to the surface easily ] How they created these portals in the first place is something Wynn will desire to understand, but I fear the cost of studying such a thing, that might be best left alone.

[killingtodeath]

It won't really help to ignore it though.... right? If there's a chance they might use the portals and bust through into our dimension, we should be ready for them. [knowledge is power etc etc]

[trebond]

And there's a chance that piddling about may draw the wrong sort of attention to the power. We have to trust that Wynn will consider if pursuing that knowledge is truly to his benefit, or if this arcane foulness is better left untouched.

[bittersweeter]

Nothing we're going to find out loitering here. [ she's only half paying attention to the rest of the group, tbh, handing out pretty much all of the water and food from her pack to despayr's victims and trying to reassure them. she's very reassuring (diplomacy 53), even while nibbling on a chocolate bar. ]

[moonheart]

I just hope this is the last we hear of them for a very long time. [ ONCE YOU DEFEAT THE BAD GUY THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO STAY DOWN DUH. also the people are very comforted, offering thanks to lila in copious amounts as they all head up into the light of day. ]

[trebond]

I remember saying something of the like the last time we were here. [ /sourly. Anyway she's too eager to get out too, so she'll dip w the rest of them. ]

[killingtodeath]

[Bye shadow plane. Time to go back to being in full color.]

So how far are we from the castle anyway?

[silvermaid]

Well, considering we're in Australia, I'd say we have a little bit of a flight ahead of us.

[killingtodeath]

[He lets out a low whistle.]

No joke.

[pathology]

[she sulks because there probably won't be time to find a kangaroo and pet it. or a koala. :( ]

[unlost]

[Snow finally speaks up.]

How long were we missing?

[Maybe other dimensions have weird time dilation??? Who knows.]

[trebond]

Not very long at all. Wynn sent us as soon as he knew you were out of this plane.

[killingtodeath]

Do you think the airport gift shop will have "World's Best Boss" mugs? I feel like he deserves one. Or a thousand.

[silvermaid]

I headed straight back to inform them of what had happened. We're just lucky that this portal still existed.

[bittersweeter]

Despayr was probably keeping it open in case some more snacks wandered through. It all went to shit when he died, whatever magic he had that was eating away at the Weave was probably keeping those tears open, too.