atlantis ♔ bury anchors in our ghosts

[cigam]

♬ Buried in Water - Dead Man's Bones

WHO || Amara, Zatanna, Lila, David, Emma, Hook
WHAT || The Knights head to the lost city of Atlantis to discover the truth about the curse of the Homo Magi
WHERE || Atlantis
WHEN || April 10th, 2015 [backdated].
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

It's been two years since a mission in the Bermuda Triangle led to the discovery of the hidden home of the race known as the Homo Magi - the original race of pure-blooded sorcerers.  Inflicted with a curse that causes them to fall in love at first sight with any mortal they see, they had secluded themselves there, taking slaves of those who were lost in the Triangle to help defend their city.  On that ill-fated mission, the Homo Magi Amara fell victim to the curse, falling in "love" with David Charming and defecting from her people in order to have the chance to be with him.  Now a danger to herself and potentially others, the Knights have sought a way to free her of her curse, so far to no avail.  Lila, however, has finally convinced Amara herself to help, convincing her that the only way to prove that her love for David is real is to prove that the curse has no bearing on it.  Amara has uncovered the location of the Homo Magi's original home: the lost city of Atlantis, where she believes they can uncover the truth about the curse's origins, and in so doing, a way to reverse it, and free her people of it once and for all.

To this end, the Knights are drifting out into the Atlantic Ocean in Hook's ship, seeking the whirlpool that will supposedly take them to the underwater city.

Comments

[besmitten]

[ with a will save of 17, its hive mind manages to resist the onslaught... and then with a horrible cracking noise, the eels slam against the ice, shattering it open with a nat 20 strength check.

amara takes her readied action then, four 2-foot diameters spheres of fiery rock forming before her, and then barreling through the water towards the galvo, exploding spectacularly when they hit it, two of them narrowly missing and exploding against the exterior of the building instead, still catching it in the blast (ranged touch 17/14/27/14). its 19 reflex save isn't fast enough for it to get out of the way (dmg 6+6+23+23+21+21=100 dmg even), immolating the things entirely. amara cautions them from moving forward yet. ] The water may burn. [ now that we're out of init, she raises a hand and casts a cone of cold to fix that problem, creating a cool path to the entrance of the temple ]

[generaldavideus]

[And Amara continues to be more and more scary and badass. David nods his thanks before letting his eyes scan the temple for any other signs of trouble as he slowly starts to move forward (spot 15).]

[uncurse]

[ VIETNAM FLASHBACKS TO WYNN WARNING EMMA TO KEEP AMARA ON THEIR GOOD SIDE TBH. Slowly, she nods. ]

Thanks for the warning.

[ So fucking uneasy. She walks ? ?? swims ? ?? up to the entrance of the temple, then, making her way inside (nat 20 spot). ]

[bittersweeter]

[ as they move forward, lila brushes her fingertips against emma's sleeve, casting mage armor under her breath for a +4 ac bonus for six hours. in case some other shit jumps out of the woodwork, tbh. or, marblework, i suppose. ]

[cigam]

[ the water before them is murky as they make their way inside, their movements slower than usual as they half-swim, half-walk within.

the temple opens up around them, massive and awe-inspiring, and surprisingly intact on the inside. a vast fountain sits in the center of this initial room, decorated with reliefs of horses, giant waves, other creatures that look more fantastical, and a continued pattern of seven stars with a strange mist flowing out from their center. giant columns support the roof still, lining the chamber on either side of the courtyard, which ends in a giant staircase leading up to an altar of some sort of dark marble.

as they enter, and look upon all this, the reliefs seem to come alive abruptly, the carvings moving and shifting, acting out tiny dramas in their place on the side of the fountain and columns, shimmering and beautiful. a wan glow of flickering blue firelight sets each sconce aglow, despite the fact that they're underwater. ] ... Enchantments. I can't believe they've lasted so long. They have to have reset themselves after each turning of the Eldritch tide...

[unhand]

We already knew they were powerful. [He casts an uneasy glance at Amara. She certainly is far more powerful than he had expected. Thankfully, she was on their side. For now, anyway.] Considering how unbreakable this curse has proved, they would have to be.

[uncurse]

[ Emma glances sidelong at Lila, expression softening. There's a brief look of gratitude, mingled with reassurance—an implicit I'll be fine. But her attention is snapped towards Hook quickly enough and she kicks the back of his boot as she walks beside him like duDE AMARA DOESN'T LIKE PEOPLE THINKING SHE'S CURSED. Be nice to the scary enchantress. ]

Or stuck straight through it somehow. [ Let's be honest: with all the magic rules this shit is breaking, Emma is keeping an open mind. Someone mark the date on the calendar. She moves for the stairs, eyes catching on the creepy dark altar. ]

[unhand]

Supposed curse. [Killian amends as he trips and catches himself.] And the city lasting all these years. The terrible eel whirlpools. All sorts of reasons for their power to be obvious, really. Any curses would really hardly even be footnotes.

[Smooth.]

[generaldavideus]

[David lets his eyes roam over the moving pictures as he moves through the room, looking over each scene as it plays out, before leaning closer to get a better look.]

Are they telling a story?

[Maybe if they are, that's part of the key to finding what they're looking for. He glances back to Amara.]

Did you have murals like this when you were living with the other Homo Magi?

[besmitten]

It's a simple enough spell, common among our kind. [ she doesn't sound impressed, in other words, and glances at the murals. ] There's stories about Poseidon, but also about Mystra.

[bittersweeter]

The goddess of magic. [ (knowledge: religion 21) makes sense, all things considered. ] Your people are incredibly powerful, a connection makes sense.

[generaldavideus]

[He nods some as he lets his eyes wander the picture again.]

Goddess of magic, god of the sea - magical underwater city. That makes sense too.

[He glances back to Amara again.]

I'm not familiar with Mystra. Were there any prominent stories with her and Poseidon? It might help us figure out where to look.

[Temples to specific deities tend to be set up in specific ways. It's worth a shot and maybe it's useless but David's tone is gentle enough that he hopes she won't snap back at him (diplomacy nat 20).]

[besmitten]

It's believed that the goddess some call Circe was just another name for Mystra.

[uncurse]

Circe. She's the one with the pigs, right? [ That's all Emma has to offer on the subject as she sets about examining the altar (nat 20 ? ?? search ?? keeps nat 20'ing these pointless checks). ]

[generaldavideus]

[David makes a face in acknowledgement because yep. She's a man-hating peach.]

Yep.

[There's a beat.]

Don't ... eat anything.

[NOT THAT HE WAS EXPECTING ANY OF YOU TO but it seems worth reminding.]

[bittersweeter]

They weren't just pigs. She had lions and wolves, too. [ here 4 ur useless knowledge. ]

[unhand]

Comforting. [Really, the opposite of that.] Are we even capable of eating underwater? [And what about drinking? Could she have turned rum against him?]

[generaldavideus]

Lila took a potion, so I'm going to assume yes.

[And with that he's going to scan the room, making his way further inside as he sweeps through the room to start looking through the relics, careful to make sure he doesn't disturb anything that might rise up to kill them (search nat 20 /joins the possibly pointless nat 20 club).]

[cigam]

[ as emma moves to inspect the altar, she looks up and sees that the ceiling of the room above it appears to be mirrored, so she would find herself staring at ... herself. with her nat 20 however, she would also notice that in the reflection above something is different. the relief on the two pillars of the mystra symbols face the altar there, while in the actual room, it's poseidon facing that way. david, walking around the pillars, would see indentations in the floor around their bases. ]

[uncurse]

Uhh ... guys?

[ Emma calls to them from up by the altar, her eyes flickering quickly between the image of Mystra in the reflection and Poseidon in the room. ]

The reflection. [ She explains, pointing up. ] It's different.

[bittersweeter]

[ squint. ] That's... weird. [ maybe it's a door or a hidden safe deposit box. maybe she will cast detect secret doors just to double check. ]

[generaldavideus]

[David's attention, on the other hand, is drawn by the indentations in the floor. He moves closer, before crouching down to let his fingers brush over the empty space as though he's trying to determine direction.]

Either they can be moved, or something was here and was moved.

[But he's guessing it's the former, and he glances up to the reflection above them.]

Maybe it's a clue.

[unhand]

One way to find out. [Hook will attempt to move the pillars (str 18).]

[uncurse]

[ Emma backs up, looking at the opposite side of the pillar to confirm that they're set up to each have one Mystra face and one Poseidon face. ]

A key, maybe? We rotate them to match the mirror, and ... [ And everything hits the fan. ]

[besmitten]

[ while lila doesn't detect any secret doors, per se, amara follows their gazes up to the mirror and frowns. hook pushes with all his weight on a pillar, and it finally budges the slightest bit, giving a few inches on a rotation, but he's not strong enough to really get it anywhere. he's gonna need some help. ] Unlock the power of the altar.