riverviewlogs | [closed] Mission: Don't Wake the Deity

Entry tags:

[closed] Mission: Don't Wake the Deity

who: Akihiko Sanada, Nico di Angelo, Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric, Rin, Keith, Lyle Dylandy, Khisanth (Onyx), Jason Todd, Ava Orlova, Morgana, Takashi Shirogane, Yuffie Kisaragi, Chloe Decker, Lucifer Morningstar, Thor Odinson, Link
what: Mission: Don't Wake the Deity
when: Friday, July 28th - after the scouting party has returned and shared their information
where: The Abandoned City and surrounding woods
warnings: Violence, probable monster attacks, mind control/people being compelled, etc. Will add more warnings as needed.

[Taken from the June TDM, with some additions:]

Whether you've just arrived in the city or you've been here a while, and you have a sensitivity to the spiritual, magical, multidimensional, or anything else outside the realm of everyday normal, you've probably noticed a distinct uptick in weird feelings, strange nightmares, or daymares - hallucinations of scary things that are lurking just behind you.

You're not the only one who's noticed it.

There are rumors going around that the psychological and spiritual disturbances are due to the emergence or re-emergence of a deity. Some people say that it's something new that's come through the portal with the sharp increase in new arrivals recently, and others say it's simply an ancient spiritual presence or some ancient incorporeal monster that's been somehow awakened. Gramarye, the top-tier magic research center in Riverview Quarantine, has been studying anyone who's felt this presence, and have recently confirmed that whatever it is, it's being fed by all the extra energies and prayers and thoughts as the city's population increases. The one thing everyone agrees on is that, if the expanding community is feeding the entity, then the entity has got to go!

A scouting party recently travelled into the Abandoned City and forests outside the walls to search for leads or any other evidence of a way to solve the problem. After a day of searching, the team stumbled upon an abandoned temple. While it didn't seem like much, its exterior run-down and wood rotting amongst the centuries' old mulch and muck, it felt... unsettling. Alive, almost. One member of the party could feel a powerful presence emanating from it; realizing they were out of their depth, the team returned to the Quarantine to relay the information and obtain reinforcements.

Teams are now being assembled across the city to travel into the Abandoned City or the forests outside the walls and find this temple once more. The mission might be dangerous, though - there are the usual dangers of venturing out into the wilds, but this time, characters may also face booby traps, spectral or physical guardians, and if the entity itself gets awoken? Someone may have to kill it.

[So this log will be set up in 'stages'. The first few headers will be closed to each of the teams for initial travel meetings, camping, monster fights, etc. Feel free to post your own top-levels underneath and tag out, mingle, whatever you'd like. Headers for further 'stages' of the mission (such as once all the teams meet up at the temple/deity hideout) will also be posted so that teams can intermingle/have more CR.

Since there are so many people involved, consider this one big mingle thread in the vein of the TDMs. Here's a link to the google doc for those interested as well.]

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Chloe didn't know Yuffie very well. This was the first time they'd even met, really, though she can already pick up the change in her demeanor. She brings her gun up, steadying it in preparation for Yuffie's attack. She's far back enough to have a good overview of the landscape, but she'd still have to be careful in case these monsters decided to charge her way.

Still, she can't help the slight quirk of her lips. "Trust me. I'm not going to miss. You can count on that. Just don't get overconfident."

Rin ambles up to the dust cloud, daintily lifting his sleeve to cover his mouth as he does so. He glances from the ash-choked air to Nico, one eyebrow arched.

"Is that typical of the beasts here, or--" he gestures to the sword, "--is that typical of you, in particular?"

Nico's aura continues to press on him, something tangible and heavy, like a veil he's just barely evading. He's never felt anything quite like it--at least not from someone who looks so ostensibly human.

It's not surprising that Al's awake to keep watch, but she can't help but start a little at the abrupt sound of his voice breaking through the lingering fog of sleep. "Alphonse," she murmurs a bit breathlessly, jaw working as she let herself calm down.

Another hand wiped back the sweat from her brow before she sat up a bit further to regard him. Even in the dark, she can make out the concern settling over his face. "I saw... people," she says, a bit helplessly. "Just standing around in front of a temple. I've been seeing it a lot recently. Almost too often. Sometimes not even in my dreams."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "You say that you won't miss but I move pretty fast." A smirk tugged at her lips before she jumped from their hiding place. Yuffie's movements were quick and precise. She through her arm up sending a glow of snowy blue magic forward. Ice speared up from the ground, snagged a handful of unfortunate creatures that found themselves caught in the middle of her spell.

Her boots landed lightly on the peek of one of the ice spears. They didn't have forever, ice melted and Yuffie was using her Materia to hold the spell for a few second longer than normal.

"Shoot!" She shouted as she flicked her Shurekin with her free hand. It sliced through one of the creatures jaws, not killing it but rendering it's bite useless.

Al lets her have her moment to calm down and reorient herself. It's important to give people that space and time, something he knows from experience with his brother's nightmares, so he waits for her to explain and even gives her a small, encouraging smile.

The smile soon turns into a frown, however, as he hears her description of her dream. People standing around the temple can be either a good or a bad thing and he wishes Ed was with their group so he could bounce ideas off his brother. For now, he can only nod and concentrate on possibilities.

"It might be nothing. But if you're experiencing it when you're awake, maybe it's a warning. At least it's just people standing and not fighting, right?"

Lyle nodded. "Mind if I join you for a bit then? Getting kind of lonely with most people asleep."

He was curious. Keith seemed to be the youngest person in this group. Considering the requirement was being able to defend yourself, he has to be a skilled fighter.

Nico watched with minor amazement as the weapons changed. He's familiar with magical weaponry, recalling Percy's Riptide which could shrink into a pen, and Jason's Imperial Gold sword which could change into a coin. But those were godly weapons, made of magical material. What Keith had was different and suddenly Nico was intrigued. But they weren't talking about that so he shelved his questions for another day.

"They're real," he said, eyes still on the dagger where it had been stashed. Realizing it might look strange to be staring in that direction, he lifted his eyes to Keith's. "Most mortals don't realize it though. I'm sure that where you're from, my father still exists, but since you're a mortal, you wouldn't know it."

"It's my sword," he explains, gesturing to it. The pitch-black blade is given a quick wipe down and then after checking the area for any more monsters he sheathes it. It'll be ready to use again, but until that time, he figures he might as well answer a few questions.

"It's made of Stygian Iron from the River Styx. That's the river of hate in the Underworld which my father rules," he says, looking down at the blade at his hip. "It absorbs the souls of monsters and sends them back where they came from."

Ed was aware that for this sort of the thing the comfort of keeping his automail a secret had to be second to their safety. It hadn't taken him long at all to transmute the blade in preparation for what was lurking out here. He had no reason to be concerned about Keith in particular though, he knew that the other was aware of Shiro's arm and they were from the same world. Although he might get the dreaded sympathy angle from him, Ed was certainly not concerned about Keith freaking out or being a potential threat. When the conversation came up, he was already ready for it.

The fact that Keith had not - and did not - say anything at all only solidified in Edward's mind that his knowledge of Shiro's arm influenced his view of Ed's situation. Whatever that perception was, Ed was grateful for it. At the question, Ed merely cocks his head slightly to Nico.

"We did, he knows what he's doing. All we need to worry about is keeping anything from attacking him while he does it."

They would be boarding up the temple when it was all said and done too, but Keith wouldn't be involved in that so it probably wasn't worth mentioning.

"Nope," Keith responded. "It'll be kind of nice to have some company." He might be a loner, but being alone was a whole different level. He'd done that for almost a year. If he hadn't had the search for the Blue Lion's energy pushing him forward, he might not have made it through that.

Still, though, being a loner, he wasn't much of a conversationalist. Here was hoping Lyle had the Irish gift of gab.

"Maybe." Keith shrugged. If there was one thing he was slowly learning about this place, it was that there were different versions of the same place. There was a chance that it was real for his world, too, but there was also a chance that it was just what they thought it was... a myth.

"So... you're his son. And that's how you can do that stuff?"

Lyle definitely had that and when Keith didn't really say anything after that, Lyle jumped in.

"So what weapon to do you use? Or you a hand-to-hand fighter?"

Keith glanced between the two others for a moment, and then back up at the temple. He nodded.

"Alright." He frowned a bit in thought.

"Was there anything in there worth looking through?" He didn't know they were planning on boarding it up, but, once the god was dealt with, they could still explore, right? "About how things happened here or something?" Not that he didn't doubt they already scoured the place as much as they had been able last time they were here, but it was still worth asking... just in case.

It was easier to show than explain, so Keith moved his hand, holding near his upper thigh for a second. The lights on his armor there flashed, and his bayard materialized in his hand.

"This is a bayard," he said. "All the Paladins of Voltron have them." Even Shiro, now that he'd taken it back from Zarkon. Though... Shiro currently here wouldn't know that, and likely didn't have it as a result. He filed that thought away in less than a tic, continuing as he activated the blade of his own. "It takes on the form of the weapon that best suits the Paladin's skills and needs." He turned the sword in his hand so Lyle could see it. "Mine's a double-edged sword."

He hesitated for a moment, and then pulled the large dagger from the sheath on the back of his belt.

"I also have this." He held it for a moment, and the blade extended into a sword on that as well. His tone changed when he mentioned it, showing his feelings about the second weapon were a little bit mixed at the moment.

If Lyle were to say he was unimpressed by that, he would be lying through his teeth. Not often that someone materialized an object out of nowhere and then changed it into something else.

"Whoa! That's amazing! Geeze, being able to pull a sword literally out of thin air."

He watched as Keith pulled the dagger from behind his back. He noticed almost immediately it didn't seem to fit the style of the other blade or his armor as well as the markings on it.

But the tone told him there was something weird about that blade, so even though it had expanded to a sword in front of him, he kept his enthusiasm in check. "Impressive."

Keith looked a little amused, remembering how he felt the first time they'd been able to figure that out with the bayards.

"Yeah... kind of. The armor has something called particle storage," he explained. "I'm not sure of the details, but it breaks stuff down so that it can be stored easily in some sort of weird space... like hi-tech pockets." He shrugged.

Keith put the dagger away first.

"The other one is a family heirloom of sorts..." He was a little thankful Lyle didn't seem to press him about the blade. He still wasn't sure how he felt about it anymore. It had come in handy with Thace, but there were other issues to consider now.

"Never seen anything like particle storage. That would be useful if we had something like that. Is that common for people to have that where you are?"

He's going to focus on the bayard and ignore the dagger as Keith puts it away. He was curious about it, but it seemed that curiosity would only make his companion more uncomfortable.

"So you said the... bayard was it - changes shapes based on the individual? What other ones are there?"

Akihiko generally needs just a few moments to collect himself after channeling a big blow from Polydeuces- he's used to either relying on multiple people in his group to fill in one another's pauses, or simply timing his rounds to ensure he'll be able to block any potential blows and go back into the fray. However, the latter is clearly a closer call than perhaps others are comfortable with Rin's response. Either way, he's impressed with the fancy move.

"Fair point." He doesn't hesitate in moving quickly, pulling on his glove out of habit before drawing close enough to step to the side of the creature. It's likely already on its quick way towards death with Rin's handiwork, but with a quick motion he snaps its neck for peace of mind.

"I want half that skill with a knife, damn. Thank you- I'm Akihiko." Dusting his hands off on his pants, he seems to start to think about offering a hand in greeting before hesitating- he did just touch a bloodied monster. He raises one in a wave instead.

"I don't know. So far, I've only seen it used by Altean tech. It might just be something unique to their development." Keith shrugged.

"Yeah. Bayard," he said, confirming Lyle's recall. "Pidge has a small triangular blade that can be used as a grappling hook, and it has a taser function built in. Lance has a rapid fire rifle for precision shots. Hunk has the heavy artillery. It's similar to a Gatling gun, but both the guns use energy beams instead of actual projectiles." Keith looked thoughtful for a moment. "Shiro's bayard had been taken by our enemy before we started, so we're not sure what kind of shape it has when he activates it. But, the enemy used it against us at one point, and he was able to make it change... a lot. He had a gun, a sword, a chain whip... which kind of makes me wonder if we can do the same thing if we get strong enough with them."

Rin has plenty of experience with magical objects--they're his bread and butter, in fact. So, while he doesn't at all understand the references this kid's making, he's savvy enough to grasp that this is no ordinary weapon.

"Fascinating," he says. His voice is a slow, patrician drawl, but he's sincere; there's a glint of something in his blood-red eyes as he steps forward, something sharp and keen. "And are you the only person capable of wielding it?"

"Huh... sounds like it is unique to them if you haven't seen it anywhere else. Or you just haven't others that do yet."

Lyle listened as Keith described them. He raised a brow with interest at hearing what all could be done with them, even more impressed hearing that someone had been able to change it into multiple weapons.

"That's... wow. I would imagine if you get proficient enough with it, you should be able to change it to something else too.

So some of them change into guns? Nice."

Considering he had been cleaning his rifle? Yeah... that was his specialty.

That's right, Akihiko. You can keep your filthy hands right to yourself. Rin likes to keep his person as blood-free as possible, even if that's not always realistic on these little expeditions. His hand-sewn and hand-embroidered clothes are made largely of delicate, shimmery silk--also not exactly appropriate for a survivalist. But it looks good.

Rin acknowledges the wave with a brief bow of his head.

"Call me Rin," he says, making a flourishing gesture with one hand. "And I'd be happy to teach you, if you like."

Keith nodded about the particle storage being unique. That was definitely a possibility. After all, Alteans were the only race that could power teledavs, too, as far as he knew. Their technology might just be something only they had.

"I don't see why not," he said. "We just haven't fully figured out how, yet. We'll get there, though. Pretty sure of that." He nodded at Lyle's question about the guns, too. "Yeah. It turns out Lance is actually a really good shot. Just, if he shows up, don't tell him I told you." Keith shrugged a little, looking slightly sheepish at the admission. For someone who was always trying to push Keith's buttons about their skills, he had some good ones of his own if he just focused on them.

"You're a sniper, right?"

"Well everything takes practice. Isn't that what everyone says. Who knows if you can chance it into a sword, maybe there is something else that you can do with it."

Lyle laughed at the comment. "You have my word. Won't tell him you said that."

At the next comment, Lyle nodded. "I am. I've been doing it for a bit now. Starting with a Gundam and working backwards was a little different though."

"Something like that." Keith smirked a little. He was pretty sure it was only a matter of time before they could do it, too. Zarkon was way more advanced than them. He definitely knew that now. Yeah... it had been pretty dumb taking him on by himself like that. But, he hadn't really been thinking clearly at that moment.

"Thanks."

Keith looked curious then as Lyle answered about himself. "What's a Gundam?"

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[closed] Mission: Don't Wake the Deity

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