[closed] Mission: Don't Wake the Deity

[couldkillthedevil]

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.]

Comments

[alchemyfreak]

"Yeah," Ed doesn't think too much into the question since Rin saw him transmute already, surely this wasn't going to go into the usual uncomfortable territory. "You saw me turn my arm into a blade back there, right?" He lifts his right hand in indication, the blade still sticking out of his sleeve. "It's pretty quick, so messes aren't much of a problem."

[imperceptus]

He had seen that, but such transformations do not fit with his traditional view of alchemy.

"Huh," he mutters, eyes on Ed's arm, "that's an interesting expansion to the term. Nobody in Faerun performs alchemy quite like that."

Or, you know, at all.

[alchemyfreak]

His lips press together thoughtfully at Rin's reaction. It was certainly a new one, but considering the ones he'd gotten previously, he'd take it. Ed shrugs, as if he's well versed on this conversation, explaining the differences.

"From what I gather being in these other worlds, it's kind of a thing unique to my own world. No one else sees the way we transmute and says it makes any sense so I'm kind of used to it by now."

[imperceptus]

"We mostly work with potions and such," Rin says. He's already started walking; it's clear that he's not bothered by the differences, either way. Just a matter of academic interest. "Precious metals, sometimes. But nothing so instantaneous or versatile."

He walks with a light, careful step; his words address Ed, but he's looking forward, eyes narrowed, ears sharp.

"Quite useful for you, I'd imagine."

[alchemyfreak]

Ed translates that to magic, as he'd expected, but he doesn't mention it as they continue moving toward the temple. "You could say that, it definitely comes in handy."

After a pause he explains, "Where I come from alchemy is the deconstruction and reconstruction of matter. No potions or anything, just- whatever components you need and the energy to transmute them." He's gotten used to not mentioning circles anymore, if only because people tend to ask where his were and it wasn't a topic he liked getting into.

[imperceptus]

"Hm," he says, mulling that over. "Sounds like a skill with near limitless application."

He's a little envious, he has to admit. His own brand of mixology serves him well, but it can't really compare to the tricks Ed was pulling--or the potential he's describing now.

[alchemyfreak]

"In a way." He's not sure if he should elaborate or leave it at that. "Most of the limits come when you try to bring biology into it. It's a lot harder to pull off and more dangerous." This is said almost dismissively, as if it wasn't a giant lethal taboo to mess with that stuff, mostly to avoid getting into that topic. "Otherwise, you just need the right ingredients and the ability to transmute, and you're good to go."

With all the worlds he'd been in, Ed was used to kind of downplaying alchemy and being vague in the descriptions. It didn't matter, because it wasn't like anyone could start using it there, at present he doesn't know things are different here so he sticks with the same mentality. Like it's no big deal.

"How do potions work, anyway? I've heard about them, but I guess I never full understood the concept." Or, at least the concept that in some other world that could be alchemy.

[imperceptus]

"Biology, eh," Rin says, clearly interested. But he has enough social grace--and the ability to read context--to tell that Ed's not exactly excited to go into it. So he won't press. Not now, anyway, not when they're actually in the middle of something (as in, literally, a forest full of vicious monsters).

"Potion-making is fairly direct," he says, shrugging. "Not dissimilar from what you've just said, really. You need the right ingredients, and you need ability. A pinch of this, a dash of that, and sometimes a little dab of magic."