THE SQUAD DOES AN INTRO - [modplot] [event]

[wildermods]

THE SQUAD DOES AN INTRO
OOC POST
In their homeworlds, they suddenly hear water flowing over stone, the wind through the leaves, and the gentle rattling of Kodama. The hushed sound of treetops waving in the breeze lull them to sleep whether they want it to or not, and in what seems like a dream they fall through a tunnel that passes through layers of dirt and roots and then through seemingly endless boughs of trees.

During this impossibly long fall, spirits whisper in their ears. They tell them that they must save the Wilderlands and the Green. They tell them that they will be given the power or weapons to do it - or that they're already strong enough as they are. They tell them that in the times they're not needed, they may find themselves trapped in the faerie realm known as the Brugh, but that the mirrors will let them speak, and the mirrors will let them see.

And they tell them that they're about to become lost in the forest and that there are others like them, just as lost.

When they wake up, they find themselves in the ruins of an abandoned city; the forest has overtaken it, threading new life through the decay, but the green of the leaves and vines pales in contrast with the broken buildings and streets. Every single building in this city was once a vibrant shade of emerald, and even now, after the slow ravages of time, the green ruins glimmer like they're hewn from precious gems.

The only things that aren't that bright shade of emerald are the statues. Countless statues are scattered through the abandoned city, shaped like men and women and children and pets, all dressed in 1900s era Earth-style finery. These figures are extremely intricate, almost too detailed to be believably carved by a human hand. Many of them are smashed and broken.

Some of the statues don't look human. Among the humans are little beings shaped like china dolls that are made of stone like the rest, instead of porcelain. And in the middle of the city, standing near each other are three strange petrified figures: an axe-wielding man that looks like he was made of metal before being petrified, a man who looks like a human-lion hybrid, and a living scarecrow. All three have expressions of surprise or anger on their faces.

When the characters are brought into this place, the magic that brought them in seems to have trouble getting them all in the same place at first. They find themselves spending brief amounts of time in one spot (sometimes just minutes, sometimes longer) before they're teleported again. Each time they teleport they find themselves near someone new, someone just as lost as them. Those that don't speak the same language may find some difficulties communicating, but over time, the magic of the Wilderlands will kick in, and plant a whole new language in their heads. This magic works faster the more they emotionally connect with other and find understanding without words.

The teleportation keeps zapping them in different places all over the city -- and sometimes outside it, where they can see an abandoned road made of yellow brick that trails off into the distance. Fortunately, the people they keep getting paired off with seem like normal people just like them, and beyond that, they're entirely alone in the ruins.

Probably.

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OOC INFO
✦ Post in actionspam format. Plots and mod-run events in the game are meant to be in actionspam format to keep a brisk pace.

✦ Please see the OOC post linked up top for more information about the event.

Comments

[astrarche]

[It's such an unexpected language, and an unexpected response, that she actually lowers her sword a little bit. What in any world even is that gesture . . .?

She doesn't understand his words, but she understands his tone, the sort of dismissive tone one takes with an animal, and she lifts her sword again. How dare he -

She remembers too late she still is an animal, but as she understood his tone, maybe hers will come through - the offended pique of a person who is not accustomed to anyone daring to offend her.]

Excuse me?

[awfulcer]

[Those words actually cut through, even if nothing else had. Dixon pauses, holsters his imaginary weapon, looks around himself as if believing someone else will swoop in to explain this all - and then turns his body to apologize to the weaponized mammal before him.]

I don’t know that you should be carrying a sword...!

[He suddenly feels bare and nude, like somehow he’s doing something punishable and wrong without knowing what it is.] I’m just as lost as you are, monkey.

[astrarche]

[The words she understands are infrequent, but she gets "don't know" "you" and "sword," and that's enough to go on.

Whatever magic is at work here, making this man's language understandable, it's not reliable, and she speaks slow and loud, sword not leaving her hands.]

Who else is here?

[awfulcer]

[That he's able to make out, and he feels damn impressed that he does. ]

There's a chick with a sword and another chick climbing a tree and I'm not sure why half you people are carrying swords around like it's the goddamn Stone Age-

[It dawns on him that it's kind of weird that Sariatu is speaking any language to him, even if it is garbled.]

Wait, you're a monkey...!

[astrarche]

["You're a monkey!" is all that translates, and Sariatu is struck absolutely, momentarily dumb by this entire situation. By the impossibility of communicating with someone for whom the most outstanding information of the moment is that she's a talking monkey, when to her, the most outstanding information of the moment is nothing less than the potential death of her child.

All this, and a language barrier.]

A boy!

[She interrupts her dumfounded stare with simple words, earnestly shouted, desperate that this stranger should understand that her body is the least of her concerns, and should be the least of his, if only he knew -]

A child! A boy - in a red jacket - and a man, no - a beetle, a beetle man.

[She shouts each word clearly, her composure shattering a little more with every word, off balance with her sword, but snapping back into form with the blade leveled for the most important question.]

Where are they?

[awfulcer]

[Dixon's pretty sure he's still getting gibberish, because now the talking monkey is rambling about beetles. Maybe getting kicked in the head the other night knocked something loose in his brain.

He's not so disoriented that he can't tell when a sword is pointed at him, though, and he brings his arm with the shield up. By now, incredulity is starting to give way to panic. He shouts at her with a tone he's never quite mastered, the 'stand down and put your hands up' kind of command.]

How should I know? I don't even know where the hell I am! Put the fucking sword down!

[Having someone angry and desperate point a weapon at you has a way of focusing your mind. It doesn't even really matter anymore that this place doesn't make sense or that his foe is a giant monkey. What matters is somehow getting some kind of control of the situation.]

[astrarche]

[She just screams, a sound of rage and frustration, and slashes her sword at the ground as if to shake off that rage.

This isn't helping. He isn't helping. But before she even makes the decision to leave, she's gone, teleported to another part of the decaying city, to call for her lost family some more.]