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Wilderlands Mods ([personal profile] wildermods) wrote in [community profile] wilderlogs2018-04-27 01:28 am

THE SQUAD'S SPA RETREAT ON WEATHERTOP [log post] [free-for-all] [modplot]


THE SQUAD'S SPA RETREAT ON WEATHERTOP

OOC POST

The hills the squad travel through make an undulating ridge, often rising almost to a thousand feet, and here and there there are low clefts or passes leading into the land beyond. In the low-lying areas there are the ruins of walls and other buildings, and on some of the hills lie the ruins of different forts and watchtowers.

The highest hill in the area is Weathertop and this is where the squad will make camp on the fifth night of travel. This hill will provide them refuge but no refuge can truly keep them safe. As the crows said, they are the ones that were Chosen by the Green and the darker forces of this world have already found out about their existence.

However, the night starts normally. They make camp and set up watch and the hours pass without much reason for worry. A waxing moon rises into the sky, casting a gentle glow on the world. There is a light chill but nothing insurmountable due to their campfires. All is calm and peaceful.

That's why what happens next probably seems strange at first. Even those who aren't on watch may find themselves suddenly jerking out of sleep due to strange feelings of dread seemingly coming from nowhere. Those with holy magics, blessed weapons, or banked holy spells will find themselves feeling some kind of evil approaching. Those with cursed weapons or unholy powers will feel a sick sort of welcoming feeling, like something dark is approaching, yes - but that they should be glad.

Then the feeling of dread reaches them all, regardless of powers or weapons, clutching at every heart. Even those normally immune to fear may find themselves feeling the cold reaching its way inside them with prying fingers.

That's when the calm, misty night is shredded by the first screech, something inhuman, half-animalistic, half metal scraping over concrete. Another screech answers it from a different side of the hill, like the sources of the screeches are pack hunting and slowly closing in. More cold rolls in and the feeling of despair deepens as the sky starts to blot out with floating shadow shapes. The dementors aren't the source of the screeches but they're being spurred on by them, as if the unearthly shrills are calling out orders of some kind. The cold that sets in makes those that can feel cold feel as if they'll never be warm again.

But that isn't the worst of it. There are loud pops as living human figures pop in around the hilltop and its various trails downward. The ceramic and metal masks of dark wizards glint in the moonlight and spells start sparking from their wands as they start firing at the group - and at the dementors and approaching Nazgul. Cackles and sadistic laughter fill the air. Their leader is a woman with a cackle that sounds more mad and more sadistic than the others.

As the first of the cloaked Nazgul approaches from beyond the ring of stones, practically exuding darkness, one of the Death Eaters steps forward. She is shaking and though she pretends it's all rage and the thrill of potentially killing, at least some of it is fear. Even the Death Eaters can feel the chill from the Nazgul and dementors. Lestrange tries to cover that up with her usual sadistic glee.

"Naughty naughty, trying to steal my mistress' prisoners out from under her nose," she crows, flinging curses. "They're not your toys to play with and we'll send you back to your pathetic formless master with your tails between your legs. You may not be able to die for good but we'll make you wish you have!"

She cackles with shrill laughter and the fight begins in earnest. The Nazgul and dementors descend on the group and the Death Eaters do as well - and both sides attack each other, too, not caring who's in the middle. In the space of minutes, the Squad is in the middle of a deadly battleground.

Fortunately, the hill isn't the worst place to make a stand with its ruins providing cover and good vantage points and there are woods to escape to in the lands below if they make a run for it. Maybe, if they're very, very lucky, they might survive the night.

But their odds aren't great. The Death Eaters are a sadistic force to be reckoned with, and the dementors are no less horrifying for having changed sides to work with Sauron. If anything, they're even worse now, and their orders are that only a few need to be captured for Sauron and the Nazgul - the rest can be killed or have their souls sucked.

And many have fallen at the hands of the Nazgul and all flee before their faces - save the one who desires to have the Nine deliver the Squad into his hands, where they can be broken in the deep dungeons of Barad-dûr, where no light has ever touched.


NOTES

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

Free-for-all Post. This event will be in "free-for-all" format, meaning that threadhopping is encouraged and that threading should be treated in the same conversational way as network posts.

NPCing. Players can feel free to godmode the Nazgul and dementors in their own threads, as these npcs don't talk, and have very little personality beyond being pure evil. Please just make them realistically difficult to drive back as they're very powerful, unkillable enemies. However, the mods will npc the Death Eaters since they're intelligent speaking people. A thread will be available in the OOC post where players can link to their threads to request a Death Eater npc to participate.

Fairy Swaps. Now that the fairy swap mechanism will be in place, players can make their quest characters and Brugh characters magically swap places whenever they want, including during the event itself.

When it Takes Place: ICly this is 5 days into the Squad's journey through the hills.
awfulcer: (Basic - Bloody in Bathroom)

[personal profile] awfulcer 2018-05-06 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
Sothe!

[Dixon's vision goes narrow as the battle Sothe was destined to lose draws to its conclusion. He shakes Sothe, and Sothe's head lolling around is a sight that sickens him to his core.

It takes until the third time Revan says his name for Dixon to actually realize she's talking to him, or there at all. If it were anyone's voice but Revan's, he'd probably take them as a threat and try to feebly attack.
]

I don't know! He was fine and then-!

[He has no idea how she came back. He doesn't care; even beneath all the turmoil right now, there's a spark of pure happiness that she's here. He also doesn't care that the last time he grabbed her she threw him onto the ground. He lets Sothe go and lurches up and gives Revan a clinging, desperate, sobbing hug.

He barely knew Sothe, but over the last five minutes he's become the most important person in the world to Dixon. Revan seems to know him, and somehow Dixon convinces himself that that's enough to save the day, that maybe she'll have some secret.
]

I been trying to keep him awake- I tried to-

[Too worn to even clutch anymore, he slumps back to the ground, trying to sort through the maelstrom of his thoughts and emotions enough to find information that could help Revan help Sothe. He can't seem to come up with the details or even the words; he's only able to dig up frustration with himself for either not remembering or not being able to describe those vital facts. Too stupid, too drunk, whatever.

He tries to be calm. He tries as hard as he possibly can to hold on to the word, the concept, just calm.
]

He was fine and then one of the ones with the knives grabbed him. I don't think he got stabbed- Revan, I'm so fucked up right now-

[He scoots aside so Revan can see Sothe more closely.]
therevanchist: (•059)

[personal profile] therevanchist 2018-05-06 05:09 am (UTC)(link)
[If Revan weren't already kneeling, Dixon might have knocked her over. Instead, his emotional turmoil drags her down far more than his weight, and none of them can afford that. She returns the embrace automatically even as she draws back in the Force to preserve her own fragile equanimity, a reflexive detachment settling over her. Somebody has to be the calm one.

When Dixon pulls away, her palm is slick with blood, and she hisses between her teeth, scrubbing her hand clean on her trousers. After the Wheeler fight, they're beyond help, anyway.]


Those creatures throw off some kind of aura of despair. I doubt he's physically hurt.

[She leans over to rest a hand on Sothe's forehead, probing his mind with the Force and wincing as the darkness reaches out to meet her. She can push back, a little, but the light side doesn't respond to her here, and it's like trying to banish the night with the glow from a datapad screen.]

What happened to you?
awfulcer: (Basic - Ain't That Right?)

[personal profile] awfulcer 2018-05-06 05:27 am (UTC)(link)
Knifed. It's not that bad, I didn't even feel it. [At first, due to the invulnerability magic kicking in about a second after the blade went into his back. Without that magic he's feeling it pretty hard now, but it's a very secondary concern to Sothe's condition to him. It's not that Dixon's feeling particularly self-destructive at the moment; it's just that he can barely even hold another thought together besides what's going to happen to this teenager he's been hauling around.

He watches her face instead of Sothe's when she reaches out, hoping to decipher some kind of hopeful message in her expression. What he gets instead is a wince, which is at best inscrutable and at worst a fatal prognosis.
]

Can you fix him? Please. [As if it were a matter of kindness and not capacity. He knows it isn't, but he pleads anyway.] I did everything I can.
therevanchist: (•004)

[personal profile] therevanchist 2018-05-24 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
[Revan shakes her head as she feels for Sothe's pulse. At least that's steady enough, even if his skin is colder than she likes.]

I haven't been able to heal since I got here.

[Her voice is tight, unhappy. Whatever is blocking her from calling on the Force is doing them all a massive disservice.]

Can you stand? We need to regroup with the others. One of them might be able to help.

[In the darkness of the forest, she has little choice but to believe Dixon about the severity of his injury, at least until he collapses on her.]
awfulcer: (Basic - Bloody in Bathroom)

[personal profile] awfulcer 2018-05-24 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
[He nods.

If it were just him trying to will himself, he might not be able to. But someone else’s command is like a rope down a well to hold onto, and he gets to his feet, only swaying a little, catching himself and the steadying against the tree. He couldn’t carry Sothe any further, granted, but he can at least stagger whenever Revan wants him to go.
]

Please tell me you know where they are. [ What he wants in his heart is for her to tell him it’s certain that there’s a fix, but he doesn’t say that, knows better than to demand too much certainty in the face of hardship.] I’ll watch your back.

[It’s an offer more out of willingness than capability; he’s not going to be a ton of use as anything more than a meat-shield. And he knows that. But ridden of skill down to just flesh and bone, it’s all he can put on the table.]
Edited (WOW THANKS PHONE) 2018-05-24 06:00 (UTC)
therevanchist: (•040)

[personal profile] therevanchist 2018-05-31 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
[If orders are what Dixon requires, "command" is something Revan doesn't even need to try in order to accomplish.

Bone-tired but not injured, she throws Sothe across her shoulders in a firefighter's carry. Small mercies: the boy's too young to have hit his growth spurt. It doesn't occur to her that he shouldn't have been in the fight in the first place--if he were a Jedi, he'd already be apprenticed to a Master, traveling the galaxy and seeking out trouble.]


I can sense their minds.

[She can also sense the minds of anything pursuing them, likely making her a better sentry than Dixon even with her burden, but he doesn't need to hear that. Revan just nods.]

Come on.