An Icy Reception

[subconmodo]

Who: Avery Atchison, Hieke, Héctor, Imelda Rivera, Puella Tempus, Bumblebee, Tatsumaki, Keith
What: An investigation into the sudden freezing of a team of archaeologists gets a little dicey.
When: March 8th
Where: A dig site in Germany near Subcon Forest
Warnings: Spoops




The Way In

There's one thing Avery makes absolutely clear before they enter the forest: don't go wandering off. This is his forest, after all. He knows it like the back of his hand and, more importantly, he knows how dangerous it is. And that fact makes itself all the more obvious as they pass through the darkest parts of the forest on their way to the dig site.

It's nearly noon, but the twisted trees nearly block out the sun, and the air seems thick and almost oppressive. Figures move out of the corners of one's eye, disappearing when they turn to look.

There's even a swamp somehow, though the climate shouldn't allow for it, but anyone who gets closer to the dark water will see that it's, well, not. And those who linger too close might find spectral hands reaching out to drag them down to the depths.

But you've listened to Avery and decided to stick close by, right? Maybe you have some questions. Or maybe you just want to talk about why even the heck is this place so... this place.



The Dig Site

The closer you get to the ruins, the colder the air becomes. Little by little, dirt and brush are covered in snow, a chilly wonderland dotted with stone structures that might have been buildings, guard posts, and castles, skeletons of a kingdom long dead.

And there are people--or what remains of them--archaeologists young and old taken by surprise in the midst of the dig or else frozen in the middle of running away from an unseen foe. Literally frozen. Their bodies are transparent, as though they were carved by a particularly morbid ice sculptor, no flesh, no blood, nothing. Like they had never been human at all.

And yet, somewhere, there are survivors, a fact Avery is quick to confirm, even if he doesn't seem all that concerned about finding them. He can sense their souls somewhere in the ruins, the souls of the living, hiding in terror. Those that manage to find them will learn that they were attacked by some shadowy beast, a warped, twisted woman upset with them for disturbing her home. A woman desperately searching for her prince.

((Please let me know if you would like me to NPC the survivors!))



The Ice Statues

It all starts with one, and then the rest follow. A crack, the snap of ice, and one of the frozen bodies moves. It should be jerky, should be stiff, but they all move as if they're alive--all but their faces, which remain locked in the expressions they wore at death.

They grasp and tear at whoever is closest, attacking, strangling, whatever it takes, and they don't stop until they can't, dragging themselves when their legs are gone, stumbling forward even without a head. It's all just ice, after all, and luckily for everyone on this mission, that means they're neither particularly strong nor sturdy.

The problem comes more with their numbers, particularly in Avery's case. Whenever the teacher is in human form, they swarm him, ignoring all others, dragging, grasping, but never once attacking. The second he takes on his shadow body, their fascination wanes.

Comments

OTA

[hattersgonnahat]

A - The Way In

Puella was being good by staying with the group, but it was also going a bit slower than her liking. If this forest was as expansive as it looked, they were going to be walking in it all day. And she for one was not going to spend the night in it.

...Though it does seem a little bit lighter by the swamp - fewer trees and all, but seemed to be a weird haze around it instead. What was it even made out of anyway? She could see the 'water' bubble every so often. And well, it was not that easy to notice the faces, but there was some movement happening. Weird. What could be living in there?

Suddenly a pair of swampy hands emerged from within. It's weighed down by too much of the swamp water - or perhaps made from the muck itself - to move very quickly, but it was obviously intended to drag Puella in from the edge. Thankfully, she was still on land and much faster, and never noped as hard as that.

Which just means returning back to the group and clinging to the closest member. She will gladly use them as a shield if the hands grew a body and followed her out of the swamp...Though it seems to have calmed back down for now. May be a false alarm.


B - The Dig Site

No one said anything about the snow. It was getting a bit harder to traverse through, at least those with shorter legs. Luckily Puella had a solution to this: hopping. Apparently that mushroom Mario gave to her awhile ago was still effective and she could make a wide distance in a single bound. For those areas where the snow was really deep anyway.

It was the only reason why she made a suggestion when seeing some of the archaeologist equipment. A crane that may have been used by them at some point. It's seen better days now.

"I can look around!" she says and before anyone could make their opinion, the kid had already begun climbing to the top like a pro. This is the first time she's ever done this but she wasn't the least bit afraid of falling. Just...how?


C - The Ice Statues

Back on the ground, Puella made a discovery of her own next to one of the suspicious looking sculptures. She just had to dig it up right under the statue's feet. A fox mask? Oh...One of the archaeologists must have dropped it when whatever scared them off. Well, it's fine. She could always return it back to them. Just going to wipe it clean with her sleeve first. It's really dirty.

It first sounded like something cracked open right in front of her, like that noise when ice breaks. But she wasn't that worried until the sculpture started moving. Yeah, moving. The mask polishing could wait right now.

One thing lead to another and Puella could be found atop one of the stone ruins. The statue can't really get her from up here, but it also was not going to stop either. Actually, wait. Puella gathered up some of snow accompanying her to throw as hard as she could. That might make the statue leave.

...Or not. Someone should've reminded her that ice vs ice is not very effective.

A

[subconmodo]

She catches him in the middle of setting up another sign and can't help but roll his eyes, especially as the hands begin to sink back into the swamp whence they came.

"Come on, kid! It hasn't even been that long! If you end up dying in here, I'm not cleaning up your body, so learn. To follow. Instructions.

Got it?"

Re: A

[hattersgonnahat]

She ignored Avery's remarks to watch the hands from a distance. Curiously, they were going back into the 'water', though she only half believes it for a second. ...Well okay, maybe it was safe now.

"...What are you doing?" Puella asks, noticing that there seems to be sign after sign doting the forest floor.

Learn to follow instructions, he says, but pretty damn sure none of the instructions mentioned this.

Re: OTA

[thebreakfastbug]

There's a lot of statues. Ice sin't particularly durable but their numbers are an issue. Luckily, they've all got one glaring weakness: they're not immune to being stomped on by a large robot.

Bee hasn't even taken out his weapons at this point, and has more-or-less just been taking ice statues out by stepping on them. He slams his foot down on the one trying to get to Puella, and again just to make sure he got it.

"You okay?"

[hattersgonnahat]

...

Okay Puella already knew she was going to like this robot (because robots are cool), but now she likes it even more.

"I'm good!" she waves at Bee. Finally, it was good to get down from here.

Puella felt something poke her back while she touched the ground. She had almost forgotten all about the mask, hopefully she didn't break it while escaping the statue. She only pulled it out for a brief moment to make sure it wasn't cracked or anything. It looks good!

"But I think we should look for where everyone else is!"

Either the missing archaeologists, or the rest of their own group.

C

[unpocoloco]

It was soon and readily apparent that the teacher's involved in this weren't going to be minding the kids like normal teachers would. With Avery off defending himself and Hieke... hiding, that really left he and Imelda for adults here.

"Puella!"

Imelda would be a better help in almost any situation but also means she's likewise got her hands full. Which is why, when he spots Puella at the top of the ruins, he runs straight for her. The statues are slipping and sliding of the base of the thing but she's still trapped.

"Throw more snow! Keep them distracted, okay?"

Hopefully that would work well enough as he quickly began to scrawl runs into the snow. Just a bit more...

[hattersgonnahat]

Puella was still in no immediate danger from the statues, but who knows how much longer the wall was going to last at this rate. Every so often it got chipped by the statues ramming into it, likely not intentional but it was slowly working towards their objective. In return Puella being more careful about straddling it. She was calculating some way to get down and away from them.

Honestly she had no idea Héctor was even there until she heard him. ...She already tried the snow, it did nothing. But, it could be that he had a plan?

There wasn't much left up here either. Puella had to slowly climb to another part of the wall just to make some fresh new snowballs. Perhaps she could try aiming for their eyes this time. To keep them even more distracted right? It probably won't do anything in the end, after all some of the statues could see perfectly fine without heads, but...it was the thought that counts.

OTA -- Will match format

[subconmodo]

A. Hippity Hoppity Get Off My Property -- Forest, Dig Site

Let no one say Avery didn't come prepared. Let no one else say that his priorities are in order.

Rattling away behind him is an old metal wagon nearly spilling over with signs. Every single one of them says some variant of "Get Out!" sometimes in multiple languages. Every so often he stops to put up one of the signs, or else shoves them onto some poor, hapless sap to help him put them up.


Voted Most Popular -- Ice Statues

They won't let up. Just as he thinks they're about to give up and go after one of the students, he feels something tug at the back of his jacket, nearly sending him toppling over.

There's plenty of people here. Why can't these glorified ice cubes go after someone else?!

It isn't long until he's had enough. His body melts inn to the shadows, combines with them, and he pulls himself free: a fifteen-foot tall creature of living shadow with a glowing face.

Maybe he cries out. "Anyone who doesn't want to get blown to pieces better get out of my way!" he snaps, voice echoing unnaturally. Magic circles spring into existence in a circle around himself, glowing brighter and brighter until a geyser of shadow magic erupts in violent fashion.

Or maybe, at just the wrong time, he's used his magic to cause a blackout, just to see if it affects the ice statues in any way. It doesn't. They don't seem to actually need to see.

Either way, Avery is not messing around.


C. Ghosts -- Post-Mission

On the way in, he had joked around and complained, made puns and dark jokes that could easily be threats, been, well, himself.

On the way back, he's silent, thoughtful, glaring straight ahead and only occasionally speaking up to snap at someone whenever he thinks they're trying to run off.

And then he does say a little more, just to himself, a shake of his head and a quiet murmur. "It's just a coincidence."

C

[hattersgonnahat]

"What's a coincidence?"

'sup teach. Just creeping up behind since he doesn't seem like his normal moody self. Something ain't right.

[subconmodo]

Huh?

Oh. He hadn't meant to say that out loud, but he can't say he didn't now. "It's when two events happen that seem to be related to one another but aren't."

A

[unpocoloco]

It had been one part wanting to get away from France and the dead (ironically), but another part worry over Avery and even a little curiosity. This was Avery's home they were going to. When they get there it hits like a punch to his guts. This is Avery's home.

He immediately regrets his choice coming here. Despite being still on earth, this place absolutely screamed outlands. And maybe worse, it screamed out the things he tried so hard to ignore about Avery.

He sticks to the path as requested. In fact, he's most often sticking around Avery himself. Which means Avery's getting an eye over those signs.

"Are these even necessary? I mean, no offence, amigo, but anyone who actually wants to walk into this mess probably has a death wish anyway."

[subconmodo]

"You'd think they wouldn't be, but..." He gestures vaguely and aggressively in the direction he knows the dig site is. "I mean, they're dead, just like you said, but still! It's the principle of the thing!"

He shakes his finger at Héctor. "I don't just bust into your dorm and start going through your things because I want to learn about Mexico do I? No! Because it's rude."

B - yup, we're doing it, all the prompts

[unpocoloco]

He hears the warning and looks back with a panic. "I'm kind of stuck at the moment, Avery!"

True to his word, he's currently pushing back at more than a few, mostly to keep them off Avery himself, but it also means he doesn't exactly have a clear path around them. Too late. He sees those circles start and his own magic works. The moment he's bones, he hefts his upper half over the ice statue's shoulders, his legs sliding under, and then he reconnects. He shifts back quick, before too many can see, but all the while he's staring back at the icy carnage Avery leaves behind.

The moment he can see the man, he's shouting, "Why are they after you?!"

[subconmodo]

"I don't know! I haven't been here in years!" he shouts back. One of the surviving statues charges toward him. He swats it away into a tree, cracks spiderwebbing up its back, a few of the more brittle detailings on the jacket it wore crumbling to the snow-covered earth below. It gets back up and charges him all over again. Because of course it does.

Curiously, however, the ones closer to Héctor are now going after him, almost as if the overgrown popsicles can't recognize him unless he looks more human.

A disturbing possibility plants itself in his mind and digs its claws in deep.

C

[unpocoloco]

There's ice chunked in his hair still, patches of skin covered in light frost. He probably looks like he ought to be dead with frostbite, especially considering he never had much in the way of proper winter attire to begin with. He hugs his arms to his chest, shivers and sniffs, but obviously he's still moving.

Unlike the start of the mission, his mind's not on the cold. His eyes are fixed on Avery. After several minutes warring with himself, he finally steps forward to the man's side. He refrains from touching, after all the ice statues that did so.

He speaks quietly. "Avery? Are you going to be okay?""

[subconmodo]

"I'm fine," he growls out, keeping his voice low. "It was just some daemon or something looking to take over. Probably wanted to put up some edgy fortress or something." At least, that's what he's trying to convince himself.

ota;

[inflictwounds]

the dig site;
[Hieke's on this mission for a reason - that reason being the chance for survivors. He didn't ask Avery why he was so up in arms over this dig (really, with the way he carried on about it, he was able to figure it out), and he doesn't ask Avery for help finding the survivors once he's confirmed that they're out there.

What he does do is turn to the nearest student.]

Do you want to come with me for a moment?

ice statues;

[There's not a lot to say about the ice statues - except maybe for the fact that this is really not something Hieke wants to deal with. Maybe one would assume it's because Hieke isn't much of a fighter, what with being the nurse and all, but the reality of it is Hieke doesn't have much way to fight something that's just pure ice.

He is, at least, very nimble. He manages to dart behind the nearest person, which unfortunately leaves them vulnerable to the statues, and gives them his most charming smile.

Which, being Hieke, means it's more of a grimace.]

Do you think you could, you know, like, smash it?

Statues

[subconmodo]

Really?

[Avery knows he's the tallest person here now that he's gotten serious, but there's something almost embarrassing about seeing a daemon running behind someone to hide]

I should just go back to normal and have them all come after you.

[inflictwounds]

Really?

[Why would he expect anything more from Avery? He frowns up at him, before huffing.]

Listen, I can't- I don't- I'm not a fighter!

Dig site

[hattersgonnahat]

[Don't mind the small hat child digging around in snow, and rocks, and looking for people too if she finds any.]

-? What for?

[She jumps closer. Did Hieke find something?]

Ice statues

[thebreakfastbug]

[Bee stomps on a statue and grinds it under his foot for good measure. He follows that up by stomping on a few more.]

All you had to was ask.

Dig Site

[unpocoloco]

[The cold is really starting to set in. Past the flesh, down to the bones. He shivers and rubs at his arms. But he's going to be cold for a while here. The best thing he can do is focus on some given task.

Hieke, thankfully, provides that.]

Sure. Glad to. Anything in particular?

keith / ota

[marmoron]

A. The Way In
[Avery's done his best to warn people. Really he has. It's just... some people are never going to see warnings as more than optional suggestions. The place is creepy, sure, Keith will grant it that. There are shadows flitting around in the corners of his eyes that seem to disappear the second he takes a proper look, but it's going to take more than an ignorable case of the heebie jeebies to dissuade him from poking in his head in here, looking for any clues as to what all caused the chaos back at the dig site.

Though the surrounding forest is dark, Keith has a flaming sword in his hands to keep his path forward well lit. Ever since being at enrolling at Daybreak, he's been itching for a fight with a monster, having missed what sounded like an intense battle during some kind of school dance.

As he approaches the swamp, he doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary at first, but when he spots a pair of hands reaching out of the water, his grip tightens on the sword.

Who's there?!

B. The Dig Site - npc's welcome!
[At the dig site, Keith fixes all the people encased in ice with a narrow eyed stare. Summoned sword in hand, fire blazes to life across the blade, which he holds out over the ice in an attempt to melt it. Given the state of the bodies, it's obvious that these folks didn't survive, but there may still be some hidden clues on them that might only be picked up on with closer examination.

Which is... all a pretty way of saying Keith is absolutely going through the pockets of the corpses to see what all they had on their person. Looting? Of course not. Feel free to interrupt him while he's doing this for science or alternatively when he spots movement in his peripheral vision, he turns with the sword tightly in hand. Looks like he's come across a couple of survivors and... well, he's not taking chances on them being potential threats.]

Hands up where I can see 'em.

A

[thebreakfastbug]

"Why the scrap are you walking towards spookiy hands coming out of a swamp?"

Bee walks out of the woods, blaster trained on the water.

"Who's there? Do you want to be the first person killed in a horror movie? Because that's how you end up being the first person killed in a horror movie."

B -- just gonna use these minion icons for npcs

[subconmodo]

[The woman pauses, her hands held up, teeth chattering. Her eyes are wide and haunted, eyes wet with tears she's been trying to hold back.]