EVENT ★ NALAWI INTRO

[futurologists]

Recruits leave Oska at midday, with about 10 minutes of final warning given from the jewelry. Then the white mist rises as rifts open, and Oska is left behind. The transition into Nalawi is not a peaceful one. When the mist fades, recruits are immediately hit with a face full of lashing rain and driving wind. The recruits have arrived in the middle of a nasty storm, but that’s not all that greets them. Seawater surges all around, breaking against -- houses? It’s a little hard to tell at first, in the chaos of the storm. Half of these buildings are made of rock, not carved, but shaped, and the other half seem to be living trees, thin wood and thatch, and a handful of more ornate (and more fragile) material, including clouded glass or obsidian. The stone houses are standing up best to this onslaught of waves, but even they weren’t made for this, and they shudder and crumble in the thrashing storm. Thin screams can be heard over the wind and water, too. The locals are having some trouble not being washed away. The people here are small bipedal deer, and those hooves were not meant for swimming. They struggle in the water, some of them trying to snag a few precious belongings from drowning houses, some of them not even able to do much more than hang onto some jutting stone or tree. There are a few heroes among them, putting superhuman powers to good use: here a young man hovers in the air, dragging others out of the water and toward safety; there a girl parts the water with careful gestures of her hands, enabling a whole family to dart from their ruined home and run for higher ground. These feats are rare, though, and on the whole most of these natives are in trouble. They don’t look too stunned to see the new arrivals -- they don’t have time to, and will push roughly past a new arrival to deal with some crisis sooner than stop and stare. They’re mostly just grateful for any offered help, generally seeming terrified and shellshocked by all of this. If any of them are asked what happened, they’ll point with varying degrees of wordlessness toward a high stone wall between the village and the sea, with an enormous gap broken through the middle of it where the sea rushes in. Like many of the houses, this dike was clearly shaped from living stone. But whatever shaped it apparently has no power to maintain it, and this is the storm that had finally taken advantage of that. This long, dark afternoon provides plenty of tasks: help the Nalawi people evacuate from their ruined village, try to find material to rebuild their shattered (and still crumbling) dike, or take care of the hungry sea creatures that have taken notice that the deer, usually safe on land, are suddenly in easy reach. They look like crabs with too many legs, but each of them is nearly the size of one of the villagers. They’re more than capable of seizing a struggling villager and scuttling back toward the break in the dike to drag their prize into the sea. Their shells are difficult to get through, their pincers terrible and sharp, but their joints and eyes are unprotected and tender. The storm won’t last forever, though. It blows itself out in a few hours, just in time for a truly beautiful tropical sunset over the western edge of the island. Exhausted locals will finally begin to talk a little more. They’ll explain to their rescuers that the Stone Shapers have all had their Gifts faded out: there’s not a single one left. Without these abilities, the dike was left defenseless against the storm and the water rushed in. Their despondency and resignation suggests this kind of disaster is not new to them. They are, however, very grateful for the help: anyone who lends a hand over the new few days (thankfully sunny and clear) sorting through the wreckage, rebuilding, and setting up new dikes will be given food and shown to the inn for free lodgings. Welcome to Komo, Nalawi. OOC INFO ICly this log will cover the day of arrival and the following few days of recuperating and rebuilding, if you would like to include that in your top level prompts. OOCly it will last until the 26th. New information will be available at that time. As some quick refreshers, we have our Mission Overview here, which also includes a questions subthread for general questions. For intro event-specific inquiries, please see the comments below. Additionally, be sure to have read the Chantes epilogue as well as the Nalawi: Locations page. Note that we will also have new characters arriving during the event, so be sure to give them a hand!

Comments

ii!

[ninmu]

[ your cry for help and wicked sweet bronze weapons has been heard. unfortunately, they're stuck to Melan's body, so he'll just have to watch someone else have all the fun.

as usual, the Monomakia is in the air - standing on ground while the harsh waves sweep over the land over and over is a surefire way for him to get knocked over - and while the storm is giving him some pretty severe difficulties, it at least gives him a nice vantage point. He doesn't hear Achilles' shout over the wind and the sea, but he spots him struggling nonetheless, and changes direction with machinelike precision, diving down out of the sky with his blade drawn. It's a bit risky in these conditions, but, fortunately, he manages to impale the crab and not the man it's trying to eat. The monster had no reason to suspect an attack from the sky, and the aid of Melan's diving momentum manages to drive his sword through that heavy carapace, killing it near-instantly. Tugging it back out is a bit harder, and he's not quite managing it while speaking to the man. ]

Are you injured?

[heelies]

[The crab is not the only one who does not expect an attack from the sky, like the lightning that splinters down from the mighty hand of Zeus who holds the aegis: but the fast runner Achilles manages to duck out of the arcing path of the blade. The warrior who has come to lend his sword arm is like none the son of Peleus has ever laid eyes upon before. He stands from the branch-clogged puddles to give proper greeting, and he presses the corner of his rain-soaked cloak to the shallow slash across his arm, where struck the crab's claw.]

I am merely scratched: I could not allow such a wretched beast to get the best of me, as if I am a mere boy who has provoked a boar in the wood. For your swift help, I must offer my thanks, as well as the promise that such favor shall be returned in the future. Come now-- By what name should I call you, stranger? I offer my own in return, as is honorable between warriors: I am Achilles, son of Peleus, he who is considered the best of he Achaeans.

[ninmu]

[ he certainly has a way with words. With a flick of his sword finally removing the blade from the dead crab's twitching carapace, Melan turns to this new human, all expression outside of his one eye hidden behind his faceguard. ]

That is good. [ the not being injured, that is. The long title might be be unwieldy to most of his teammates, but this one finds it fairly familiar. ] My name is Melan Blue. Living weapon Monomakia. If you're here to protect the hoofed people, then we are comrades in arms.

[heelies]

Indeed it is so, although it was not my will that I should come as a stranger to this land. What reward there is for me at the end of my labors, I cannot see. Even so, there is some pleasure in meeting an excellent warrior such as yourself. Your armor and blade are unlike any that the bronze-clad Achaeans boast: surely such handicraft must be the work of some god or another.

[He doesn't get that the "living weapon" title might be literal...]

[ninmu]

[ unfortunately, he's not nearly familiar enough with Earth and human history to recognize that name, even the second time it's dropped; all he can do is shake his head. The concept of gods isn't one he understands well, if at all. But he can understand a compliment. Somewhat proudly, he holds up his blade; it's quite literally attached to his arm, beginning about halfway down his forearm. ]

Thank you. I was created by the Chairman of the Ecological Control Committee, Lala. [ very fearsome name. ] You are strong for a human, as well.

[heelies]

[As dawn, the rosy-fingered child of morning, will reach across the sky by degrees, so too does understanding cross Achilles' features: but it is soon accompanied by bewilderment. Because that sure is a sword hand.]

Your speech is strange to me, living weapon Melan Blue. Can it be that your title is not merely that? But then how can weapon and armor stand before me as if a god has breathed into the pieces life?

[ninmu]

I also find your manner of speech strange, [ replies Melan honestly. His major exposure to humanity before this had been through a young Japanese girl from the 60s. This is a departure. Still, it doesn't seem to hamper his ability to converse with Achilles, even if it's unfamiliar. ]

But I cannot tell lies. I'm a living weapon. That's who I am. It is what I was made to be. [ lowering his weapon again. ] Fighting to defend my world is my purpose. But right now, I fight for ALASTAIR.

[heelies]

No, it is true - I can see with my own eyes what stands before me. Tell me, are all men of your dear native land of such stock, wrought from iron thus? If your father is this great Lala, then what of your mother?

[So great is his curiosity, it cannot be sated without first a glut of questions. (Sorry.)]

Furthermore, how can it be that a warrior of such worthiness fights on behalf of the dread sons of Alastair without qualms? Surely, such an endeavor is worth shouldering for only your homeland, when there is but a dearth of prizes to be won here.

[ninmu]

[ he's used to it... since the coast seems clear for the moment, and he's doing more talking than fighting, the protective guard over his face clicks back, retracting up into his "helmet" smoothly. ]

Lala is a female, [ he corrects mildly. ] She is not my mother. I do not have parents. I was created by the combination and enhancement of genes from multiple organisms, like all Monomakia.

[ as for the "dread sons of Alastair," Melan shakes his head, although it's more hesitant and confused than he'd like it to appear. ]

I have no choice but to fight for them. Only they can return me to my home. Isn't it the same for you?

[heelies]

[So too does puzzlement draw Achilles' features tight.]

Created, you say, as if by a blacksmith - and without father and mother, as sword or shield would be, yet your features and figure are as a man's. Already in this land I've encountered wonders that test the boundaries of reason. What can my eyes do, however, but accept as true even that which my mind cannot fathom?

As for your question, I must return it with another: how can you trust a promise from men whose faces you've not seen?

[ninmu]

They are the best chance I have.

[ he has nothing further to say on the matter of his creation; he's explained it as best he can. Marin was confused by it, too, when he first told her. Since his existence flies in the face of nature, it's no surprise. But it's the only existence he knows. ALASTAIR, however, he can speak on quite a bit. ]

My current objective is to return to Earth as quickly as possible. So I am trusting them.

sorry for lateness!!

[heelies]

[Godlike Achilles, quick to dig in his heels, shakes his head in one resolute stroke, as a blade that decisively parts its target's flesh.]

Although I've no wish to be in this land, I cannot place my trust in these sons of Alastair who slink in the shadows and offer false apologies in place of worthy prizes. Thus, I pledge not my great strength toward bolstering their ranks. No matter the cause they proclaim - it has aught to do with me.

it's ok!

[ninmu]

[ he tilts his head, blinking his luminescent eyes once. ]

Then what will you do instead?

[ so narrow is his field of vision and simple are his thought processes that he can't imagine what else there is to do. Sure, he could fight against them, but after he kills them - then what? He'll be stuck. ]

[heelies]

I do not yet know what I shall do. But the idleness of my spear arm shall speak for me when the time comes that we must act on orders from the sons of Alastair. Whatever glory they seek, I shall not help them attain it.

[He turns his hard eyes toward the trees which stand farther up from the sodden shore.]

Our task here is done, and we should move on from here.

[ninmu]

[ it's difficult for him to understand. At the same time, he thinks he's beginning to. Achilles is hardly the first person that's expressed this sentiment to him. ]

Do you need transportation? [ the wings on his back unfurl once more with a click. it seems like he'd rather fly, even in the wind and rain. ]

[heelies]

[Achilles regards the appearance of the wings with a mixture of awe and bemusement.]

Transport by what means? You have too the gift of flight, such that mortal men cannot achieve?