EVENT ★ POKAREKARE ANA

[futurologists]

NALANNI Now as weak as any mortal, Nalanni only needs one person to dispatch her. Though Jason has been selected for the sad deed, it would be smart not to let him go it alone. Once Nalanni ceases to be, the ground quakes and roils. The planet's rock and earth can feel the loss of its mother, and with Ryba still living, the power imbalance throws the world into turmoil. Monsters stream forth from the cave Nalanni had been held on the risen Dakal island. But unlike before, when Pomarr blew through the side of Nalalona and left lava creatures in her wake, these monsters are made of stone. And they are gigantic. Ranging from five to nine meters (roughly 16-30 feet), the stone golems are slow-moving but powerful, capable of crushing anything in their path with their feet or powerful fists. The golems cannot be spoken to or reasoned with; all they feel is the loss of their mother and the vacuum of power she has left behind. Their mindless anger makes them easily distracted, so teamwork is the best way to keep them at bay. Roughly formed of rock and hardened mud, they are weak to water. Luckily, halfway through the day, a light rain begins to fall. The golems will continue to come forth from the earth until Ryba is defeated. Upon her death, they will simply collapse into inert piles of stone. RYBA THE DEVOURING ONE Pomarr stays true to her word and draws the sea goddess to the shore of the deserted island that once housed the Dakal. Without comment, Pomarr turns and steps into an ALASTAIR rift, leaving your team to its business. Ryba is impossibly large, a mass of twisting, searching tentacles with no discernible body. She is especially weak to electrical attacks, but can otherwise be defeated by simply wearing her down with brute force. Now that you've got your collective powers back, it should be a piece of cake. Right? ATTACKS: TENTACLES. Ryba's initial attack is waving her massive, numerous tentacles around to try and keep combatants at bay. Despite their size, they are surprisingly quick -- capable of snapping at anyone who dares get too close, whiplike, or simply crushing those who stay still for too long. Her tentacles are seemingly endless, impossible to count, and move about in a nearly hypnotic way. THE STORM. After enough damage has been dealt, Ryba will grow more desperate and begin to use her connections to the sea itself. Though the battle is near the shore, sudden winds whip at the recruits, pulling them away from the shallows. Drowning becomes a real danger: the waves are high and fast, and intensely swirling waterspouts crisscross with intent to sweep recruits up, scrambling them. SHARKNADO. Ryba's last-ditch effort calls upon the creatures of the sea as well as the wind and waves. She creates a swirling vortex with her massive body in the center in attempts to shield herself from attacks. But that's not all -- spinning around her at high speeds with the vortex are sharks. A lot of sharks. And they are all angry. If characters attempt to speak with Ryba through the battle, she will respond in a calm, dark voice throughout: she has nothing to say to the invaders who would dare take her from the peace of her trench, except that they must destroy her or she will kill them all herself, before the world crumbles to nothing. Once Ryba is defeated, her massive body will simply cease moving. Goddess or not, it seems her form is as physical as any other creature of the sea. ISLANDERS During the day-long battle, characters who choose not to fight are advised to stay behind with the Nalawi to keep them safe. Though the battle rages far to the west, on the once-sunken island of the Dakal, the storms may travel to the westernmost edges of the Nalawi islands. Recruits may attempt to temporarily evacuate the westernmost Nalawi, though there may be considerable resistance. After the battle, the Nalawi can instantly tell that their goddess is gone for good. Where there was once confusion and desperation in the face of Nalanni's disappearance, there is now only sorrow and directionlessness. All recruits are invited to return to Komo, the first island at the start of the mission, for a somber memorial for Nalanni: the Nalawi don't blame the recruits for what has happened, and only expect them to join in their grief. For the rest of the time on Nalawi, characters may spend their time as they wish. The locals will need help learning how to cope without their Gifts and how to live without the goddess on whom they had come to rely. They will need help learning all sorts of trades, from fishing to pottery to plumbing, so characters who have knowledge in the mundane will have their time to shine. But the Timeline is always in need of tending, so recruits can't stay here forever. Say your goodbyes, because soon a rift will open and you'll be headed back to Oska. OOC INFO Mods will not be NPCing the Ryba encounter, so you are free to NPC her attacks yourself. Please remember that defeating her is a group effort; no one person will have the "killing blow." The battle against Ryba will take one full day. After she is defeated, recruits will have 13 days to say goodbye to the Nalawi before departing for Oska. If characters wish to temporarily stay behind in Nalawi, see here for details.

Comments

1

[evantuality]

[Evan had been more fortunate than many. Even when his powers had been at their lowest, he could still summon heat, and with fierce concentration, a little bit of fire: he had never wholly been stripped of his in-born skills. There had been enough time in the interim for him to wonder why: were his powers based more on his biology than others, than those whose magic was more separate from their intrinsic natures? Or was there simply less power to take from him?

Still, having the full scope of his skills return send a shiver through him, like hot fingers up his spine, like an enveloping hug from a lover. It was a singular sensation and he wished he hadn't had to have his power drained in order to feel it. And when he realized what it implied, he felt all the more sobered.]

Oh... oh. She's dead, isn't she.

[There was a gravity to his words, and he looked down into the pot of boiling water he sat beside before he glanced at the young healer.

He had settled in to help Sieglinde set up her healer's camp while everyone had been deciding what they were going to do with their time during the battle. It had taken a lot of thinking, but Evan had finally conceded that he would be of little use against a giant sea-monster even if his powers did come back. What could fire do to a sea goddess, after all?

There was also a satisfaction in knowing that he could pay Sieg back a little for the good she had done his eye while they were stuck on the island. No doubt there would be people hurt worse than him, and someone so young and, honestly, so crippled, could probably use all hands on deck when the casualties started pouring in.

Sobered for the moment, he held a hand up, sparkled a few flames between his fingers, testing his newly-returned powers. Hello, old friends.]

That's a hell of a way to find out. I wonder how the team is.

[grunehexe]

[Nalanni was dead. Their powers had returned. The two extremes warred with each other, relief and regret both, rendering Sieglinde somewhat numb for a moment after Evan's words sunk in, staring blankly at her hands, the pile of potions behind those hands, curling her fingers slowly and feeling the magic seep back in almost like a transfusion, someone else's blood or magic creeping through her veins. How could she miss what she hadn't been born with, something newly found as this? She might have believed herself the Green Witch all her life, but this true sort of magic was ALASTAIR's gift...

Yet it felt so nostalgic, so wished-for when it returned. And at such a cost...

But those powers could heal faster and deeper and better than her poultices and balms and potions, and though she had been prepared to treat patients with only those scientific methods if need be... It was far better to be able to cast spells, to weave healing from thin air and pay for it herself in sweat and vitality. Finally, she lifted her gaze back to the man beside her, blinking a moment before she could make the words come out.]

- let us find out.

[She pointed to the pile of items in the back of the tent, a few miscellaneous things, volunteer's packs... But she was pointing to her own satchel, round with a sea serpent's eye lens.]

If you fetch me that, I may be able to see.

[It was a spell she had only studied and never actually attempted, calling for a scrying crystal or some substitute but she had only found a proper one once magic had left most of them...

But there was no time like the present.]

[evantuality]

[Evan unfolded himself from his sit, banishing the sparks he'd been pensively playing with. The satchel sat, round and promising, and when he picked it up the knowledge of what was inside flooded back to him all at once. As he carried it back to her, his lips pulled in a wry expression, and he flipped the satchel's top open as he handed the young woman one of the tools of her trade.

The eye had been so upsetting when he'd first seen it, fresh out of his own injury. Now it was grimly fascinating, and he sat tailor-style again to watch Sieglinde work. He was subdued, but no amount of grave wondering about Nalanni's fate could silence his curiosity.]

I admit I've gotten more used to you as a doctor than as a user of magic. May I watch?

[grunehexe]

[She would remember him for that fire, (fire mage only, or more rounded?), but for now... There were things the both of them wished to know. Small hands received the large lense that had once floated within the bulbous, golden eye of a sea serpent, settling it in front of her in the sand and taking a moment to inspect it, each filmy layer creating a nearly perfectly round, cloudy sphere nearly a foot in diameter.

... It would have to do.]

I am both- but perhaps it is best to think of me as the former. My magic is not yet comparable to many of our number.

[As proud as she was, as lofty as she sounded when introducing herself, the Green Witch, she would not lie to inflate an ego over something she knew to be false. She applied herself, and there had been progress... But still, the spells she knew beyond those which came easiest to her, healing spells, were yet unreliable and still in the process of study.

But study would need to become reality eventually, and now- if she could just get this right, combining spells read in book dredged from a Babylonian Gate with her own, ALASTAIR gifted spark and method of doing things... Sieglinde took a deep breath, reaching for the water yet to be boiled and cupping a handful, which she poured slowly over the top of the orb, watching as it trickled down.]

From whence do we come and to where do we go? As the eye desires, let the eye see.

[ALASTAIR's translators turned what was originally a dead language into understandable words, as Sieglinde reached for the small pair of scissors hanging at the end of the chatelaine around her waist (with several other items: key, potion bottle, compass), pricking her finger just enough to bring up a drop of blood, moving to trace a shape, a rune, upon the surface of the lens, the drop of blood diluting to almost nothing on the wet surface.]

Show me foreigners in this world, on the island raised from depths beneath.

[More than instinctive, biological, her magic was formulaic. Learned. Ritual. At first, there was nothing. Though Sieglinde waited, holding her breath, it seemed as if the spell might be a failure, consequence of inexpertly applied magic, or perhaps a spell lacking substance...

Until the milky center of the lens began to darken, a hazy, grey patch of undulating sea, the young witch's eyes glued on the sight as if began to form.]

[evantuality]

[Evan was a skeptic of the magical arts. Not necessarily that he did not believe they existed: magic was present enough on his own version of Earth, and his family so unusual, that it was no secret to him. No, his skepticism was very much for the usefulness of magic, the utility of such an unpredictable force. Sure, for those who knew how to perform particular acts? Very useful. As an avenue for the advancement of the human race? Too iffy. Too many qualifiers, too many qualifiers, too little reproducibility. Aside from learning control, he had in large part avoided using even his own in-born skills, though they were not strictly what he thought of as magic.

All the same, as he settled down to watch Sieg, his eyes were sharp and interested, drinking in details in motion and execution and wording as the young woman began to cast. What defined the words? Did there have to be blood involved? He filed his questions away for later, not wanting to interrupt. The tableau of her was as fascinating as the spell: she was so young to be so poised. If she had not so thoroughly impressed Evan on their first meeting he would have been deeply skeptical.

Even so, when they both waited, breath held, for so long that it seemed the spell might not resolve, a part of Evan was gently not so surprised. Then again, that same part got to be terribly embarrassed when a moment later an image began to form.

He exclaimed quietly, chewed on the inside of his lower lip and leaned in, staring a wide-eyed as the image seemed to edge towards resolving. Were those tentacles undulating out of that slate sea? Were those figures? Was he seeing what he expected to see? He was rapt.]

[grunehexe]

[In her own world, magic had been a science. Things were all related, cause and effect, and she had known what things caused what reaction, what amounts and what circumstances... even now, she approached magic in the way she always had.

But what she was doing was a horrible hodgepodge of magics from different worlds, something only enabled by ALASTAIR's gift, and she knew that no matter how careful she was, it was still the equivalent of mixing unknown chemicals and hoping they didn't blow up. It was for that reason that she always carefully tested her cobbled together spells, studied and worked them out proper, but... desperate times.

She was still holding her breath, unaware of the bead of sweat tracing down the back of her neck as the out of focus sea was slowly replaced with brief, shaky glimpses of faces- recruits... but just standing, waiting. For something... darkness, a tunnel, a flicker of flame, feet on stone-

That shook and faded into nothing, the image disappearing as the sphere slowly reverted to merely what it was, empty, leaving Sieglinde feeling drained and somewhat dizzy, half collapsing back, catching herself on a palm as she cursed under her breath. Was that the extent of her own power? Was something interfering? Was the lens not suitable for such a spell? She couldn't know just yet.]

I know they say scrying is a vague discipline, but...

[evantuality]

[Evan had focused with such intense interest on the images that teased from within the milky orb that his brow had slowly furrowed. By the time the last one fluttered and dissipated he was squinting and leaning towards the orb, as if it were simply a phone screen held too far away from his face.

He looked up in time to see Seiglinde waver and slump. He exclaimed in dismay and surged forward in his kneel to try and catch her, thinking she was falling, but she caught herself and he went to take the orb instead. She was so young, which was something he was getting better at seeing past, but just then she looked her age especially. God, it was such insanity that there were children along on a mission like this, that ALASTAIR was recruiting preteens.

Staring at her worriedly, he shook his head.]

I mean, we did just get our powers back. Maybe it takes a while for them to -- to settle in. [But that didn't quite ring true to how he felt, and his frown deepened.] Or perhaps it just takes a while to get back into the swing of it?

[He turned, taking one of the cups they'd borrowed from the Nalawi for the first-aid tent and dipped it full of sterilized water, offering it to the young witch.]

Are you alright?

[grunehexe]

Perhaps that is it...

[Sieglinde, for all she strove to present herself the way she had always been expected to- not as a child, but as the Green Witch, as someone women twice, thrice, and more her age had always relied on in her own village... She saw little point in putting on an act over something like this, gratefully accepting the cup of water and taking a sip, other hand rising to rest against her forehead a moment, closing her eyes against a lingering dizziness.]

I am fine- I just... Have only studied the spell on paper before, it was my first chance to put it to practical use.

[ALASTAIR may have granted her the ability to use the spells and magics of other worlds, but it didn't come naturally at all. It required study, an understanding of how the natives used it in order to then adapt it to the sort of ritualistic casting she was more used to, resulting in Frankenstein spells not as powerful as they could be... But they could get the job done.]

Magic has to be paid for- that's all.

[Nothing could be accomplished without paying the price, and she simply paid it in her own energy, tiring along with her spell use. Perhaps she'd not put enough effort into it, or put in too much... The fine tuning would have to come later, though. A battle was no time for it.]

[evantuality]

That seems like a very inconvenient price to be exacting right now.

[Evan was frowning, worried. Heavy on his mind now was Sieglinde's youth as well as her position as the head doctor in this makeshift first aid station. That was still an odd thought to him, but as far as he was concerned she'd already proven her chops as a better doctor than he, and no one of a more appropriate age had shown up. It wouldn't do to lose her to exhaustion before the fight even got started.

He took the orb, wiping its surface dry with his hand as best he could and going to tuck it back into the satchel. He was buzzing with questions about the spell, about its toll on her, but now did not seem the time, not when she looked so pale.]

Maybe best to focus on preparation right now. Is there anything left to set up?

[grunehexe]

It shall return... it seems we have some time.

[After all, if the brief glimpses of what they'd seen in the orb were any indication, the battle with Ryba had yet to start... Nalanni might yet be alive... for better or for worse. How much time that might mean they had, though... that she couldn't know for sure.]

- Until then, let us make sure we have sufficient anti-bacterial in the case our healers exhaust themselves.

[The terminology was still new even if the science wasn't, a bit awkwrd on her tongue but she was getting used to it.

As much as Sieglinde appreciated magic, relied on it for things science could not provide so quickly, she wasn't about to reject what she'd grown up doing and what it could do... even with magic, there were times it was needed. When magic wasn't available to them. When it was, but someone was not so wounded as to need immediate treatment, saving the magical energy for others not so lucky.

With a small sigh, more from disappointment that her spell hadn't proved as useful as she'd hoped than anything else, Sieglinde rustled in her skirts and came up with a bag of native snacks... well, balls of foul smelling seaweed. Wrinkling her nose, she popped one in her mouth and forced herself to chew- nutrition and energy was worth the awful taste in times like these.]

And once we are done with all of this, let us have a look at that eye.

[Until then, though- They had a lot of work to do.]