epidemiology | EVENT ★ WILL O' WISP

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EVENT ★ WILL O' WISP

WELCOME TO NALAWI

When the newest recruits are surrounded and taken away from Oska by the white mist of an opening rift, they’ll find themselves brought somewhere no one meant for them to be.

There is stone all around, and recruits seem to have been transported into some sort of cave network. If the recruit in question has any sort of non-human powers, magic, or abilities, they will find that this has been either severely dampened by an unknown force, or removed altogether.

There isn’t any sunlight to be had anywhere, and some places in this strange, sprawling labyrinth are thrown into deep and complete darkness. In other places a subterranean, luminescent fungus grows on the wall, providing an eerie sort of green-blue light. There doesn’t seem to be anyone around to provide guide or explanation; recruits are free to explore this strange, silent place as they will. It’s no use trying to keep from getting lost, it’s a hopeless maze of unending stone hallways. But at least they have each other in this stifling darkness, right?

Be careful, though. Small clicks sound now and then in the darkness: little shelled insects that scuttle up the walls and across the floor. They seem to feed on the fungus, and are peaceful enough if left alone. If approached, though, they’ll lash out with the stinger on their long tails before rushing away again into the darkness. The stings from these creatures are painful, and temporarily paralyze whatever limb has been struck. It will last for at least an hour before wearing off again.

There is one other creature of note within this stone labyrinth: there is exactly one large cavern in this mess of halls and dead ends, and it contains a woman. She is hard to define, her form is made of living flame that casts dancing shadows from the bars of her cage. She sits peacefully against the far wall of the room, and thick bars of stone, shaped from the ceiling and floor themselves, provide her cell. She can be approached, and will speak if spoken to, but makes no attempt to move or escape.

No matter how ALASTAIR’s newest arrivals spend their time, eventually there is an interruption. Maybe you’re in that single, occupied cavern when she arrives and you spot her, or maybe you’re still lost in the maze and never even found the cavern or saw either creature at all. It doesn’t matter. A tall, cat-like woman with eerie blue light gleaming from her dead eyes arrives in time, and she knows immediately she and her captive are not alone here. She will say nothing, she will allow no time for questions. With one wave of her hand, a fierce wind stirs to life and begins to howl through the maze. It’s strong enough to literally pick you up off your feet and hurdle you through the darkness, and somehow avoids smashing its prizes into any walls. This wind knows exactly where it’s taking its captives, and it knows the way. All at once the recruits will find themselves blasted straight up into the open sky, and into the middle of a powerful hurricane.

This windy, dizzying experience lasts a good ten minutes as recruits are buffeted and spun end-over end in the hurricane as they leave land and travel over the sea, but it does end eventually. They are dumped unceremoniously on the western shore of a new place, the island of Pu’ulai, Nalawi, and the storm dissipates instantly after leaving them there.

Those recruits that have been on Nalawi a little longer are welcome to spot the odd, impossibly brief storm along that western edge and investigate. They’ll find that Pomarr has delivered them a few wayward recruits.

Welcome to Nalawi. Sorry about the local gods.

OOC NOTES

Characters will arrive in these caves first and spend an unspecified amount of time within them. This section of the log is closed to new arrivals only. You may choose to have your character run into the fiery lady (please see the thread below to have an encounter) solo, with another character (or characters), or not at all. Either way, they will eventually be brought to Nalawi proper, where any character in the game may encounter them.

To catch up on the recent goings-on, there's an OOC post here that should answer your questions, accompanied by this IC post. The mission briefing your character received is here, and you can find more information on the island your characters ended up on, Pu'ulai, here.

If you have any questions, feel free to direct them to the subthread below!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Were you expecting someone else? ( it takes him a while to get to his feet once the supernova reels him onto shore, thoroughly drenched but hey he's on dry land now and mobile so he's not about to complain. there's something in the other pirate's fixed stare that he can't quite place, and even his words seem a little off. "it really is you"? ace sincerely doubts it's any sort of awe, despite being well aware of the name he's made for himself. ) Some kind of subterranean cave system at first, actually, but this was my next stop. Hope this doesn't consistently happen; things could get a little inconvenient that way.

[Law considers being blunt and telling Ace he's supposed to be dead for a solid ten seconds. Luckily, he thinks better of it. At least let Ace settle in first.]
Yeah. When I got here, they just dropped me off here without trying to drown me.

I wasn't expecting any familiar faces at all, honestly. [He pauses to adjust his hat before offering Ace a hand to help him up.] Though this is the first time I've seen you in person. Trafalgar Law.

Lucky me. Maybe I needed that dip and didn't know it. ( a hand's extended to him and ace takes it gratefully, footing just slightly unsteady. even that sensation fades quickly, however, and in no time he's right as rain. )

Supernova, right? You with ALASTAIR, too? I'd offer my name, but it seems you already know who I am. Thanks for the help, by the way.

I am, everyone you'll meet here are with ALASTAIR, the natives are some sort of small deer people. A bit like Chopper-ya.
[He pauses. Ace is probably at least cursorily familiar with his own brother's crew, right? Yeah. Law doesn't bother updating Ace that "former shichibukai" would be more accurate than "supernova" at this point. He does sort of frown at him for a long moment, though.]

I did consider leaving you there, but I'm sure your brother would be mad at me if he showed up here and found out I let you drown.

-- There's a chance Luffy'd be here? ( his brows furrow in concern as soon as his brother is mentioned; the mechanics of this whole... situation are still beyond his grasp, but the implications are still there. best not to jump the gun, though. ) How were you brought over?

I'm here, you're here, I don't see why he couldn't show up too.
[And he'd never admit it, but Law would be glad to see him. Despite his... unorthodox attitude, Luffy was a dependable person.]

They just... dropped me off near the town here. I don't know why they put you in such a strange place.

Beats me. Maybe they just felt like it. ( a shrug. his suspicions of this being the afterlife are shrinking by the second, but a tiny inkling remains still; after all, they haven't yet broached the subject. ) What happened before you got here, anyway? Prior to the briefing, that is, 'cause I assume everyone they recruited got the same spiel.

Knowing them it was an accident... I've only been here a few weeks and Alastair have already proven to be wildly disorganized.

[Pausing to arch an eyebrow at Ace. He's not sure if Ace means while he was still in Oska or when he was still back home. But, since barely anything happened between arriving and being briefed.... Well ok, let's start opening this can of worms.]

Before I was "accidentally" roped into working for Alastair I was on a boat with Straw Hat-ya and some of his crew, leaving Dressrosa. [Still trying to decide whether to prod at the death topic. After a few moments he decides he's done dancing around it. Ace will have to deal with it.] It's been two years since your execution at Marinford, for me.

( right, so they've come to that. it's not new information, certainly, but the time lapsed is a jolt nonetheless, and wrapping his head around it is hard. then again, he's alive when by all counts he shouldn't be - and completely healed to boot. this might not be purgatory, but whatever's going on, it's beyond comprehension. ) Two years, huh? Funny - for me it was just a few hours ago. At least, that's what I'm aware of.

[Well at least Ace already knows about it. Makes things easier for Law. He's got other things to worry about now.]

Strange. I guess they can abduct people from all points of time as well as space?
[Frowning.]

.... Sorry about your death, I suppose.
[He doesn't sound like he actually cares that much.]

Heh, no need for that. Made my peace, so it's done.

( despite this space-time twisting business he doesn't really see the possibility of do-overs. better not to get any hopes up all the same even if it seemed like anything could happen, with this peculiar organization. )

Enough about the depressing stuff, though. How's my brother doing?

Edited 2016-05-19 05:52 (UTC)

[Law's immediate response is to sigh deeply, but there's something almost fond about it. Almost. It's 90% actual tiredness.]
What I'm starting to suspect is "predictably." He's in high spirits despite being badly injured less than a week ago. His crew and mine have formed an alliance, I'm still adjusting to the fact that Straw Hat-ya doesn't understand what that really means.

... "Well" would be the short answer, I guess.

Ha! Same old, then. ( ace knows full well he shouldn't be expecting anything less, yet the news that luffy hasn't changed in spite of his ordeals cheers him far more greatly than he expects. the fact that law sounds almost completely done with his entire situation draws a knowing laugh too, good-natured and easy. ) Sounds just like Luffy to have his own idea of what constitutes an alliance, really. What're you guys after?

... I guess we're aiming for Kaidou's head now.
[Just this sort of almost disbelieving tone. He wasn't expecting to get this far, honestly.]

We just took down Doflamingo. Or Luffy did, rather. So that's the next step. [Law tried his best but Luffy really did do most of the heavy lifting.]

Taken down just one Warlord and now you're going after a King? ( damn. he's had enough encounters to know of the massive differences in power between the two levels. still, ace chuckles, heartened; if anyone can make that happen, it's luffy. ) Ambitious -- but somehow completely unsurprising.

[Law makes a small sound that might be a laugh.]Aah. I suppose we might as well live up to our bounties, they're almost as high as yours was, now.

[Looking around at the beach.]
How much were you told before you got here?

Now that is something. Y'guys are movin' up in the world. ( even if bounties hardly mean much to ace in his current state; it seems his brother's doing well, and for that he still is thankful. )

As for what they told me - ALASTAIR gave me sort of an overview of the place, so not much, I'm guessing. Some rumours that the goddess is dead, society's failing, that kind of thing. Investigate the cause of the timeline instability, whatever that means. Anything else I should know?

That's the long and short of it. They haven't exactly been clear on what they're trying to accomplish here.

[A pause as he looks out across the beach tiredly. He's halfway across the multiverse, he lost his shoes, and now he's talking to the brother of one of his only friends. Not that he'd admit that Luffy was his friend out loud. Or that now he's worrying if any dead people he knows could show up here. Finally, he turns back to Ace.]

So what's being back from the dead feel like?
[Flatly. Leave it to Law to go to such a dark topic so casually.]

( ace thinks he's relatively prepared for those sorts of questions, yet the sudden topic switch is quite enough to shock a chuckle out of him nonetheless. ) Nothing special in particular, actually. Felt like just waking up in the morning, as if that whole thing just some kind of dream. I mean, there was a hole here - ( he raps knuckles against his very whole, very solid sternum. ) - but it's gone now.

How anti-climactic.
[Law leans forward to inspect Ace's chest like the creep he is, hand hovering around the affected area.]

There's not even a scar. Given the method and severity of the injury... [Frowning.] I suppose given the technology they have we should expect this level of power from Alastair.

Don't know what I was expecting, but it sure wasn't this. ( it's little short of a miracle, how quickly he was restored to health. ) There are more than a couple of possibilities, since I can't be certain of how much time'd actually passed before I came to -- but it's almost too well done, like the wound wasn't even there to begin with. Makes y'wonder what else they're capable of.

I suppose you'll have to talk to the people who sent us here whenever they let us go back to Oska. I'm not sure how else you'd contact them.
[Looking out across the water.]

Hopefully that's soon. I don't much care for being this surrounded by ocean without a boat.

Y'know - I doubt they're gonna be that forthcoming. We're not the only ones brought here, are we? Might be a better idea to talk to the rest of their recruits, first.

( but then law mentions the ocean, and that reminds him -- ) By the way - do your abilities work?

Do whatever you like.
[It's not like Law's the boss here by any means. And if Ace is anything like Luffy, he's going to do what he feels like doing regardless of anyone else's opinion.]

... They sort of work. My abilities are limited by my stamina, and I've been finding that limit is a lot lower than it normally is, lately.

Huh. How 'bout that.

( he flexes his fingers experimentally, but only small sparks surface, disappearing as quickly as they show up. ) At least you've still got some semblance of 'em, though. I'm still a dead weight in the water, but other than that there's not much of an indication as to whether that's the only part about being a fruit user I retained when crossing over here. Feels like something's putting a damper on it -- just have no idea what it actually is.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

EVENT ★ WILL O' WISP

probably

mystery solved

woo

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why do i attempt to tag during work hours i don't know

Hey I did my last tag at work it's possible

wow that's 3highlevel5me

omfg rika

i just noticed your new coloured icons they are beautiful

HAHA that's because they're from the digitally colored manga

whoa he got dr grumpypants to laugh. is that an achievement? it's an achievement.

it's a dry laugh, it doesn't count.

why are you making this difficult

because Law is difficult

typos in my previous tag fml

Worry not, friend (also I figure this conversation is now just happening after Olivia left)

yeah I can roll with that

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