DRAKONIS RIFTER ARRIVAL

[faderifting]

WHO: New rifters
WHAT: People fall out of a rift, get attacked, and discover that they are trapped and alone.
WHEN: Drakonis 10
WHERE: A snowy pit.
NOTES: This month, the arrival log is CLOSED to new rifters only. Don't worry, there will be chances for everyone else to meet (and help!) them soon.

I. ARRIVAL

You were asleep—deeply or fitfully, for the last time or just resting your eyes for a moment–and then you were not. And wherever you were was not, anymore, replaced by nothing but the sensation of falling, tumbling into endless, bottomless nothing. If this were still a dream, you would wake before you hit the ground. You can't die in a dream, they say. At least in some worlds.

In this world, you wake with a jolt when you hit the ground, soft for an instant and then bone-jarringly hard. You've landed in a pile of loose snow, beneath which is more snow, frozen solid, and all around you are walls of more snow, tinted by the shifting green gash in the air. There are other people finding their feet after a similarly sprawling arrival, and then emerging from the rift in your wake are a number of hunched, greyish creatures in tattered robes that shuffle about, keeping their distance as they send sharp spikes of ice flying toward you.

They're accompanied by floating beings with too many insect-like arms, and creatures that seem to emerge from the ground like plumes of magma, their fire causing the walls to drip and turning the ground beneath your feet treacherously slick. There is also one giant scarecrow, nearly twenty feet tall, and with giant scalpel blades for arms. It is dressed in a tuxedo, a fine bolo tie, and a cowboy hat, and accompanied by five normal-sized scarecrows in matching suits and hats. Needless to say, they are not friendly either. There are many of you, but even more enemies.

If that all weren't enough there's also a narrow splinter of light in the same sickly green as whatever brought you here, now glowing out of the palm of your left hand. It aches, a bone-deep pain that gnaws even through all the distractions, and seems to call your attention back to the rift.

II. TRAPPED

After the first few waves of demons are defeated (there will be no more scarecrows), there will be a lull long enough to regroup and take stock of surroundings. You appear to be at the bottom of a deep crevasse, the walls stretching high above your heads. The space is only about 20 feet wide at its center, but nearly fifty yards long, tapering narrower at the ends, with the rift located near the southern end. There is no exit, no cracks or tunnels leading away, and no hand or footholds in the sheer walls. There are some animal bones scattered about, but no evidence of other living creatures. There is also no evidence of other people, here or above you.

Luckily, the rift has spilled out a great deal of crap along with you and all the demons. There is a gigantic cake several feet tall half-smushed into one wall, its ten tiers delicately decorated all in white fondant, with whorling patterns and flowers made of frosting. Each layer is a different flavor, ranging from the mundane (chocolate, vanilla, carrot) to the bizarre (strawberry & pickle, spicy lemon olive, red velvet mackerel). There are also some actual mackerel, a heap of live fish having spilled through the rift and scattered about the crevasse during the battle, along with bundles of dried (but now soggy) cornstalks.

You can see a narrow patch of sky above and sunlight does filter down to you, for the few hours of the day that there is any sunlight at all. Given the reflection off all the snow and ice, during those daylight hours it is pleasantly bright, though tinted a bit blue (and green by the rift). Unfortunately, daylight only lasts about eight hours, and it is frequently cloudy, which leaves the crevasse dimly lit, as if in a perpetual dusk. At night it will be utterly pitch black except for the rift's eerie glow. It's also very cold, with temperatures remaining below freezing during the day and well below at night.

III. LOST

Whether with magic or creative ice-pick improvisation, scaling the walls of the crevasse is not impossible—but there is minimal reward for the effort. Fully exposed to the wind, it's colder on the surface than in the crevasse, and on the third day there's a whiteout blizzard that reduces visibility to twenty feet for hours. Even when the weather is clear, though, there's not much to see. The land above is a wasteland of ice, snow, and wind, without visible vegetation or landmarks other than monotonous gentle hills. The only disruption to the landscape in any direction is about a hundred yards north of the rift, where spots of color and piles of snow mark what is, on closer inspection, an abandoned camp.

Whoever was there before built low walls out of packed snow to block some of the wind and dug enough snow caves to sleep a dozen people, though a few have since caved in. There's no food—there was food, before, but overturned crates and animal tracks suggest the area is not as devoid of life as it looks—but there are thick fur blankets and sets of boots or outerwear. More than a dozen, in a variety of different sizes. Almost like they were expecting poorly-clothed company.

Maybe someone was coming for you. Maybe they'll be back. Or maybe not.



[ ooc | The rift will continue to spit out demons at semi-regular intervals. After the rifters defeat the first couple waves of demons, the pace of these reinforcements will slow—instead of a few minutes, it may be a few hours until the next batch comes. It is possible for your characters to close the rift themselves, but because they have no idea what they're doing it will require trial and error to figure out how, and all (or near enough) of them working together to succeed. This should take at least two days to manage.

Other than the stuff described in the post and the inventories everyone arrived with (as approved in your apps; please don't suddenly remember some other useful things in your characters' pockets) there is nothing in the crevasse except snow, ice, rock, and animal bones. But don't worry, we promise we're not leaving your characters all to die. Your characters have arrived in the Sunless Lands, and the Inquisition is on its way. When the mod plot post goes up this coming week, it will include a prompt to rescue all of you. Until that time, please refrain from RPing elsewhere in the game and enjoy this exclusive opportunity to bond with your rift-mates.

Your characters will be alone for approximately five days IC. Please keep them from wandering off too far, since that will make it implausible for the Inquisition to find and rescue them and then you won't get to play in the game. If they would insist on trying, you're welcome to use adverse weather, ice collapsing into other caves beneath them, or whatever other natural obstacles necessary to stall their progress. ]

Comments

[letoldthingsdie]

"Space travel." he says simply, pointing a finger skyward before crossing his arms again. It was strange to even hear of places that had never heard of space travel. He can only imagine what it must be like, limiting yourself to one planet forever. He liked flying far too much to be okay with that.

"Cruisers are larger ships built for carrying several groups of passengers." He realizes that while the Supremacy had been damaged, it was still salvageable. On the topic of exploited weak points, however, Kylo's gaze drifts up the wall of the crevasse.

"I'm not sure. I would say something like blaster fire or lasers would work, but we could risk bringing the whole structure down on our heads. We could always try climbing up." That had it's own risks as well. He's fairly sure most of these people wouldn't survive the fall if they didn't make it up. Yet they are not his priority. Their survival meant nothing to him.

[somethingwild]

"Space travel," Newt repeats. He's known magic his whole life, seen and experienced for himself as to just what it can do. But for all the magic he knows, he's never considered the possibility of traveling among the stars, a feat that has always seemed impossible.

He tries to picture the cruiser the man beside him describes, but even his imagination struggles with the concept. He decides not to strain himself, not when there are more important matters at hand for the time being. Like getting out of this crevasse, for example.

He follows the stranger's gaze up the walls, considering the options. He raises his wand, providing further light against the walls of their ice prison. "I think any kind of force might cause an avalanche," he says. "Or the entire structure down all at once, as you say. I've been looking for places where people might be able to get a steady foothold to climb up.

"If I could trust my magic, I might be able to try another way," he adds. "But it's too risky, I think."

[letoldthingsdie]

Kylo has probably the same reaction that Newt does to his talk of space travel. It sounded unreal and unattainable, and yet there were so many things in the universe one could not comprehend. He imagines his own abilities, to someone who had never heard of Jedi or Sith or the Force, would sound ludicrous as well. He could hardly blame anyone for it. His father had thought it was all hogwash too, until he had met his uncle and his mother. There were things in the universe that one could not ignore or deny that were well beyond any normal man's control.

Kylo's gaze lifts up the wall, to the far off point at the top where the sky above peaked out at them from behind gray clouds. He was trying to imagine the possibilities in his mind, of what their options were and what would be most likely to fail.

"Has anyone tried going further down the path? We could try to find somewhere to go to higher ground, or we could use what we have to make footholds. It wouldn't be without risks." Without something to secure them above or to the wall, people risked unbalancing and falling. Not everyone had the Force to cushion a blow.

"Or, we build a ladder and secure it to the wall as we go." With what exactly?

[somethingwild]

"I was working on venturing further," Newt admits. "From what I've seen, the space down here seems to grow more narrow as you go along, but I haven't yet gotten far enough down to see whether or not it opens up again." He doubts it, really, but you never know. After fighting the creatures from earlier, Newt suspects that very much is possible in this new place they currently find themselves stuck.

"The ladder would be great," he admits. He tilts his head, thinking. And then his gaze falls back to the animal bones he'd spotted before.

"What about the animal bones, if we can find enough of them?" He suggests. "If not a ladder, then maybe picks, to help people carve holds out of the ice?"

[letoldthingsdie]

"Probably not wise alone. An expedition would need all of us." And he's fine staying put, thanks. For now, anyway.

"The bones might work for picks if the ice doesn't crack them." He picks up one, turning it over in his hands, as Newt's gaze falls to them. What worried him about that was the fact that bones were fragile in comparison to metal. They splintered like wood.

"As long as we get someone up top first, we could get the rest up with rope or, as you said, carved footholds." Force, this whole thing was just stupid. He shouldn't be here in the first place!

[somethingwild]

Newt considers the words and finds that he has to agree, reluctant as he is to do so. He prefers working on his own, but even he can understand the potential dangers of doing so, trapped down here with Merlin only knows what else lurks in the dark corners they haven't explored yet. He nods.

"Is there a rope around here?" He asks, intrigued by that possibility. That would be possibly the best solution, so long as the first person up top didn't take off and run. Or wind up getting eaten by Merlin knows what.

"If we go the rope route, we should be careful with the person who goes up first," he says. "Considering the creatures we faced earlier, we don't know what else might lay in wait up there."

[letoldthingsdie]

"I'm not sure, but our other option is creating footholds or whatever other abilities we have at our disposal." He imagines that stick isn't just for show. He made light with it, he could do other things.

"What have you found down here? Besides the food falling out of the sky." The cake that had smashed into the snow near by them looked delicious but entirely useless to them for their current endeavor.

[somethingwild]

Newt nods, chewing on his bottom lip as he considers. "That we could," he agrees. "Although...arriving here, my magic doesn't work as reliably as it does back home. It also requires significant more of my energy to use. If we go that route, it will be slow going, I think."

"But it is certainly an option to consider," he says.

"Besides the cake, the fish, and the animal bones?" He shakes his head. "Nothing. I'm hoping we can find something to use to help us climb, but beyond the animal bones, I think we're rather stuck with what we've got."

[letoldthingsdie]

"Ah. So I'm not alone in noticing that. My abilities have become more... taxing." He'd felt it during his fight with the bladed beast and the fire beast. Now that he's stopped pushing himself it feels less exhausting, but he knows now where there are limits. He wonders if it will always be like that.

"So our options are 'hope we can get someone up there without them falling and dying' or try to find another way up, such as a tunnel or a passage that slopes above ground." Or stay here and freeze to death. That was the least appealing option.

[somethingwild]

"You as well?" Newt says, tilting his head as he considers the new information the man has given him. He has abilities, apparently, but he doesn't refer to them as magic. "Perhaps the increased energy is part of how this world functions. What abilities do you have?" He doesn't bother hiding the curious, almost scientifically so, tone of his voice.

"At this time, yes, those would be the most viable of our options," he says. "I think finding a passage or tunnel would be our best bet, although, then you have to consider and plan for if such tunnels or passages cave in."

There seems to be danger no matter what option they ultimately end up choosing, he thinks.

[letoldthingsdie]

Kylo gets the sense that he's not asking him this as a way to judge whether or not he should be wary of him, the way Kylo himself might ask. He's asking in a purely benign fashion. Interesting, really.

"I can feel life energy around me and I use it to wield like a weapon." Somehow that doesn't feel accurate to how Luke might have described it or Snoke. There's so much more to it. "I can use it in the event there is an enemy to attack or to defend myself from them. I can lift things and bring them close or away from myself. There are others, but that's the basics of it. Controlling the life energy around me."

It was so much more, a philosophy he didn't adhere to. The Jedi had their code not to involve themselves unless something upset the balance. The Sith were the upset in that balance. Without them the shift would never occur. Powerful darkness and powerful light; a perfect balance.

[somethingwild]

"Really?" Newt asks, again, his scientific curiosity dictating his tone of voice. What his companion describes sounds like a sort of magic, but more of the kind of magic that might be found in the Forbidden section of the Hogwarts Library; there to be studied, but never to be employed, especially against another living being.

"That sounds like magic, in a way," he admits. "But of a different sort."

"That must have been useful," he notes. "Against those...whatever they were that we were fighting."

[letoldthingsdie]

"It was useful, but tiring after a while. It felt like more effort was needed than usual, just doing it." Which was an irksome crutch to have while his lightsaber wasn't working. He had none of the tools on his person that he would need to figure out what had been damaged. Sadly, for now, it was useless to him.

"What about you? What can you do?" Clearly enough to keep himself still breathing.

[somethingwild]

"Yes," he nods. "I noticed the same, myself. My magic usually never requires that much energy. I think something must have happened when we fell through...whatever it was we fell through." And he assumes that what they fell through consists of some sort of magical substance or energy, itself. Some sort of barrier.

"Quite a lot, usually," he says. "Charms, transfiguration spells, enchantments, among others. I'm lucky to have my wand with me, but my magic...doesn't always work here."

"I never know if a spell is going to hit or if it's going to backfire," he admits. "And even the ones that don't work still take a lot of energy."