[CLOSED] Zahliyaquest...2

[purifier]

Who: Zahliya, Luca, Joshua, Wolfwood, Dipper, Mamika, Siffrin, Loop, & Kiera
What: A gargoyle needs task-doers for character development
When: Mid-August, yes during the rainstorms, good luck
Where: ??? :)
Warnings: Typical Sticks trigger warnings apply, suicide, time loops resulting in multiple character deaths, Wolfwood just shot someone executioner style, more to be added


OOC notes, here is a rehash of your rules:

• Mod tags will come either a) after everyone involved has tagged in or b) after 24 hours have passed since the last mod tag. This means if you are absent for any reason, the thread WILL move on without you.
• Interaction in this log will be redeemable for MAIN AC, not just Bonus AC like most of our NPC threads.
• This questline will shape Zahliya's outcome for the rest of the game, and may or may not result in an almost-full Corruption cure and therefore gamewide impact. I will let people know midway through the quest if he's currently aimed at aggression/confidence/staying in the Grove, or if he's on passive/indecisive/leaving the Grove.
• The old OOC plotting post for this is here!

Comments

[lupusxylem]

[Wolfwood is here! But it isn’t just for Zahliya’s sake. People close to him, not in the least of all Vash himself, suffer from the corruption. He’s figuring it’s high time they got to the bottom of a cure, hopefully in a way that won’t result in more people getting corrupted to find it.

He looks a lot like a wet dog as he stands there with the Punisher slung over his shoulder, damp hair sort of hanging in his face like a shaggy dog. He can’t even smoke with all of the humidity going on, but whatever.

When Luca says that, he gives an exaggerated roll of his eyes.]

More like more than a few of us actually care about gettin’ this corruption shit sorted.

[Said as if he doesn’t care about Zahliya more than a little bit. He doesn’t even chase him away from the church anymore!!!

And because I think it’s funny, he’s definitely got a few cheddar cubes in his pockets. You know for emergencies.]

[cryopathy]

[kiera is here for luca's benefit exclusively. he has a track record for throwing himself at... causes... without any thought for his own safety, so... of course they're coming, armed and sober and everything. the usual smirk is present, of course!]

Nothing good has come of someone running off into the Forest alone, my fiery friend.

[... okay, okay, maybe they think zahliya is a little endearing. a little.]

[ghostharasser]

[Dipper is also here, even if he doesn’t know Zahliya personally yet, though he has heard plenty about the guy from everyone else. He would never turn down an opportunity to pester a gargoyle?? Or go on a quest? Come on.]

Like I have ever left anything well enough alone.

[It’s raining too hard for him to have his journal out, but just know he is writing everything down for records sake, too.]

[leggierissimo]

[ Everyone else here has good reasons to be. Whether out of concern for Zahliya, concern for someone else going along, whathaveyou. Joshua, though? Joshua is here to observe. He could say it's for his own benefit, and it is, in a sense - he gets a good show, he gets information - but if they're able to find a cure for the corruption...

Well. Let's just say there's a corrupted werewolf somewhere out here in the Forest that's lost his mind, and that werewolf is from his city. There's a sense of responsibility. He'll leave it at that. ]

Personally, I think it sounds like a fun time.

[ It's raining cats and dogs, but is any of it getting on Joshua? Absolutely not. It's hitting some invisible umbrella above his head. No getting wet today, thanks! ]

[magicalsplashflare]

[ Mamika is already in her magical girl get-up, complete with the wand in her hand that she's also made a magic umbrella with. It's not invisible, though. There's very much just a heart shape with wings floating above her head, that will drift to cover those close to her as well. ]

I think it's our responsibility to help out where we can with one another, but... I'm also just worried about what we might find in there, what with such a big group here. I can't imagine that thing in there is gonna be very happy with that.

[start_again]

[Frankly, Siffrin doesn't know this Zahliya person at all. He barely knows any of these people, really. But he's motivated by a burning desire to deal with shit here and go home ASAP, and his previous attempt to run off into the woods was foiled, so...

Well, here he is.

It's all to easy to fall back into old habits. He just nods, quiet while everyone else chatters, falling into the background. It's not the first adventuring party he's been part of. But it won't go the same way here. His heart belongs firmly to his family back home, the people who love him. These strangers are just...placeholders. Understudies.]

[theuniverseleads]

[Loop is also here! They don't know what any of this is about, either!!

Really, they're only here because Siffrin is... they might be a tiny, teensy bit worried about him. That's their little guy! He's been acting out, apparently! Should he really be left with a bunch of strangers to roam around the Evil Murder Woods? Probably not!

So, they are going to stand right next to him beaming cheerfully like this is a happy little camping trip they're all going on. They clap their hands together.]

I'm just bored, teehee! If you need a guiding light, I can take the lead!

[purifier]

[Reaches out and pinches Luca's cheek.

Ahem, anyway.]

You cannot take the lead, Loop. You don't know where we're going.

[But, since everyone's gathered...]

When everything first went to shit hundreds of years ago, I had two swords to my name — Daybreak and Nightfall. I did not originally know where I got them until I found out that my creators are deities, but that's rather beside the point. I could never use them properly because they are magic weapons, but I'm... only about forty-five percent sure I could use them now.

At some point in the infinite war I was fighting within the woods some several hundred years after all of you died, [said bluntly like he's still trying to rip the bandaid off about that,] I lost them to the Warden, that centaur-looking statue in the woods. I don't think any of you have seen it, but I imagine that thing is roaming, and I imagine it originally hid my blades in the Fallen Sun's name.

That's what I'm after, and I suppose now, that's what you're all helping me with. My first idea is to check the Temple, the one where the Fallen Sun escaped from and where I woke up from slumber outside of.

Any questions?

[magicalsplashflare]

[ Raises her hand like she's in school and needs to be called on- ]

[unheiring]

We are not school children. You don't need to raise your hand like one.

[lupusxylem]

[Wolfwood raises a brow, lifting the Punisher a bit higher over his shoulder.]

She ain't hurtin' anyone.

[Also some of us ARE technically children-]

[unheiring]

She's wasting valuable time instead of just coming out with it.

[unheiring]

[What if he bit you, Ahli. What fucking then.]

Two needles in a forest sized haystack, then. What could possibly go wrong.

[purifier]

[what if you did loser]

[theuniverseleads]

Ooh, me, I have a question!! [they also raise their hand, in support, except they don't wait to be called on that takes too long]

How did you lose them? Like did you drop them, did you lose them in a bet, did this Warden steal them while you were taking a nap... sounds like something pretty important to just lose track of!

[purifier]

Oh, yes. It was when every bone in my body got broken by Moder before she was uncorrupted. I don't know if either of them knew I would regenerate at the time.

[Says this while giving Loop the uncomfortable :) look]

[theuniverseleads]

Okay, so you lost them in a fight. Got it!

Any chance it might try to use the weapons for something instead of just hiding them? Even if it can't use them right, a sword made by a god sounds pretty useful. Surely a villainous henchman could find some use for a trinket like that? Anything we might need to worry about?

[purifier]

Mm. Perhaps, if it can use the magic required. I'm also not entirely positive Daybreak will work right anyway, either for it or for me in the future. It shattered in the fight, and as far as I recall, it's about one-fourth of a sword. It might be repairable, it might not be. The magic might work. We're on a whole line of "maybes" and "possiblies" right now.

[Sigh.]

But I need something. I break the basic swords I use, and them breaking mid-battle when I do storm the forest isn't exactly helpful. A magic weapon, even broken, is more useful than what I've had so far.

[ghostharasser]

[Oh, so this is actually a pretty straightforward sort of quest. Awesome! Dipper's glad he forced his way into meddling in someone else's business for once.]

[He huddles a little under Mamika's magical girl wing umbrella and pulls out his journal. He takes some pretty quick notes, but also, he pulls something out of the journal itself. An old piece of paper. Like an old piece of paper.]

That temple looks like this right?

[It's a sketch of a temple with some smashed in doors.]

[purifier]

[...]

Sure does. Have you been there?

[ghostharasser]

Not yet, but this drawing was in the house that probably used to belong to my family. If I had to guess, one of my uncles probably drew it.

[He gently tucks it back into his journal.]

I have been pretty curious about it though.

[purifier]

Great. Don't do anything stupid, please, but do feel free to check it out. Within reason. Do not wander off by yourself.

[He just said this to Luca and he will reiterate NO LONESOME!! NO!!]

[start_again]

[Siffrin raises his hand a lil. Hey, everyone else is doing it.]

Is the "fallen sun" the bad thing keeping us here, or some other vague god thing?

[purifier]

I'd prefer not to refer to it as a God, since that'll give that— what's the human word, fuckass? That fuckass more power. [We are teaching the Guardians bad words.] "Fallen Sun" or "the Creature" or something derogatory works just fine. But yes, as far as I know, you're kept here due to that thing.

It's the thing that also took you all and stuffed you into the ocean last month. If that helps.

[start_again]

[ please, "fuck" isn't a swear word where he comes from, he has no idea what that even means...

The aloof, almost dissociative look on Siffrin's face finally sharpens a bit at that, focusing in.]

And how likely are we to run into it?

[Please say "very".]