Event || A History of Light and Darkness

[eternitymods]

Who: Brave Explorers and/or Those Poor Souls Being Dragged Along by Friends
When: Oct 15-30th
Where: Thilmit Border Post, inside the Old Heranean Doll Museum
What: The Heroes of Light received a strange letter, and are now being asked to investigate the strange occurrences at the old doll museum.
Warnings/Notes: OOC Post Warnings for Spookiness, Creepy Dolls. Post toplevels for each group. Please post warnings as needed for memory fragments and exploration. For random numbers, use the dice functions on Plurk or Discord.



The Old Heranean Doll Museum is a small building, but somehow the dark, dusty windows and poorly maintained roof give it a menacing feel as you approach. The sign says, "OPEN"...although, as you approached, you think it might have been turned to "CLOSED".

The door creaks as it swings open, though there is no one from the museum to greet you as you enter. A cold breeze blows in behind you, sapping any lingering warmth in the room. The building is dark, and cobwebs are starting to form in the corners of the lobby and on the velvet rope stanchions that guide the flow of traffic in and out. Out of a shadowy corner, a large centipede skitters across the floor and into a crack low on the wall.

At the reception desk, one of the antique dolls sits, unmoving, unblinking. That goes without saying. Its eyes do not follow you as you enter.... The hairs prickling up on the back of your neck are just coincidence, that's all.

There is another doll perched on the wooden brochure display stand near the door. It's strange that the curator leaves the display pieces out where visitors can touch them....

As you enter, you hear something whistling through the air toward you a moment before it makes a impact. A tiny pebble, too small to do any damage other than a brief stinging. During this moment of distraction, the door slams and locks.

When you look at the spots where the dolls were perched a moment ago, there is now just empty space. There is movement in the shadows, and the nearly imperceptible sound of tiny shapes creeping around.

As you move past the lobby into the exhibits, a sign above the entryway declares:

Welcome to the Old Heranean Doll Museum. We hope you enjoy our historic Heroes of Light displays.

Comments

[zanarkandian]

Tidus had learned a hard lesson in caution after the trouble with the eidolon of the forest, so he wasn't exactly jumping at the strange object.

"I've been through a whole ruin full of these. Some of them were normal treasure chests and had great stuff in 'em, but others...oh man, a giant nasty ghost would jump out. It was usually worth it to beat it, though."

He folded his arms. "How many healing skills do we have? I've got potions."

[keymemory]

Sora rubbed the small pebble between his forefinger and thumb, his wide eyes took in the surroundings around him and he was relatively quiet while they explored the room. The pebble was something that knocked him on his head and rather than it hurting him it surprised him, ever since then he’d been toying with it. He didn’t think it was of any consequence, being a freelancer himself, the rocks he used were much, much, bigger than that which he held now.

The current room reminded him of Jiminy, Pinnochio, and Geppetto. A room full of puppets for the making, or reconstruction, who knew?

Otherwise unbothered by the room, Sora was second-handedly bothered by his party’s response to the room and he was getting some strange vibes from the rest of them! “Huh?” Came a common response from the brunette. Everyone was centered around a chest and Sora felt a jolt of excitement rush up his gut and he beamed at the others. “Let’s open it!” Fearless, yes, cautious, no. Sora was always the type to leap without looking and this was no different. He could definitely empathize with Tidus’ past experiences, save for the ghosts in the chests, his own experience was there was something to be gained from those sweet boxes, something more precious than one would find just lying around anywhere!

[hatejakku]

Well, Sora's vote was definitely noted.

Finn switched jobs to Chemist while grimacing down at the chest. He was still armed like this and had plenty of potions to boot. "We should be all right..." Hopefully, maybe, probably. He had his gun unholstered, anyway. "Doesn't look like we have much choice. Anyone want to do the honors?" After all, seemed like he had the least experience with these things.

He pushed his foot against it, just in case, but the chest acted like a normal chest for all intents and purposes. Maybe it really was fine.

[cureofmanyworlds]

“I’ll... I’ll go.”

Drawing the blade of her Red Mage job, Nozomi carefully approached the chest, pointing the blade at it. This was really nerve wracking!

“If something happens, I’ll need help; I just started.”

i'm so sorry this is late

[zanarkandian]

"Don't worry. Together we can get out of anything," Tidus promised, double checking his equipment just in case. The sooner they were out of this creepy place, the better, as far as he was concerned.

"Let's go!"

<3

[keymemory]

Sora nodded after Tidus’ words. He was down and ready, though he wasn’t really expecting anything but treasured goods. Honestly, this precautionary tentativeness was starting to make him feel a little anxious more than what was actually in the chest. In any case, he shifted his weight from one foot to the other and gripped his hips. “Come on, Sora needs a pair of new shoes!” Sora cheered on with a bounce on his heels.

you're good! ♥

[hatejakku]

Finn stood close to the chest, a hand on his gun just in case. Sora's enthusiasm was starting to spill over a little bit. As creepy and out of place this was, Finn was kind of confident that they'd be fine. Caution, however, was his second-nature.

But then things weren't fine.

As Nozomi cracked the chest open, a pair of red eyes peered back. Suddenly, the chest jolted. Teeth adorned the seal, the handles became arms, and the thing let out a piercing, grinding shriek.

Using its arms as springs, the mimic lunged for the group. Mouth gaping and claws bared, it seemed to be aiming for Tidus.

Re: you're good! ♥

[cureofmanyworlds]

Nozomi gasped and leaped back as the chest opened up and revealed itself as a Mimic! She was not expecting something like this at all! Of course, trying to use a spell would be pointless right now - she tried to strike at it with her blade - she had to help Tidus!

[zanarkandian]

"Aargh!" Tidus sprawled gracelessly to the ground, sporting a nasty scratch. His luck was just awesome lately, wasn't it? But he wasn't just going to stand for it.

It was difficult with how dizzy he felt, but he slammed a hand to the ground, flipped up, and fired off a weak fire spell. Time to get back in the game.

[keymemory]

Sora jumped, much like the rest of his party, and that bit he would blame them for scaring him more than the thing did. It was still, in a way, kind of exciting! He could feel his heart racing and he pulled his rapier sword to his side. He slouched with narrow eyes as he assessed the situation and he quickly jabbed at the treasure chest with the point of his sword. He about hit it at the same time Tidus’ spell caught the wooden deceiver with fire.

Sora glanced up at Finn, he had a rogue thought about riding the chest out of here, just for the fun of it. Seemed fine. Rather, Sora jabbed the wooden box again with a deflated sense of joy. Fighting in this world was proving to be difficult being as he missed his keyblade and he missed his own powers he accumulated from back home (figuratively speaking).

[hatejakku]

Finn might have let out a yelp when the chest suddenly came alive. Before he could do anything, it already had Tidus down.

Thankfully, it was already off of him and struggling with the two jabs of swords and the fire spell. Turns out fire and ethereal wood isn't a good combo. The mimic flailed its arms, clearly trying to put out the smoldering embers while also trying to get unhooked from Sora's rapier.

Now that it was off of Tidus and in the open, Finn took a shot. He definitely made a hole but also managed to blast it off of the sword. Once it took a brief pause to shake and get its bearings together, the mimic started towards Sora, aiming for the legs.

Finn's very sorry. "Watch!"

[cureofmanyworlds]

Great, this was getting worse - went after Tidus, now Sora! “I got it! With it away from Tidus, Nozomi could lunge out better and strike the creature with her sword again.

[zanarkandian]

He was back on his feet and ready to fight, just in time to see Sora

"Hold on!" They needed an attack that wouldn't hurt Sora...which meant precision, and he knew what he needed for that. He reached for a spare knife and tossed it low.

[keymemory]

Sora met the box’s aggression with a matched willingness of his own to counter the flaming box with a wide jump of his small body. The scrambling wood scrapped against the floor while the flames crackled the wood while paint boiled and blistered across the chest. Panic blurbed in Sora’s chest and his heart palpitated before he tucked and rolled away from the box. Just in time for the attack from Tidus. The roll wasn’t as eloquent as the ones he regularly practiced prior coming here but it was enough to get him out of the way and lose his rapier.

Which was totally unintentional. Once Sora’s head was upright he scrambled to his hands and feet, before he all but galloped behind Tidus. He got onto his feet, assessed the situation quickly with a timid expression of threat, before he found an opening to retrieve his rapier. He dashed for the fallen weaponry and slid across the floor to reclaim the steel hilt in his hand. Sora uprighted himself again doubled back toward the chest and brought an onslaught of more jabs.

[hatejakku]

The chest looked pretty shocked - as much as a chest could look shocked - when it pounced on to thin air, claws digging into the floor. It had to shake and get its bearings again, realizing that its new target had hidden behind the first target and- Well, screw this.

Finn fired another shot, making another hole in the lid of the mimic. It shook and jolted and yelped but still didn't stop. As it took off scrambling again, Finn tried to leap on it and hold the thing steady, but he missed and now it was lunging for Nozomi.

Seems like the fire and the stabbing and the shooting just kind of made it really frustrated.

Finn was equally frustrated. "Stop that stupid box!"

[cureofmanyworlds]

Nozomi yelped as the mimic lunged for her, flailing as it pounced on her. “Ahhh! Get it off! Get it off!” She cried, her vision just a little blurred as her glasses were knocked askew. She did have one option to use - the Glacier spell, hitting the beast with a bolt of ice.

[zanarkandian]

Well they certainly couldn't win if Nozomi was blinded, could they? Tidus rolled in and swiped the stray glasses, adding his own ice spell to hers in the hopes that it would give her some space.

He still needed to give those back.

[keymemory]

Sora leaped toward Nozomi, her flailing body jarred the box a few times and with Sora leaping toward it he caught it up on the uprise from the girl’s body. This will be his second tumble in the fight, and probably not close to his last. He managed to knock the crate off of Nozomi and he rolled off to the side and away from the possessed treasure chest. He got himself upright, this time he at least didn’t lose his rapier, and began to swing down onto the box with swift hacks.

[hatejakku]

Finn found his feet beneath him and shot at the chest three more times once it was back on the ground. One of the hinges on the lid was busted now, the mimic flopping around almost comically but still seeming unhurt or even close to stopping.

Apparently, it took offense at being called a stupid box, though. With a screech, it lunged at Finn, tackling him down and knocking the air out of him. He managed to push it off, but it was still trying to claw at him, scratching his arms and chest.

"Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!" He is never coming back here again.

This is the fight that never ends...

[cureofmanyworlds]

"We're trying! We're trying!" Nozomi cried out, striking at the mimic again with her sword. If she had her powers, this would have been over in no time! But, noooo, it just won't die!

[zanarkandian]

Tidus managed to hand the glasses back, but it cost him precious time in his attempt to rescue Finn. His attempted combo ended in tripping over the debris, ending with a painful crash.

And now it was even more enraged. Perfect.

[keymemory]

Sora was an effective bouncing boy as he dodged any feedback from the treasure chest toward him as he continued his barrage of attacks. The others were scrambling around just as much as Sora was as the box continued to match the party with stamina if not with at least some distress to its makeup. The more they attacked it the more it seemed to fall apart.

He idly wondered what would have happened if they just moved on, would it still attack them?

[hatejakku]

Someone's sword yanked the mimic out of Finn's hands. As it rolled away, he gave it one more shot, though it had already stopped flailing.

The mimic landed on its lid, finally still and quiet. It wasn't vanishing in wisps of ghostly presence or whatever, so Finn still had his gun trained on it, still on the floor.

It- It looked dead. Could a mimic even die? Finn was too scared to ask, terrified the sound of his voice would wake it up or something.

[cureofmanyworlds]

And as Nozomi poked at the chest, she noticed something fall out of the chest and onto the ground.

"Huh...? What's this?" she uttered, picking up the item - a card. A Triple Triad card in a protective sleeve bearing a picture of a PuPu.

"...a game card?"

[zanarkandian]

"That's that big deal card game, right? Any of you play?"

Tidus finally rolled to his feet, looking worse for the wear but pleased that it was over. Card games were definitely too idle for him, but maybe one of them could use it.

So long as they got out of here, and fast.