The Escapist Avatar Adventure: An Open RP (Now Re-Opened!)

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

"Hmmm...I've been to several realms before but-...this is a new one..." Rugal mused as his efforts didn't seem to amount to much.
He still seemed to be intact thankfully, as was his ki energy reserves so he attempted to try something different.
One of the first steps of learning how to harness most kinds of energy in martial arts, be it ki or straight up magic, was being to sense and detect it.
Pausing for a moment, he focused to try and detect any traces of energy he might be familiar with, Living, Spirital or even Electrical, just anything he could find.

[>Sense Energy: All]

Once he was done with that, his next test was turn his attention to figuring out just how large this place was, if it could have a ground, perhaps it could have walls or a ceiling?
Philip seemed to have the same idea as he threw a baseball of all things into the void.
"Hmmm...I wonder..."
As for figuring out if there was a ceiling, he used a Ki attack, namely the "Shakunetsu Hadoken!" as he used his energies to send a flaming ball of Ki energy up into the air like a makeshift firework.
Hopefully the extra power of this kind of attack would give it enough travel distance to hit something before it faded.

[>HCF + H+L.P (USF4 EX-Shakunetsu Hadoken)]

"...This reminds me of a old training simulation I was in once. They'd just put in a void instead of scenery. Good for training, terrible on the eyes if they made it too bright or too dark..." He remarked before Nina (Attempted to) put her hand on his shoulder.
Seeing this, he kindly knelt down slightly as he watched her use the gem.

[>Crouch]
[>Look at: Proof of Empathy]

"They said our gems would be used to bypass barriers. Perhaps this is one of them?" He suggested as he pulled out his own Memento of Temperance.
"Ahhh, I miss the days where the fate of the world or such could be decided in a slugfest..."

 

[NotYetForsaken]

>7
The Core of Creation

You sense an immense amount of raw energy coming from all directions. It is not immediately clear what the energy is coming from, but it should be possible to identify it if more effort is spent to pinpoint the exact nature of the energy.

>8
The Core of Creation

Your attack flies into the distance. It reaches a point in the distance and then vanishes.

>9
The Core of Creation

The Proof of Empathy sits on Nina's chest. It is a blue mineral polished to a mirror shine. Small white veins run through the azurite. It is an exquisite piece of work. You sense great power stored within it.

>1
The Core of Creation

You throw a baseball into the darkness. It lands some distance away and bounces before disappearing.

>3
The Core of Creation

You summon the energies stored within the Proof of Empathy. A brilliant light envelopes the area around you. Suddenly, the world around you seems less oblique. You feel accepted into the world...

The world around you materializes. You are in a stone chamber underground. The air is cold. There are doorways in each direction. What is this place? The smell in the air reminds you of the earth. Perhaps you are underground?

 

[Zepherus14]

Nina had her eyes closed as she activated her gem, not really sure how she was supposed to use it persay, but impersonating Sailor Moon felt right. As such Nina didn't notice Rugal staring at her chest, and only noticed when she was told the scenery had changed from her noodle friend. "Thank goodness that-" Nina started to say until she stopped abruptly, taking a step back before putting two and two together.

"Oh my god!" Nina started laughing, still blushing profusely but at least she was taking it in stride. "I-I can't believe- ahaha~" She tried to say, a bit caught up in herself and trying to wipe a couple of small forming tears from her eye. Phillip brought a tentacle up to poke at Nina's cheek, which she lightly pushed it away. "No no, I'm okay." She reassured him. "Maybe I'm just stressed from all this and- someone finally gawking at me feels actually reasonable for once. It's okay Rugal, I know you didn't mean it." She said patting his chest as she looked around at the stonework before snapping her fingers. "Also, just adding to what you said there, hopefully we don't, because the three of us can think our way out of problems, but only one of us knows how to fight our way out of one."

"Anyways, this place looks familiar to me..." She said as she looked at some of the doors and specifically the stone walls, touching at her head a little. "Mmph, I can't remember what exactly, but... I think it had something about hands?"

>Inspect Doorways, indicate to approach the Northern door if all are identical

Phillip didn't say much as he watched the ball disappear into the darkness and not reappear with the rest of the room. Hopefully Nina wouldn't ask about that ball, it was something special but he wasn't sure exactly what. Regardless, Phillip was able to watch their backs, and fronts for that matter. He hadn't been there when Nina first fell into that space between space and was torn apart by entities within the space.

 

[NotYetForsaken]

>The Core of Creation
>4 ...You inspect the doorways leading out of the stone room. They all expand into nothingness. You feel a cold breeze blowing in from the north doorway.

>The Core of Creation
>5 You approach the north doorway. You feel cold air rushing in to meet you. You can smell the distinct aroma of falling snow. Perhaps each of the doors lead somewhere different?

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Despite the situation, Rugal felt a lot calmer when the world around them turned into something far more understandable.
"Ahhh, a dungeon? This. I can work with..." He smiled, rubbing his hands before getting to work.
It was now that Nina had her "Reaction" to his gaze and, while Nina was able to add things up, Rugal-...not so much as he seemed to have not noticed the implications, least not until she spoke of him "Gawking" at her.
"...Excuse me? You think I was leering at you? I was just looking at the gem!...[sub]Bah, like you'll believe me. The youth these days[/sub]..." He grumbled before following her north though the dungeon, examining the passage for any signs of life.

[>Examine North Passage]

While he did this, he also used some of his Ki to spark a flame in the palm of his hand, using it to provide both heat and light as he attempted to find the exit down the passage.
"The cold air seems to be coming from that direction. Might as well see where this one heads off to first. Nina, stay where I can "Gawk" at you." He quipped before walking north towards the cold.

[>Walk North]
[>QCF+LP (CvS2 2001: 114 Shiki: Ara Gami "Wild Bite"]

 

[NotYetForsaken]

>Winter
>1 The darkness swallows up the flame you send through the doorway. It seems that the lack of light is not an indication of darkness, but rather of the fact that no light is able to enter the room from the other side of the door way.

>Winter
>2 You walk North. You can smell the air grow cleaner. The aroma of pine trees fill you as you traverse the darkness, unable to see back into the room and unable to see forward. After some time you exit the corridor and find yourself in a forest clearing, surrounded by tall trees. Gentle snow drifts down from high above.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Upon going through the doorway, he quickly noticed the sudden darkness that covered his vision, attempting to double back the way he came just to make sure that he could.

[>Walk South]
[>Walk North]

Once he got out into the clearing, Rugal felt the most at ease since this journey began.
He had fond memories of winter training over his lifetime, much of which took place in old forests like this one.
The cold didn't bother him much as he noticed the figure in the distance.

[>Look at Figure]

Softly pacing through the snow on the ground, he attempted to wave down the stranger stating "Hello? Can you hear me over there?"
He kept his guard up naturally, half expecting an arrow or some sort of projectile to start racing towards him.
"Excuse me, I think-heh-I'm a bit lost? Can you give me some directions?" He then asked in a faux tourist tone, trying to come off as non threatening until he needed to be.

[>Talk to Figure]

 

[NotYetForsaken]

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

"Rugal Bernstein. I'm not from around here...wherever here is." Rugal kindly answered, looking as relaxed as he could be in this strange realm.
It went without saying he wasn't convinced that "Allison" was her real name but until he knew what he was getting himself into, he could play alone for now.
"So Allison, you're..."Local" to this place are you? Perhaps you might be able to help me, I'm not really meant to be here. Or I am and I don't know it yet..." He spoke in his best "Lost Tourist" impression.
"Why, I don't even know where "Here" is? Don't suppose you could tell me what this place is? I was in a dungeon, then I walked a bit and suddenly I'm out here."

[>Ask Allison about forest]

 

[Zepherus14]

"... What the hell was that about..?" Nina gave a disgruntled look at the open doorway that'd swallowed up Rugal. "I even apologized to him and he's acting like a-" Nina cut herself off as Rugal popped his head back in. "Wonderful. Yep, be in there in a sec." Nina waved at him as he disappears back into the darkness.

"Well, at least we know it's not a one way or a trap..." She shook her head with her hand to it and glanced at the other doorways in the room. "Hopefully this is the right way and we don't need to head back to these other doors." She thought out loud as Phillip shifted around her shoulders. "Ya I can't see him either... What if it's too dark in there and we get lost?" Nina suggested, only for Phillip to extend a tentacle out to the other side of the room. "Hehe, a good idea but really that's not gonna work. What happens if you need to retract it?" Nina said, rattling her brain on what to use.

[>Use Butcher's twine spool]

"What we need is something strong, thin and really really long... like a string or..." Nina said looking to Phillip who seemed very offended. Offended enough to hop of her shoulder and point an accusing tentacle at her. "But it'd be perfect! We got that pack of twine not too long ago, you can't have used a lot of it." Nina argued to which Phillip threw even more arms up into the air. Nina pinched the bridge of her nose, let out a long sigh and stooped down to sit on the floor with him.

"Look, we can't be arguing about this right now. We need to think about this smart and if we gotta ruin $14 of- okay $14.67. Point is, I will absolutely buy you more later. This is not the universe's last spool of twine." Nina stated her case. "And just so we're even, you can tie it to that big coat rack mom sent you think's tacky. We need to weigh it down anyways." She suggested to which Phillip quickly pulled out both and threw to the ground unceremoniously. "... No need to throw it like that..." She smirked offering a hand to him and soon stepping through the doorway with her buddy dropping the line behind them.

[hr]

It was cold but other than her uncovered face Nina actually felt pretty warm. Despite how sheer her outfit was, it was strangely insulating, not letting the cold in and yet she wasn't cooking in it either. "If you get cold I'm pretty sure we didn't unpack the winter stuff?" Nina suggested as Phillip just grabbed a large amount of her hair and used that to wrap himself up. "Or you could do that too. Now where did he get off to?"

Nina followed after Rugal's footsteps through the snow but kept an eye out just in case something popped up. And pop up they did as Rugal called out to a third party, Nina ducking behind a tree on the outer ends of the path. 'Shit, what is he doing?!' She thought as she tried to listen on the conversation and nearly fell over herself when she heard 'Allison' state her name. 'And her last name's probably Snow. I leave you for 5 seconds and you go and find Alice! Wtf Rugal!?' Nina's chest pounded as she watched him looking around like a lost puppy. 'There's no way she's buying this! Why are you lying to her?' She thought, getting ready to have Phillip linch Rugal outta there if it came to that.

In the meantime, Nina tried looking back where Allison had come from, trying to spot if she'd been standing there this whole time or if she had left a trail behind. If there wasn't a trail then there wasn't a doubt, no one could be out there with that little clothing to wait for the snow to refill her steps.

 

[NotYetForsaken]

Wonderland
>You inspect the area around

Allison

. The snow beneath her feet is as fresh as can be. There is no evidence that she had walked to where she was standing in the immediate past. Her face seems to spark a familiar recollection within you, of a woman once glanced in a scrapbook a long time ago.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

"I never knew my parents to be honest. But I'd like to think they would have been..." Rugal answered, well versed in the art of "selective truth telling".
"But thank you for the advice. Just-..." He trailed off before letting out an embarrassed laugh.
"Well-...Can you be more exact then "Close to here"? I'll confess, I usually let my servants or my personal AI assistants handle the directions. Can't even use one of those Sat Navs without ending up a few dozen miles in the opposite direction!" He pleaded, attempting to ensnare further her in his ruse.
Either she was foolish enough to believe what he was saying or she knew already and was just playing along: Either way, it served him to play his part until he made sure he had his opening.

After all, if this was really Alice, she'd know better then to stand around in the open right next to someone who's main claim to fame was tearing people apart with his bare hands.
For now, there was little more to do then see how she would play this one out.
And should she try something: Slashing Aura though the chest cavity, grip the heart and crush it, withdraw hand though her neck and skull to ensure termination.
"So how about it? Perhaps you could show me? I apologize for imposing but-...Like I said: I'm lost."

Should she lead him off, he would leave small nicks in the trees along his path as a trail for Nina to follow.

 

[NotYetForsaken]

>Wonderland
>3 You follow the

Allison

as she starts off into the woods. The journey is a meandering walk through a thousand identical trees, each of them pristine and beautiful, but unnerving in their regularity. You leave nicks in the trees as you walk, but soon you start to notice that the trees ahead have marks on their bark. Marks that you made. As you wonder if this girl is leading you along in circles, you find yourself outside of the forest.

>Wonderland
>4 You are standing on a small hill with

Allison

. A small town is laid out before you. There are several cottages and some shops, all covered in a robust layer of snow. Thin ribbons of smoke and steam rise out of chimneys and drift high into the overcast sky.

>Wonderland
>5 You feel alone... Nina and Philip have left your party.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Rugal did seem to notice the markings on the trees he had left, a bit annoyed by another norm of reality apparently breaking before his eyes once again.
He didn't let it show but he did see if he could sense his allies, seeming pretty concerned when he couldn't find either of them.
Keeping his poker face, he then examined the town before them as he tried to work out how far along he might have went off without Nina.

"Ahhh...lovely little place you have here. It's a wonder anyone can find it though with all those trees. I hope the locals know how to find someone who gets lost..." He made conversation as he soaked in the view before walking towards the nearest inn/public house/etc.
"Don't see any roads...Do the shops here not trade with the outside world?" Rugal then densely asked, knowing this was all some sort of strange simulation or reality but he wasn't going to let up on his act now.

All the while, he kept his eyes peeled for anything that might help Nina and Philip link back up with him.

 

[Zepherus14]

"KOF? What's that?" Nina asked quietly to Phillip, the noodle monster shrugging back at her in a similarily perplexed tone. "Rugal seems to know?" Nina whispered back, still trying to keep low as the two walked deeper into the woods.

"Oh no they're moving we need to..." Nina started to get up as the two started to get outside her vision, the dark night and snow obscuring her vision, only for Phillip to stop her. "You can still see them? Okay don't lose sight of them we need to keep together." Nina requested of her partner looking around them for any other problems that might come their way only for Phillip to poke her cheek.

"What do you mean they disa-" Nina asked as she stooped down as Rugal and Allison came back from a different direction. The two watched as they did this another time, this time Nina getting her tablet out with a drawing document out. "We gotta keep track where they're going, something weird's happening here!" She said, helping him by popping open a new layer whenever they warped to help keep track and did so up until Phillip confidently concluded they'd disappeared. No trace of either were anywhere close, even ignoring the limits of the darkness, they were straight up gone.

"Please work, please work!" Nina muttered to herself as she got up and started making her way in the same direction Rugal and Allison had first gone, using the map they'd made to help ensure she didn't stray off the path as they approached the first warp point. "If I'm right, when we get there we should jump back to the next layer and we just need to follow where they went. Then..." Nina paused with a gulp. "Ya we might be face to face with her, but it beats being out here in the snow..." She said as they neared the spot, having some trouble moving in the shoe with her heels for obvious reasons.

>[If Warp fails]

Nina stomped her foot down several times into the snow, turning around and trying again in some vain attempt to get whatever magical mumbo jumbo to activate and pull them to the next spot. Unknown to her Phillip's own existence would make this that much easier, being pulled through to new locations, but without Allison pulling the strings from wherever she was that might not be helpful.

"Okay... okay... this isn't working... but we need to find Rugal, we need to stick together..." Nina thought out loud as Phillip pulled out a large winter hat for himself to put on, one of those big woolen hats with the big tassels. "Allison said there was a town around here. Maybe, just maybe if we get up high we can see some lights or something from it?" Nina suggested pointing up at some of the trees.

Phillip then climbed onto her back and grabbed her shoulder's and waist before effortlessly lifting the two upwards, essentially Doc Ocing there way up until they were up at the tallest tree in their immediate area. From there they both looked for any 'glow of a civilization'.

>[Take photos of skyline]

If they couldn't tell from their own eyesight, Nina'd make the attempt to take several pictures of the skyline around them. She'd then use the colour picking tool in her art program to try and see if any of them displayed a lighter Hex value than the others. It was a long shot but you need to use your strengths where you can.

 

[NotYetForsaken]

>Wonderland
>You manage to triangulate the location of the town. It is some distance away. It will take some time to travel there by foot, but it seems to be easily accessible if you travel across the canopy.

 

[BlackHarte]

"What a strange question," I said. The great big blonde man looked out wistfully toward town. There was unease in his eyes, but I was confident that it was just the stress from travelling so great a distance. "No one gets lost here and no one leaves here. This town has existed like this since time immemorial."

I turned to follow his gaze down to the town. There were no roads or streets here. The ground was blanketed in snow so deep that whatever roads had once existed had long since been lost. Small wooden cottages were all that were left as reminders of what lay beneath the white carpet.

"Say Rugal," I turned back to the great big blonde man, "why did you come all the way out here anyway? What did you get lost doing exactly? And why was such a terrible monster tailing you? Is your life in danger?"

 

[Zepherus14]

Sitting up on one of the high tree branches, feet dangling as she looked up at the glow of the town lights. Phillip sat on her lap as she rubbed his hat to help warm in a little. "Alright, we need to go that way, walking's out of the question. No way in H-E-double sticks I'm making it there in these heels." She sighed, watching as her breath floated away. "At least this suit's warm. Anyways, we could go along the trees but... that'll take a long while too and I don't think you can keep going without a break... Yet... we need to get there before morning... otherwise we're not gonna be able to see that glow." Nina stated as she glanced down to Phillip. "Exactly, something where we get the chance to sit still while moving. Something like..." Nina thought as she looked down at the snow, seeing a bit of snow from the tree falling to the ground and sliding down one of the snow banks. "A sled!" She shouted, nearly losing her balance for a moment only for her to stabilize herself by grabbing the trunk while keeping a hand on Phillip. "What do you me- oh right, you've probably never seen one... Not that we have a sled sled... Let's get down to the ground for now, we need to be smart about this."

Helping Phillip get back up onto her back, Nina quickly found herself back down on the ground. After a bit of back and forth, taking stock of inventory and realizing Nina's new proportions made this a bit more tricky; the two decided on a plan. Garbage bin lid wouldn't have enough room for the trip, a cookie tray was too small and multiple taped together wouldn't fair much better, but putting a large chunk of cardboard into an industrial sized garbage bag gave them the best chance. Lightweight, durable, large surface area and very slippery; it was perfect!

Grabbing the edges and taking a deep breath, Nina charged forward through the snow as best she could before jumping onto the makeshift magic carpet. Phillip then followed up by grabbing two sets of trees and yanked them forward as Nina's hair was flown back by the sudden burst of speed. "OH MY GOD!!" She squealed as Phillip continued yanking at the trunks as they build up speed and darted through the forest towards the town.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

"...There was a monster?" Rugal densely remarked, glancing around for any trace of Nina and Phi-I mean, "The Monster".
"Oh my...guess I picked a good time to bump into you when I did. I had no idea there was such creatures in there." He shuddered at the thought as he listened to Allison's breakdown of the town.
"Since time immemorial? If that was the case, I'd expect there to be more of a crowd. If no one leaves this place, then where else could they be? Hard to believe this place has an population at all..." He added as he knelt down, pushing aside a few layers of snow to see if he could even find the road system this place used to have.

When the topic turned to himself, he was ready with some prepared answered as he dusted the snow off his hands.
"Well, there's a few answers to that question. The primary of which would be that-...well, these muscles are high maintenance and my career choice makes it hard to fit in proper cardio so I have to make time. No point being able to lift as much as I can if you are too exhausted afterwards to even stand. So I figured a bit of a jog through the woods would have been a good way to do it. These trees, they remind me of the ones outside my home in my native country...Although they weren't nearly as confusing to navigate as these ones..."

Turning back to the monster, he once again showed his confusion by muttering "What monster? Until I ran into you, I had just about given up on finding life around here. Lord above, I'm not going senile am I?"
He appeared rather concerned about the fact that he, a mere mortal man, was running around the forest with a horrible monster about!
Rather then confess that he arrived here with Nina and Philip, he kept up his act by asking several follow-up questions: "So-so are we talking about an actual monster like in the movies or-or is it a wolf? a bear? Do you know what it looks like? Does it have tracks?-"

 

[BlackHarte]

I closed my eyes and tried at the very least to humor his explanation, "There are no people, Rugal, because this is no ordinary forest. I would be hard-pressed to believe that you came here for the sole purpose of exercise." I turned toward the presence that was approaching rapidly from within the forest. The monster was now approaching with a ferocity unbecoming of natural instinct. There must have been a second intelligence guiding it.

"Wonderland is a place for things that don't belong. Those who have died and have nowhere else to go. Then, and only then, do they come here," I continued. The shifting of the snow in the forest betrayed the advancement of the creature and its handler. The curse of the forest was breaking. It was an annoying development, but in the end, it didn't matter. None of this mattered.

"To think... even here, a monster from beyond would break the peace." I shook my head. "I do not dislike monsters, but I dislike those who are relentlessly persistent. But if truly you do not know the nature of your pursuant, I will eradicate it for you."

I held out my hand and felt the surge of power rush from within my breast to the palm of my hand. I focused all that I could muster into a ball some distance before me, pouring forth all of the terrible feelings of loneliness, betrayal, and despair I had into a space no larger than that of a marble.

The spell had no name, but it demanded one. "Desolation," I whispered.

The magick burst forth, given life by my command and tore through the forest toward the approaching beast.