December Adventures

[mayoninofukucho]

WHO: Hijikata and ✨YOU✨
WHAT: TDM prompts (exploring the Land of Maidens) and a couple of dark web quests!
WHEN: Throughout December
WHERE: Land of Maidens, Camelot City, Underground Fae Prison, Forest of the Felled
WARNINGS: NSFW for prompt 3B ('Go Get 'Em, Tiger' Quest); I'll add more if necessary!



1) Arrival in Elphame

A ⦿ Searching for Direction

[Early in December Hijikata instructs his ghost subordinates to keep up their nightly patrol in Camelot City and look out for its people while he's in Elphame (where, he hopes, it won't be quite as winterly yet). Upon arrival in the Land of Maidens he tries to figure out where to go next from the small island in the lake and, after some fruitless investigation, ends up sticking his face underwater, which prompts the small fairies who are celebrating the shimmering holographic stones to start teasing him.]

Look, he thinks he can dive out of here! Hahaha!

Well, if that wasn't what you meant by "Keep your head down", what else was it?! Be more clear!

[Instead of elaborations he receives more giggles and an enchantment.]

I don't even need to know what you just did, you little cuties!

[?!?!? What? No!! He meant to demand that they tell him what they did to him at once, and the term he called them was anything but flattering!]

I'm sure you actually have nothing to do with this, so never mind. If you helped me I wouldn't know how to repay you, anyway!

[No!!! He meant to say that they better fix this, or else!! God, this is going to be an ordeal. He turns away from the giggling fairies, visibly furious.]

I had no idea this would be so much fun!!

[No!!! He knew exactly that it'd be a shitshow! (And yet he still came...)]

B ⦿ Off-Track

[Not wanting to endure the fairies' mocking laughter any longer Hijikata grimly takes a different pair of shoes out of the big camping backpack he brought and puts them on. They look pretty much exactly like the others - simply black dress shoes -, but they clearly have different properties, given that he confidently walks across the lake's surface in them without sinking in. Once he reaches the mountainside enclosing the gorge he tries to climb up, but the fairies, who curiously followed him, put yet another spell on him, and the wall freezes wherever he touches it, making it impossible for him to grasp on to anything.]

You're so cute!! I want you to spend all day with me!!

[His expression and tone make it rather clear that that's not at all what he wanted to say... but honestly, the fairies may just have done him a favour, because the aqrabuamelu living nearby have been attracted by the commotion. A pair of them are looking down from the clifftop. When Hijikata spots them he shouts up.]

Hey!! No worries, I don't need any help!! I'm having the time of my life!

[No!!! He wants help getting out! But the scorpiontaur-looking warriors don't seem to think that they want him up there with them at all, anyway, instead taking out their bows and arrows. Hijikata still doesn't look like he's entirely sure that staying with the fairies is the better choice here...]


2) Can You Imagine?

A ⦿ Whisper Bridge

[After some fellow outworlders finally figure out that the right way leads through the waterfall they all gradually make it to the three floating islands. Hijikata takes in the lush, gargantuan forest, ancient statues and friendly wildlife on the first one and the fairy-tale-ish castle on the second one, and after spending a while exploring the surroundings he realises with great relief that the reverse speaking spell has stopped working.

Once he hears about the demands of each of the sorceresses' tasks he really regrets coming here at all. What the hell kind of jobs are these?! He isn't cut out for any of this! Facing thorns that turn people to stone? He just got petrified by a basilisk last month, so no thanks!! He can neither sing nor play an instrument nor paint, so those tasks are out of question for him as well... and he doesn't have the slightest idea how to take care of a baby, let alone a gigantic one! Once he hears of the wolf transformation curse he vows to give that maiden a wide berth, too. Does he end up helping at all?! Maybe! In any case it's the final task that seems to lead to everyone's final destination (or so he mistakenly assumes).]

Crossing this damn unsecured bridge blindfolded... do they just want to do us in, or what?

[There's nobody else around... who's supposed to control whether they walk across blindfolded? He slides his blindfold up on one side and takes a few steps onto the bridge. Seriously, these fae give them nothing but trouble-- but his train of thought gets cut off as a massive, beautifully galaxy-patterned sky orca comes barreling towards him with a delightend noise. It's lunch time!]

B ⦿ The Island of Dreams

[Somehow Hijikata manages to make it to the third island in one piece. At first he's confused by all the unfamiliar people, beings and things he sees there, but before long he's filled in on the island's peculiarity and instantly creates a dozen Mayorins out of thin air. All his pissiness appears gone as he plays and laughs with the toddler-sized gnome-like creatures, who all seem to be wanting his attention.]

So this is our present for the winter solstice? All the trouble was worth it after all!


3) Quests

A ⦿ Who You Gonna Call? Ghostbusters! (for angel_of_death)

[Hijikata's bliss on the Island of Dreams was harshly interrupted when he found out that Camelot's criminal underground had been making moves against his hard-working ghost patrol back in King Arthur's domain. Why now of all times?! After some hasty information-gathering he returns to Camelot to meet up with his anonymous contact.

The city in front of him is still snow-clad, and he's easy to spot in his black attire. Now he can only hope that the mystery person will make it to his location before the Yuureisengumi's enemies do.]

⦿ Banyanished (for milkmycattle)

[Hijikata eventually managed to get his captured subordinates back, at least for the time being, though the incident forced him to rearrange them into bigger groups of four (they previously patrolled in pairs) and caution them to take no risks until he's able to figure out some safeguards for them - which may be rather challenging, given that unlike physical entities they can't be outfitted with warding gems or other protective items. Damn it, this time the dark web scumbags really set the Yuureisengumi back! That heist they were planning probably was a success after the ghosts, thrown into some disorder by the disappearance of several of their comrades, fell back until their commander's return.

While he's back in his "home" kingdom, though, he feels the need to follow up on some of the other quests on the dark web. One that immediately caught his eye when he saw it is the one concerning the underground fae prison - something he had no idea existed until now. Luckily he ran into Crow, so they're sitting in the library and mulling over the quest together. Hijikata taps the approximate location of the prison on a map with his finger.]

"Halfway between Dinas Emrys and the Forest of the Felled"... that's Elphame territory. It should be smack dab under the Valley of the Shearing. I know nothing about that area.

[Generally speaking a prison break really goes against his principles, but after everything the fae have done to the outworlders during his year on Avalon he's willing to at least investigate and give the prisoners a chance to make their case. Elphame's rogue justice irks him.]

C ⦿ Go Get 'Em, Tiger (NSFW)

[And then there's that other dark web quest... the one that hits Hijikata with an unwelcome, wholly inappropriate sense of near-nostalgia. It's not like he habitually participates in orgies, but the concept of generating healing energy through intimacy rings all too familiar. How long has it been since Prismatica? He visited ever so often after returning to his homeworld, but now it's already been almost a year since this new calamity froze it along with every other world out there.

Back home he had always rejected the notion that romance might be in the cards for him - a man who lives by the sword shouldn't get involved with an innocent woman. Prismatica, however, gave him plenty of incentive - such as saving the planet - and brought him close to people like him, soldiers who'd seen war and bloodshed. What reasoning could he have used to refuse them too? In the end being with them made him happy. None of his moonlacing partners are here on Avalon now, but he decides to improvise a little and recreate one of the moonblessing transformation effects he got to experience - purely to help the Forest of the Felled get back on its feet after being cursed for such a long time, of course. In no way does he selfishly want to feel good or anything!

Ultimately he wanders into the cold winter woods during the day (when his subordinates are hidden away in their various flasks and birdhouse-like structures) with his hammerspace camping backpack and sets up a campfire and a simple, small two-person tent he bought in Camelot, which he fills with a whole bunch of blankets and pillows. He overlooks his work, satisfied. Now only one thing is missing... he takes out the 'From the Void' recipe he won after braving the Celliwigians' spooky trials last month. He should probably best only start the summons once he's all set, huh? He gets in the tent, ready to close it from inside. No one's going to walk up and ruin this for him, right?

And also surely no one's going to come inspect the quiet tent by the burned-down fireplace the next day either (because damn, multiple summons at the same time really will knock a man out for a whole day)?]


[OOC: If you'd like any additional prompts please feel free to hit me up on my plotting post! Also here are Hijikata's permissions. If asked for his name in Elphame he'll say he's 'Agent Mayo 13' (yeah...).]

Comments

[milkmycattle]

[ Crow looks at the dagger that Hijikata slips into his hand. It's not his preferred weapon of choice, but it'll do for now. The plan sounds reasonable. Cut as many roots as they can, he takes the corridors and Hijikata will get at the roots from the cells.

Crow isn't sure if he can make a replica of his guitar, but that's on his mind as well. He'll reserve it as a last resort for now, just in case the situation becomes worse and they need to sever these roots more quickly, he'll give it a try.

He laughs at the alibi.]

Of course, Ravyn, the Crimson Arsonist cannot be contained! So you have to make sure your fire causes a lot of damage, my reputation is on the line, okay?

[ Finally the elevator stop on the Mandrake level, and they exit, surveying the area for any guards. Like Hijikata noticed before, there aren't many guards, but there doesn't mean there's not a different type of surveillance. Crow walks over to one of the cellblocks that one of the banyan tree's roots stretch through. It's low-hanging, so even someone like Crow can reach. However, at closer inspection, that dark aura around the root sends chills down his spine. He can almost feel it sucking the life force from him. The restraints around his wrists take on the same wicked hue, and now he realizes how the tree is able to drain the prisoners of their energy.]

Hey! I think these cuffs are connected to the banyan tree through some magic or maybe it's made of its wood!

[He thought the restraints were made of iron because of how heavy they were, but maybe it's actually from the tree too. Either way, they need to work quickly more than ever. Crow separates from Hijikata, taking a blind spot in between two empty cells, climbing against the wall to get closer to the room, and starts cutting into it. Although it's more like carving, the knife not being able to cut through cleanly but friction seems to wear away at it.]

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata snorts at Crow's quip, but quickly gets serious again. Just like Crow he sizes up the first ominous root he wants to take on when the rocker's call alerts him to his side again.]

Are you serious?!

[Crow was already challenged enough by having to cut the roots with the handcuffs restraining his movement (the way they seem to weigh a ton really doesn't help with that!), now those damn things actually turn out to be the catalyst for the whole energy drainage?! It makes sense, in hindsight - otherwise the tree would have to be able to independently differentiate between prisoners and wards, and while Hijikata wouldn't put it past it this does seem to make things easier.]

I'm starting to think that this may not even be how the tree was from the start... perhaps some sick sadist started bio-engineering it and developed these devices to faciltiate this shitshow!

[This is bad!! Perhaps he should better destroy the handcuffs before Crow gets drained too much. But while the hedgehogboy is already working away at his first root Hijikata can't be idle; they can look at the damn things when he's done with that one. He approaches the first occupied cell with a root in it, putting his finger on his lips to silence the inmate, who's opening his mouth to say something - and then, when he tries to shove the lance through the bars, he hits an invisible barrier. It's almost like an electric field, with colourful pattern becoming visible just in front of the bars before fading like ripples on water. The prisoner sighs.]

The barrier's up, warden...

Ugh!! Just how secure is this prison? Is there a way to turn it off?

Yes..? Don't you know? Did you lose your memory?

I'm not the warden!! I just stole his face-- not literally, don't look at me like that! Damn it, we have no time for this!

[He leans the lance against the wall, deeming it almost entirely useless for the task by now, and starts tackling the nearest root in the corridor with his fire magic. He may or may not be caught by hidden surveillance mechanisms, but he's getting pretty desperate, seeing no way to complete the operation as a stealth mission anymore. Even if they both go all out with their magic they may only be able to destroy a small contingent of roots before their actions are discovered, but at least they'll take out more than trying to chip away at the few that elude observation in blind spots!]

[milkmycattle]

[It's possible that the tree was magical and was wise enough to see the wickedness in others. But there might be some instances where a warden could be bad but hasn't committed any crimes, so they probably had to make it more simple for the tree to differentiate the two groups. Still developing these tools and this prison must be for a reason. The banyan tree must have a greater purpose than punishment with how elaborate and secure the prison is. They don't seem to want the prisoners to escape, but why? Too bad it's not really their mission to find out, but perhaps by destroying the roots they can uncover the truth.

As for their current task, it's not going so smoothly. Crow doesn't make much leeway with his root, and from the hushed shouts he hears from a nearby cell, Hijikata isn't very lucky himself. At some point, the idea of stealth goes out the window, the samurai is using his fire magic in clear view.

Though that's fine by Crow, it'll take too long to sever the roots if they were more careful. It's probably better to take care of this as quickly as possible. So Crow decides to use his dark magic to hex the main root. The stem starts to dry up and crack like all the moisture is evaporating from it. Eventually, the root starts to wither up. The rocker directs his attention to another root that weaves in and out of the cells, enchanting it to start to erode.]

This is much faster!

[Though, he's sure their actions won't go unnoticed for long. There's someone bound to notice a warden and a prisoner casting spells on their precious tree's weak point. As Crow expects, an alarm does go off, loud and jarring.]

1/2

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata is regretting going on this quest with Crow more with every passing minute. How could he underestimate the fae so badly?! It was clear that this wouldn't be a sleepy little three-cell countryside prison they could just sneak into, cut some roots, and sneak back out! They're almost certainly going to be caught, and then they'll be in deep shit, and it'll be his fault--

And then he sees Crow absolutely go to town on the largest of those nasty cursed things, making them wither and shrivel up. This is what dark magic can do?! Could he also do this to people and turn them into mummies?!]

2/2

[mayoninofukucho]

[But then the alarm starts blaring, and you know what, all those concerns can be addressed later. Now he needs to help Crow! He summons two white-hot fireballs and saunters up next to him with a nasty look in his eyes. If those roots could quake with fear they just might now.]

Good work! Let's give them hell.

[He unleashes his flames on the hexed roots. Now they should be dry enough to burn! Meanwhile most prisoners have naturally realised that this apparent traitor warden and the new prisoner he brought in are wrecking the tree, and they're cheering them on from behind their barred and shielded cells. Some of them are pointing out to each other that as Crow's hex keeps draining the burning main root the smaller offshoots inside some of the cells are also drying out, and the inmates in those cells start clobbering the shriveled-up wood with anything at their disposal.

Shouts can be heard from a good few levels above, but now that they're making some serious progress Hijikata is determined to keep going until they're apprehended. There's only one way out - upwards - (unless some prisoner has dug a tunnel through the wood, and what are the chances of that), so they can't flee... maybe, just maybe, he can try to bullshit their way out of it by claiming that 'Ravyn' used blood magic to puppeteer him around, but somehow he doubts that they'll get away with that.]

[milkmycattle]

[ Crow would probably be going into evil mage territory if he tries to curse people in the same way. He could, but he doesn't quite have that kind of malice in him. Even if the banyan tree is a living thing, he feels justified in hurting it with how it's been treating the prisoners here...including himself.

As Hijikata goes over his handiwork with fire, and the prisoners join in, killing these nasty weeds, Crow continues on to the next corridor to curse another root. Though, the more he uses his magic, the more his energy starts to deplete as well. He stares down at the restraints as they glow wickedly as it steals his energy. He can already feel the fatigue starting to settle on his body, Crow shakes off a bout of dizziness, he has to keep going.

And that's when his hedgehog ears twitch, he hears the footsteps in the distance. It sounds like a squad of guards is racing over to the Mandrake cell block to contain the situation. Crow shouts out warns Hijikata so he can be prepared.]

Incoming!

[What now? If they get caught, they'll definitely be thrown into one of those cells for the rest of their lives. The musician panics for a bit, wondering if he should keep jinxing the roots or figure out a way for them to escape. They've come so far, so he doesn't want to leave their work unfinished. Guess they'll figure it out later. He tries to influence his curse to spread throughout the entire outgrowth, for the most part, he's able to afflict them with his curse. Though the spell is powerful, it takes most of Crow's energy to cast. He sags against a nearby wall, catching his breath and weakly signaling Hijikata to finish the job.]

Go ahead...light it up!

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata has no doubt that Crow will stick to the light side of morality, dark magic or not! Never mind that this entire undertaking they're in the middle of here is very dubious... they really have no idea what the people incarcerated here did; they simply felt that it was wrong to just leave them to be drained by the tree, practically abandoned on these deep subterranean levels of the prison.

He thinks of jamming or otherwise damaging the elevator carrying their adversaries closer, but from the looks and feeling he got during their descent it seems to run on magic, not hydraulics or other mechanisms he could tamper with, so he quickly discards that idea.

Seeing Crow use up his last magic reserves to damage the root system as much as possible suddenly makes him realise that they have no other option than one so blatantly obvious that he hadn't even considered it: they need to use a totem. He may have had to leave his bag hidden in the undergrowth along with their weapons, but he sure enough stuffed all the pockets on this uniform with his utensils! Hearing the wardens' voices get louder he fishes out a random totem, sets it on fire, and drops it on the floor.]

Over here!! Hurry!

[It'll only take half a minute at the most until the totem smoke is at its height, thick and ready to swallow and transport anyone who enters it - Crow needs to drag himself there in time. Meanwhile Hijikata unleashes his fire on every piece of root he sees, sending flamethrower-like blasts down the corridors. Some inmates draw back, scared of his forcefulness, but the shields around their cells protect them from the fire. The temperature notable rises, but luckily the walls are pure soil and don't start burning along with the roots.

Once he has covered the entire area in fire he turns and runs towards the now thick cloud of totem smoke, just as the elevator arrives with a good number of guards who immediately shout and fire off magical attacks. Hijikata responds by pulling up multiple walls of ice in between them and him and Crow. They'll break through those easily, he's sure, but that doesn't matter. All they need are a few more seconds! He runs straight into the smoke, and if Crow hasn't made it through yet he'll grab him and pull him along. It's up to him to leave some parting words from 'Ravyn'; Hijikata has nothing left to say to anyone here.]

[milkmycattle]

[A totem?

Crow watches as Hijikata lights it with his fire and the item smokes up. That's a brilliant idea! At the officer's yelling, Crow pushes off the wall and wills his body to move. He's never been this drained in his life. Each step was heavy and slow as if weights were anchoring him down. Yet, he manages to stagger over to the totem.

He has a moment to look up and see the roots aflame. It's kind of satisfying in a destructive way. If he had the energy, he'll be jumping up in down in excitement, but all he can do is stare as the roots burn up and the embers fall down from above. Though he doesn't have much time to marvel at Hijikata's handiwork when a magic spell whizzes past his face. Oh yeah, they had company. Though it seems Hijikata had thought of that as well, constructing walls of ice around them.

Still, there's not much time to delay. Parting words?! Crow's mind goes blank, but he's got to say something! This is just the perfect opportunity!]

That's what happens when you bastards try to put Ravyn, the Crimson Arsonist, into a cage!

[ The prisoners start to cheer his name, 'Ravyn, Ravyn!', and the rocker would have relished at that moment if not for Hijikata pulling him fully into a cloud of totem's smoke. He allows himself to be transported to....who knows where! Crow finds out when he falls on hard debris that scrapes him up pretty well. Then he realizes the surroundings all around them are only rubble. From as far as he can see, there's nothing but decimation. For a moment, he fears this might be Camelot until he sees what remains of the Diamond Falls fountain, tarnished and stained by ash. He remembers coming to Celliwig a couple of times and hanging out at that exact fountain. This is the first time, he's seen the destruction of Celliwig up close, and it's terrible.]

This is...really what happened?

[His hedgehog ears flatten against his head. Those poor people. Somehow sitting in this deadly silence makes Crow consider how lucky the two of them were for making it out there alive or not thrown in prison.]

I don't think I'll do any Dark Web Quests for a while! [ Or maybe at all, if the stakes were so high. And....?!!!] What about Red Tomahawk?! We're really going to leave our stuff there?!

[It'll be too dangerous to go back there right away.]

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata feels like slumping on the ground and just waiting for his heart rate to go down. That was such a close call!! In hindsight it was really irresponsible of him to take Crow along on this risky-ass quest! But hey, that outro was amazing. Maybe the risk was worth it for that alone. The legend of Ravyn the root wrecker will probably live on among the prisoners for a long time!

He simply nods at Crow's shocked reaction to the desolate ruins, lights himself a cigarette and checks the time on his phone. They ultimately didn't spend a full hour in the prison, but he shouldn't be walking around with a fae face for much longer. Good. He decides to play it cool and pretend that he had totally planned this all out... a few hiccups aside, as Crow quickly reminds him.]

Of course we'll get our stuff back. However it'd be for the best if we gave the prison and surrounding area a wide berth for a good while... perhaps our familiars can support us. I'll call Arashi here, but I expect it'll take him until tomorrow.

[Unlike some other people's familiars the crow tengu can't just teleport or appear out of hammerspace, he actually has to fly across the island, and they're quite remote from the Ash Mountains. On foot the journey would probably take 3 days, but through the air Arashi can simply cross the Dusklight Woods and the river and win a lot of time.]

You don't have another totem to the Land of Maidens either, do you? But even if we had one, how'd we get through that aqrabuamelu-infested area? The archaeopteryx will keep waiting for us not too far from the banyan tree, and I have no way of communicating with it across the distance. I'll have to ask Arashi to somehow make it understand that we're gone from there already.

[If only anyone in their outworlder-familiar quartet could speak with animals! Alas.]