logsinthenight | EVENT CONCLUSION: BEYOND THE SEA

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EVENT CONCLUSION: BEYOND THE SEA

characters: everyone!!
location: in the helix station under the lake, and back to the surface! (hopefully)
date/time: july 19th ish
content: After successfully exploring the Helix Station, characters have all they need to deal with the world eater stuck in the portal down below. How are they going to do it? Click and find out!
warnings: injury, body horror, monster horror, blood, maiming, you know, the usual

game plan.

Based on the votes, the consensus is quite clear: it's time to see if a creature that can destroy worlds can be killed. Characters are well armed from the finds in the test lab. Having recovered Weaver from the R&D wing, they have her assistance in attempting to use the MK VIII to assist with this task. The Key Extraction group found strong potions that might help to pacify the creature long enough to fight it. They have all they can hope to in this impossible fight — the idea is simple. Open the doors, distract the monster with brute force and attempt to pacify it with the narcotics they've recovered, while Weaver does what she can to get the drone restarted and hopefully in place for a killing blow.

If things go badly, though, the team has all agreed on a Plan B. If the tides start to turn, then the group will finish what Alastair started and shunt that bad boy back into space. It's not possible for them to change the trajectory, the World Eater will end up back where it started. However, it won't be in their lake anymore, so that's still some sort of a win. As Weaver is controlling the drone remotely, she will be the one in the control room, and will run the reversal routine if the attack begins to fail. Cao Pi is in charge of the radio to call if things start going south. Hopefully someone taught him how to use it!

boss battle.

Javert, Fitz, and Law (armed with a key Weaver provided him), with a coordinated use of the lockdown keys, manage to open the Portal Bay. Even with power restored, it is practically pitch dark in the room. It's as if the World Eater trapped in the portal manages to suck in and contain any light that dares get too close. They can hardly see the monster before they brave entering the room, though as they walk deeper into the darkness the group can see its shadowy form lodged in the portal. It's trapped around the torso, with only a small part of it visible to the group. Impossibly huge, and perhaps somewhat reminiscent of something that might have resembled a green eyed spirit, once, though it has started growing new extremities and limbs, as well as a few more sets of eyes. It rouses as they enter, and just looking at the World Eater manages to send an unspeakable wave of unease, anxiety, and hopelessness through the group.

Gregor, Stone and Jill throw the fragile bottles of sedative. They crack and settle on the skin and wide empty eyes of the monster. While it's clear it did not incapacitate the World Eater, the mental effects lessen and its movements seem to slow.

With that, it's a free for all, all members of the party armed to the teeth and determined to fight for all they have. The weapons recovered by Cao Pi, Link, and Reiju prove especially useful, though as they cut and slash, the World Eater seems to recover new limbs, new tendrils, seem to generate at random. Like a hydra, every piece they cut down seems to restore itself. Braving closer to its torso leaves the creature leaking toxic black blood over the floor. Touching it proves it is bitterly caustic, easily burning through rubber and clothing and flesh alike. It's a bitter, ugly battle, and not without damage to the fighters themselves.

The fight seems doomed to fail, even with the World Eater slowed and mostly immobilized. It's more than just slashes, heavy hits that can send bodies flying across the room. A flash of attention can leave an attacker immobilized, dark swirling terror clawing through them strong enough that they might try to hurt themselves or their company instead of the monster itself. Worse yet, any time the World Eater seems to lull, it seems to draw the living energy from any lantern nearby, rousing itself and dampening the fighter that might have been feverishly fighting a second before.

However, with the distraction provided, Weaver successfully reactivates the MK VIII. It sounds much like a giant sized bumble bee, until it rockets through the air toward the monster. The beast manages to swat the drone away, once, and for a moment all hope seems to be lost. Until the device lurches in the air and zooms right back to its task, landing on the monstrosity and scuttling deftly over the surface of the World Eater in attempt to find a weak spot. The battle swells, attempting to keep the World Eater from clawing the drone from its body before the drone has a chance to work properly.

It feels as if it takes hours for the drone to locate a weak point, though the reality is it doesn't take much longer than a handful of minutes. The sickening churn of flesh, bone and blood resonates in the room as the drone buries successfully inside the monster. Those lingering for the fight aren't spared, as even as the device whirls inside of it, the World Eater keeps up the fight, reaching for and lashing out at whoever remains close enough. There's no running for cover, as the fight rages until the very last.

There's no warning for when it happens. The World Eater cries out, a terrifying bellow that echoes throughout the station. With the cry comes a flash of bold light, brighter than any of them have seen since arriving in Beacon. The light builds, pushes outward, and the explosion deafens suddenly and completely. The room is bathed in light and anyone in the Portal Room is thrown to the sidelines, bouncing like ragdolls off the sturdy metal walls. The implosion paired with the light existing inside the creature floods through the room, likely to leave characters blinded and deafened for a few seconds after.

However, as they come to their senses, they find the World Eater felled, lying in multiple bloody burnt pieces. Troubling, some of them do seem to keep twitching and moving. Still, it seems to be over. The fight was not without consequences, and certainly not won easily, but it was won all the same.

return to the surface.

With the beast felled, and the party much worse for the wear, the group collects back in the submarines which have thankfully had a chance to charge this time around. The ride isn't exactly fun, but there's no alarm messages or rides in pitch darkness, at least. Even if there's still a good chance that characters might suffer decompression sickness, dizziness, queasiness, and headaches as they head back topside.

It's a battered and bruised group that makes it back to the docks. Plenty will need medical attention, and there might even be some with broken lanterns that will need to be taken to the lab and repaired immediately. Those that died in the fight will awaken in 3 days, however, there might be some consequences when they revive.

Those that are in better shape have a lot to share. What they've seen, what happened, and what should happen next. They've had a rough go of it, characters on the surface have their own oddities to share, too. There's a new guy in town, after all... And boy does he have some ideas and opinions.

ooc notes.

For refreshers on the first part of this event, please see the first event post! The results of this event are based on the voting found here. If your character was involved in the portal room fight, we have provided a comment for injury rolls here. If your character died in the fight, please head over to the Death Page to report it. Thanks for taking part in the first major event of our Next Night! It was quite a ride but we hope you had as much fun as we did!

Feel free to use this post for action tags set during the fight, as well as meeting up and sharing information with the others topside. As of this event, new NPC Weaver will be ashore with her submarine to offer her aide to the residents of Beacon after their help with the Helix Station. Keep an eye out for more from her soon! She will be staying at the docks in a submarine. If anyone has a cot a bunny can borrow, hit a girl up...

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"I've had worse," comes the quick reply, and it's true. He's been able to do much more with much worse wounds than this.

Not that he expects that to do much to reassure Cora. When he offers to go get those who are hurt badly enough to need immediate attention... it's probably the best deal he's going to get here, and frankly, the idea of trying to walk there on his own isn't an appealing one.

Law nods.

In the end, there are only two in need of medical attention, and it doesn't take Law long to treat them. He isn't as careful as he could be, but every little movement pulls at his wound, feeling like it's on fire, and by the time he's done with Jill, his vision is distinctly blurry.

He knows he doesn't have the energy for much, anymore... so though Cora has never been far from him throughout all this, with a little flick of his fingers, he moves himself to Cora's side, slumping against the wall.

"... I'm done."

Yes. I was told you weren't one of those kidnapped to the hospital. I need a guide to take me there so I can see if there's anything useful left there. You guys lack medical equipment.

[ he's not the type for small-talk — getting straight to business is much more his speed. though he glances at matt as he speaks, takes in his appearance... tries to gauge whether he'd be an asset or a hindrance, out there.

well. he had come to helix, and his death hadn't been his fault, for what he'd seen. he'd probably be useful. ]

"You could rate something that's not even your name." Again, rather matter-of-factly said... he does invent names for people, sometimes, if he doesn't feel like calling them by the name they have.

At least Soldat has earned the use of his name.

Finally, Law huffs, exasperated, and reaches for the plate. If he really admits it to himself... he is a bit hungry.

[ it would be so easy to say it; I was dying from amber lead poisoning, to say that cora-san got him the only cure there was for the otherwise incurable disease, that he betrayed everyone in order to save law and he died for it.

law stares at the blood running down elektra's arm for a long moment, hand stilling where he was stitching up the wounds.

in his ears, the flies buzz, and for a moment he can feel the weight of the bodies he hid under to escape his dead city. the world eater may be dead, but he doesn't need hallucinations to remember. ]

... sort of.

[ had it ever really been a fight? cora-san locked him in the treasure chest, left him there with a smile, and went to meet his brother with the knowledge that he would die. if anything, cora-san sacrificed himself so that law could escape, and live.

he breathes in, out. ]

I was dying from a disease. [ again — some people had seen cora's memories of the hospitals. it's safe to say this much; probably good to say this much, to make sure cora's story holds. ] Incurable. He found the one thing that could cure it... but getting it to me cost him his life.

[ that. that should be enough. more that he ever wanted to say on the subject... but before, he'd been holding back all his memories. with cora-san here... he can talk about some of it, if it helps people know cora-san is the best person he knows. ]

While Law works, Rosinante waits with as much patience as he can manage. Between the sight and smell of injury, his desperate need to get Law to safety, and yet his utter admiration for how hard the man works to help others even while at risk of dying, his head is sort of a mess. He tries once again to see if one of his cigarettes is dry enough to smoke, and never really manages to get the driest one to light more than a weak smolder, but he sticks it in his mouth anyway, in need of the distraction.

When Law finishes and returns, Rosinante looks down at him and loosely drapes an arm around his shoulders, like he wants to both hug him and help him up and can't quite manage to do either. This entire trip has just been exhausting.

"Let's get out of here. I want you to get up top so you can rest. You've done more than enough."

It's on the way back to the inn that Law senses a familiar presence — and isn't this funny, almost mirroring the way he met her for the first time there in the cabin.

Slowing his steps, Law looks over to where he can now see a faint outline of a person, even if his lantern's light doesn't quite carry to see her clearly.

"I suppose that eyebrow should have left no doubts for your identity, Vinsmoke Reiju... no, Poison Pink."

He doesn't sound exactly friendly... but he doesn't sound like he's about to fight her, either. That's something.

Exhausting is about right. Law manages a nod and lifts his head to look in the general direction of the submarines.

"Get me to one of those." He needs to lie down — needs to pass out, really, to accelerate the healing of his wound and recover his energy. From experience, he knows that's what he needs... and how long it'll take.

"I can rest there. Once I'm unconscious, it'll probably take me a couple of days to wake up. Don't let anyone move me during that. If the stitches tear, or the wound opens..."

He grimaces. That time he would certainly die.

No need to say anything to acknowledge the request. He nods, turns to face Law's side and gets on his knees, then reaches to gingerly pick him up without grabbing across his injured side. He's not going to ask if Law wants to walk there, either. He hauled him around enough as a kid, he can still do it now. This has to be more efficient and less dangerous than trying to get him to stand up.

"I'll keep an eye on you." For however long it takes. He'll make sure Law is comfortable, and most importantly, that nobody even dares to try and do anything to "help" because while they may have the best intentions, if Law says not to move him, then that's the final word on the matter, unless something attacks the submarine maybe. If Rosinante leaves at all, it will be to make sure there's food and water and clean bandages and more available to Law whenever he's awake again.

It's with a sigh of something like relief that Law just lets Cora pick him up — there's some eerie familiarity to it, even if he's much taller now than he used to be, as a kid.

Faintly, he thinks this is much better than being lugged around Dressrosa like a sack of potatoes.

"... thanks." It's all he says, one quiet word, until they get to the submarine. When he's sitting on one of the chairs, he grabs a stray piece of paper and scrawls the same instructions he's given Cora on it, sticking it on the chair, just in case.

When that's done, he all but slumps on the chair, eyes barely focusing when he looks at Cora.

"Cora-san —"

But whatever he's about to say is lost when he finally loses the fight against unconsciousness. He's out like a light... and will remain so for the next two days.

There are few side trips over those two days. He goes out rarely, mostly for food which never satisfies, to check on poor Mary who he always has to leave behind, to have a few miserable drinks on a miserable birthday with Cao Pi. He always comes back quickly, and makes himself comfortable in the small space with books and his tablet, their lanterns, and a few necessities.

When finally Law begins to stir, he looms over the smaller man, worry and hope in his eyes and voice.

"Law?"

Please, let this be the moment he fully awakens.

Consciousness returns to him in short flashes, like a light flickering before it remembers what it is to burn.

The first thing he feels is confusion — Where is he? What happened? But a voice cuts through it, and Law's eyes open instantly.

"Cora-san?"

The disorientation is quick to pass, and the details slot into place: his death, Beacon, Helix station, the fight. The wound. Experimentally, Law tries to move; it hurts less than he thought.

Groaning, he pushes himself up until he's actually sitting instead of lying down.

"How long was I out?"

"Two days, like you thought," he says, and a relieved smile floods his features as he too sits up straighter. Despite that smile, he still looks about as haggard as he had after the fight, having not gotten much rest between worrying for Law and feeling like he's starving himself through his refusal to give in to the thoughts placed in his head.

"How do you feel?"

He nods in response; good, so he'd calculated it correctly. It should have been long enough... he's fine to move around, now. The rest will heal on its own.

"Less like shit," he says, wryly, before focusing his attention on Cora. A few seconds of cataloging exactly how he looks, and Law scowls at him.

"You... tell me you haven't stayed here the whole time. Tell me you've at least slept."

The defeated edge to his tone tells quite clearly what sort of a response he expects to get.

"I tried," he admits, for he did make the attempt. It just didn't work out well. "I wasn't going to leave you here alone. There are things in the lake here that can probably chew right through the hull if they want to. Had to stick close."

Which is sure not the only reason he stayed, but it's a pretty good one. He has personal experience with those fighting fish spirits, after all. They weren't on this side of the lighthouse peninsula before but if they ever venture this way he's ready to shoot a few right in the gullet.

"I'm fine, Law," he insists. "I'm not the one who got sliced by that thing."

There are a lot of elements to consider when answering such a question, and he takes a moment to think, to weigh them against each other, while looking down at poor Law passed out next to him.

"Better," he decides finally. "Than before, I mean. Now we've seen one up close. We know one thing that worked. We only had half of us, and half a plan. But it won't be easy. We'll lose a lot of people no matter what."

The look that Law gives Cora is partly doubtful, partly grateful... and in the end, his expression softens as he sighs.

"Well, I'm up now. We can leave." There's a thank you somewhere in there, in the spaces between his words, in the way he keeps his eyes on Cora for a long moment before focusing on the actual task of leaving.

Grimacing, he pushes himself up — standing up isn't exactly easy, but it's not the insurmountable task it was right after the battle, either.

Rosinante smiles back and nods. He can hear the thanks even if it's not voiced, and so he replies in kind with a nonverbal you're welcome, then passes Law his lantern and gestures to the open hatch. "After you."

Which is partly so he can help Law out if need be, but he's not going to lead him by the hand or anything. He gets frustrated enough when people try to help him up when he falls, and he can see Law wants to stand and walk on his own. He's just there behind him to lend an arm if Law looks unstable. But it's also out of practicality - he's too tall to even want to push past Law anyway.

And it turns out it's him who faceplants onto the pier when trying to exit, which just figures. A new scrape on his chin and palms, but he shakes it off with a grunt and stands back up, feet now on the wooden planks.

"I didn't really get a chance to say it earlier, but Law - you're amazing," he says, grinning as he straightens his own lantern and the strap of the bag carrying his stuff. "The way you fight? With your devil fruit and that sword? Never seen anything like it before."

"I don't mind nicknames," Soldat says, and manages to keep from looking smug when the bacon is finally accepted, not wanting to do anything to risk Law actually eating it. "Before I made this name mine, people called me lots of things. Tinman. Mr. Helpful. Human soldier person." There's a small smile, actually, kind of sad. All the people who gave them those nicknames are gone, now. "I'm really not picky."

He has a bread knife out, since the cake really is too big for one of his personal knives-- it's rectangular rather than round, because he hadn't known what pan to use, so it got to bake in a casserole pan; it didn't burn, so it must have been okay-- and really, he wouldn't want to get frosting all over something that would have to go back into a sheath somewhere on his person. Yuck.

Cutting is quick, a sizeable piece ready for each of them. The frosting is white, and the cake is chocolate, because the color contrast was pleasing, and also he doesn't know how to dye frosting. He'd been very careful spreading it to make sure it was even and neat, with little curls at the corners.

The decoration, slight as it is, doesn't go unnoticed or unappreciated. She all but glows for the simplicity of it, that lack of any impulse to read farther into it or second guess his sincerity. He made a cake, frosted it pretty. She got a hug. It's...easy. Nice.

A bite confirms the cake is good, even.

"Was this from scratch?" She asks, grateful for something to say that isn't just more thanks. (Even if this is bound to turn into a compliment, it's at least a marginally more roundabout one.) "I'm impressed, I don't think I'd hit that on a first try if you paid me."

She wouldn't precisely say she's been waiting for this conversation -- but all the same, she has known that it would have to come sooner or later. This is a small place, with not so many people in it. She can't avoid him forever. He uses that title to call out to her, and she sighs, knowing the inevitability but wishing he wouldn't, all the same.

It is entirely within her power to simply walk away from this. Being from the same world means nothing here -- Trafalgar cannot control or compel her. But --

But she is Vinsmoke, and as she told Sanji not long ago (at least by her own internal sense of time), she does not intend to run away from the consequences of carrying that name.

"I suppose that's so," she says instead, lightly. "Although if you wouldn't mind, just 'Reiju' would be preferable." What will he make of that?

( He had been the same way when he first moved in with Rosalind. Hardly around unless it was to sleep, eat, or bathe himself, albeit that was only because he didn't wish to feel like he was imposing on her. He'll gradually start spending a little more time at the cabin, once he's able to sleep again. For now, he acquiesces, )

You may.

( He can't stay still for very long, knowing that there's a chance may fall asleep and be woken up by nightmares, but he can at least sit still to eat. )

I will visit the inn, but only when everyone else is gone. If that is not possible, we may meet elsewhere.

[ it's enough. she can tell it's more than he would have shared under normal circumstances, and it makes her feel passingly guilty that she's never asked rosinate how he'd died. but then she hasn't really asked anyone how they'd died, has she? even matthew's death had been a mystery, mostly due to the fact that he'd apparently died before she had, even though she remembers events from well after that.

he knows how she'd died, taking the blow meant for him so the hand couldn't use her. but he doesn't remember it.

it feels like something one would ordinarily say 'i'm sorry' for, but doing so would feel hollow. she goes with something genuine instead. ]

I'm glad you have each other now. [ even if that means he's dead now, too. ] So you didn't end up dying from the disease?

[Soldat will take whatever they can get, honestly. This is a step, a concession, and it's not terrible. They nod quickly.]

That's fine. I can wait until you're there to put the last things away. Put a plate together for you. People usually grab their food pretty early, anyway.

[They try a small smile.]

"It's from a recipe. I found it in the library." That's not what "from scratch" means, but they don't know about boxed cake mixes yet. And it's possible that this was not actually the first attempt, and the first attempt went out behind the B&B for the spirits, since the batter didn't mix together properly. They gave themselves plenty of time, today, to get it wrong before they got it right.

They haven't tried it yet, on their end, though they did lick their own spoon after putting the batter in to bake so they know the flavor is okay. "So it's good?"

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EVENT CONCLUSION: BEYOND THE SEA

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