28 - The Hungry Forest (Final Battle)

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: At the heart of the mysterious forest lies a magical trap.
When: Nov 14, evening
Where: Within the forest
Summary: Working together, and with the (reluctant) help of some menaced cultists, the rescuers have pierced the wooden wall into the heart of the forest.






The sky is clearly visible here, but it’s an evening one – it’s taken the day to work their way through this far. Those with some astronomy knowledge will also be able to tell it’s a sky on Earth, and anyone who can climb up above the treeline will see a vast, mountainous and wooded area, with the lights of roads, train tracks and small towns glittering here and there. They're clearly not in the Heavens anymore. Somehow, in their journey through the forest, the rescuers have emerged onto the Near Shore.

An icy breeze is blowing, and although the vegetation is unseasonably green and lush in this clearing, there are patches of snow visible at the foot of some of the trees, hinting that they're fairly far up the mountain.

Rescues

The clearing here at the heart of the forest is vast, and five colossal sigils are etched into the earth, each one holding an incredible amount of power. It’s on these sigils, North, South, East, West, and Center, that the trapped gods and shinki can be found. Those unlucky enough to be at the Center sigil are bound by hypnosis, each staring at a firefly spirit that hovers before their unblinking eyes. These victims are still and unresponsive, and the spirits will need to be destroyed to free them. The firefly spirits can be harmed by both physical and magical attack, though they likely won’t stay still to let themselves be easily extinguished.

The captives trapped on each of the other sigils are around the edges of the clearing, entangled in vines, brambles or whatever other limbs the trees could provide to bind them to this place. Some may also be under the effects of the hypnotic fireflies if they’ve been particularly troublesome, while others who have fought less might have only those bindings needed to prevent them fleeing. Regardless of how tightly they're restrained, all of the kidnapped gods and shinki on all of the sigils look drained, the severity depending on how long they’ve been there. Some are merely tired-looking, whereas others are barely clinging to consciousness. Whether their power is being used to feed the spell or being stored for something else to come, one thing is clear – those trapped need to be freed before anything more can be done.

Sigils

Those sigils beneath each group of trapped gods and shinki are powerful constructs, brimming with energy and meticulously maintained by the cultists up to now. It’s the same power as what blankets the entire forest, but it's focused on each of those five points. They must be the source of the spell that's caused all of this.

If the spell is to be broken, the sigils need to be broken as well, but it’s going to take more than just scuffing out the etched lines to break the magic. Attacking with shinki in their vessel forms or using blessed water to wash away the magic will be most effective, but for those who didn't bring blessed water or don't have the energy left to transform, there's one other option. The clearing is lit by traditional paper lanterns hanging from the trees all around, and any object set aflame with these lanterns can be used to burn the spell out of the ground bit by bit.

The trees and any remaining soulless shinki are still furiously opposing the rescue efforts, the surviving cultists are continuing to work on maintaining the spell, and it will take time to fully destroy the sigils. However, as the sigils deteriorate, the effects of the spell will begin to fade, and characters will find it easier to access their supernatural powers to speed the process along. Gods' and shinki's powers (that is to say, the special power they gained as a god or shinki, rather than canon powers) will be as effective as a shinki or blessed water against the sigils.

But be careful. As each sigil breaks, some of the magic escapes, but some is captured by the remaining sigils. For the spell to fully disappear, all five must be destroyed – and quickly, because there’s only a matter of time before this power becomes unstable.

Comments

[artificialrose]

"Nagito, no." He might have spaced out there for a second, still trying to clear his head, but Garry is pretty intune to when people he care about are making questionable life choices. All things considered, that's usually Nagito. With his legs having a little more feeling in them, he tries to straighten up so that he's not being too much of a burden. Besides, Komaeda looks like he'll keel over.

"If it's holy fire, do you think my shinki form would work...?" This is half a question to both Komaeda and Davesprite both. But for Marinette- "It's a lighter. With, ah. A giant fire spear..."

[redotiertwo]

Davesprite doesn't know Marinette from a bar of soap, but he can tell a non-superhero name when he hears one. "Attaching your real name to that outfit almost seems like a worse idea than giving away your secret identity."

In any case, though, they should probably focus more on the whole sigil problem than the various questionable fashion choices present in this circle. Davesprite's already well on his way to telling Komaeda that trying to hang out without Garry is probably a bad idea, but Garry gets there first anyway, so he just picks up where he left off.

"Maybe. I mean, it's about the only holy hand grenade option we've got right now considering I've got no fucking idea where my god is and I'm guessing Yo-Yos over here didn't bring a shinki either."

Either that or the Heavens' naming system quietly encourages bad fashion choices, and clearly that's the dealbreaker out of all this.

[doodlebuginette]

And now she's casually glancing between the two of them, Garry and Komaeda. "Neither of you are that much bigger than I am. I could probably get you both out at once, but it might be a bit awkward." Because she'd more or less yoyo'd in before and trying that while carrying two people and making sure Adrien didn't slip off her neck might be pushing it.

She hadn't even considered that it might be easier to try leaving, though. It was something to consider. Unfortunately, she had neither blessed water or holy fire. Adrien was a scarf, which while being really soft and comforting to have with her, probably wasn't going to be much help.

"It's Ladybug, Birdy. And I'm wearing him," she pointed out, gesturing to the baby blue scarf clashing horribly with her suit. "It seemed silly to run blindly into a hinky forest without him. Only his ability might not be so helpful in this particular instance, and it seems like my Lucky Charm isn't going to work." Which meant Miraculous Ladybug was out of the question as well. Not that she had any control over what Lucky Charm spawned in the first place, but that was just entirely beside the point.

"If holy fire or blessed water are our only options, we might be in trouble. Unless Garry's right about his vessel form?" It might not be much of a plan, but it seemed like the only one they had at the moment.

[fortunesmiles]

"Well, it couldn't hurt to try, I suppose," Komaeda says, after a moment's thought. "It shouldn't hurt Garry any, especially while he's in vessel form. And vessel form might be better for you anyway right now, Garry. It'll be much easier for me to carry you...and then Ladybug could take us both out of here as easily as she could one of us, if it doesn't work."

He holds out a hand in Garry's direction. "Come, Daki."

Once he has Garry in hand, Komaeda glances at Davesprite. "What about you, Davesprite? What do you intend to do here? We came all the way here together...even if Marinette can take me and Garry out like this, I'd hate to leave you alone here, especially without a god. I'd at least like to stay with you until you either find your goddess or decide to leave...whether or not Garry can do anything about the sigils."

[artificialrose]

Honestly, it's probably for the better that he go into his vessel form anyway... because, as Marinette and Davesprite will soon see, the lighter which flows into Komaeda's hand in a burst of light is much lighter than an extremely tall young man. Privately, Garry is a little relieved as well. His legs ache and his head still feels a little bit foggy... Not exactly the most optimal conditions for hiking.

Thank you. It's a little bit sheepish in tone, but he's genuine. This really is better. And if I can help, I'd rather do so.

[redotiertwo]

"Wow, okay, let me just get past that birdist language right there," Davesprite says, raising his hands briefly, though he ends up dropping them once Komaeda starts talking anyway. "I was gonna check on Hakkai and maybe Izumo and just generally make sure nobody else I like got fucked up. Honestly, I don't even know if Hajime is here, so don't feel obliged to hang around on my account considering I have no idea exactly how much of that sweet sweet time said account is going to be charging you."

He might also fuck up this sigil some more if he makes that round quickly enough, but he probably doesn't need Hajime for that. Maybe. He'll find out.

[doodlebuginette]

It would be a lot easier to carry one guy and a lighter, come to think of it. Or one guy carrying the lighter. Either way, she's willing to stick around and try to help as much as she can before attempting to carry them to safety.

Depending on what Davesprite's vessel form was, she might also be able to carry him, too. She's not entirely sure he'd be agreeable to the idea because she hasn't figured him out yet, but she also isn't fond of the idea of leaving him out here alone.

"I have nothing against birds, and I think you're beautiful," she pointed out, shrugging. "And I also didn't know your name before, so you got Birdy." She could only hope he was just being sarcastic or something, and that he wasn't legitimately offended by what she'd said. It was no worse than Spots, honestly. "I'm sure nobody feels obligated to stay and help with whatever you decide to do."

[fortunesmiles]

You're welcome, Garry, Komaeda replies, squeezing the lighter in his hand - he doesn't think Garry can feel the gesture, but that isn't the point of it in any case. It's more to reassure Komaeda himself that he has Garry now, that his shinki is all right, by feeling the solid weight of the lighter in his palm. And, okay, maybe a bit of self-harm, as he deliberately puts pressure on his minor but still-stinging burn. I'm sorry that I allowed you to be kidnapped to begin with...

"It's more concern than obligation," Komaeda says aloud to Davesprite, with a light chuckle. "But then again, considering my luck...I don't know if you'd be better or worse off if I stay with you, so maybe I should let you choose...if my bad luck kicks in, who knows what might happen?

"Still," he continues, "there are some things a shinki can't do without a god. And if you're not even sure your god is here, I'm not sure that isn't more worrying..."

He glances around. "I don't really know that many people in the heavens yet, so I can't say I'm looking for anyone specific here now that I've found Garry. But he says he'd like to help if we're able, and I'd prefer to help than be useless."

He flicks the lighter on, the blazing spear springing from where a much smaller and more reasonable flame would be on a mundane lighter. "That said, I don't know if we can burn away the sigils. But even if we can't, I suppose we could still do something about those fireflies."