( closed. ) chill out, it's alright

[magnitudes]

WHO: Erik Lehnsherr, Han Solo, John Watson, Leonard Snart, Seymour Guado, Wanda Maximoff, Yuri Plisetsky & some troublesome NPCS. closed.
WHERE: DeChima.
WHEN: 18-19th March
WHAT: there's a cave-in in DeChima, and our intrepid heroes need to escape. Also anachronisms picking fights and Other Shenanigans.
WARNINGS: violence, injuries, other stuff tba.


It's an otherwise pleasant evening in DeChima - oh, sure, there are those weird mirages and stuff, but weird stuff is kind of an inevitable part of life in Porter Cities. They were creepy, but they weren't causing trouble. At least, not until a couple of days ago - things had started to get a little more interesting. Pirates on the shores of Heropa beach, for example, a French culinary expert of the sixties invading a restaurant in Mauritia Falls as if it were quite natural for him to be there, some archaeologists from the late nineteenth century generally just observing and making people kind of uncomfortable. There was an upward surge in crime - nothing the local heroing population couldn't handle. De Chima hasn't been lacking for its own strange occurrences, of course. It's not until there's strange sounds from underground that people are perhaps a little thrown, but in a busy city there are plenty who'll tell you that you're imagining things.

And then the ground fractures. It all happens terribly quickly; one moment there's a crack in the road, running almost strait across it, a slight drop- one might be forgiven for thinking that's all there is to it - before there's another great shudder from underground, a thunder crack, and a section of the ground simply gives way, pavement and a seating area for a cafe and the road itself disappearing into a great, yawning pit.

Small mercies: it's not entirely a vertical drop. Instead, those unlucky enough to fall will find themselves tumbling down an almost vertical slope, with a gentler ("gentler") inclines, some straight free fall, and a few handy ledges to break the fall. (Or break limbs, one could suppose. Either or.)
The base of the pit is about four hundred metres underground, at the deepest point. Light is scarce, small shafts from above ground filtering down, but there is the orange glow of fires that indicates there might be company, and there's some other tunnels. There is also the sound of running water - busted up water pipes leaking out.

Time to work together, team. You might be stuck down here for a while.

Comments

OPEN STARTERS.

[magnitudes]

( ooc: a starter for your starters. feel free to chuck open starters, closed threads, and whatever as replies to this comment. I'll post another one for the ultra-mega npced group threads, for ease of tracking, etc.

Go wild! Exploring the caves, patching each other up, attempting escapes, fights with NPCs - the world is your oyster. If we've discussed one-on-one or particular plans we can touch base about doing particular starters or working them into other threads.

If you have any threads that you'd especially like to have (or not have) NPCs and GMing jump into, let me know. I'll try check in anyway just to be safe, though. Feel free to grab me if you have any questions. )

han solo. open to npcs and gm-ing.

[carbonfrozen]

[one.]

[In retrospect, it was inevitable, really. Han's luck hasn't been that bad lately, has even been good, and so he supposes that he should've seen this turn of events coming--the ground cracking, like thunder underneath his feet, the pit swallowing him whole. For a few desperate moments he's screaming in free fall, then suddenly he's tumbling down a slope, rolling to a stop on a ledge just a few meters above the cave floor.

Han pushes himself up to a more vertical position, with some effort. The fall left him dazed and bruised, and he's bleeding from a cut near his hairline, but other than that he's pretty sure he's mostly all right. Except for the throbbing pain in his wrist, but he will deal with that later.

He looks up at the cave walls. Tries to climb them, manages only to exacerbate the pain in his wrist before he gives up, gingerly lets himself down onto the floor. Damn.]

I got a bad feeling about this. [It's muttered as he glances up again. The "bad feeling", in this case, is dread churning in his gut. The same kind of dread, he thinks, as what he felt just before the cold took him.] How are you gonna get yourself out of this one, huh?

[two.]

[A day in, and already Han misses the 'fresher. There's cave dirt all over him, and his bruises have multiplied in the time that's passed because of one thing or another, and at this point he privately thinks the rest of the group that he's somehow fallen in with is—well, not the best group, shall we say.

Still, right now, no one is coming to get them out. That, they have to do themselves.

When they stop off for a rest, Han sits down on a convenient rock, stretches his legs. His wrist aches something fierce, so he takes care not to move it much more than necessary.]

So what do you think's gonna come after us next? [It's small talk, shooting the shit. Granted, it's the kind of shooting the shit that involves a bleak kind of humor, but hey, at least he's trying to lighten the mood?] I'd bet pirates. Seems a perfect place to stash some treasure.

[...it is maybe not that successful.]

[three.]

[go wild fellas.]

One

[beautiful_monster]

[Yuri'd been pacing along the walls nearby looking for anything that even hinted at a way back up. His luck wasn't any better than Han's had been, of course. He stops nearby with a frustrated sound and glances in Han's direction when he starts muttering to himself.]

There's some tunnels back there... [He motions towards them with a nod of his head.] Maybe one of them leads back to the surface.

2, with tweest: A WILD NPC APPEARS (I'm also cool with other people diving in if you are :]b)

[magnitudes]

( Sadly not a pirate, sorry bro.

It might seem relatively normal that there's no immediate reply. Han might notice the quiet, a soft scrap of dirt as someone moves across it. What's probably more immediately attention grabbing is the net being flung over him.

The net is wielded by a man in minimal armour, save for the heavy shoulder guard and plates stretching down his left arm - extended, from flinging the net - and in his right he holds a trident. The gladiator is a retiarius, fashioned after the fishermen of his time, and ready to move quick with a follow-up attack. )

Yuri "Yurio" Plisetsky | OTA

[beautiful_monster]

A.
[By the time Yuri lands at the bottom he's a scraped and bloodied mess, and he lays still for so long it might seem like he's passed out. In fact, his mind is racing to process what just happened. Was it real? How injured was he? Would he make anything worse if he tried to move?

Eventually he decides that getting up isn't going to cripple him or open any new wounds, and he pushes himself to sit up with a painful gasp, favoring one arm in particular. There's a nasty gash on the palm of that hand, and a painful looking scrape showing down the length of his arm where his jacket was torn away in the fall, and the way he clutches at it with his good arm suggests there might be a problem in his shoulder too. Still, in spite of the obvious pain he's in, he looks immensely relieved when he has no problem getting his feet under him. At least his legs are fine. Small blessings.

With that first step out of the way, he stares up in the direction he thinks he'd just come from. Blood drains from his face when he realizes how far it must have been if he can't even see the surface. There was no way he could make it back up that way. It isn't until he turns to look at the rest of the cavern that he even realizes anyone else is in the pit with him, and he calls out in a shaky voice.]

I-is everyone else… [Okay probably wasn't the right word to use here. Who could be okay after a fall like that? Yuri bites his lip and squints in the dim light.]

I mean, can everyone stand?

B.
[Later, after everyone has had a chance to assess their injuries and apply whatever first aid they could, Yuri pulls out his phone in a desperate (hopeless) attempt to find any reception down here. He paces anxiously behind the rear of the group, holding the phone up here and there as if that might really help when they're nearly half a kilometer underground.

It doesn't, of course.]

Do you think they know we're down here?

C.
[Wildcard! Hit me with anything.]

A

[incogneto]

[ Erik hasn't been awake much longer than Yuri, and he thinks he might be concussed, but other than that, he feels like he's gotten away without a scratch. Though the injuries vary, he honestly thinks that they've been lucky thus far. ]

I think everyone's fine. Here anyway. Who knows if we're the only ones down here.

[ And that's the thing, isn't it? They don't know what it was that caused this; they might be only a small representative of the trapped. ]

[catchacold]

Yeah.

[That part of it at least he's reasonably certain over.]

Don't know about you, but I got at least one who'll notice I'm not around and I'm betting some of the others here got even more people worrying.

Question is how they know but no one's found us yet.

[Hey, he's a realist. Leonard sticks close to the kid, hovering nearby without getting too close. Especially in a place like this world of imPort powers, it's hard to judge by a cover, but there's a certain protective urge nonetheless. The youngest among them by quite a bit and looking like he should eat more. He has the cold gun by his side, dim blue glow showing that it's active.]

Makes me wonder whether they got stuff to worry about upstairs too.

Wanda Maximoff | open

[divaricate]

( 1. )
[Wanda has barely had time to process what the hell is happening by the time she lands with a thud.

This is fine.

The dirt and mess she's collected on herself is most visible on her bright purple shirt she has on -- her jeans and boots are dark. There are some scrapes on her face: One above her left eyebrow, one on her right cheekbone, a couple of smaller ones near her chin. She gingerly touches the one near her eyebrow and winces, pulling her fingers back to wipe the blood off on her jeans.

Before she even sits up, she can tell there are at least a few others down here with her -- she senses it with her powers.

If not for the fact that she just, you know, fell through a giant hole in the ground when it quickly fractured, she would try to use her telepathic abilities to try to reach Billy and tell him she got herself in A Situation and could please use his help. But seeing as this is what it is, she's really not down with the idea of trying to call anyone else to come around here. At least not yet.

She eventually pulls herself up to a standing position, not even bothering to brush herself off, because it would do a whole lot of nothing. Those nearby may hear her speaking various annoyances to mostly herself in Sokovian -- which, for those familiar with Serbian, Sokovian is almost identical to that language.

She eventually takes her phone out from where it had been tucked into her bra (what? totally legit storage space), and three things annoy her: There is no service, her screen is cracked, and her battery life is at five percent.]

( 2. )
[Minutes or hours later -- who knows? she's not keeping track of time too well -- Wanda hasn't spent much time sitting. She's moving, trying to hep people where she can, trying to find any way out.]

Should we start taking bets how long we will be down here? [That was a zero out of ten for the attempt at humour, Wanda.]

( 3. )
[wildcard -- toss me anything!]

2

[incogneto]

Don't say that.

[ He stops whatever he's doing to walk towards her, and place a hand reassuringly on her cheek. ]

You know the answer is not soon enough, and then when you see Billy, you can ask him what took him so long.

1

[beautiful_monster]

[Yuri's not too far away with his own phone lifted towards the ceiling in hope of finding cell reception himself. It is only going slightly better than Wanda's attempt, but only because he actually has some battery life left on the thing. Maybe it'll make a good flashlight later.]

You're not having any luck either, huh?

2

[carbonfrozen]

[One out of ten. It's gotten Han to smile, even if the smile looks kind of tired.]

I've got some change, says we'll be stuck down here 'bout a week at least.

Erik Lehnsherr | OTA

[incogneto]

1
[ Erik has a pounding headache and blurry vision, tries to get up and then stumbles back, landing clumsily on his ass. Vaguely, he remembers being unsteady and a loud rumble, split seconds of sky and then just a slippery slide of dirt. He thinks he might have tried to lift himself up and may or may not have pulled a streetlight on top of the wreckage instead. ]

Hey-- who's there?

[ He feels other people around him more than he sees them, but he wipes blood off his brow and waits for the double images to merge back into one. Hand on the nearest surface to steady his weight, he attempts to stand up once again. ]

Are you alright?

2
[ He knows about how deep they're down here simply because he can feel the world going on above them, sort of faint like the din of a city muffled by earplugs. He thinks they're probably in an abandoned mine of some sort, and somehow happened to all have been where a shaft was. Doesn't matter; the important part is getting out and asking questions later.

Which is how he happens to be at the pipes, trying to trace his way up, see maybe where the nearest treatment facility or sewer is that they connect to. ]

Did you have any luck?

[ He asks to whoever is approaching; maybe whatever they were working on yielded some results. ]

1

[maestermind]

[Somewhere beside Erik a figure moves through the darkness and reaches an unusually large hand out to steady him.]

Perhaps you should be more concerned for your own well-being.

[Not much time has passed between the initial collapse of the street above and the first movement of people below, but it's been long enough for Seymour to see to his own injuries. Although his robes are still torn and stained with blood, the deep gashes and breaks he'd sustained have disappeared, healed with the generous utilization of his magic.]

Where were you hurt? I can treat your wounds, if you allow it.

2

[catchacold]

Not really.

[Hard to tell what exactly he would have had luck with, but he can definitely say that he hasn't had it. He stops near Eric, looking up the way he does and finally tilting his head to the side.]

You getting anything here other than an involuntary shower?

[Their options are very limited, as of right now, that much is obvious.]

I think we have to start moving.

Seymour Guado | OTA

[maestermind]

I;

[Ever the opportunist, Seymour had been in De Chima that day on seemingly pious (but entirely self-serving) mission, hoping to scout the natives' interest levels in the teachings of Yevon or perhaps find those enough in need of guidance they were willing to commit to his ways without question. One moment he was engaging in religious discussion with some rather attentive locals, and then in the next...he found himself plummeting down a steep slope with everyone and everything around him.

By the time his immediate surroundings have ceased their sudden collapse in upon themselves, and by the time the ground has rushed unkindly up to meet those falling, Seymour is certain of only two things: his own less than ideal physical condition having sustained numerous cuts and a couple breaks on the way down, and that he is going to erase those responsible for this mess.

After his eyes have adjusted to the faint light provided by scattered torches in the tunnels, he sets to work healing the most severe of his wounds with a white, glittering magic that briefly produces its own light. To those nearby he'll offer in a strangely calm voice...]

If you've a grievous injury and wish it healed, say no more.


II;

[Sometime later, after he has provided what first aid he can to those willing to accept it, he moves toward the brightest opening of the tunnel they've slipped into. His phone in hand, he does not try to acquire a signal, but instead uses the brilliance of the torch light and his phone's camera to try and capture on the device what they're seeing. If these devices are anything like the spheres from home, the images will be captured and be available for viewing later. Hopefully by those who can make something more out of them than what they can trapped down here.]

I'm going to follow these lights. It would be wise if those ill equipped to deal with confrontation stay behind...rescue will surely be swiftest if they remain here.

I

[beautiful_monster]

Are you some kind of doctor?

[Yuri's watching him curiously from the other side of the pit they've fallen into, cradling his injured arm in a sling. There's an obvious note of disbelief in his voice when he speaks as well. Seymour doesn't look like any doctor he's ever seen before, and the idea of instantaneous healing, even here in this world of insane powers, is still not anything he'd expect.

john watson | ota

[acclimatized]

[ one ]

[ john barely has time to shout a warning before the ground beneath him cracks open and swallows him whole. he hits an incline on the way down, his shoulder taking the brunt of the impact, and rolls down before he comes to stop at a ledge. he lays there for a moment, stunned from the fall, before he forced himself to catalogue his injuries. his trembling hands pat down his torso -- his fingers brush over a few tears to his jacket -- but he can't feel anything. no sharp, sudden pains like electricity coursing through his body to let him know he's broken something.

sometimes, he forgets how lucky he is to have this power. although his limbs do feel heavier than usual. well, there's always a downside to being indestructible.

pushing himself up into a sitting position, john looks at the incline he tumbled down. he briefly considers trying to climb back up before dismissing the idea. he's not a climber and he doesn't want to risk bringing debris down on his head. he swings his legs over the ledge and lowers himself down to the cavern floor. stifling a cough, he takes out his mobile and activates the flashlight setting, shining a light on the person nearest to him. ]

Are you okay?

[ two ]

[ once john has patched people up to the best of his ability, he takes a moment to sit down and have a breather. he looks at his watch and frowns when he notices the glass has cracked. another casualty of the fall. he squints at his wrist, tapping the glass with his finger before he looks to his side. ]

Hey, what time do you make it?

[ three ]

Wildcard!

1

[divaricate]

[She's really not. She's mentally not okay at all. But she looks over at him and nods slightly anyway.]

If by 'okay' you mean alive, then yes. How are you holding up?

One

[beautiful_monster]

[Yuri's brushing dust and who knows what else out of his hair, and he squints uneasily against the bright light. He's holding his arm carefully, and that injury aside looks just as scraped up as everyone else that ended up at the bottom of this pit.]

I'm alive. That's good enough for now, right?

Leonard Snart | Come at me with all you got!

[catchacold]

one

[Leonard has been lucky so far - or as lucky as anyone who broke in through a hole in the ground and fell down this deep can be called - and hasn't gotten that injured in the fall. Some bruises, naturally, and the leg he has injured badly a few months back is giving him trouble, but both his clothes and his pride go a long way to hide the damage.

Since there are plenty of people around to cover first aid and even more advanced stuff - with an actual doctor and magical healing in the mix - Leonard stays away from that and generally holds himself just a little apart from the group. However, he's not being useless, instead judging the structural integrity of where they are right now and aiming his cold gun at the ceiling, a stream of concentrated cold freezing along it and down to the ground to improve the sturdiness.

One cave-in has been enough. They don't need another on top of them. However, that isn't the only potential danger this place seems to hold, as he notes when he pauses in his efforts and looks around, listening careful.]

Hate to point it out, since I don't think anything good ever comes from that, but: We ain't alone down here.

two

[For him, it's pretty natural that he's keeping toward the rear. He can be a team player and while he's been a leader most his life, he can also recognise the danger of too many cooks, so to say. He's ready to sweep in to break the tie or even take over and lead should need be, but otherwise he's keeping just a bit apart, his gun at the ready.

He's just a little bit more focused on what may be out to get them than on how they can get out and his frown as he looks around shows as much, taking priority over any potential bickering in the front.]

three

[Wildcard!]

CLOSED STARTERS.

[magnitudes]

( ooc: as discussed, we'll likely just have a couple of big everyone-ever group threads, one for a dramatic boss fight and one for an amazing cave-in running montage.

General guidelines are that tagging order is loose, and I'll try to do an npc/gm comment once every 24/48 hours to keep things rolling. If we're all around and getting into a groove then obvs I'll tag more often than that, but that's my vague rule to ensure no one gets left behind :]b )

A BIG DAMN FIGHT

[magnitudes]

( As they progress down one of the tunnels, the path takes many forms: slowly heading upwards with gentle inclines and harsh, steep slopes, steady ground underfoot and treacherous, slippery gravel that’ll carry them back down the track they just progressed up. The reliable thing is that the tunnel seems to slowly widen, and become better lit. It could almost be enough to make them think they might have broached the surface, even.

No such luck.

Instead, as they draw closer to the cavern, they’ll realise the source of the light is a circle of fires - the noise, which might have been attributed to pedestrians and rescue works, is a collection of men. The way they’re dressed will be familiar to some - suits, black or grey, white or black button-down shirts, perfectly knotted ties in a range of colours, but the guy with the black shirt has a red tie, red suspenders, and tosses a cigar to the side as he speaks to one of his boys. Gangsters, 1920s style.

On the other side of them are some of the miners, a few dead and a few bound, others unconscious.

The gangsters have a whole mess of weapons, and pickaxes and explosives, alongside the more traditional gangster staples of colt handguns, rifles and tommy guns.

Guy in charge slicks back his hair, and issues an order to one of his boys, who looks up from his work - and unfortunately sees the approaching team. There’s a shout - boss! It’s them! - and then first spray of bullets follows almost immediately after. )

A DRAMATIC EXIT SEQUENCE.

[magnitudes]

( The good news: the anachronisms are defeated. The bad news?

One of them set off some dynamite towards the end, there, and it's causing some instability. The cavern is cleared, but the ceiling of it is cracking rapidly, dust and rocks showering down, and the whole place seems to be shuddering.

Perhaps it's time for everyone to do some dramatic exit stuff, before the ceiling collapses and/or the ground gives way - because there's a big crack starting to rip across it, Land Before Time-style. )

OPEN TO EVERYONE EVER - our heroes emerge.

[magnitudes]

( ooc: anyone who would have waited to greet the triumphant heroes is welcome to dive in here! Feel free to post any starters you like, open/closed/whatever. The actual exit thread is still in progress, but assume everyone appeared in a dramatic dust explosion, basically. )

OTA

[beautiful_monster]

[With all the dust and fine debris settling like a haze in the aftermath, it might be easy to miss Yurio making his way out—rather, getting carried out. There's no way he'd have been able to outrun the explosion by himself on a broken leg.

Once he's been brought clear of the cloud where he can get some fresh air (real fresh air! Not the dank, stale shit buried half a kilometer underground!), he demands to be set down. He can't get at his comm like this, can't stand the thought of the media seeing him like this, can't bear to deal with the oncoming freight train of emotions looming now. It had been easy to ignore it when they were still trapped. Like competition; there's no time to do anything but focus on winning—on surviving. Emotions could wait until the music stopped or, in this case, until the sun was on his face.

So, of course, it isn't until he's been set down that he buries his face in his hands and tries to pretend that he isn't in the middle of a crowd while he finally lets the breakdown hit.]