Meep Manhunt!

[highseasmods]

Who: Anyone who expressed interest in going after Meep and received a letter from Scurvey Dog.
Where: Anygrav Moon
When: August 9th-22nd
What: The mission begins! Dog asked for help rescuing Meep and it's you lot who've responded. Try to bring him back in one piece, eh?
Warnings: Possible violence...?
Style: Any!
Status: Closed to those involved!

The island is covered by a familiar mist that rolls across the ground. Fortunately for you, it's not going to bring nightmares to life this time, but it definitely lends to the general feeling of unease that fills the place. That isn't helped by the fact that though the population here was never very large, it certainly must be even smaller now.

It's the dead, lifeless husks along the beach that make that much obvious.

There's no sign of battle, and all the bodies appear unmarked. It's as though they suddenly dropped right where they were standing, as if something completely and abruptly drained them of energy.

Watch your step as you make your way inland. Wouldn't it be a shame if the same thing happened to you?

Comments

The Beach

[highseasmods]

As you arrive through the Nav as instructed, you'll notice that there seems to be some sort of tent city set up in a cleared section of the beach. Even the mist seems to be blocked from winding its way through this area, but how that's been managed is a mystery.

There are plenty of supplies here, and everything has Dog's mark on it -- though the woman herself is nowhere to be seen.

It seems you might be here for awhile, or perhaps it's possible she thinks first aid might eventually be necessary, judging by some of the supplies. In any case, feel free to make camp here, meet up with others, and discuss your plans.

open

[youhearthebells]

[Gan Ning promised, and Gan Ning delivers. He's got his crew with him, and they're all ready to go. But a good warrior checks things out first, so as he steps onto the beach, he holds up a hand to ask the others to let him go first.

Everything seems on the up and up. Good, supplies, medical aid, sweet. They'll be in business. Bodies, though. Ugh.

Come talk to him before everyone sets out: ask if his wounds have healed (some are still bandaged), explore the mist-shrouded vicinity and discover the bodies of the locals, or sit by the campfire on the beach and try to forget all the grim terribleness.]

[willwork4sugar]

[Well, that's a comfort to see, although not really. Gaius isn't sure what he thinks about the implications given what they find there. He really doesn't want to think too much about the bodies littering the area though.]

Nice vacation spot.

[He's doing a lot better although his shoulder's still a little sore, but he's ready as he'll ever be if they run into some trouble, wearing all his dread armor.]

Was thinking of patrolling a bit- probably not too far.

[occupational_hazard]

Who knew this place would be this popular?

[Ahh yes, all of the sarcastic joking. Glancing over the "lovely" yet confusing scenery, Hiccup joins the two men, a little more at ease now that they're up and moving a lot more. Knowing his attempt to lighten the mood is fail, he shrugs.]

...I dunno, that sounds like an idea. Do we have everything we need, Gan?

OTA

[serving_love]

[The Straw Hats are set up pretty close to the Hazmats. Sanji's claimed one of the tents and is going through the food rations, putting together bentos for his crew.

Now's the time to get a plan together, discuss what's happening, figure out what to do. Do they want to split up into smaller groups? Go in all together? Does anyone have any shitty clue what they might find inside that place?? Surely there's a crew who's been to this island before, or someone who's heard about it, right?

In any case, TEAM STRAW HAT...let's rescue us a Meep!]

[chasing_waterfalls]

[The more he sees of this place the more he has second thoughts about coming. He sticks around near the others of his crew, although he's relieved to see other familiar faces not too far from them, having sailed briefly with the HazMats.

If anyone's waiting for someone to volunteer a plan however, Lyrik doesn't have one. He's very much trying to keep it together as he fails to convince himself that those aren't bodies lying in the sand further off.]

[judgementscythe]

[almost instantly after popping in and seeing the scenery around her Lorelai knows that this isn't going to be a simple mission. Looking around and seeing Lyrik, clearly trying to hold himself together around this place she walks up to him and tries to give him a comforting smile.]

How are you holding up?

[yourotherleft]

[he's just along because he's Zoro. Also, after a year and how many months now he has to just admit that wherever the cook is, he's not too far behind.

Besides, he liked Meep well enough. Guy doesn't deserve this shit. And they all owe Dog a lot, so might as well pay her back by rescuing her favorite minion.

He doesn't have a plan either, he's just sitting on a crate watching Sanji work. Very obviously watching every movement of his hands, surely that eye can be felt.]

[serving_love]

[It definitely can, but these days it's more a comfort than anything. After a moment or two, though, Sanji lifts his head to glance across at the other man, arching an eyebrow.]

See something interesting?

open

[anelegantmyth]

[ (a) The moment they arrived at the camp. Cynthia went straight for one of the tents and just stayed there. Not because she wanted her own "girls only" tent. She's been with her boys long enough to not care if she had to share a room with them.

No, she left because she didn't want them to see her upset. Which shouldn't really be a surprise to the Hazmat boys. They know how things get when her pokemon are involved. So asking her to leave Lucario and Braviary to guard the boat? Well...she left Spiritomb outside to guard the tent. Maybe ask Spiritomb if her trainer's okay?

(b) And if no one was brave enough to enter that tent and talk to her, fear not! For she'll emerge from it later that night to lay down on the sand and hang around her own little dragon made bonfire. She has marshmallows.]

The Pyramid

[highseasmods]

The giant, inverted pyramid is impossible to miss, which is good because that's where you're headed next. There are a seemingly endless amount of stairs leading up to its entrance, and its sand-blasted walls are crumbling slightly but appear to be structurally sound.

Probably.

As you enter the pyramid, you'll find arrows that lead you to a three-way intersection. The halls are dark and echoing with a faint wind. The middle path smells faintly of old cheese, but other than that there is no distinction between them.

Up above the three openings, however, some words are inscribed on the wall. Hard to read at first, perhaps, but eventually you should be able to make out what it says:

**Riddle #1**

[highseasmods]

Three ways to enter
One way to win
All lead down the path to sin
Choose the right

And you'll be
On the path you're meant to see
Choose the other

You'll be sore
Your feet will soon forget the floor
Choose the third

Just take heart
You’ll end up right back at start


Pick your path and choose wisely! Comment here by 11:59 PM (EST) on August 11th, with your choice: left, middle, or right. If you don't comment, we will will randomly assign your group a hallway.

Replies here are for your decisions only! All RP should take place beneath the parent comment with the header: "The Pyramid".

We'll be back on Wednesday with the consequences of your choices and another riddle...

Hazmat team

[youhearthebells]

chooses the path on the right

Straw Hats

[serving_love]

Let's go with the path on the left! /late >.>

The Right Hall

[highseasmods]

Appears to be the correct path! Though some ominous grumblings and shakings of the ancient stone might convince the faint of heart to turn back. At the end of the hall is a wide room, apparently empty but as soon as you enter you will fall straight up to the ceiling where treasure lies in the form of millions of gold and jeweled keys of roughly the same size.

One of these millions of keys will fit in the only other door which is at the bottom of the room. Good luck getting there and finding which one. Also be careful. Some of these keys are mildly poisonous to the touch. Nothing there that will kill you, but will leave you quite trippy for a few hours.

There seems to be a riddle to help along the way.

Some keys for boxes
Some keys for starts
But the one that opens this old door
Comes from the depth of your

Well the last word is a little smudged. It could read "heart" but it could very well read "fart". Aren't these old ruins the worst?

[willwork4sugar]

[Falling up, that's a new one. Gaius flips out of reflex, and once he lands, he finds they're surrounded by shiny things.]

Whoa....

[For a moment he stares, and then picks up one of the keys by his feet for a better look. He takes up another one, brow furrowing as he nudges his mask up over his head.]

...what the heck?

[youhearthebells]

[not so lucky, and flops onto the keys with a snarl and a wince. That hurts when you're not wearing a shirt]

Oww...dammit. Hey. [points to the riddle inscribed on the wall. Looks a lot like the one outside, and the ones in the cow labyrinth, and...]

What's that say?

[occupational_hazard]

[Yeah, he didn't see that coming. Hiccup groans, rubbing the side of his head. Tufts of auburn hair stay up after he does this, blinking at the riddle as he picks himself up off of the ground.]

Uuh...lemme see...

[He clears his throat.]

"Some keys for boxes, some keys for starts, but the one that opens this old door comes from the depth of your..."



...Fart? It says fart, right? That looks like fart.

The Left Hall

[highseasmods]

It seems solid and sound so of course you weren't, unless well acquainted with the laws of narrative and comedy, expecting the floor to give way and for everyone to be dropped into the chamber below that is full of all manner of hungry insects and a fairly large colony of spiders.

There seems to be a few exits to use to get back to the upper floor, but getting to them alive is the tricky part.

Re: The Left Hall

[judgementscythe]

[as soon as they reach the end of the hall she knows they took the wrong path. She really knows it once ground starts shaking and breaking apart beneath them. Reacting fast she tears the whip from her side and shoots it towards an outcropping that hadn't broken out yet and used it to swing towards the wall, reaching out to grab Lyrik as she swung by in the hopes that she could catch him and get him safely to the ground.]

[chasing_waterfalls]

[There were plenty of old ruins back home, but the dragon mages always made certain that none of their young wards would go wandering about them, especially not without supervision. Instability was only part of the dangers there, but seeing what lay beneath the floor here is just another unhappy reminder that this is nothing like home.]

Uwah!

[Lyrik flails as the ground begins to give, but he belatedly realizes he's moving in the opposite direction rather than down, not having noticed that Lorelai had caught a hold of him until then. No, scratch that, they're still going down, but not nearly so quickly.]

Th-thanks Miss Lorelai..!

[yourotherleft]

[meanwhile Zoro attempts to make a badass mid-air flip and land on his feet. And doesn't. Mostly just faceplants on the floor below.]

Dammit all to hell. You guys all right?

[as he picks himself up and dusts himself off, his hand brushes over something large on his sleeve with lots of legs. He can't help but recoil from it and shake his arm to get it off, and then curse at it from a distance.]

Finale

[highseasmods]

[You've made it through the sand somehow. Congratulations! The door on one side leads through an increasingly narrow hall that will force the more barrel-chested ones to walk sideways through. However, entering on the other side will have you arriving at your goal -- that is to say, one Meep, lying prone and slightly drifting in the air.

It seems like the way is clear, though of course nothing is ever that easy as you will discover if you happen to run face first into the invisible walls that make up a sort of labyrinth in which Meep is at the center, floating unconscious in midair. Good luck getting through.

Though those higher on life than others might get some guidance via phosphorescent butterflies only they can see, so that might help. But better get out quick because as the stones rumble and grind and shift around you, you might get the feeling this place isn't going to last much longer.]

[chasing_waterfalls]

[He never wants to see that much sand again.... After this is all over, he just wants a bath!

But lo! There's Meep! It's a wonder that Lyrik doesn't run headlong into a wall, but after all the things that have happened, he's got his suspicions. Taking a page from his earlier attempts to make out any traps, the young water dragon dumps out all of the water that he's got left in the canteen and bottles at his belt before sending it forth with a gesture of his hand.]

-oh!

[It splashes against something- those invisible walls. He sighs, glad that he hadn't dashed off, and hopefully no one else has either.]

There's gotta be a a way....ah!

[Moving the water about, it snakes along the side of the unseen walls until it can flow down a wall, and once an opening is found, Lyrik spreads it thinly along the the floor and the two walls flanking it, just so they can get an idea of what's in front of them. Unfortunately it only covers about several feet at a time.]

[judgementscythe]

[She's beaming with pride as soon as he stops and tests what's in front of them. She's happy to see a kid who understands how to make it through a place like this. Like a proud mom a giant smile crosses her face as she once again gives his hair a little ruffle, knowing full well how much is annoys him.]

Smart kid you are little dragon