acatalepsy_logs | cavern explorations.

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cavern explorations.

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the depths below.

exploring the caverns.

All of you will have the same entrance into the caverns -- it will involve going underwater and traveling about one hundred feet through a tunnel which breaks into into a massive cavern, full of air. The breeze is mysteriously fresh, for being both underground and underwater, and before you are three massive dark tunnels. It's hard to decide which one to go toward, but inevitably, you are drawn toward a specific tunnel.

For your top level comments, include what group you are in your subject line. . You will be in the caverns for roughly one week's time in order to get to the information at hand. That doesn't mean you have to stay below that long, but be prepared to pack whatever you need in order to live down there for that long There will be fish to hunt in the waters and the water itself is fresh, but sleeping on the cold marble-like surface might suck, especially if you're wet. And . . . once you get into the meat of things, what are you going to find?

group a.

The tunnel by which group A travels down is narrow, to the point of claustrophobia. And along the way, you will run into several obstacles. You will have to travel through underwater tunnels that, again, are narrow and claustrophobic. Stalagmites and stalacites make navigating through the waters treachorous, and getting stuck is not an impossibility.

Additionally, as you move through the pathways (both water and not), you begin to notice little lights flickering in the water. At first, you think it may be crystals sparkling in the water . . . but upon closer inspection, you begin to realize that they are bioluminescent eels. How cool! However, about halfway into your journey, you begin to notice that theyre getting a bit . . . larger. And, should you allow yourself to be attacked by them, not only do they bite, they seem to suck out your energy. These eels feast on magical energy, and suffering a bite from one of these eels will completely eradicate your Astoria granted powers for five hours. Have fun with that.

Finally, at the end of your journey, you will reach what feels like a dead end . . . in that you come upon a small alcove type area, with no discernable exit. And, upon the far wall, you see what appear to be cave drawings. Intricately carved into the stone, with a language surrounding the pictographs that no one understands, are what appears to be two women. One has longer hair, to her shoulders, holding a white orb in her hand. The other, with cropped hair, appears to be holding a blackened orb in her hand. Their arms are intertwined, connected, but there is a large fracture in the rock, scorched across the woman drawn in white, as if someone (or something) has attempted to blast it to bits.

Eventually, upon some investigating, you come across words that you, somehow, do understand, scrawed in a messy text, carved into the stone. Those words?

group b.

The tunnels that Group B heads down are considerably wide, all things considered. Most of the journey in the tunnels for Group B is above-ground and doesn't involve going underwater . . . which may be a good thing, as the water pathways in this tunnel are deep. The water is still crystal clear, but you somehow still can't see the bottom of it. It looks as if it goes on forever . . . and ever . . . and ever . . .

Eventually, though, you come into a second massive cavern, with a huge underground lake. The lake is full of dark shapes that dart underneath the surface -- horses, with the tails of fish, as they pop up to the surface for a gulp or two of air. But when they notice the strangers on the shores of their territory, they circle ranks and edge themselves closer . . . and if you get too close to the shore, you may feel teeth sink into the edge of your coat and an abrupt tug to be pulled into the water.

To be clear -- the kelpies themselves are not particularly violent. However, they've never seen otherworlders like you before, and are definitely scared. Not fighting against them will ensure their slow trust, and they will generally leave you alone. But if you attack them? They'll fight back, and they will drag you down to the depths below without a second thought in order to protect their own.

Eventually, you come across a third massive cavern, with another underground lake. The water seems to sparkle with energy -- tiny lights dance across the water, skipping across the surface without a care in the world. Touching the water will result in temporary paralysis of whatever you use to touch it -- magic, so powerful that you cannot possibly comprehend it. The energy is too much to handle, and you, too, cannot see the bottom of this lake. However, scattered across the walls, are runes carved into the marble. It's a language you do not understand, but you do come across something that you manage to understand . . . tucked amongst the runic symbols:

group c.

Group C enters into a beautiful crystalized tunnel, with white crystals jutting out into the tunnel. It looks beautiful, but it makes for treacherous going -- the crystals are razor sharp, and sliding through them requires elegance and grace to avoid being turned into ribbons. Move slowly -- you need to in order to make it through this maze of crystals.

Eventually, you make it to a wider tunnel with various deep pools of water scattered along the floor. The pools seem to be endlessly deep, reaching to impossible depths that you cannot see. However, the pools seem to have an . . . alluring feel to them. You are drawn closer to them, curious, inquisitive . . . you want to get into them . . . and if you dip into the pools, watery arms of the sprites that live within these pools glide around you, and coax you into the depths below . . . but you feel calm, serene. Hopefully someone is looking out for you.

But as you move through the tunnel with the pools, you begin to notice signs of life. Not necessarily plant life, or animal life, but signs that people are here. There are footsteps from one pool to the next, wet markings that seem to be permanently wet no matter how much you wipe them away. There are watermarks along the walls, handprints against the marble. And as you begin to walk, begin to notice messages scrawled along the walls, carved deep into the marble.

Every single word is the same.

group d.

Unlike those below the surface, the lakeside shores of Lake Dona seem to be relatively peaceful. Nessie is lazily swimming around and offering rides to those that need it, and campfires are soon built up around this makeshift camp of those who are sitting around to wait. The network does work with those in the caverns, so keeping in contact is far easier than it was in Struxta!

However, in the last days of the investigation, as Group A, B, and C begin to discover the messages in the caverns, storm clouds begin to roll in. It begins to downpour, a frightening crack of lightning streaking across the side with alarming regularity. And, on the final day of the exploration, a voice seems to float through the deluge. And it isn't Astoria's. But it seems to be . . . odd. And suddenly, a message appears on your watches.

¿ɯǝ ɐǝɹɥ ʎon ɐɔu ˙nʎo ɥǝdl ʇo ǝuǝp ᴉ ˙ʎno ɥǝdl ʇo ɐʍʇu ᴉ ¿ɯǝ ǝɥɐɹ nʎo ɔuɐ

What in the hell could that be?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

i.

[you know what's annoying? having access to a handy hammerspace inventory system that would be all kinds of useful for spelunking, but also having it blip out and barf up whatever you had stored in there every time the world's magical karma or whatever shifts.]

[that leaves Dave to rely on his equally blippy rhyming magic to conjure supplies, and to alleviate the most pressing issue he has at the moment: it's way too freezing in this cave. he's a Texas kid whose video game planet was a giant ball of lava, he gets cold easily, okay!!]

[and with powers shifting wherever they might, whenever they feel like it, he's only got three shots and a short window of time to conjure up something useful. which is why he's improvising, slapping together raps he's used previously. ]

[which is why, on the first night, he's chilling on the ground next to a giant coffee bean. it gives off a pretty reasonable warmth. it even smells a bit like a fresh roast, if you care to have a seat and warm up next to it.]

Don't touch it.

[it'll also burn the shit out of your hands, because Dave was an idiot, and that wasn't something he considered when telling the void about the thing in rhyme. and judging by the way he's kind of holding his own hands close to himself, he learned that the hard way.]

ii (a).

[boy, those bottomless pits of water look pretty enticing, don't they?]

[anyone who happens to be considering taking a quick (or extended) dip in the pool with some friendly sprites might suddenly find a kid, inexplicably wearing a pair of sunglasses inside a cave, standing right next to them.]

You want the short or long list of reasons why jumping in there is a stupid fucking idea?

[joke's on you, though, you're getting the long spiel regardless of how you anwser.]

ii (b).

[or, if you happen to be someone who slipped into one of the pools before he could deliver his longwinded ... whatever that was ... and if he happens to recognize you, then that serene and calm feeling of sinking into a death by pixies is going to be abruptly cut short by someone suddenly grabbing onto your wrist and pulling. because Dave, overprotective kid used to bailing friends out of jams that he is, just dove right in, too.]

[try not to breathe in, that's a good way to get drowned. dead. one of those. but there's someone else waiting at the edge of the pool, hand extended to pull some wayward swimmers out of the depths.]

[it's ... a second Dave. for?? some reason???]

iii.

[this is just the prompt where Dave wasted one of his valuable daily magical raps to conjure a bright red paint marker, so he could deface the walls like whatever spooky thing that's urging them to get out did. it's pretty damp in here, so it probably won't actually stay there for very long.]

[his biggest message does say, "fuck you this is my house now", though.]

iv. wildcard

[if you're in group c, do whatever! or if you're outside of group c, feel free to text him.]

[ it's been a while since daylight has checked on anyone outside of his group. with the week nearing its end and finding some spooky things at the alcove, he's finding themself worrying for the others' wellbeing.

which clearly means he sends out a text to the first person he thinks. ]

Dave!! How are you so far? Are you okay? Are you soggy?

completely cool over here dude
like literally
its cold as shit down here
what about you
did yall find anything

We found some sort of shrine at the end of our tunnel? We think its the end. We can't find any other passage we can go through.

Anyways - There's some sort of shrine here. Complete with creepy messages scrawled on the wall. We can't read any thing besides this super (super!) creepy message.

This feels waaaaaay too much like a horror movie. I'm not the Final Survivor material. :(

huh
whats the message say

also relax
the fact that youre aware youre in a horror movie already makes you like
at least a mile smarter than pretty much any other fuckin idiot you see in em
as long as you dont go holding a ouija board seance or opening doors youre probably fine

[Dave is .... joking. the odds that he's joking are about 85 percent.]

theres a bunch of weird shit and messages here too though

Edited 2018-10-08 01:41 (UTC)

let them drink apple juice and not be haunted by ghosts!!

sunborne - 2018-10-08 15:58 (UTC) - Expand

group c

( prompt wildcard!! i need them hanging out more. )

hell yeah!

i'm so excited!! these two give me so much joy.

same!! fans of apple juice gotta stick together

ii.a

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ii (a)

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ii (a) ... and then probably b anyway

you could fit all of group c's impulse control in a thimble

and still have room for a few more drops of water

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iii

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i.

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