:quality(75)/curiosity-data.s3.amazonaws.com/images/content/thumbnail/standard/e08157f8-0b8b-495b-ba6e-af374c49d84b.png)
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?
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acatamods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
acatalepsy_logs2018-10-04 09:55 pm
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[Here Hank, have a slightly blurry selfie of Cayde flashing a cheeky peace sign with a little geometric, one-eyed, robot floating over his shoulder.]
There’s some interesting stuff, I think everyone else is off looking at something on the wall.
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then y r u waiting 4 them 2 look at the wall wen u cld b scaring the 💩 out of the localstext > video
Ha! No locals yet, unless we're considered locals now? I don't know, haven't thought too hard on it. But really, there's some really weird stuff down here, it's wild. Wait, just a second-
[A few moments later there's darkness and then a fuzzy mess as the camera on Cayde's watch attempts to adjust to the low light of the cavern.]
This thing working? You able to see?
video
[Hank gives a less than happy little half-smile, which hopefully's going to pass as him trying to make out whatever's on the screen. Wasn't he going into mental raptures at the joys of text just now? Well, it was good while it lasted. Maybe he'll get lucky and find the freakiest part of this conversation's over.]
Do your uh, those little lights on your face, they double as a flashlight or something? Cause it's kinda hard to tell what I'm looking at.
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[There's a slight shake of the screen, something mumbled that's nigh unintelligible, and then a flicker of light before everything finally comes into focus. The camera is focused on one of the marble walls right now, blocky runes chiseled along the entirety of the cave, but everything goes blurry as Cayde shifts the camera back towards him again; he's not the source of the light, the little robot, effectively a flashlight, is, but his own lights are pulsing faintly with excitement and amusement.]
Better? I'm not just blowing smoke, it's really cool down here.
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[Hank's half-smile twitches up a little. Giving Cayde shit makes him feel a little better, more normal.]
I also kind of feel like you and me have pretty different ideas about what cool means. There anything down there that isn't creepy and-or trying to kill you?
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[There's another flicker of his lights, amusement dripping from every word. Between the adrenaline of the exploration and just the ease he feels bantering with Hank, everything is pretty good right now.]
Where's your sense of adventure, dragonslayer? We're forging new, unknown paths here. And, okay I haven't seen any yet, but there's gotta be some good loot down here. Creepy cavern? Runes everywhere? That screams treasure, and you always go for treasure no matter if there's stuff trying to kill you.
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My sense of adventure wants to know how you're even gonna enjoy that loot once you got it. Don't guys who loot old haunted shit always get cursed? And at least they get to, I don't know, go out on the town and buy a bunch of hot people some expensive drinks before the curse gets em. What are you planning on doing with all that treasure if you even get it? You just want to melt down something shiny?
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Hey, it's the loot, the journey, all that. Like this? [Another pan shot of the cavern.] This is cool, not something you'd expect to be right on our doorstep.
And loot...no, you don't melt it down or anything, you just keep it. It's yours, it helps you remember the adventure you had to get it. Well, and you can say you have a lot of cool stuff, that's a huge bonus.
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Nah, I've got my will already written out. Pretty specific instructions in it too, so don't go messing with anything. Unless you're the one that ends up killing me, then go ahead and mess away.
Some things are just worth remembering, yeah? You never know when it's all just gonna get washed away, so might as well plan for the future.
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I don't really see shit that way, but I don't know how serious you want things to get here. I'd hate to go on about it and kill your 'I could get killed any minute!' buzz with my shitty downer worldview.
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I don't mean dying, that's just a thing that happens, I mean literally forgetting.
Like, suddenly all those memories are gone, you don't know where or who you are? Having those things with you...well even if you don't really know exactly where they're from or what they are, you at least know they're probably important.
[There's a slight pause.]
So you gotta enjoy stuff while you can! Live life to the fullest and all that.
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That your philosophy with everything else too? Take the path that'll get you the most stuff?
[Hank's not judging. He's still got that thoughtful look, just sounds curious.]
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[Experiences, after all. The wicked call of adrenaline and mystery were always hard for him to resist.]
And maybe while you're going down that way you'll stumble on something really great.
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So, the uh- the death thing.
[I don't mean dying, that's just a thing that happens. No. Fuck no. That, Hank really doesn't want to know about. There's got to be another way to ask.]
I mean, if you got a part damaged or whatever down there, that wouldn't be a big deal? You could just- I don't know, self repair?
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[That actually gives him pause. It isn't a question that's too far out of the realm of understandable, but it's certainly not one that he's actually encountered yet during his time in the circle. In as much, he has to take a moment to actually think because Hank deserves an answer that's a little more in-depth than just sending along a shrugging emoji.]
It...depends?
[Off to an excellent start. Cayde sighs, browplates furrowed as he tries again.]
You know how everyone here's saying they're feeling more normal, even if it's spotty? It'd honestly depend on whether or not I'm my usual, back-home self or if the temple here decides to block my superspecial superhero powers. Again. I've lost limbs before, but-
[Only once without Light, and he can remember the fear, the pain, the uncertainty.]
I'm honestly not too sure how this hunk of metal really works, so it's probably better that doesn't happen more than absolutely necessary. Unless you got magic repair powers up your sleeve there.
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So without your superbullshit up and running you wouldn't know what to do if, say, a giant horsefish jumped up and bit your foot off.
[That example doesn't need to be one hundred percent accurate. What they really do doesn't make his point, and there's probably something down there that'd love to bite off some feet, if it got the chance to.]
And I wouldn't either. Sorry. One touch of my magic fingers wouldn't do anything good for you, I wouldn't of got that lucky with the whole random witchy power thing. I guess you're gonna have to use duct tape like the rest of the bots. Hope someone brought plenty of that down there.
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[In as much as that shit would hurt, and without his Light, he'd rather not be torn apart in any way, shape, or form again.]
Between you and me? Unless I'm back to my normal self I think I wanna keep all my bits and pieces together. Don't want to lose any, you dig?
[Alright, but Hank's also left himself open to teasing, and of course Cayde is going to take that opportunity and abuse it relentlessly.]
Don't sell yourself short on the magic fingers though. They could do some good, you never know. Definitely better than duct tape. Traveler, I refuse to be taped back together, you gotta promise me that if they drag me back in pieces I don't suffer that embarrassing fate.
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I thought you had your will all figured out, you want to change it this late in the game? But okay, what do you want me to do, hook you up to some sticks and hide in the ceiling and like, have conversations with people? Or do you just want to freak people out with some slick dance moves?
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And who do you think you're talking to? Of course there better be dancing, I'm amazing at dancing.
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Shit, well I’m not. People’ll figure out it’s not you for sure. I guess you’d better come back in one piece so I can see what those amazing moves look like, and we’ll just have to save the puppet thing for next time.
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