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

Yeah, but do you think she comes down here often?

[Being a witch and all, she should be able to make the trip more easily than them, but why would she want to?

Half-mumbling to himself, Firo inspects the eels again as one glides close by.]

I've heard of people eating eels before, but I don't even know if these guys'd be useful for that...

[ ... that's a good point. why would astoria be down here?

would anyone, besides the mermaids, be down here? it certainly isn't inviting, if their times here so far are to be believed. daylight is starting to worry that this trip would be a bust in terms of discovery.

besides finding out where the mermaids went, what could they possibly find here?

he sighs, crossing his arms and looking down at the eels - huh, he thinks, there's more of them now? - with concern. ]

I don't know if I'm comfortable with eating any of them. They haven't done anything to us... Maybe we can learn more about the wildlife here? There are some pretty weird things that exist here and, honestly, I'm trying to figure out how the food chain works here.

[Learn about the wildlife? Firo's learning too much about them already, and the thing he's learning is that these eels are getting too damn close for comfort. Somewhat distracted by the number of eels and their proximity, he asks:]

You mean learn about it now or later?

...Honestly, I'm not really into that stuff at all.

[Sorry, Daylight, Firo's no nerd. But he says it with a note of apology in his voice, since he likes the guy.]

[ daylight appreciates the honesty, for what it's worth. while he is sad that his enthusiasm isn't shared, he can understand if someone isn't into something. different strokes for different folks, as his uncle roderic used to tell him.

more or less distracted by the conversation with firo now, daylight lowers both his guard and his arm while he flashes firo a smile. he's clearly not hurt by the gentle rejection because hey! it could be worse. ]

That sucks. And I here I am, thinking you're- Ow!

[ in a flash, one of the eels lashes out, managing to stick its head between the gasps of armor of daylight's armour.

it wastes no time and clamps down, sinking their teeth into the soft dermaform of daylight's arm. ]

[Firo smiles back, looking forward to sinking into banter as they journey deeper into the tunnels--until one of the eels ruins that plan in an instant.]

Hey!

[Firo's knife in his hand without wasting a second.]

Daylight, are you all right? Hold on, I'll get it off--!

[And that's all the warning he's going to give before he stabs towards where he hopes the base of the eel's spine is.]

[ to daylight's luck and the eel's dismay, firo's strike hits true and manages to get a good stab at the spine of the eel. though difficult to tell from the thrashing, the eel lights go and darts away. most of the eels that were surrounding the two now follow that eel, slithering away into the depths of the water.

though some hang back and watch at a safe distance, made obvious by their glowing spines and eyes, it seems daylight and firo are by themselves.

daylight is rubbing his injured wrist, looking pretty upset now while he rubs and pokes at the bite wound to try and assess the damage. it's at that point he notices something peculiar (and worrying)- ]

... My light's gone.

[ the light that daylight had been emitting, along with the stalagmites and stalactites he's been touching to transfer his light during their travel, is no longer working. firo and day are left in the relative darkness, should there be no other sources of light at work at the moment. ]

[Firo yanks his knife away and debates giving chase to really teach these guys a lesson--but then the darkness falls. He's never seen something like this; having spent almost his entire life in the city that never sleeps, there's always been some sort of light even at nighttime, enough to choke out the stars.

Now the only light he can see comes from the eels hanging around nearby (well, not so near now but still too close for comfort)--ominous, waiting. There's something deeply disturbing about your only illumination coming from your predators.

He can't hide his worry at Daylight's announcement--Firo's own words come more quickly than normal, and his knifeless left hand gropes through the dark for his friend to make sure he's still there.]

What's that mean?

[It occurs to him that he knows nothing about how Daylight's powers were working. Is he too hurt to make them work?]

[ daylight is still near firo, thank goodness. if anything he's doing anything he can to stay close to his friend. he's definitely not interested in going near the eels anymore, let alone keeping one of them as pets. ]

It is what it is: I can't- I can't use my powers.

[ daylight sounds close to panicking, his emotions barely kept in check by the measured vents he's forcing himself to undertake. if he concentrates hard enough, he could hear nightbreak's firm, rough voice telling him to vent in... vent out... vent in... vent out...

soon, he calms down enough to realise maybe he should show firo what's wrong. this is a thing that's difficult to put into words.

he reaches out to touch a hanging stalactites, making sure firo can see his movements despite the darkness they're in. no matter how much he touches it or how long he touches it, no light appears. ]

The light doesn't stop unless I want it to, or it burns out after an hour. I just lit those rocks half an hour ago.

[Hearing Daylight sound so ill at ease, Firo sets his jaw and forces himself to sound as calm as he can. Whatever pickle they're in, they're stuck in it for the foreseeable future--so all he can do is tell himself to deal with it.]

...All right. [Good to know. They're going to have fly blind for who knows how long.]

What about the rest of you? Do you feel all right? Do you wanna head back?

[ upon hearing the question, the light emitted from daylight's optics shines brighter in alarm. ]

No! [ daylight emphasises his answer with a vehement shake of his helm, waving his servos back and forth in front of him.

he doesn't want to be a burden or anything like that. he doesn't want to be the first one who has to go back because he couldn't power through the hiccups along the way. the idea of being the first who has to turn back is mortifying to him. ]

I-I'm okay. I'm okay, I swear, Firo. [ he knows firo is only looking out for him. it's the only thing that's keeping him from thinking launching into a debate or plea to stay with the group. ] Just a little sore is all, but I can bear it. Honest!

[Firo nods. If they were to retreat--he hates the idea of it about as much as Daylight does--they'd need to go back through eel territory anyway.]

Okay. Once we get outta this water, those guys-- [He jerks his head towards the eels. With their lights, they're at least one thing he can see in this darkness.] --won't be a problem anymore. As soon as we're on the other side, I can take a look at your bite.

[If there's enough light. And even then, Firo knows nothing of medicine. Still, those are problems for him and Daylight to face once they've taken care of the problem they're dealing with right now.

If Daylight lets him, Firo'll keep his hand on Daylight's arm as he starts moving forward again. He doesn't want to lose track of him.]

If we get outta this, your friends back home aren't gonna have an excuse to keep you from the frontlines, huh?

[ daylight is not going to leave firo's side as they shuffle along their intended path, trying his best to stick by firo without possibly, you know, bumping into him.

life is hard when you're scared and want comfort but you're both over ten feet tall and embarrassed by said need for comfort. he tries to tell himself to knock it off, to try and keep his calm around firo since firo was doing all the heavy lifting here. no need to make it difficult for him as is. ]

Definitely. [ he nods, trying to show more bravado than he felt. ] I’m going to, like, organise a strike or something if they still argue that my fireteam and I can't join on missions. [ an actual protest.

with picket signs and everything. it's just enough to distract him from the fact that he and firo need to now pass a bunch of eels that show no fear. only interest.

and what he now realises as hunger. ick. ] -I so don't want to keep them as pets anymore. They lost all rights of being pet candidates forever.

[Firo smiles thinly at Daylight's remarks.]

If that hadn't convinced you, I don't know what would.

[He can't ignore the eels clustering nearby, more than he could probably take on in a direct fight, much as he hates to admit it.]

...I think we need to distract 'em. You don't, uh... do you know if guys like this'd eat one of their own?

[Daylight seems to have more brains than him, much as he hates to ask the morbid question.]

[ daylight wrinkles his nose in disgust at the mental image presented to him now because— ]

Eeeeew. [ yep. daylight is most definitely a teenager with how he drags out the word and sticks out his glossa seconds after, as if he needs to emphasis his dislike of that possibility. ] I hope not. That— That makes sense but, a the same time, that’s awful.

It doesn’t seem like they’ll be trying to eat each other anytime soon though. not when he and firo and the rest were here. [ why turn on each other when there’s an outside source of nourishment? ] I think, um, long as we show we're not afraid to bite back, they should give us space. Long enough to get away from them, hopefully.

... Not that we should really bite them, though. That's mean. [ and kind of nuts. he knows he probably doesn't need to make that clear but...

being with a boatload of galateions who took his earth idioms and sayings quite literally has made this into a much needed habit. ]

[It's Firo's turn to reel at Daylight's last statement, scowling into the darkness.]

Mean? That's the last thing I'm worried about right now. They came after us first!

[ daylight takes a brief second to look down at firo and frown, a little scandalised and puzzled by the response. ]

I mean- Yeah, they drew first blood and stuff, but, like, you wouldn't really bite them if given the chance to do it, would you? [ daylight certainly wouldn't.

if only because it would make him much closer to the eels than he would like them to be. ]

[Firo frowns back, offended that Daylight would even suggest such a thing.]

Hell no! But I'm not gonna lose sleep over taking a few of 'em out.

[He thinks of Dragon and his fondness for eating his victims while they still moved; his fellow prisoner had had a name for it, but Firo doesn't recall and doesn't care to.]

I knew a guy who was into stuff like that, and he was a real freak.

[As if another reason were needed for his refusal aside from "gross."]

[ once again, daylight wrinkles his nose and goes, eeeeew. out of his friendship with firo, he does say it quietly in case firo and the guy were friends.

that would make daylight want to ask, like, a billion questions. ]

I guess he would be having the time of his life here, huh? Man bites eel, eel learns regret. [ the humour falls a little flat, thanks to daylight being distracted by his attempts to keep far and away from the eels. he really doesn’t want one of the eels to go near him or firo again.

… not that it’ll matter. looks like one is swimming over with purpose in its creepy-no-longer-cute eyes. ]

[Sort of friends. It's a long, questionable story. Firo just smiles, missing the "ew" but of course hearing the attempt at humor in the other remark.]

He might be teaming up with the eels, if he was.

[At least Daylight would be safe in that case; Firo hopes that Dragon's teeth wouldn't be able to get through him.

He's not so sure about the eels' teeth, though.

Unlike an eel, he's not used to moving through water, so his movements feel jerky and inelegant as he pushes back on Daylight's arm (a token gesture, really, given the difference in their height) and sloshes forward to try and stab at the eel before it gets to them.]

Daylight, stay back!

[He's got this? He's got this!]

[ daylight's immediate instinct is to argue. he can't let firo do all the work! especially in the face of danger!

but then the eel moves closer, jaws opening to reveal their too sharp teeth and oh um okay he'll let his buddy try to handle this. the sting from the first bite he received comes back with a vengeance, reminding him what happens if the eel got to its target and, well, daylight is a very big target.

scooting behind firo, the most daylight could do was... he wasn't sure what he could do to help his friend. flare his winglets? hiss?? do a combination of both as the eel surges forward, curling up on itself in an attempt to strike? ]

Careful, Firo!

Yeah, I've got it!

[He doesn't got it.

The eel lashes out just when Firo strikes. Teeth clash on metal--the eel chomps down on Firo's knife and rears back and forth, like it's trying to wrest it away from him. Firo tries to jerk the weapon free but is pulled off balance.

He miiight need a little help here.]

[ he's gotta help firo! clearly what daylight needs to do is-

is what exactly?

he hesitates, unsure of how to handle the situation due to the many, many factors that made this sort of scuffle a hazard for not only him, but his friend as well.

but then he sees the way the eel pulls back and lets go of its hold on the knife, ready to go straight for firo's face- ]

Ahhhh-!!

[ he decides that throwing himself at the eel is the best solution. as in bodily throw himself into the waters, hollering at the top of his lungs.

clearly. ]

[Firo curses himself internally; he was stupid to let the eel drag him off balance, like he's some rookie. Granted, the water element makes this a whole different kind of fight, but he's not in the mood to spare himself any excuses. The eel rears back, and Firo resigns himself to possibly getting his face chomped off if he doesn't move quick enough--and then comes Daylight.

His contempt at himself turns to worry for Daylight, especially as he loses sight of the eel. It doesn't yet register with him that, thanks to his friend, his face is still whole and attached to his skull.]

Daylight! You're gonna get yourself bit again!

[He feels guilty even now; he should've been quicker with his strike in the first place.

Then, he spots the creature; spooked by Daylight's attack, it's moved away a few paces. Maybe Daylight's yelling disturbs it, when it's lived so long down here without any intruders. Firo doesn't think too long on that matter, instead lashing out with his knife to stab under its chin.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

cavern explorations.

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