: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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acatalepsy_logs2018-10-04 09:55 pm
no subject
We know only a little bit. Astoria says she doesn't know why or how she got chained to this realm. It's her realm, that's without a doubt. Originally we couldn't go beyond the forest. It was endless and a thought brought you back to the temple.
Astoria herself can feel us and hear our thoughts on the network and possibly all the time. She told me she wouldn't listen in on conversations we asked her not to.
[He traces his fingers along the warning carved into the stone. Who made it and why?] She knows things about us no one else should be able to know. It seems like she has ties to our universes through us.
no subject
[ Cain mulls this over for a moment, but shrugs. There's nothing they can do if she won't keep her word, if it's thoughts she can overhear. For now, they'll just have to take her at face value and work on a spell, or hope to find some kind of deadzone if they need to keep her from their thoughts. Worrying about it, letting it rise to the surface of his mind, is sure to only draw Astoria's attention to the problem all the more and make her focus on him as someone with something to hide.
What's more interesting to him right now is the rest of what the man's said. ]
There's a lot we've got to just trust about her, then. She wasn't originally from this realm? She's a visitor to this universe, like us, or something else?
no subject
...we just have to trust her or not on how true that is. [He's starting to believe it. But not everyone has to or should. Until she proves it...reasonable doubt is perfectly fine. No matter what they were dragged into a war that isn't their own.
What else to say....Oh.] ...and she has no idea who sometimes puts us back into our own universes and brings us from further ahead in our timelines.
no subject
[ Cain blinks, taken aback. That, he hadn't heard news of yet. But the meaning is clear enough, the passage of time easy to elaborate from how he'd heard that people could be taken from different points in their worlds' timelines. Still, it's unsettling to think about. He tries to shrug it off as something to brood over later, when he doesn't have more important things to think about. ]
...I see. But she's certain it's someone other than her? Another person?
[ Her realm, her home, and something stopping her from coming and going. And that there's someone else out there, able to move others about from other worlds... that point seems of particular importance. [
no subject
[Shiro frowns, and pushes his bangs out of his face. The situation is complicated. The more they dig into it the more threads there are to handle.]
It's odd. She originally explained us being here as she called out and the magic pulled us in. There's an element to her magic that, for now, seems beyond her control. So if she's pulling us in and someone else is putting us back...
[He turns back to the mural. The two women that seem to represent balance. Could the other woman be acting in some way?]
Then we might finally have some leads to check out and get to the bottom of this situation.
no subject
[ He flashes a quick smile, undaunted by the difficulties ahead. No, he'd rather face them head on and with purpose. Shying from them just means the problems will take longer to solve. ]
I hope I can count on your help in that endeavor.
no subject
[He pulls out his own notes and starts writing down the symbols and words they can't understand. He'd rather not risk losing access to them.]
...I'm Shiro, by the way. Do you notice anything else aside from the eels and the lack of plant life that you'd call odd?
no subject
[ He offers a little wave, even though they've been talking for some time now. It doesn't hurt to be friendly, and they're allies now, in whatever strange pursuit of the truth they've stumbled across. ]
And if you mean beside the way there's apparently a dark side to this lovely realm of light we've been called to...? I'd say the way our powers keep coming back is odd. Astoria used up a lot of power to fix this realm, didn't she? It's almost as though it's her own powers suppressing ours. Though why she'd want to suppress our power when we're meant to be warriors for her...
[ He trails off, giving Shiro a shrug that's full of meaning. ]
But if you mean about this place down here, well! It all seems to tie up in that. The lack of an ecosystem, the way the eels seem to feed off of our magic... but only the magic that Astoria granted us. It makes me wonder just what that black witch there would have had a hand in.