: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
[Keith manages, but any humor fades from his voice when Maes goes and shows him the bandages. He winces and crouches down, looking a moment before reaching up to disengage the mask so he can look at Hughes.]
I guess so. How bad did it get you? Are you going to be able to walk out?
no subject
Pretty good...definitely broke through the flesh. My bigger concern was the exhaustion and loss of my ability. I don't know if there was anything else in its bite, but my foot wasn't changing any funny colors so that was a plus.
[He rolls his pant leg back down, he then turns back to his pack to start digging out a snack. Now that he's awake he's starving.]
As for walking out of here...I'll be all right. Nothing is broken and the bandaging is solid. If my ability comes back I can always do short 'jumps' to get around.
no subject
[It's okay, Maes. That's Keith's sense of humor right there, so. He's good with it.]
Yeah, you're lucky if it wasn't venomous. ...though are eels usually? I don't... actually know much about eels.
[At all. He knows he can slice them with his sword and that some eels are tasty. That's it/ That's all he's got.]
Okay. I can help too. The last thing we need is for the eel who got a taste of you to come back for seconds. Or send his friends.
[Maes is a friend. Keith worries.] Once you get out, you should probably see a healer though. Even if they're not poisonous, splashing around in caves is probably not the best for open wounds.
no subject
[He's not sure he finds that reassuring, but he has definitely become far more open minded during his time here...just because there are only so many things you can try and apply logic to and fail before just giving up on logic entirely.]
The one I encountered was alone...I'm not sure if they hunt in packs or not. But you're right, we should proceed with caution I think.
[Maes considers that suggestion and nods.] You'll have to let me know who that includes, I know we have a few on the beach right?
no subject
[It's not reassuring, but it's the truth. Normal rules and expectations don't always apply in this place, or the worlds they get dropped into.]
There should be a few on the beach. A friend of mine from home, for one.
[But first...] We need to get back to the surface first.
no subject
[Especially as far as he's concerned. He was the 'normal' one before all this. Maes finally produces his snack. It's a large peach, or at least looks like one, and then Maes produces a knife that he uses to start cutting it.]
Right. It'd be nice if we weren't doing this completely blind....some idea of how much further to go.
[He pauses and then offers a slice to Keith.]
no subject
[Just another day in the life of a Paladin of Voltron. Keith moves to lean back against the wall beside Maes, staying on his feet for now.]
It would, but the only way we're going to find that out is stumbling into it. At least this time.
no subject
I feel like we keep running into this problem of not having proper maps to things. I know this is our first trip down here, but we should probably consider a way of mapping these caverns in the future. Though with all the water I'm not sure how we'd manage.
[He does have a pretty good memory though, so maybe he could draw some of their path by hand.]
no subject
[But you know, that's weirdly nostalgic in its own way. It reminds him of when they found the Blue Lion a little.
Except down here there's no mystical legendary alien warship weapon. Just bitey unpleasant eels.]
You're right though. Having a map would be really useful if we ever have any need or reason to come back.
no subject
[Maes sighs, realizing that he's adopting one more project. At least it keeps him busy and he definitely likes that.]
And we'll probably want to do it soon...since I doubt we're going to be on the bench much longer when it comes to world hopping.
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[A start. Keith can get behind there being a start.]
...that's also a good point. No telling when the Witch will feel u to flinging us into another world. But it's got to be coming soon.
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[He's not sure if that's the case, but it's better than nothing even if they are a little off.]
I spoke to her recently...when the lake first appeared. She definitely implied we'd be going sometime soon...somewhere with more water.
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[Is that a bright side? Keith tried.]
She mentioned the same to me. But she was still pretty short on the detail.
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[Maes nods, continuing to enjoy his break for the moment.]
She mentioned fish people to me...let's hope they're friendlier than the eels down here have been.
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[Keith wouldn't mind being dry and warm for a little while.]
Fish people. So yeah... sounds watery all right. I just hope she remembers that most of us can't exactly breathe underwater.
[And the Witch seems so flighty, he's not certain she will.]
no subject
Is that something she's likely to forget? I mean, I'm glad we got a heads up so I can try and prepare a pack this time...but I'm not sure we have anything around the temple that would help with that particular problem.
no subject
[Look. He's not saying that Astoria is the Worst Witch, but she is at least in the running for the crown. Maybe runner up. Haggar probably wins forever. ...and the witch that kidnapped Shiro before too. Still. Top five for sure.]
We don't. No scuba gear to be found.
no subject
[He thinks back to the food situation on their last mission. True, they hadn't starved, but it had been a near thing in his opinion.]
Perhaps we should send her a message to make it clear that if she's sending us someplace with an over-abundance of water and fish-inhabitants she might want to consider equipment to go with it. Has this been a concern before?