the great escape.The Circle has quite a lot on their plate, this time around. Multiple players are fighting for the control of Akvos, and many difficult choices to make. No matter what path you choose, though, one thing is for certain: it is a bitter fight to the death to ensure that Akvos remains standing, one way or another. There are three main areas for the characters to explore in the final log of Akvos: (1) The Kingdom of Akvos, where the King is fighting to seize control; (2) The Rift, where the characters will encounter the Dreamscapes; and (3) The Kingdom of Polankos, which is where King Ka'pouli has reigned since his arrival in the pocket dimension. Decisions made in all there areas will affect the outcome of Akvos, so get to exploring.  THE ASSAULT ON WAHINE.The King’s forces will attack in three different fronts. There will be mermen attacking from above, riding saddled giant seahorses and manta rays, launching spears at the mermaid-warriors below with terrifying precision. They seem to be indiscriminate, in their aim -- the weaponry, charged with the same dark energy that the shadow creatures seem to be made out of, find their target in civilians and warriors alike, raining down a sea of terror upon the central stronghold of the Kingdom of Akvos.
The mermen will also be attacking at the ground-level, attempting to burst their way through the Palace Gates to flood the city with numbers. While the mermaids outnumber the mermen, the mermen are certainly more brutal than the mermaids. Some of them, though, in finding the city, are more concerned with looting it than with senselessly murdering everyone inside. Indeed, this is the most food they have seen in a long time -- and markets are destroyed in grabbing as much food and riches as they can, pressing closer to the Palace, and toward the Queen's stronghold.
And, finally, they will be attacking from below, navigating their way through a network of tunnels meant to transport goods and bursting their way into people’s homes, to sneak their way closer to their ultimate goal, which seems to be the Palace itself.
The Circle's main goal, here, is to protect civilians, usher theminto the underground strongholds beneath the Palace, and fight for their own lives should they attack the mermen first. Man the wall, if you so choose, to attempt to block the air attacks from the mantas. Fight on the ground, to protect Akvos from destruction. Or make your way to the underground strongholds and tunnels, to block access to the Palace. All of these will certainly assist in keeping Akvos safe.
In addition, please remember that shadow creatures (which can only be killed by magical means) are still making their way through the entirety of Akvos. While King Ka'pouli's forces are targeting the Palace of Wahine, the shadow creatures are still present everywhere. Get to killing!  INTO THE RIFT.Some of you, however, have elected to traverse into the mysterious rift that appeared in the midst of the Fields of Akvosia. It looks like a black hole into nothingness, crackling with odd energy . . . and passing through it feels as though you have stepped through an icy waterfall. For a moment, you cannot breathe -- and then, you are treated to beauty.
The gaps between time and space are full of sparkling lights, bolts of rainbow starlight winding around you as you move through the uncertainty that is the void. It seems endless, but something inside you is tugging you forward . . . and, suddenly, there is a soft voice in your ear. A familiar one, to those who reside within the Circle . . . the confused voice of Astoria.
 "Hello? My Travelers? How are you within the Void?" The Void? That word hadn't been used to describe whatever this magical place is before, but . . . well, a witch with the ability to send you all across the universe probably knows what she's talking about, right? "That should not be possible . . . who opened this doorway?"
You can tell her, or you can not. It seems to matter not, because: "Is this not getting through? Why can I not hear you . . . but I can feel you, I can -- please, if you can hear this, be careful. The Void is not something for mortals to interact with, and it can show you terrible things -- terrible things, so please--"
And, right before you have the opportunity to respond to our benevolent witch (or captor, depending on your point of view), you see a bizarre glass-like surface in front of you. It looks like a mirror, and you see a perfect reflection of yourself. It is absolutely captivating, and it beckons you . . . almost urging you to touch it. And Astoria's whisper grows a bit louder, more urgent:
"My dear Traveler, be careful what you encounter here -- can you hear me? Can you see me? I am trying to get you out of there, to bring you back home--Akvos is--"
But it is too late.
Your fingers graze the edge of the mirror, and you are pulled -- a sensation that is familiar to you, the same pull in your stomach that you feel whenever Astoria thrusts you across the universe, into new realities. And, when you blink your eyes again, and look around . . . you are no longer in Akvos, or the Void. You are somewhere entirely new.
Welcome to the Dreamscape.  THE KINGDOM OF POLANKOS.Once the Circle emerges from the Rift and the Dreamscape, they will stumble into another world . . . but this one's wateris shallow, in comparison to the massive depths of the crystal-clear kingdom of Akvos. You can quite clearly see the surface, here, and there are shallows that allow you to come up onto islands, tropical in nature with fruit, odd creatures that appear to be multiple-headed monkeys and parrots, and sandy shores. It's a bit jarring to see, after spending so long underwater. Indeed, you emerge to trudge onto land, and look around, somewhat mystified that the deep-dwelling mermen would be from a place like this.
However, exploring the islands (which is not very difficult to do, as they are all small and will not take very much time) will yield the discovery that on the islands themselves are tunnels -- underwater caverns that thread through the islands to much deeper water. It's almost as if the islands themselves are barriers to the underwater caverns below -- shallow water, a layer of land, and then a (mer)man-made bubble of water below the barrier of land. And that whoever lived on these islands tunneled through them to find deeper water. Princess Kea, (who will attend on these journeys, while remaining in the water), will tell the Circle members that King Ka'pouli told her that when the mermen were cast out, they landed on solid land, and had to slowly dig deeper to their salvation.
Navigating through these tunnels will be somewhat perilous -- and the Circle members will need to carry Princess Kea to the nearest tunnel to get her into some water, because while she can breathe on the surface for a certain period of time, she cannot navigate the land as quickly as you people with legs. Additionally, underwater caving isn't exactly a blast, but the deeper you go, the more clues of civilization you can find. And, eventually, once you go deep enough, you emerge into a massive underwater cavern to find the small Kingdom of Polankos.
In comparison to the Kingdom of Akvos, Polankos is witheringly depressing. It is not brightly colored, nor open -- indeed, it is tiny, with mermen huddled together waiting patiently for the forces that went through the rift to return. There is not a lot to find here, save for some interesting weapons that possess a dark energy, versus a lightning energy -- and those weapons will be given to the Circle members who ask for them, because those who wield them are in no condition to fight. There is little food, little room to sleep, and these are a people clearly in need of assistance.
In order to get them out of Polankos, you will need to usher them through the tunnels back up to the Rift above -- it seems that King Ka'pouli opened the Rift on the surface, rather than risk the city below in case it did not work. The mermen there (who seem to be elderly and weak) will be eager for the assistance to get out Polankos, and at the promise of being brought into Akvos, they will happily go. There will be no resistance from them.
You may also see Princess Kea, who has filtered in and out of the Rift to assist on the journey -- teary-eyed, heartbroken at the sight of these individuals who require rescue, organizing the mermen with the promise of keeping them safe in Akvos.
"Hurry," she tells you, as she rouses another merman into getting to the nearest tunnel. "We do not have a lot of time to pull this off, and we must work quickly." Additionally, please feel free to write up and work with your own prompts! These areas of the world are presented as jumping off points for your characters, not limitations. The idea of this world- as with all the others- is to explore -- you may use as much leeway as you want in order to come up with what your character will do, especially in the Dreamscapes. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask them back on the various threads back in the OOC post from before! |
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acatalepsy_logs2019-01-04 10:22 am
no subject
[Hank doesn't know what to make of that, the distinction between robots with brain scans and dead bodies without them. He doesn't know what to make of most of this. Maybe there's nothing to make of it; maybe it should be enough to just call this whole thing the worst and not worry about the details.
He keeps doing that, wishing he could stop wondering. It's not getting him far.]
Why's that- the AI, that WAU thing, what the fuck is it even trying-
[He shakes his head, starting to walk a little further on and just hope he sees a door out before he sees more nightmare fuel.]
I don't know. All this shit's so far beyond me. Fuck.
no subject
The leading theory is that it thinks it’s restoring humanity.
[ He taps the door panel, this one set in entirely glass walls, underneath the label PRESSURE CHAMBER and steps through, looking over the second of two flickering computer terminals in the area. Doesn’t look like there’s, you know, a fucking portal in there, though. ] Keeping things from dying... and bringing them back to life.
no subject
[When Hank leans against one of the computer terminals, taking that in, the flickering on its screen starts flickering with something else. Hank leans in next to it, his jaw working, that hospital bed he'd followed Simon past still in his head, those x-rays. In the split seconds of its flickering the screen beneath Hank's arm blinks into that, into the same x-ray image his touch had turned that other one into. Then it settles, for a whole half a second, back into its original display.]
That's so fucked up. You can't do that, you can't-
[What the screen settles back into this time as Hank tightens his hand around its edge, staring off into nothing, is a little different. Some kind of form, maybe, neatly typed text followed by answers written in a big, clumsy hand.
Hank shakes his head, pressing his fingers against his eyelids.]
That's not how it works! You can't just fucking- you can't just do that, you can't just wake someone back up!
no subject
[ The emotional energy Hank spares this strikes Simon as odd, in an absent way, something he could never afford as somebody who was focused on getting out of this place alive, and launching the ARK, and forever tethered to whatever the WAU has been trying to do by the existence he’s beholden to it for as one of its creations. He could never quite get behind the idea of fates worse than death enough not to claw desperately at preserving it, even though his current life would definitely qualify by almost anyone’s standards.
Plus, things are changing out of the corner of his eyes now, so that’s disconcerting. That actually happens surprisingly seldom down here.
His attention is drawn by the uncharacteristic interface on the computer, and he squints at it scrutinizingly over Hank’s shoulder as he draws closer. ] What is this?
[ Looks like a kid wrote it. There were parents down here, but what does this have to do with anything? ]
no subject
[The word's sharp and Hank looks up and focuses to frown at him, thrown off his urgent denials by the topic change. He looks at Simon, then follows his gaze.
The screen flickers. It flickers again, longer this time, buzzing, switches for a split second to that x-ray again and and then back, and Hank hits the side of the damn terminal as hard as he can, his blank expression twisting up.]
Fuck this shit!
[He turns, stalking away, and that new interface on the computer is gone.]
You'd better- if there's anything you need on those piles of junk you'd better get it now, cause I'm not- I'm not waiting around here 'till that AI tries to dig some other poor- bastard out of his fuckin grave, jesus.
[He breathes out the last word, turned away, his voice deflating pretty rapidly into something weak and unsure.]
Where the hell do we look now? If we have to check every single room in this goddamn place...
no subject
[ That wasn’t particularly illuminating as to the significance of that, but also it was? Simon puts a hand on Hank’s shoulder, trying to steady him, though it feels a little disingenuous when Simon doesn’t know any more than he does how to get out of this. ] You gotta keep it together, okay? I’ll get us out, you have to- to trust me. And the WAU’s already started dipping into hundred-year-old files, so I’m pretty sure it has every clone and corpse it’s going to get.
[ Simon lets go of him, and steps back, looking to the next door, thinking, wringing his hands and trying to draw on his mental map of Omicron. ] We can, uh- the Dive Room’s pretty safe- we can go there and I can check the other rooms myself. You don’t have to come with me.
no subject
He can lose it later. There’s shit that needs to get done. This poor bastard needs Hank right now, he needs him to keep his shit together.]
And leave both of us without backup? Like hell.
[He wouldn’t call his voice strong, not by a longshot, but the pretense is good enough that Hank turns back to face Simon, taking a slow breath.]
Why, is it- um. Is it bad, the Dive Room?
[He watches Simon wring his hands, tries to get his shit together, and finds himself thinking about that hand Simon’d put on his shoulder. How long’s it been since the guy was able to touch someone like that? How long will it be after they get out of here, if he ever gets the chance again at all? It’s not what Hank needs to be focusing on right now but the thought feels important, even if he’s too damn frazzled to figure out what the fuck to do with it.]