world # 6 : beyond the walls

[acatamods]

I ▫ main IV ▫ premise       XI ▫ applications XIV ▫ activity II ▫ logs V ▫ rules VII ▫ bestiary   IX ▫ canon updates XII ▫ taken XV ▫ drop/hiatus III ▫ ooc VI ▫ faq VIII ▫ setting   X ▫ mods XIII ▫ reserves XVI ▫ players BEYOND THE WALLS. You have decided to explore, despite the insistence that there is nothing to go looking for. That it's all fine, and that the trip is dangerous. You don't need to put yourself into unnecessary harm! Stay here! Have a drink! But there has to be something more going on - Astoria wouldn't have dropped you off if that wasn't the case, right? So you decide to investigate. Decide to pack up some supplies, grab an extra coat that Astoria left in your room, and head out. The first thing you'll find is the door itself. Tucked into an indiscreet alleyway in the center of the city and covered in a layer of ice and snow, is a doorway. Boarded up with wood, surprisingly enough, and relatively new. It doesn't take too much to get inside, and what you find is a stairwell carved from stone. THE LABYRINTH The stairwell goes on seemingly forever, curving around and through the rock, and shooting off in each direction. This is indeed a labyrinth of sorts, so you will want to keep close to each other for fear of getting lost. These stairs will take you the entire first day to get down, through a maze of slick stone and no light. The stairs, every 100 steps or so, do flatten out to a small landing of sorts, before taking off in at least three different directions. Like we said- be careful. ➜ There is no one way to get out from this labyrinth. As long as you move down, the stairs will all lead you out the base of the mountain on the right side towards the horizon. There is no one exit, so even if you do get separated from others you will end up along the same side of the mountain. Though your character may not know that. THE TUNDRA This is going to be the most dangerous part of the mission. It will take 3 days to traverse the land if you don't get sidetracked, and finally make it to the strange glow that you know has to be the source of all of this. The land is just as you expect it to be - harsh, cold, icey, and rough. The winds never seem to stop, only shifting different directions whenever they seem bored. Sometimes it is a light breeze, other times reaching near-impossible gusts. Thankfully, there seem to be structures for you to take cover in. It is just as the natives described, so none of this quite seems out of place. Though what you didn't quite expect to find, or sense, or realize, is that you don't seem to be the only ones out here. While they never seem to get very close, you get the sense you are being followed. Or maybe followed isn't the right word. Hunted. Great beasts do roam this land, giant creatures that take camouflage in the snow and ice, watching. They won't strike out at you unprompted, but each night when you settle, you can feel their eyes. Following. ➜ This section will only take 3 days, unless you decide to take it more slowly, or get distracted. ➜ The creatures will not attack you unless you attack them first. You do not get any clear sense of what they look like, but they are roughly the size of a house and move silently through the night. If you do decide to hunt them down/attack them, comment back to this post and let us know, as you'll get some fun new info! At the expense of your health, but hey. It might be worth it. THE GLOW You will reach this on the fourth day, a widespread orange-ish glow that stands out amongst the blue and whites of the ice around you. It is coming from behind a large wall of stone, so you must make it around this wall before you can truly see the source. And the source is a large (about the size of an olympic swimming pool) crevice in the ground. This crevice, or crack, has no bottom from what you can tell, but if you get too close the glow is too warm and too bright for you to really tell. And it is glowing, and it is letting off warmth, as this area is the most warm you've been since arriving here. But it's hard to tell from what, or why. What you can see, though, is that the snow and ice around this area is completely gone, melted away, and that the crevice seems to be...growing. Bits and pieces of the rock and stone are breaking away and falling into the glow. You can surmise that the 'darkness' Astoria warned you about has to do with whatever this giant, growing crack in the ground. ➜ After some investigation around this glow, you will be able to find out that whatever energy is being given off, it is seeming into the ground all around it. This is the reason for the melting, the slow destruction of the stone, but also - from what you can tell - the magic being used back in Joikull. It emits the same color, and same warmth, though they have apparently found a way to transfer this energy/glow into various other ways. Anyone who makes it to the glow will know these things/be able to figure these out. ➜ The glow is coming from deep within the crevice. Deep. And the closer you get to it, the warmer it gets. Standing along the edge isn't too hot, just enough that you don't need your jackets, but if you do decide to descend into it, it will get hotter and hotter until you are unable to breathe/exist. ➜ If you have any other things you wish to look into or investigate, be sure to leave your comments here and we will let you know what else you can find, if anything! (aka, there is more information to be uncovered, depending on how you investigate!) And as you return to the city, the trip will once again take the four days. What will you do with your new information? Also, your watches will have worked this entire trip, so if you need to let anyone know back in the city, feel free!

Comments

Konoha | JINBA | OTA + team

[lumberlady]

01. Stairs [OTA]

[As tempting as it had been to remain, to stay behind with the locals where it seemed more obviously safe... This place wasn't like the Horologium. Konoha isn't that far out of her element here, they aren't dealing with technology and space and horrors... It's snowy. It's land. And unlike a lot of the Circle members... She doesn't have a problem with cold, nor being out in the snow for days. So... She ought to go. Right?

She's taken it upon herself to carry most of the supplies, because that also just makes sense to her, two large baskets slung over her withers and balancing out on her sides, snow shoes on, and... Trying to psyche herself up, she turns to the others, putting on a smile and pumping her fist a bit.]

Ready to go? Let's hope it doesn't get much colder out there, huh?

02. Stairs [OTA]

[Okay, she takes that enthusiasm back. Stairs are not a horse-legged person's friend.

About halfway through the day, ankles aching a bit and hooves looking a bit chipped from some near misses on the icy steps, Konoha pauses, hanging her head a bit before she looks down into the icy murk before them, trying to disguise her stop by adjusting the harness on her waist (shoulders).]

How far do you think these stairs keep going for... ?

03. Night Watch [Team]

[Having a jinba around is useful in a lot of ways. Another fun addition... portable heater. Come nightfall the temperature plunges even further, and with the strange shapes in the snow, the scent of creature lurking on the wind... Konoha isn't sleeping that well.

So she cracks an eye open at a sound, maybe you moving about, maybe a pop of the fire, but. She shifts about, curling her legs closer to her belly and hugging her bundled up coat tighter in her arms.]

... Are you awake?

04. Wildcard (Feel Free)

night watch!!

[insubordination]

[ roy hates being cold, and this is no exception, but he's a soldier, and has served in harsher climates, and so is awake as viligently as the rest of them. his back is leaned up against a wall of ice, his arms folded around his chest, as he watches the fire move... but as konoha moves, he glances over. ]

Hm?

[ an absent sound, before he realizes konoha is actually awake, and he offers her a slight smile. ]

As awake as ever. Sorry if I disturbed you.

[lumberlady]

No, it's okay, you didn't...

[She could hardly be disturbed by him, when she has far more frightful things for her imagination to dwell on. Like the shapes in the snow, the scent of unfamiliar beasts. She tries to smile back, and manages a little one, weak as it was.]

Are you cold... ?

[Okay, she could kick herself, of course he's cold, but-]

2.

[mollymocked]

Forever. Straight into Hell. [Molly looks patently miserable, himself. He's dealt with dungeon crawls and stairs and he's normally a fan of going down, but this is ridiculous. And he's cold and is pressing as close as he can get to Konoha to get some of her extra body heat. He's too hot-blooded to deal with this cold, and the big fluffy (and tacky) coat he's wearing isn't helping much.]

This seemed like a good idea at the time, didn't it?

[lumberlady]

Don't say that... !

[Konoha certainly has no plans to go to hell, thank you very much??? But she doesn't need Molly jinxing them either! She's glad to have him close, though, because as brave a face as she's put on for this expedition, she's scared, trying to pass her occasional tremors off as shivers even though she isn't cold, hasn't even buttoned her coat.]

Was the city really that far up?

Roy Mustang | FMA | OTA + team!

[insubordination]

the staircase/labyrinth (OTA).

[ on the staircase, roy is carefully leading a sect of people down the path, a hand on a wall to stabilize the descent. if he sees you slip, or about to fall, he is there to grab your arm with a quick hand, and a friendly smile: ]

Careful; we can't afford to lose you.

[ and in the midst of the labyrinth, roy can be found walking with his hand on the wall to his left, keeping it there as he moves. and, when pausing, he's looking at the walls, at the pathways, trying to keep track of where they went, and can be heard murmuring to himself: ]

... but if we keep heading due north . . .

[ whatever roy is trying to figure out, feel free to interrupt. ]

the tundra (LOCKED TO TEAM).

[ roy will be quick to start a fire with materials he had purchased in faerun, and once he has that going, he's going to begin to set up camp in a neat circle. they need to keep warm, and the closer they stick together, the warmer they will be.

he's dressed in a warm coat, hood drawn up, but when he sees you approach, he brushes it back with a tired (and sligtly exasperated) grin: ]

And here I thought we would be brought to an island paradise, next, but the frigid north will have to suffice.

[ and he offers you a blanket. ]

Keep warm; we'll keep to save our strength, to continue.

the hole (OTA).

[ and once they finally arrive at the source of the magic, or whatever the hell is going on, roy looks oddly . . . stunned. of all the things he expected to find, it was not something this massive, nor something so... foreign, to this world.

instead, he stoops, resting his elbows on his knees, and with a slight frown: ]

But why is this even here?

[ it's murmured, peering down into the depths. ]

And how are these people still alive?

the tundra

[dadandgone]

[Maes rubs his gloved hands together, watching as his breath puffs out. It's much colder than he had anticipated, but at the same time what had he expected from a world with snow people. He nods as he takes up a seat next to his oldest friend.]

You should know better than that.

[An island paradise, indeed. Maes doesn't think they'll end up in a place like that if they're supposed to be helping combat Darkness. Then again, maybe there's an island out there somewhere that's in trouble.]

Probably the closest we'll come to somewhere nice was the last world...

[If Akvos hadn't ended the way it had, he'd probably rank that one fairly high. As it was, Faerun had turned out fairly nice. He'd not expected that at the start of it, but it had been a nice reprieve.]

Makes me glad I never got sent up to Briggs.

[insubordination]

It's miserable.

[ immediately, with a roll of his eyes as he watches the fire crackle, his arms folded around his middle to keep warm. not for the first time, roy wished he had access to his alchemy, but wishing never really came to fruition, in this place. ]

It's a lot like this, except with the added bonus of being Olivier Armstrong's personal servant.

[ which wouldn't be so bad, if it weren't for, you know. her abject hatred of him for no reason. NO REASON AT ALL, HE SAYS.

but with that, he looks over at hughes, arching his eyebrows. ]

How are you holding up?

the hole

[mollymocked]

[For the most part, Molly is happy to be where the warmth is, but on a grand scale, this is not good. If he were from a modern society, this would be where a climate change joke would come in.]

Maybe it's got to spread out further before they're in any actual danger. [He paces along the edge carefully.] It's got to be spreading... On top of the fact that they're getting addicted to the idea of having it.

[insubordination]

But why?

[ it's bothering him, the latter part. and roy stands, sliding his hands into the pockets of his coat, to stare down into the glowing (seeming) abyss. ]

Why would you be addicted to the idea of having something that would harm you? What possible purpose would they have for something like this?

the tundra.

[efface]

[ the cold is near-unbearable. riza doesn't know what about it she hates most about it - the way it's seeped under her clothes, she way she can't quite remember what it felt like to feel her toes, or the actual, honest tension that comes from the eyes in the dark. she's been on edge since the labyrinth, since stepping out onto the tundra, but even she has to admit she doesn't...mind. being back on a mission again. especially with the semblance of familiarity that she, and maes, and roy all seem to fall into. you can never quite take the military training out of the soldiers, can you. ]

I'm sure Astoria was doing her best. [ she drops the bag she'd had over her shoulder near the fire, and with very little ceremony moves to sit directly up against roy's side, any kind of nervousness she might have had being in public and this close immediately pushed aside by the crankiness that has come with the fact she is so cold. ]

If there was ever a time for your alchemy to come back...

[insubordination]

[ indeed, he doesn't seem to mind her leaning up against his side, shifting to put an arm around her shoulders with no hesitation, rubbing her arm briefly once to get some warmth back into her before he says, dryly: ]

Thank you for the reminder. Deeply appreciated.

[ ha ha ha. ]

Are you alright?

Ren Suzugamori | Cardfight Vanguard | 2 OTA 1 team

[thedarkbond]

[a: dance magic dance (ota)]

[Ren's sense of direction is, to put it lightly, abysmal unless he particularly cares to put in effort to remember where things are. So he's definitely trying to stay close to the group for this bit of the descent, even though he can figure that the general direction they're aiming for here is "down".

Nonetheless, when they hit yet another split in the paths, he turns his head to the person closest to him, rubbing the back of his hair a little as if it's troublesome.] So which way this time...? I didn't know one maze could have this many intersections, it's a little extreme...

--

[b: fantastic beasts (closed to team)]

[Out on the tundra, though Ren clearly isn't very fond of the conditions, he bears through it well enough, occasionally with a good-natured complaint or two to try and lighten the mood. And also disguise the fact that he's really very not used to having to deal with these kinds of conditions even if he's doing a good enough job of keeping up that it's not that noticeable.

At night, though, he crashes pretty quickly, napping on and off and only seeming to wake when it suits him. When he does wake, though, he ends up sitting by the entrance to their shelter, watching the odd shapes outside with a light curiosity rather than anything approaching being unsettled.]

I wonder what they all want... [If the creatures wanted to hunt them properly, he imagines they would have by now.]

--

[c: apocalypse now (ota)]

[Well, that glow certainly turns out to be...something. Ren wanders around the edge of the crevice curiously - and at least partially because it's warm here and he's basking in it while he can - watching as the pieces near the edge crack and fall in. It's definitely growing consistently, but it's hard to tell only having been here a short time, and Ren figures that's the kind of information that could be useful to them in future. So he glances back to the rest of the group, looking for anyone who seems like they might be more attentive than he is. Which is not a high bar to pass considering how he usually acts.]

Do you think we should figure out how quickly it's growing first, or try something else...?

--

[d: wildcard]

[[For anything else, feel free to hit me up at reviseleviathan to plot!]]

B

[rougerebelle]

[While she did grow up on a tropical island, she had spent the last year or so traversing the globe. It wasn't enough to really say she had adapted to colder climes, but she at least knows how to dress and manage surviving in them. She'd appreciate if they had better technology or at least a good dog sled, but she supposes they're just going to have to make due with the transportation they have. In this case, their own two feet.

Most nights, Carmen sleeps lightly, always up for keeping watch as the need arises. She's pulled late nights before after all. She's already been watching the creatures move for some time. Like most creatures with camouflage, they can be difficult to spot at first, but once you have the sense of them it's not impossible. She doesn't turn to respond to Ren, instead keeping her focus on the beasts as they lumber along nearby.]

They haven't really come much closer than what they are now...I don't know a lot about animals, but I imagine they're watching to see what we'll do. After all, we might be the first of our kind out here on the tundra like this...they have no reason to fear us or even know what to make of us really.

[clickclickbloom]

[It's a wonder that Ruby is dealing with the cold as well as she is considering her attire. She has been lucky enough to have to travel through a climates as cold as this before but she wasn't above complaining about the cold either.

Ruby is generally willing to take up the first or last watch of the night. She's got her faithful Crescent Rose by her side to take care of any undesirable creatures that get close to their camp. Not that she has had the chance to use it quite yet.

She's currently bundled up in her cloak giving a little yawn as she starts to stir and wake up.]

Maybe they want to be breakfast? I could go ask?

North Dakota | OTA + Team

[brodakota]

[ A - Labyrinth ]

Well this is cheery.

[ That's North for you, trying to keep his chin up in a rather harrowing situation. He hasn't been on an ice planet like this since Sidewinder. And that brings back more than a few messy memories. But for now, he'll focus on taking his time on the stairs and trying not to slip. He's just glad he's got his armour.

And will hold his hand out to steady someone.]

Watch your step.

[ The Glow ]

Well, there's definitely something down there, but it's kind of hard to tell what. It's hot, enough that it's wrecking havoc with my thermals.

Not that I'm complaining too much.

[ Because it's nice. Being warm like this. It's preferable to the tundra.]

[ C - Wildcard ]

[Open to any and all shenanigans!]

The glow

[spaceforged]

It's not doing anything good for my sensors, either. [Shiro says telepathically as he stalks around the edge of the crack. His metal lion body moves along the edge and probes it with his claws.]

It reminds me of the rift. Doesn't it? We need to get close enough to study it to know more.

[He could slip into the crack but what would it do to him. Without warning, he leans over and stuffs his paw into the gap. He jerks it back fast.]

It's hotter further down!

[brodakota]

If it gets hotter, I don't think getting closer is a good idea. Not without the right equipment at least.

[And he doesn't trust himself with the dome shield. Not without Theta to manage the output. Or if he can get it to protect against the heat.]

Which rift?

TEAM SUPERHERO | zari, steve, wanda, nate & bucky

[hackedhistory]

buddy system!!!

[The stairs wind down ahead of them, each inching closer to the pinpricks of light that must be the exits out. If the team gets separated, eventually they'll all get dumped out in the same place, but they don't know that yet! It's time to decide, either daisy chain or a pair and a thruple, however you guys want to handle their grand escape, where hopefully they have enough rations.

~the adventure begins~]

snow days

[It's three days of a whole lot of white and a whole lot of walking. It's easy for people to get bored. Whether its of the rations that they brought with them to cook up, or all of the white everywhere all the time, there are likely to be some ways to break up the monotony. There's plenty of time for a bit of harmless fun.

Maybe they'll even build some snowmen when they make camp.]

wildcard

[For going nuts or any one on one threads you may want to have on their snow-venture.]

the glow ; single thread

[hackedhistory]

[When they arrive at their destination, Zari takes in the scene around them, and how, well, melty everything is. This reminds her of Struxta, only instead of being shocked out by an incredibly powerful storm, the locals here are just going to melt away, like they were never even here.

It's one thing or an entire civilization to be wiped out, it's another to have them just ... disappear entirely.

She glances over to Steve at first, because of the five of them, he's the one who was in Struxta with her.]

Looks like we're going back to our roots.

[valuedstrength]

[For the people who know him well, you can almost pinpoint the exact moment the light leaves his eyes. Not much scares Steve. He's dumb or more accurately stubborn like that. What they found scares him. It's endless death. That, as perhaps Bucky may know, terrifies him every time.

He meets Zari's gaze without bothering to suppress a shiver that has nothing to do with the cold.] We can't let it happen again.

[Steve works to gather himself enough to come up with something akin to a plan.] We should try to make contact with her. See what the best play is. [He is so out of his league here. There's no Tony to magically find a solution to this problem. All they have is the lady supposedly in charge of all this. Lucky them.]

wanda | snow & handholding like a "oh no they're snowed in" fic

[whatchoice]

HOLD MY HAND

[ not generally tactile, wanda wouldn't willingly hold hands and frolic through the labyrinth but she also doesn't want to get separated and wind up stuck inside alone. clearly it would be better to be stuck with someone else in case this becomes a case of the uruguayan rugby team.

she will (not) eat one of them to survive.

it doesn't matter that she doesn't know some of them well, nate, or at all, bucky, though she knows he is steve's bff and thus good, but she will hold hands for safety, grumbling under her breath in half sokovian, half english. it comes out to: ] Stupid maze.

SNOW WAY IN HELL

[ the only redeeming quality of being outnumbered by guys is that they are all enormous and wanda will happily hide behind one of them when the wind kicks up. what are they there for if not to be her own personal shield? she can't do much to protect herself, shivering violent and wishing she had the warmth of her magic back. she could keep them all warm maybe, she could certainly start a fire with her powers! but now, she's useless. ]

I should be used to this, [ she says through chattering teeth as they're setting up to camp for the evening. sokovia gets cold fronts from siberia. freezing winds are familiar, but they are not usually so unrelenting. ]

snow way snow day

[sinistral]

Says who?

[Bucky is more than familiar with the cold, but that doesn't make it a welcome thing. Though it's not really the cold that's the problem, it's the wind. It makes everything feel colder, and with the way it changes direction with no warning there's little enough way to brace against it either.

He shifts to her other side when the wind does, trying to use his bulk to act like a shield. It'll probably work for a little bit, at least until the wind shifts again.]

This is ridiculous.

handholding }

[hackedhistory]

[Zari will take one of those hands, doing her best to peer into the darkness to try and see if there's anything beyond where they are.]

Never thought I would miss those spells we had in Mirabar. While I was there I could just turn the lights on whenever I wanted.

Bucky | who's the New Guy and why did we bring him with us?

[sinistral]

Stairs;
[Bucky considers himself to have a pretty good sense of direction, but the labyrinth of stairs has even him confused. Maybe it's because it's all underground and there's no landmarks that he's used to? Maybe it's just that this whole thing is weird? Maybe it's that he's still trying to wrap his head around magical kidnapping and other worlds and powers and the whole nine yards.

Jury's still out as to whether or not he's crazy.

But while he's definitely not a fan of casual contact and being touched, holding hands as they navigate the maze only makes sense. He'd swear that the stairways are actually moving, save that he hasn't seen it happen. Then again there are so many different stairs going in so many different directions that it might be impossible to tell anyway. At least no one's wandered close enough to the edge to need to be pulled back (yet).]

Camping;
[Camping in the snow just really, really sucks. Bad enough to walk into the cold wind all day. Bad enough for it to continue into the night. Bad enough to know they're being followed, to have to battle the part of him that screams it's a threat, it's a trap, it's a fight waiting to happen. He doesn't have to be the Winter Soldier, for all that the landscape reminds him of nothing but his HYDRA training.

At least their little group is nothing like that, which helps. He's sure it's because of Steve had he'd even been asked along at all, and he's not sure how to feel about that. Just another thing to firmly shove into a box and not consider for the near future. Or the far future, for that matter.

Still, camping is miserable, especially for someone who's pretty sure that he's going to be fighting nightmares with how much the memories want to float to the surface. Fun times.]

Snowball Fight;
[Bucky (probably) won't be the one to start it, but he'll definitely want to finish it...]