acatalepsy_logs | world # 6 : beyond the walls

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world # 6 : beyond the walls

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!

Threaded | Flat

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)

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?

[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!]]

[ 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!]

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.]

Threaded | Flat

Konoha | JINBA | OTA + team

Roy Mustang | FMA | OTA + team!

Ren Suzugamori | Cardfight Vanguard | 2 OTA 1 team

North Dakota | OTA + Team

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