cancry | Avaritia Underside Log

AVARITIA DUNGEON LOG
Once the Executors have steeled themselves for the confrontation with Greta (or whatever Greta might have become now her Authority has been reclaimed) it's time to descend into the Avaritia Underside. For those Executors new to the team, this is going to seem like a terrible trecharous climb down, but don't worry! The real danger waits down on the Underside below. And going by the lights and noise drifting up to meet you, it's not going to be any more welcoming than the Layer that came before...
THE UNDERSIDE
♪♫ MagiCatz – Sakuzyo Descending into the Avaritia Underside is like willingly throwing yourself into the deepest, darkest pits of sensory hell. The Greed Layer has never been a particularly friendly looking place but with it distorted into a labyrinth of flashing neon signs, oversized casino machines and Revenants swarming the streets, it's as though everything that makes Avaritia unbearable has been turned all the way up to eleven. It's... not a fun place to be! To make matters worse, things are loud here – as well as all the noise from the casino machines, music blares from an unseen source and the Revenants laugh and chatter and babble between themselves even as they fight and kill for the grubby Nova coins that can be found scattered around. It's a deeply unpleasant place to be, but this is where Greta has ended up and if you want to proceed then you have no choice but to plunge into this neon-drenched hellscape. AREAS OF INTEREST ⚝ Main Street: There are many other clusters of activity around the Underside, but the main street that makes up the center of the Underside is certainly the biggest and the busiest. Whatever buildings might have made up this street before are long gone, some crushed and destroyed by the regular outpourings of coins from the giant slot machines and some having been ravaged and destroyed in some fight or other between Revenants. The street is lined with grubby, battered novas that have changed hands so often that the metal has worn smooth. Even so, the Revenants here fight over the money viciously, biting and scratching and killing over even a single coin. The more novas any individual Revenant is able to keep its hands (or, uh... claws?) on, the stronger it appears to be. And lurking at the mouth of main street is an absolutely enormous Revenant, lording over a horde of coins bigger than any you've ever seen before – and it doesn't seem inclined to share them with you. ⚝ Fort Nyx: The already labyrinthine layout of Fort Nyx's underground vaults has somehow managed to get even more confusing with the transition to the underside. The upper layer that once housed the bank has vanished entirely, leaving wibbly wobbly corridors that snake down deep into the depths of the vaults. You'll want to move fast as you travel through here, as the vault doors will occasionally burst open and a particularly aggressive Revenant will burst out, intent on protecting whatever meager treasures it's managed to collect and keep in the safe. Press further in and you'll eventually find yourself at the Underside's equivalent of Vault #0. Greta isn't here to greet you, unfortunately, but you do at least have another Revenant to occupy your time with! ⚝ Et Voila Casino: See for yourself. HAZARDS ⚝ Sensory Overload: Avaritia's Underside is, unbelievably, even worse than Avaritia itself in terms of apparently doing everything it can to send you running with a migraine. Lights flash, neon signs blare and the noise is almost unbearable. With all this on top of the natural distortion to the Underside's geography, this makes trying to navigate extremely difficult and can be dangerously disorienting when it comes time to fight. ⚝ Structural Damage: Many of the buildings around the city have fallen into disrepair due to the presence of the Revenants here. Most concerningly, many of the signs have some degree of damage to their wiring or electrical supply and may spark or flicker or even shock Executors who get too close. Be on your guard! ⚝ Avalanche!: Occasionally, the oversized slot machines that line the streets will hit on a prize and immediately pour an wave of novas into the streets. On top of the danger posed by the rush of Revenants that will come hurrying in to claim the coins, there's a very real chance of an unlucky Executor being crushed under the tidal wave of metal, causing horrible injury if not outright death. ⚝ Revenant Types Present: Ficino, Rigaud

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yes!

[ "Fast" is an understatement. Monarch isn't sure his eyes are able to track it, but as it blurs towards them he cracks his whip where he thinks he feels Charles approaching -

- only for the creature to ping-pong off the wall, dodging, and hurtle for Chiron instead. ]

Chiron-san!

[Charles is fast. Chiron is also fast. But only when he knows where he's going. Monarch's warning is heeded in an instant, Chiron's form disappearing into a magenta after-image, appearing several feet down the hall instead. He gasps and turns, trying to keep an eye on the blur.]

I don't have anything to slow it down! [He could start swinging and hope to get lucky or to predict its angle of attack, but that's hardly a reliable method.] Can you trap it up in your whip?

I'll try!

[ Okay, so that's....this motion? Attempt not to redirect, but to tangle, what's he have to do with his wrist, is it this motion -

no, no it is not, that just seems to have made it angry -

Monarch grits his teeth but doesn't back down, even as the tiny pinball of greedrage begins to pinball towards him instead. ]

[Ah - that is an issue, hm. Learning or re-learning their weapons of choice. He can't say much about a whip, that can't be easy at all, and he can't talk shit given his genuinely ridiculously sized tremendously pink dramatically ornate scythe. /SHRUG!

Which is to say, not a good weapon in these enclosed halls with a speedy target. He dismisses it with a curse and dashes to close the space. His warping has been getting better, yes, but he can't do it willy nilly all the time, or he'll collapse and be less than useless.]

That's terribly rude, ignoring me, you overgrown security blanket! Don't think you're done with me quite yet!

[He doubts it'll distract the bloody pinball, but if he can manage just a touch somehow as it bounces about-]

Chiron-sa---

[ The moment Monarch stops overthinking this, surprise! The whip flicks out in just the right place and smacks Charles into the ground. Chiron will have an opening!

....he will also be very close to a rabid creature bound and determined to beat the living daylights out of them, but, well, you know... ]

[Look, he just - he wants to try something, okay! Something that is not 'swing long sharp object wildly'. With the Charles (crystar plz) effectively down for the moment, he takes a leap right onto the damned thing, grabbing a handful of its cozy little blanket.

A dark purple-black smoke-like essence pours from the space between his hand on the enemy. Chiron laughs, breathless, and just a touch...hm. A touch something. Unhinged? But surely not that. Not Chiron.] Let's see how much you can take, hm? If it feels half as bad to you as it feels good to me, I can only imagine--

[But the gloating doesn't last. It's not very big, but it's thrashing like mad, and before he knows it, there's a gross-ass substance that sprouts from its facehole. Chiron lets go, half bucked and half to pull himself away, as the goop spatters against his arm. It's disgusting. And...sticky.]

[ .....Chiron-san?

Monarch doesn't understand. Why is he talking to it, why is he laughing....This doesn't seem like him. Does Monarch not really know him, does Monarch not really know anybody, how can Monarch know anybody if he doesn't know himself -

But then his fellow Executor is attacked, and all of that gets shoved to the back of Monarch's head. He dashes over, puts himself between Chiron and Charles. ] Are you all right?

[ He risks a glance back, which means he takes his eyes off the enemy. Which is a mistake. Monarch winces as he's slammed in the side and something digs into him. Teeth?

But better him than Chiron-san. He has visions of Esme's poison in his head and none of them are good. ]

[The moment was there and now is gone again, back to the Chiron known and loved. But the intensity is still there. He got cocky, and now Monarch is paying the price. Monarch who is just a child, and he will not stand for it.

His arm is sticking in a gross way, hard to get it straightened out, so he summons his scythe in his off hand. And chucks it like a spear. ~~Would the physics of that work in real life? No, but shut up.~~ He vanishes in a haze of magenta only to near-instantly reappear much closer to the pair, just in time to catch the scythe one-handed and bring it to bear on Charles.]

Let go of him.

[It's an order.]

[ Charles hisses, obscured teeth digging in harder to Monarch's side. Monarch nearly gasps from the pain, but - he can't make Chiron-san worry too much! He forces his jaw shut, takes the butt of his whip, drives it into the Revenant's forehead to try and pry it off. ]

Ghhh....

[ Charles snarls, which rhymes and the player finds that delightful. It wiggles its body in front of Monarch, and Monarch catches on. ]

Chiron-san! It's....I'm its shield!

[ It thinks they can't fight it if it's close enough Monarch can be collateral damage! ]

[The scythe arcs down, ready to slice Monarch and Charles both in twain without hesitation.

Charles flinches. Chiron smirks.

The weapon does not cut, but it's a near thing, near enough that Monarch could be forgiven for thinking this is going to be his last moment, but the image of the blade shatters into tinkling crystals, passing harmlessly through him, into nothing at all. And in the span of the flinch, Chiron is there, a hand firmly grasped on Monarch. In spite of the critter still latched on, a soft light seeps from Chiron's hand, warm and welcome.

Those couple of points of duration he stole from Charles are now deposited into Monarch.]

Oh dear, looks like we need to do a little emergency surgery for this lump.

...

[ Everyone else is amazing.

Monarch blinks as warmth floods in and the pain dulls. He can...endure it? He can endure it. And Charles -

He slams the whip into the creature's mouth once more, and it drops. ]

Did you finish it?

Not quite-

[One has to make sure! He's going to make sure. The scythe comes out again, and he jams the end of it into the pile of blanket with enough force that it would probably break a normal person's bones.

And then twice more, for good measure.]

-there, now I think so. Feel free to give it a good whipping otherwise.

[ Monarch peers down. It certainly...isn't moving....so...

....He's not sure he wants to whip something that's already down. So he turns to Chiron, and there's so much here, he found his Executor ability but he also potentially saw some things about Chiron-san that don't make sense.... ]

In any case, it can't follow us. Let's go.

Avaritia Underside Log

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