Superbia Underside Log

[cancrymods]

SUPERBIA DUNGEON LOG

Third time's the charm for the Executors, it seems. Their confrontation with Miss President ended peacefully and with the Superbia loop ended, the school was finally able to enjoy its hard earned festival. But it's not quite a straightforward happy ending – the way back up to the previous layers is still sealed and regardless, if the Executors want to progress, they'll have to make their way through the Underside. Finding the entrance isn't too hard. After all, it's where all of this began. At the spot in the gymnasium the previous Student Council President was corrupted, a familiar stairway stretches down, down, down into the darkness. It's been a long time coming, but it's finally time for you to graduate Superbia.

THE UNDERSIDE

♪♫ Maze Fortress – Sakuzyo ... or so you expect, anyway. Entering the Superbia Underside is just as disorienting as always, but for totally opposite reasons to the other Undersides. While the other Undersides have been vaguely recognizable distortions of their Layers, this one is so similar to Superbia that for a second it's almost unclear whether or not you really are in the Underside or not. It almost feels like a repeat of heading down to Superbia for the first time as you descend the stairs but as you get closer, your intimate familiarity with the Layer allows you to pick out the subtle changes. It's more run down than the school itself and you can see Revenants flitting around to and fro in all directions. A few locations seem to have been switched around and warped but for the most part, Superbia stands as you've always known it, frozen in perfect stasis, just the way a certain someone would have wanted it. AREAS OF INTEREST ⚝ SUPERBIA LOCATIONS: As mentioned above, many of the locations from the Pride Layer are in place as you know them here, carved into place by the repeating loops. They're run down and overrun by Revenants but assume that any locations not mentioned below seem to be the same below as they are above. ⚝ STUDENT COUNCIL ROOM: Given how things started, it seems like the logical place to go. The Student Council Room isn't a big place, so it shouldn't take long to examine, right? Or so you might think. The instant the door opens, dazzling light pours out, blinding you for a second. It takes your eyes a moment to adjust but when you do, you'll see the reason for that is that the walls of the room have been replaced with thick, almost perfectly transparent glass with the summer sun pouring in aggressively from the outside. As you follow the curve of the glass up, you realize this isn't just a room – it's a giant glass birdcage. And... I don't have to tell you it's occupied by a bird, do I? ⚝ CLUB BUILDING: Once a monument to the delightful inanity of high school life, the club building has been completely taken over by Revenants. To call it an infestation would be an understatement – the instant you open the door, you find yourself utterly swarmed by them and in the confusion, you'll be chased away from the exit! All you can do is keep climbing and fighting your way up to the third floor, and from there the roof, which is made a litttle hard by the fact that the Revenants seem happy to weaponize the equipment of the club rooms against you. Watch out for that falling piano!! Make your way to the top roof and you'll find a particularly grouchy Revenant on top who doesn't seem eager to let you go! ⚝ GYMNASIUM: See for yourself. HAZARDS ⚝ Structural Damage: Similarly to the Avaritia layer, many of the buildings around the city have fallen into disrepair due to the presence of the Revenants here. While some of the bigger structures are fine, Revenants may burst through walls to get to you and letting them go on a rampage in an enclosed space could bring the whole building down on top of you! ⚝ Revenant Types Present: Charles, Metrodorus

Comments

[emberserker]

[With all the clatter, Wolfsbane picks up the pace on her escort mission, tearing over to the door with barely a glance behind to see if her companion made it okay. She stops in front of the door and stares, taking in the half-dead Executors, the traces of smoke, two large holes blown into the gymnasium, the remains of crystal and feathers, Ariel's back, one of their healers bringing the other back from the brink and --]

What did you do?!

[ourtomorrow]

Is ev---

[ The words die in the not-quite-Spectre, not-quite-Executor's throat as he rushes up on Wolfsbane's heels. His own steps slow more quickly, however, and he hangs back. These people - is that some of the faculty? - and they're hurt, badly...

His own fingers are slicked with the mysterious substance he's been bleeding instead of blood, and there's a dried crust of it around a makeshift bandage on one arm. Charles had a snack. But he's upright. Please, triage accordingly.

And a different question. ]

How can we help?

[crypddyd]

[Lion charges in after the first wave, weapon out and dripping with gore from his and Sword's own battle]

Where is she?!

[he may or may not know the enemey is actually a girl or just be Freudian Edelgarding. Either way he moves to secure the room from further attack]

[schardynfreude]

Ah--I've got him...I've got him. Just, perhaps, require the...rest of him.

[But Medic's timely arrival and ability to help save him from himself are quite welcome. Still, as everyone files in from the newly blasted open door, and their foe vanishes as though she were made entirely of insubstantial scourge, his frown becomes one less of pain and more of consternation and even some confusion. Chiron looks down at Phoenix, over at Etoile, and then at Medic.]

Perhaps...you can help. I'm terribly curious, [even with the awful if healing hole in his middle] why did they call me Chiron?

[Sorry, did I say Chiron looks at Medic? Apparently that's not quite the case anymore.]

I thought I'd determined my name was Your Majesty.

[mementomoritz]

[Calling back over her shoulder:] Also bring me that hand, please!

[Either she'll reattach it or she'll find something else to use it for. Waste not want not.]

That's- the name you picked... hm. [She frowns.] Possible confusion and short-term memory loss. That's a new symptom, not entirely consistent with normal pneuma loss.

Do you remember the last thing you were doing?

[seasharp]

[Everything just... happens so much, so quickly, all of a sudden. Yep. That's about how she remembers it being.]

...Um, I did a heroic rescue, so not it on touching any severed body parts.

[Please.]

[daughterofthemark]

[Veil's been in no particular hurry since she has no relevant-seeming abilities, but if everyone else is gathering here then of course she'll come over too, and--]

Gracious, did you say memory loss?

[Like... more memory loss than they already have?

Listen she will react to things one at a time as her poor brain processes them. This is a Lot that she's walked in on. For instance:]

--Dame Ariel?!

[etincelledefierte]

“…how did you know we were fighting a girl, Lion? And yeah, Wolfsbane, it was a rough fight. The girl we were fighting was like some cross between a Revenant and an Executor. She came close to killing all three of us, despite all of our best efforts. She was the one that sealed off the door with that crystal. It took me two tries to get enough of it off the door for you all to break it down. One of those holes in the ceiling was me; I hit the ceiling trying to hit our attacker.”

Etoile’s voice is still weak, but she manages to try and make herself heard.

“And what happened, Chiron, did you hit your head that badly on your way down from up there? I knew you took a hard fall, but…”

She tries yet again to get onto her feet, this time using her sword as a support. It helps a little, but only a little. “I…don’t think I can walk all that far just yet. Can someone give me a hand getting to Medic?”

[crypddyd]

... I did not?

[Yeah he was totally Edelgarding]

[ourtomorrow]

[ ....While everyone else deals with what sounds like a complicated personal situation, perhaps he should handle the practical aid?

The former Superbia soccer coach is fairly certain he shouldn't touch someone else's severed hand with his own sliced-up ones, so he pulls out a handkerchief and decides to use that for appendage retrieval instead.

This girl is the healer...? ]

[daughterofthemark]

[...okay, yeah, Veil's gonna go help Etoile up, since that's a) an immediate problem b) that she can help with.]

What in the Great Tree transpired here?

[mementomoritz]

Thank you! [Does she know who this is? Nope. But that's no reason to be impolite. Besides, she always appreciates someone willing to lend a hand.]

[She channels healing into him as she reaches up to take the severed hand from him, letting it pass through as their fingers brush, then returning her touch to Phoenix as she carefully applies the hand to the stump.]

Good, it's still fresh... this should reattach smoothly. No nerve death yet at all!

[swordofajerk]

[Sword follows the others in, just in time to hear Chiron say that. That, on top of the pure carnage in the building, just has him turning right back around. He is not paid enough to deal with this.]

You changed it, you idiot, because "Your Majesty" is a terrible name. It's a title. Am I actually needed here any more? I brought Lion.

[schardynfreude]

[He shakes his head, looking woozy even for that motion, taking on the tone of someone who was just asked what 2 plus 2 is.] I was attempting to help fight that girl who is much more than she appears. Best that Ariel sent her away; we weren't doing the best.

As you can see.

[He's apparently baffled by the name thing, and just, like, in general, so don't mind if he stays here on the floor doing his own touchy healing thing in this healing circle of heals. He blinks at Sword.]

Who in Shiva's name is Lion?

[alcahest]

[ sorry but in the midst of all this, all of which is already extremely upsetting to Mona as it is

that particular question startles a bit of a wounded noise out of her. ]

[schardynfreude]

Ah...?

[He looks over (up, in fact, from his place on the floor) at Mona, and--at least there's recognition in his eyes.]

Oh...dear, I promise it looks worse than it is.

[first of all: no?? you literally got stabbed straight through?? that's not really okay??
second of all: OBVIOUSLY that's what she's worried about right!!!]

[alcahest]

[ right. that's more important. even if he has forgotten, that shouldn't matter at the moment. she shouldn't be so selfish as to be hurt by something so silly and insignificant when Chiron— (is he... still going to be Chiron?) —when someone she cares very much about is injured.

besides, he remembers her. that's enough. ]

Please don't say that. You're still hurt, Ch— [ the name catches in her throat. ] ah...

[schardynfreude]

...Hm. [His face pinches, and then smooths out with deliberate effort.] If everyone says that's my name...perhaps I should start going by it. But I simply don't...

[He doesn't remember that. It's blank. He brings up a hand to rub at his chin, comes away with pneuma on it. Another thoughtful hm.]

With Medic's help...and surely yours as well, I'll, ah, be right as rain in no time at all.

[alcahest]

[ she shakes her head, slowly at first, then more insistently. ] It's okay. It's... just a name.

[ earlier, up against a Revenant, she had thought — all she had wanted was to run away and cling to Chiron and Phoenix. she had wanted to hear someone reassure her, tell her that it was okay and she didn't have to fight. what a useless child she is. throwing a tantrum over nothing, when the others have had to go through much worse. ]

It's only scary because you forgot. We don't have a lot of memories as it is... I don't want you to lose more.

[schardynfreude]

There is a certain power in names.

[Does that feel like a familiar conversation? ...He isn't sure.]

It could always be worse. I might have forgotten myself entirely! Or I could have forgotten everything entirely! Imagine, needing to start from scratch. I'd be perfectly useless. At least...

[He trails off and slumps over a little.] Ah. Ha. Apologies, I'm...tired.

[alcahest]

[ she comes to sit beside him, her legs folded up underneath her skirts. should she just hold his sleeve the way she usually does...? but — she's worried. and she wants to be close. is she allowed to want that?

there's a moment of visible hesitation, and then she leans against him. her eyes are closed; she feels like she might cry, otherwise. not just because of what he's forgotten — everything seems such a mess right now. ]

We'll rest. Before we go to the next Layer... we'll go home— [ they can't. Mona slumps a little, herself. ] ... We'll go back up to Superbia. I'll make you something you want to eat. We can figure everything out later.

[schardynfreude]

Oh...

[She looks quite tired, and even in his own exhaustion and pain, he can't help but feel for her. He raises a hand like he might touch her, pet or ruffle her hair, but he still has a somewhat frightening countenance, the paleness of his skin, the dark tinge of starscourge coursing through him. He lets the hand drop.]

Yes. We'll go home. Or to the mansion. [He clearly remembers those.] Assuming...that we can go back up all that way at all.

[alcahest]

[ from anyone else, she might think the worst — did he not want to touch me? — but Chiron is different. she knows he's been wary, lately, about touch. even though she isn't bothered by his strange illness, and Medic would have said something were it contagious or dangerous in any way, he's seemed reluctant to get close.

that's fine. she'll stay right here, leaning along his side, her head resting against his shoulder. ]

It's okay if we can't. We can rest at the school. [ it doesn't matter for now if she misses their house. it's not important. ] Um, Your Majesty... Can I ask which name you remember me having?

[daughterofthemark]

[👀]

[alcahest]

[ yeah Mona is going to gravitate towards Veil once everyone has started to gather themselves and get ready to head back up. it's always a comfort to talk to Veil; there's nobody else who understands how Mona feels quite as clearly, and Veil herself is refreshing and bright amidst everything else. ]

Are you alright, Veil...?