Gula Intro Log...?

[cancrymods]

GULA

After recovering from the tedium of the time loop and the gruelling fight, the Executors gather their resolve and continue their descent through Purgatory, at last passing through Superbia into the next layer. Feeling peckish? That's an unfortunate side effect of being in Gula, the Gluttony layer of Purgatory. Down here in the third layer of Purgatory, the word on everyone's lips is Gluttony – and that means that nothing here is ever quite enough for you. All during your time in this layer, you'll find that you just can't be sated, no matter how much you eat, drink, sleep – or whatever other itches you need to scratch. However much you take in, you'll find yourself still wanting just that bit... more. Which is going to be pretty hard to do, seeing as how there doesn't actually seem to be anything left in Gula. The shell of a city stands here, all huge blocky buildings and towering skyscrapers but it's clearly been abandoned and worse still, ravaged by time. Plants and trees are growing up through cracks in the pavement, pushing abandoned cars, streetlamps and other fixtures of the city out the way. All the buildings you care to examine are empty, stripped bare of everything not nailed down (or even things that actually were nailed down, going by the condition of some of them) and most notably of all, there are no Specters here at all, no matter how much you look. And if all that weren't ominous enough, your senses as an Executor allow you to pick up something that you might not have noticed otherwise. It's more spiritual than physical and not quite so easy to expalin, but things feel... thin here, as if things were picked clean so thoroughly that part of the world itself was stripped away with it. Something is terribly wrong here. Explore?

Comments

[crypddyd]

This place...

[Part of Lion wants to retreat right back to the school and Ruin where it's safe. But he presses on, even as the air here makes his teeth itch with unfulfilled yearning of some sort.

Everything looks so old he doesn't have many hopes for finding much, but he goes looks for signs of violence such as clear intentional destruction or pneuma- were the Spectors destroyed or just missing?

[cancrymods]

[ Surprisingly, there's no signs of violence from what you can immediately tell – the buildings are pretty busted, but that's about it. The Specters are definitely gone and not killed. ]

[crypddyd]

Perhaps they moved on to the next layer?

[why wouldn't the authority lock the way though? He continues walking, looking for a place that looks fitting for the stairs down.

Also you say there's nothing here to sate their cravings but I see plenty of random grass in that layer description! So he's monching as he goes]

[discutio]

Astrals’ sake, Lion, please do not tell me you’re doing what I think you are.

[phantasmagorial]

He's doing it.

[ WHAT A NARC... ]

[mementomoritz]

I brought snacks if anyone wants some! [Medic holds out a bag of chips. She's actively in the process of snacking on a bag of her own as we speak.]

[emberserker]

Oh, at least somebody's thought this through. Tell me those aren't one of those ridiculous Limbo flavours.

[mementomoritz]

They're barbeque chicken-flavored! I thought we could use the protein. [...It is impossible to tell whether or not she's joking.] I also have sea salt and vinegar!

Mostly I just wanted to be prepared in case we were stuck again, so I brought more things with me than I normally do.

[emberserker]

Understandable, all things considered. Although it looks like they're the opposite of stuck in this place... it would look haunted if we weren't all dead.

[daughterofthemark]

It does have something of an eerie feeling.

[crypddyd]

{Rei calls him out so there's no hiding it]

... many weeds are edible...

[discutio]

As the unofficial cook of this entire group, I know damn well you're not starving. Please do not eat the weeds.

[crypddyd]

I do find myself set with a strange sudden hunger.

[discutio]

...Now that you mention it, I think I know what you mean.

[THAT DOESN'T MEAN EAT THE WEEDS]

[swordofajerk]

Do not eat the weeds, good Goddess.

[crypddyd]

They are perfectly safe.

[Or well, the fodlish versions are at least]

[swordofajerk]

Do we need a rope to keep you from eating the weeds?

[cancrymods]

[ There do not appear to be any stairs – the way up hasn't disappeared, thankfully, but if there's a path down it's not anywhere in sight.

From a few streets over though, you suddenly hear movement. The rest of the city is so dead silent that it rings out and clear, but it's hard to tell exactly what's going on outside of general chaos. ]

[mementomoritz]

[Medic focuses and extends her senses. What does she feel...?]

[discutio]

[DAREDEVIL IS ON THE CASE]

[what are we hearing and does he need to kill it]

[cancrymods]

[ Going by the sounds Phoenix is picking up and the vibes Medic is getting in response to her search...

It sounds like a battle of some sort. ]

[discutio]

[Well, that's sure enough to get him to go through a thirty-second transformation sequence visible only to the audience at home.]

[Which is to say, the sword's out and he's ready to throw down.]

This way. I'm not sure what's happening, but it doesn't sound promising; be prepared for anything.

[crypddyd]

[Lion is right on his heels, spitting out his snack as he goes]

If it is that witch I will have her head before she has a chance to use that acursed power...

1/2

[cancrymods]

[ Well, given that they hear a joyful "YA-HOOOOOOH!" as they make their way over it's... probably not Mystery Girl.

As the Executors cross over onto the next road, they're met with the sight of a battle taking place. Quite shockingly, one participant is a Revenant of some kind – how it made its way up from the Underside is impossible to say – but perhaps more surprising is the one fighting it. ]

[twibeast]

[ At first, Achilles was with everyone else, though lagging behind a little bit on account of a growing but all too familiar headache. When they make it to Gula though he stops in his tracks, eyes wide.

Like when he first remembered Odile and saw his face over Rei's - someone bizarrely similar yet not the same - he doesn't see Gula for a few moments. But he sees some place extremely similar but different, a place that is also barren and stripped away, yet even more so. A place functionally dead, with only dirt, water, and the ruined remains of what once lived there.

The sight doesn't last long, but it stays burned in his mind, bringing with it another flood of memories and a sickening feeling in his stomach.

"There must have been good reason for you to exile yourself, after all. It's not a thing one does lightly."





Achilles is not with the group when they meet Gerda. Nor when they make it to the Undercity.

He turned around and went back up the stairs to the previous layers as quickly as his legs could carry him. ]