cancry | Gula Undercity Log

Gula Undercity Log

GULA
Now that you've been guided here by one of its residents, it's time for you to get familiar with the Undercity of Gula. With so much of the rest of the layer consumed already, its Specters have retreated to the last safe haven left for them. Just like the city above, when in the Undercity, you will suffer the same inability to fully satisfy yourself and will always be craving just one more... anything. The entrance to the Undercity is slap bang in the middle of the last remaining garden in the entire layer. A snapshot of what this place might have been like before, it's crammed full of all sorts of plants, flowers, vegetables... if it grows in the ground, it's here. There's evidence to suggest that even this garden was a fair bit larger than it is now, with plants looking like they were uprooted or crushed on the outside of the garden, but it's difficult to tell. In the center of the garden, you'll find a steep set of stairs leading down to the underground where you'll find the settlement proper. The Undercity itself is set up in a giant underground bunker, with a tall ceiling and huge open spaces that keep the place from feeling too claustrophobic. There's a mild bit of spacial distortion going on down here that make the ceiling much, much higher than it should physically be possible for it to be, but that's baby stuff in Purgatory by now. There's a few walls and some makeshift separators that section off parts of the bunker for privacy reasons, but more or less everything is set up in the same huge communal space.The walls, floors, ceilings and more or less every surface have been slathered in paints and cloths in a chaotic variety of colours to make things seem a bit less cold and dull. The effect is... striking, to say the least. In some places, where the paint or cloth has begun to peel away, however, you'll see that the surfaces underneath are cold and black and seem to be made of metal. The general vibe of the place is some weird cross between a convention or an indoor market and an airport at 3:48 in the morning. There's rows of chairs and bed and makeshift beds all over the place for people to set themselves down and take a breather, with wide gaps left in between each row to let people safely come and go without tripping all over themselves and dying again. But despite all the work gone into setting up the place, it still feels strangely empty – going by the number of Specters you can see milling about in here, even with the Executors' arrival, this place isn't even half full and that's a generous estimate. On top of all that, the uncomfortable sense of things being "thin" or "stripped away" increases almost tenfold down here. There's something else, too, but it's hard to immediately identify – you'll have to investigate that yourself to work out exactly what's wrong. Thankfully, despite how dour Gula as a whole is, you're free to come and go as you please. So while you still need to make your way through Gula to reach the next layer, the previous layers will still be available for you to rest and recharge if you'd prefer to stay elsewhere. ⚝ Rest Areas: If you're desperate for some shut-eye, or just to get away from the chaos a bit, the four corners of the bunker have been sectioned off with thick screens and padded mats, blankets and pillows have been spread out across the floor. It's basically a nap area for you to come and chill out and despite everything, it's pretty cozy over here. There's also a radius of about fifty feet around each of the rest area that's designated a "quiet zone", where everyone's expected to pipe down and stay quiet to not wake anyone up. They're generally a good place to recharge, even if sleeping out in the relative open can feel a bit awkward. ⚝ Dining Area: A number of long tables have been lined up end-to-end by the door that you can assume is probably the kitchen. They're covered in colourful tablecloths and a hodgepodge of mismatched chairs line either side of it. Dinner is served twice a day, with a ten minute warning beforehand so you can hopefully find yourself a seat before the rush is over. As for what the food is... well, it's pretty lacklustre! Pretty much everything is dried food, canned food or some horrifying combo of both. At least it's... mostly edible? ⚝ Music Stage: A little stage area that's been set up by pushing a number of crates and boxes together to form a stable platform. It's had a colourful cloth thrown over it and weighed down so it looks a little less slapped together, and there's a few instruments spread out across the stage – there's the regulars like an acoustic guitar and a bass but then there's also... a saxophone? An oboe? A harp??? It's pretty random. There's usually a handful of people milling about the stage with someone banging out the tunes, but it's also used to give announcements and anything else that needs the attention of the whole group. ⚝ Kitchen: Locked. Investigate to unlock further information. ⚝ The Rusted City: The once-majestic city of the Gluttony Layer, now reduced to rust and decay. It's a huge, sprawing urban affair with skyscrapers climbing to dizzying heights and buildings packed in to each and every space that could conceivably hold a building. It reminds you, just a little, of Invidia – envious excess beyond anything a single person could ever own or consume by themselves. But the unfortunate reality of Gula is that much of it has been consumed. Shops have been stripped bare of everything that could be useful and any houses or apartments you might be inclined to check have been raided in much the same way. It's a sad, lonely seeming place that feels as though it's slowly rotting apart from the inside out. Alarmingly, Revenants can occasionally be found here, though they seem to have aimlessly wandered up from the Underside and seem just as confused to find themselves here as you are. ⚝ Train Station: On the outskirts of the layer is slightly busted-up looking train station with a single platform. Rusty old trains come through here every half hour on the dot, stopping only briefly to allow Executors to board. Using these trains, Executors can either travel back to any of the other layers of Purgatory without having to pass through the Underside. Isn't quick travel convenient?
THE UNDERSIDE OF GULA
...?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ The kitchen feels empty of any Spectres, but Medic does get a vibe of something in there, even if it's hard to tell what. It feels a little bit like the pull you get when you're stood at the edge of a long fall. ]

[yeah okay apparently this is happening.]

Stand behind me. [Phoenix transformed, unsheathing his sword and making an attempt to cut the lock; if that means taking out the whole damn door handle, whatever.]

[ Surprisingly, the lock doesn't put up much resistance to being cut open – the handle comes clean off with one stroke of the sword. But even with the handle gone the door still won't open, as though it's being held closed by a force other than a lock.

... Given who comes hurrying over almost immediately, you can probably take a guess at exactly what that force is. ]

Hey, hey, hey! What's going on? Don't break the door!

I don’t know how you expect us to even consider help if you’re concealing things from us. How are we to understand the proper gravity of the situation without seeing it for ourselves?

…Metaphorically speaking, for some of us.

[ Gerda just blinks, looking a little baffled. ]

... you wanna see the kitchen? That's all?

Well, when we find a locked door, it’s hard not to want to know what it’s hiding.

You coulda just asked, y'know! I keep it locked so nobody sneaks in to steal food!

[ Gerda bustles her way past Phoenix and Medic and gives the door a hearty push so it swings open. Cold air and a stale, meaty smell drift out of it. ]

There!

Thanks! [Medic is immune to social awkwardness by virtue of not noticing it happening in the first place.] I'm surprised you still have a steady supply, the way things are going here- how are you keeping it stocked?

[Is that weird feeling she's picking up on with her powers getting stronger at all as she steps inside?]

[oh he HATES that question.]

[But he's going to let Medic take the lead on this for now, following her quietly and listening for anything weird or otherwise suspect.]

[ It certainly does – it intensifies to the point of feeling like a mild gravitational pull. Easy enough to resist but impossible to not notice. ]

It's not really steady, exactly... everything down here is just what we scavenged from what was left in the city! So we've gotta be pretty strict about who we let in and out of the kitchen.

[ It looks like there's a big food storage locker that's closed over, but isn't locked, if Medic wants to inspect that. There's also a door to what seems to be a walk-in freezer that does seem to be locked.

For Phoenix, though, he isn't able to hear anything that sounds particularly sus. ]

[Well then. Does that feeling seem to be pulling her towards any specific part of the kitchen? Such as maybe the freezer, which she is gesturing to right now.]

Have you been having trouble keeping food preserved? I've noticed that it doesn't seem to be entirely consistent whether or not things spoil here in Purgatory- we think maybe it only happens because people expect it to.

[nope just minding his own business]

[…does anything smell unusual]

[ No specific part that you can see, but it feels like it's coming from the very back of the kitche.

Sniff test wise, it smells very faintly light there might have been meat prep here once upon a time, but nothing more specific than that. ]

Not really! Most of what we've got left is canned and anything that's fresh gets gobbled up too quick to go bad, y'know?

[Medic nods agreeably at the explanation, walking towards the back as she follows the strange feeling.] That makes sense!

Have you been getting all your fresh food from those gardens?

[cool cool cool cool cool no doubt no doubt]

I'm actually quite a capable hand in a kitchen. If you'd like to show us your current stockpile, I might be able to help advise on how to make it last.

Nope! There's pretty much nothing left to eat there. All the fresh stuff we get is from down there!

[ Chipper as ever, she leaves Medic to explore before turning her full attention to Phoenix, excitement evident in her voice. ]

So what kinda cooking can you do? I'll show you all the canned stuff and then we could see what we can dig up from down there!

[. . .]

I'm sorry, do you...no, surely I've misunderstood. You can't mean the layer's underside?

[ Chipper as chipper gets: ] Uh-huh!

Ohh, that explains it! [Medic is... apparently unfazed by this.] I was wondering how the canned food I saw could possibly provide the caloric intake your average adult needs under normal circumstances, let alone under this layer's whole... [She waves a hand.] Effect.

So is there more food to salvage down there or have you been eating the Revenants?

[JUST SAYING IT OUTRIGHT, NOW. SOMEONE'S GOTTA SAY IT.]

[ Gerda doesn't say anything right away – she makes a face that's hard to read and shifts around a little uncomfortably before finally giving a response. ]

There's grass and plants and veggies down there... sometimes fruit if we're lucky! But, um...

[ She hesitates, as if wondering how best to make the request before just going all in. ]

Don't ask anybody else about that, okay?

Oh my fucking Glacian's grace, do they not even know?!

[He's...upset.]

[Here's something it's important to understand:]

[It can always get creepier.]

I'm just really impressed you found a way to preserve them on death! So far, every time I've killed a Revenant the body disintegrates almost immediately after- oh.

[Light dawns.]

Ohhhhhh.

No, no, no!

[ This is... the most audibly upset Gerda's been so far – she even stamps her foot in frustration in time with her protests. ]

They're not eating Revenants! They're not allowed to eat Revenants anymore! They're not, they're not, they're not!

Edited 2021-11-16 20:56 (UTC)

Anymore--?!

[oh god oh man deep breath don't throttle the authority]

Explain. Very clearly, and immediately.

Oh! Well, that's much less worrying, then- I was afraid I was going to have to start testing for all kinds of neurological disorders!

Cannibalism has some really nasty associated diseases, it's a big problem.

[There are two types of people...]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

D–DOES THIS COUNT AS A CANNIBALISM CW??

TECHNICALLY?????

no subject