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cancry2021-11-11 12:19 am
cancrymods) wrote in cancry2021-11-11 12:19 am
Gula Undercity Log
 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.
⚝ 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? | |
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Do you... remember what she said to you? Before she attacked?
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He shudders.]
She's convinced we cannot repair the Cogs. More over, that so long as Executors exist, the Cogs will not turn. That someone broke them, deliberately? And that staying asleep and memory-less is a kindness. She can also go anywhere in Purgatory that she pleases, hence why this little birdie has been whispering in the ears of Authorities before we have a chance to get there.
That we've taken on the responsibilities of someone else's mistakes and burdens.
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I think... no, I had a feeling that someone might have broken the Cogs intentionally. It seemed a little strange to imagine something like that would just... stop functioning. Which means someone had to have done it. The question is... why? Why would you want to keep everybody trapped in Purgatory?
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[ He should explain that. ]
Certainly, with the Cogs broken, everyone's trapped. But that may not been the enemy's objective when breaking them.
[ Prehnite frowns. He looks, somehow, madder about that than about if it'd been the main goal. He can't tell if this is helpful or not...He needs to step back. He knows that. But he also doesn't want to leave this unvoiced! ]
Everyone might be collateral.
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[ She sounds uncertain even as she says it. ]
But I don't know what their goal might have been in breaking the Cogs if it wasn't... that.
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Hm...unless she is in fact some manner of...terrible creature, too far gone to go through, and would like to keep someone she cares about here with her? Conjecture, but...
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[ It's muttered to himself, grimly. She's a dangerous opponent, but she also has the answers they need. ]
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[ Of course, when she says it like that, the concern would probably be over this girl finding them. ]
Do you think we might be able to communicate with her, if we could find her...?
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[ He's honest to a fault, this boy. ]
But we have to try.
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After what happened to Chiron and the others...
[ She doesn't even need to finish that sentence, huh. ]
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I will.
[ A core part of caution: not haring off to go look for the mysterious girl willy-nilly, and instead staying to listen to the meeting! Even if he doesn't have many memories of being an Executor to lose, and therefore less that would pain the others to see him without, that newness also makes him vulnerable. It would be easier to reset him.
He can't let that happen. ]
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Rei gets that look on her face that she usually gets when she's had a realization so Yikes that she doesn't want to voice it for fear of making it become true. ]
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[ She hesitates... but she really doesn't have a choice, does she? ]
Do you think... in the same way the Layers each have their own Authority...
Could Purgatory itself have some kind of Authority as well?
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But you and the others were able to fight against her, right? If she is an Authority, then... that must mean there's something wrong with her.
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It felt more like...I'm not sure, as though she were a Revenant given human shape.
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[ Rei looks thoughtful. ]
I think it's possible for Revenants to regain a sense of self, but... they'd return to being Spectres. And it's hard for me to imagine someone as powerful as her letting herself become a Revenant.
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Not just Purgatory as a whole, but...
The Cogs and Limbo are supposed to be layers in their own right, aren't they? Not ones where people are supposed to stay for particularly long, even when things were working normally, but they're technically still layers just as much as the middle seven are.
Could either of them have an Authority, too?
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I feel it begs the question. Especially with regards to how Purgatory is supposed to work under normal circumstances. What is the function of an Authority? Those of you who have and share the powers... Do you have any insight as to what you are, perhaps, meant to be doing for those layers? Or is it simply a sort of oversight, in case something goes awry--like it has done?
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[ All these months in Purgatory and it's still hard to articulate these things she just feels rather than knows. ]
It's like the world itself responding to the depths of someone's sins. It gives them power. But... I don't think they're supposed to exist. I think they were born because of how long everyone's been trapped in Purgatory.
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[not like THAT ariel]
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[ Any information they have is precious. ]
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