Gula Underside Log

[cancrymods]

GULA DUNGEON LOG

As you make the now familiar descent, the screeches and chatterings of the Underside's inhabitants swim up to meet you alongside a suffocating wall of heat. The Gula Underside unfolds itself before you in jewel colours and sweltering heat. In stark contrast to the Rusted City stripped bare and the sterile Undercity, the Gluttony Underside is bursting with life - and danger. This densely packed rainforest spills out in all directions like a natural maze and you're going to have to pull out all the stops to find Gerda before something else does - or before it finds you.

THE UNDERSIDE

♪♫ Floating -Liquidly- – Sakuzyo The jungle is thickly clustered with huge palm trees rising to form an almost impassable canopy that only opens out occasionally when branches shift or when the wind blows, revealing the dim green light of the Underside's sickly looking sky. As you look up, you occasionally see the shadows of Revenants (or at least you HOPE they're Revenants) darting around high above your head. The ground is blanketed in luscious undergrowth that feels soft underfoot - loamy moss, tangled patches of grass, leaves. Occasionally, the uneven ground gives way to puddles of water or patches of loose, sloppy mud that you're forced to wade your way through if you want to proceed. Fortunately (or unfortunately), the jungle is so dense that you're never not within reaching distance of a sturdy tree or rock you can use to steady yourself. Somewhere in this place is Gerda and your way further down into Purgatory. Let's hope you can make your way through unscathed. AREAS OF INTEREST Due to the sheer scale of this Underside, explorations will proceed slightly differently. The Executors will be split into three teams – two to explore the Underside itself and the third being the team assigned to this layer's Boss Combat. Please see below for your role assignments. ⚝ NORTHBOUND: The Executors exploring the north are Medic, Etoile, Lion, Chiron and Veil. ⚝ SOUTHBOUND: The Executors exploring the south are Rei, Genius, Mona, Achilles, Ariel and Phoenix. ⚝ THE WATERING HOLE: Boss Combat volunteers, report! HAZARDS ⚝ Dense Wood: The overgrowth of the jungle and the tightly packed trees mean there are very few wide open spaces as you make your way through. For those of you who rely on your eyeballs, this means visibility is hampered - and that Revenants could ambush you if you're not on high alert! Uneven Footing: Given how wild the terrain here is, you might find that it's a bit hard to get stable footing when you're running to and fro here. Some of this is varied elevation but a lot of it is varied textures too. Stumble too close to anywhere with running water and you'll be slipping and sliding all up and down the Underside! ⚝ Revenant Types Present: Charles, Minturno

Comments

[daughterofthemark]

...sometimes that's simply how things are.

[Hm, Veil didn't seem to do much in Avaritia.]

Did it help you, at least?

[schardynfreude]

That undercity wasn't pleasant, in spite of everything. It pulled at...something inside. And several of us remembered or experienced some rather unpleasant things. We should consider ourselves lucky that things were rather laid back.

[He frowns and reaches up to dab the sweat from his brow.] We might as well keep going up. Looks like we'll have a vantage point; we might see something that the others can't catch. Get the lay of the land.

[mementomoritz]

Well, you can't run on a sprained ankle or you'll make it worse, right? Emotions are probably the same, or something! Sometimes you need a little time to recover.

[Look, she's a surgeon, not a psychologist, okay. She's doing her best.]

I don't sense anything unusual... I mean, it's still an Underside, but no immediate threats! I wonder what cut that path through the undergrowth, though... [Something big, it looks like?]

[etincelledefierte]

...I don't know if it's helped. It just hit me so hard, what happened -

[she shakes her head. now is not the time for a breakdown.]

- but that's something we can discuss later. Let's keep an eye out for whatever it is that cut through the bush like that.

[daughterofthemark]

Very well.

[Veil nods.]

I agree with Sir Chiron. A good view of our surroundings will be beneficial.

[mementomoritz]

[Looks like it's unanimous, then.]

[Medic is just going to carefully step out onto the trail leading to the plateau, on the grounds that she can regenerate if anything happens to her, so it's fine.]

[If nothing alarming happens, she'll start walking ahead, keeping her mundane and Executorial senses alert for impending problems.]

[crypddyd]

[Lion has kept quiet, still reeling over his suggestion having such a profoundly bad reaction on poor Gerda. He supposes he should be glad she didn't revert at least... but for now, he's here to fight- it's what he's good at. Not ideas]

1/2 . . . ?

[cancrymods]

If nothing else, the view is incredible.

It's much like the birds eye view you got when first stepping into the layer with the flora and fauna spilling out ahead of you like the contents of an upturned treasure box. From this close, you can see the tangle of flowers and vines and overgrowth only suggested by the splashes of colour seen on your descent, and the dim shapes of Revenants occasionally ducking in and out of the trees below. A pleasant breeze blows over you, offering a little reprieve from the powerful heat but you don't get much time to relax.

A deep groaning noise swims up through through the thick air towards you. It's impossible to place at first but in the moment before everything falls apart, you realize it's the sound of the earth buckling under your feet and then giving way.

The plateau collapses and the ground disappears from under your feet. The group is just high enough that when the treeline rushes up to meet them, it won't kill them – but it'll certainly hurt.

MEDIC, ETOILE, LION, VEIL

[cancrymods]

You wake up.

You were probably only out for seconds, if that, after the plateau collapsed under you. At the very least, you've landed in a part of the Underside that's cooler and breezier than the higher path you'd taken, some thicket chocked with beautiful flowers in all colours. A path splits further north and heading south, but before you make a hard decision as to where you should go it might be prudent to make a head count.

After all, Chiron is missing.

[etincelledefierte]

-- merde!

[Or at least, Etoile thinks she swore during that moment when the platform collapsed under them. She's almost frantic when she wakes up, immediately transforming, sword in hand.

She takes the moment to breathe, the solid weight in her hand helping calm her down.]

Did we all come out of that --

[there's Medic, there's Lion, there's Veil. Etoile's heart sinks like a stone when she realizes one of them is missing. It's hard to keep her voice from cracking when she finally asks the question:]

-- where's Chiron?

[daughterofthemark]

Sir Chiron...?

[Veil starts to look around, then winces. Nothing feels broken but that landing really hurt.]

Great Tree... Is he still above, perhaps?

[mementomoritz]

[Medic is already up and on her feet, briskly assessing the others for any broken bones or possible head injuries.]

I don't see him anywhere... [Can she sense him? ...Probably not, but she has to try.]

[Just gonna lightly pat Veil on the shoulder, dump some healing into her for those bruises while she looks around.]

[crypddyd]

Neither do I... perhaps he used his abilities to get out of the way...?

[cancrymods]

No sense of Chiron. Which is strange – even with warping, he can only have fallen so far from them, right...?

Apart from Chiron, is the group looking out for anything else?

[etincelledefierte]

Chiron? If you can hear us, send up a flare or something, we'll come find you.

[Just going to hold her sword that much tighter. Anyone looking closely at Etoile can tell her arm is shaking with the strain.

She's too focused on trying not to completely panic to look out for anything else, so someone else is going to need to look out for her.]

[mementomoritz]

His teleportation doesn't go very far, unless he's gotten more powerful recently- and I can't sense him anywhere. Wherever he is, he's out of my range.

[Which isn't that far, admittedly, but it's definitely farther than line of sight, which is what Chiron's warping is normally limited to.]

[She's just, uh. Also gonna make sure Etoile and Lion are fully healed up, while she's at it. Since it's looking like they might be up against something dangerous, best to make sure everyone at least faces it in good condition.]

[daughterofthemark]

Thank you, Dame Medic. So either he has moved much further than expected, or we have.

[Veil's looking around at the paths, trying to see if there's any indication where either might lead (say, if she can recognize one of them as something she saw before they fell).]

CHIRON

[cancrymods]

You wake up.

A chilly mist coaxes you from unconsciousness - it's not clear how long you were out but given that the cool air has yet to leech any warmth from your body, it doesn't seem to have been that long. Wet, waxy mud clings to you as you extract yourself from the forest floor and water sloshes around you as you climb to your feet. You'd taken quite a tumble but the thick treetops and the soft, forgiving mud had saved you from anything more than bruising your pride. The worst of it is, perhaps, that the fall has split the group - there's no sign of Medic, Etoile, Lion or Veil anywhere, no sense that that they might be nearby.

As the shock of the fall passes, though, you start to get a sense for something else. The cold that fills this part of the Underside... it dawns on you gradually that it doesn't belong here. After all... you've felt this kind of cold once before, haven't you?

Somewhere in the mist, you hear quiet footsteps approaching.

Proceed?

[schardynfreude]

[The ground cracks and crumbles and disintegrates, and though he could warp somewhere--it's nothing but the treeline below, can he reach it? Can he grab hold of one of the others and--

--the chill makes him shiver awake, and the mud and muck and tears in his predominantly white Executor outfit are uncomfortable. But he seems relatively unharmed for it. Somewhere in the forest below, then. When he breathes out, there's a faint curl of the air as he squints to look about.]

Medic! Lion! [A pause, and no voices in return, no crash in the branches.] Etoile? [...Still nothing. He summons up his scythe to lean on with a sigh.] ...Veil. [To round out the list. Not that she's here either.

The chill seems to seep in, such a strange change of pace from the nearly unbearable heat. He takes a few sloshing steps in the muck, staring up through the trees. And then it starts to creep up on him, a niggling realization that this is similar. Which means that when he hears footsteps, quiet but there in the stillness of the air, he grips his weapon tighter and faces the direction he thinks it's coming from. Takes a few more steps to try and get out of the water and the mud, either onto land or perhaps a fallen log or a rock. Watery boots are gross.

He gives a little whistle that sounds not unlike birdsong.] If you're here for a fight, little bird, I daresay you'll have an even easier time of it than before.

[cancrymods]

[ In the depths of that cold mist, there's a noise not unlike stumbling feet and a surprise intake of breath. As if their little bird hadn't been aware of his presence until he'd spoken aloud – and it takes her a moment, as if she needs it to compose herself, before she responds. ]

... Executor. [ Her voice bounces oddly around the trees, making it difficult to place exactly where she might be. ] The one I came so close to saving in the upper layers.

[ There's a moment of quiet. The cold seems to fluctuate, brimming with that odd, hair-raising power.

When she speaks up again, she sounds amused. ]

You're alone.

[schardynfreude]

[He does a slow turn, eyeing the mist, looking at shadows between the trees.]

Not by choice.

[He'll not lie. It's pretty fucking clear he's alone.] We've come to continue our journey against your judgement. And I've recovered from your brand of kindness. A temporary bout of amnesia; I'm growing accustomed to the feeling, I'm afraid.

[cancrymods]

[ It's hard to spot anything in this mist – whether it's a natural quality of the layer or something conjured to mask her movements is impossible to tell. Given the quiet sounds of shifting leaves and branches and the change in the direction of her voice, it seems she's flitting around the trees as she speaks.

Little bird indeed. ]

It would've been much easier for you if you'd forgotten all of it. It's a cruel fate – to be aware of every moment that passes and takes you that bit closer to becoming a monster, just like the rest of them.

[ She hums in thought. The noise is soft, a little musical. ]

The offer still stands – to send you back to sleep, if you wish it. I don't mean you any unkindness or cruelty. I just want you – I want all of us to be at peace.

[schardynfreude]

...I've come to know something of what you speak, since we last met. Time stretching out into infinitely long moments, each one lost with no rhyme or reason or meaning. I'm afraid... [And it's so tiring. Exhausting. The fear and panic and loneliness and boredom and anger and sadness and madness scrabbling back up his throat that it might spill from his tainted tongue. That he swallows it back, every time, lest he lose himself to something he can barely name.] I'm afraid in my life I already became a terrible monster. The worst kind: one with rational mind still intact.

[Perhaps it's not wise to admit these things to someone who ran him straight through with her fuckblade last time, but it seems pertinent. She said many things that gave him pause before.]

I would ask that we might speak first? Before we dive into the whole battle nonsense. You seem to care, that we've stumbled into something bigger than ourselves. That we be put to rest. And you are so disparaging of Rei, as though she is some schemer mastermind, puppeting us to some kind of doom.

And you...you are something between, aren't you?

[cancrymods]

[ There's a soft noise, a hum of consideration and a quiet pause before she responds. A cool wind rushes through the trees, masking the sounds of her movement but when she speaks up again, it sounds like she's in the trees just behind him. ]

Something along those lines. Or perhaps it's more accurate to say I became this, eventually. Not quite a Revenant or an Aberrant, but no longer... what I was before.

[ She seems to have settled – she still has the advantage, should this turn into a fight. But for now, she seems willing to just... speak. ]

Does it frighten you? The thought that you might become some sort of beast once again.

[schardynfreude]

[He settles, too. If she prefers to move about, let her, but he faces the direction she seems to be now and settles himself back on some mossy rock. Pulls out his phone to check to see if there are any messages from the other, shoots out: Still intact for the moment. He can't exactly give out a location when a lot of this place is forest already. Sets it down that he might see any notifications, popping on some recording device in case all of this becomes relevant later.

And dumps gross muckwater out of his shoes gross gross gross.]

I would prefer not to be what I was if I can help it. I've been told so many times now that what I remember being does not, should not define who I am now. I don't know how true that is. I don't know if it can be helped or even stopped.

Do you remember? From your living life?