descent

[cancrymods]

growing heavy for the vintage

Like flakes of snow, the days spent in the Sloth Layer slowly but surely begin piling up. Life here is quiet and easy, even with the anxiety that comes with needing to move onto the next layer. But as the days drag out, so do the mysteries at play here – with the gradual uncovering of the odd doppelgangers and the seeming lack of any way to proceed to the next layer, it leaves the Executors at a loss for what to do. Until one day, everything changes. It comes entirely without warning – the ground lurches under everyone's feet in a sickeningly familiar way as a brief but violent earthquake rattles through the town. Then all of you feel it; a snapping sensation deep from the very foundations of Purgatory followed by the most cataclysmic impact any of you have experienced in your lives – or unlives. Snow explodes up from the ground, houses creak and lurch and the whole layer seems as though it might shatter apart under your feet. It seems like it's going to last forever. Then, finally, it stops. The silence that follows is even more pronounced in comparison to the hell-rattling noise from before, but as some semblance of calm starts to return, you realize several things. First is how eerily quiet the town is. Surely after all that, you'd hear a Specter or two... but there's nothing. Secondly – a splash of something wet strikes your cheek. Then again. Until it becomes clear that the weather has taken a sudden drastic turn and in place of the gentle snowfall from before, the heavens have opened with a torrential rainfall. Why? Possibly because of the steadily growing heat you suddenly feel burning up through the foundation of the layer and radiating out through the town. Will you investigate?

Comments

[twibeast]

[ There is a relief for a moment, seeing Chiron appear. He almost lets his shield down, almost reflexively runs toward him to make sure he's okay...

But a feeling of dread twists in the pit of his stomach. Something about this... is sickeningly familiar to him. Not to Achilles the dead, but to Orthrus the man he once was.

So he keeps his shield up and moves only a step forward. Just to put himself in the way if he needs to. ]

Chiron...

[schardynfreude]

My dear, doing your best to keep everyone safe... Do keep it up. We aren't finished yet.

[If he's taken note of the way Achilles has reacted to this fun neat change, he says nothing of it. It's fine! Obviously!]

[twibeast]

[ He frowns a little, but shifts and readjusts his shield, trying to reinforce it as best he can. ]

...Right, of course.

[ It's nothing, he's sure. There's nothing to worry about, this feeling within him is for naught. He's simply just a little on edge after the memories he regained in the last layer.

That's what Achilles the Executor wants to believe anyway. ]

[schardynfreude]

Keep your eyes on the prize, and we'll sort ourselves out later. As ever. [It's a reassurance. Or it's phrased as a reassurance. The tone is, perhaps, less reassuring, though his eyes are certainly on the prize--of the huge vicious problem.]