introductions

[cancrymods]

It comes to you suddenly, at the end of an unravelling thread of thought. A sudden, piercing sense of wrongness stops you in your tracks and sends you tumbling through rapidfire questions that you realize you have no answer for. How long have you been here? How long have you been doing the same things, over and over, blindly going through the motions of a routine? Just who are you, anyway?

Questions beget more questions and answers prove illusive until you arrive at the only things you know for certain: the first is that this place is Purgatory.

The second is that you're here because you're dead.

Oddly, this doesn't feel like a surprise of any sort. You don't remember how or why it happened, but it did and that's that. It feels rather as though you've been slapped awake and everything around you has come into sharp focus. You're in Limbo, where you've been wandering since you arrived here in Purgatory alongside all the other mindless souls who are acting out what little they remember of their original lives.

Still lingering is that horrible sense of something being terribly wrong. It hasn't dissipated with your realization of the truth – if anything, it's intensified. There's no way to tell what it is, but there's something going on here.

Maybe you should investigate – or at least see if there's anyone else here who's had the same realization as you...

[ OOC: Welcome to the very first log of Can Cry! For the first few hours, Executors will be free to explore and mingle among themselves. Mod replies will come in a few hours. If you're planning to investigate, please indicate that you're doing so in the subject line as your comment. ]

Comments

[cancrymods]

Alright then. Thanks!

[ And with that settled, looks like he's free to go? ]

[crypddyd]

[And back to the fountain he goes to find Ardyn]

[schardynfreude]

[The nerd's got some books in mind next time he goes to the library, but he's still on a Quest, so knowledge consumption will just...wait a bit longer. It isn't as though they don't have all the time in the world now, theoretically.

He does a bit more asking and wandering before making his way fountainward, just to see if anything's changed, and--]

It seems your quest has proved more fruitful than mine. Is that it, then? A pair of crossed swords eternally set in stone?

[crypddyd]

Seems like it. I also heard word that there's a girl that removed it and placed it in some kind of cafe. She might be worth finding after this.

[He offers the sword for him to take]

[schardynfreude]

[He takes it with no small amount of surprise, holds it with some trepidation like it might spring to life and stab him.] You don't want to do it yourself?

[Not that he's complaining, just, blondie's the one that found it. Despite it being part of a mcfreaking statue and all, the weight doesn't seem to bother him. Somehow it just seems like a bad idea, but like everything else, he can't pinpoint why.

Oh well! Quest complete, at any rate, and he takes it up to the statue and slots it in where it seems to go crossed with its counterpart.]

[crypddyd]

You were here first, it only seems proper.

[From anyone else one might suspect he doesn't want to be in range if it Goes Badly, but his answer seems completely earnest ]

[cancrymods]

[ J-J-Jam It In!

... The sword clicks home with a very satisfying clunk and there's a moment of silence. Then quite suddenly, what feels like a huge machine starts humming to life either under or inside the fountain and then the whole thing starts to shudder as it gradually moves to the side.

The whole-ass fountain moves about six feet to the left, revealing a staircase underneath that descends into blackness. ]

[schardynfreude]

[Just.........just gonna hold onto the swords here while everything moves. And he stays braced there for a few moments more when it settles.]

...I admit that I wasn't expecting that.

[He's...cautious when he moves back down off the fountain when it seems to have all settled down. It sure does go down into darkness. He's not at all afraid of it, he finds. Is that unusual?]

The mystery of why the fountain doesn't work seems solved, and we've revealed a new mystery. Have you a light on you by any chance?

[cancrymods]

[ As soon as he says the words "doesn't work" the fountain merrily springs back to life. ]

[crypddyd]

[he startles at the fountain moving and flowing and oh... its actually rather pretty once it's working, isn't it?]

No, not really. I can run to that shop and try to find something?

[schardynfreude]

[Fine, he rolls his eyes at the timing of it. Haha very funny. At least it works! So there!]

That sounds acceptable. I'm going to go down a ways and see if perhaps there's some form of magic or automation that lights the way. [These things...happen? He's sure of it. Even if it sounds a little nutty to his ears.

Also bye he's going to just start down the steps. Not far!!! Just until his head is lower than ground level. Anything?]

Helloooooooo?

[Beuller?]

1/2

[cancrymods]

[ From beefy blonde's perspective: the tall dude just fucking vanishes. ]

[cancrymods]

[ And from Tall Dude's perspective, things get a little... weird.

First of all, the stairs under his feet start to turn transparent as he descends – something that's only visible because the area around him starts to bleed into view the further down he goes. At first it just looks like he's ended up back in Limbo but after a second of observation it becomes clear things are... different.

Huge chunks of the land have broken away from the town and are just sort of floating through the air and doing whatever the fuck they want. The layout down here is similar to Limbo above, but it's like looking at the town through a weird distorted mirror. And if you squint, it's possible to see things wandering around through the streets of this bizarre town. Things that don't look... human.

Welcome to the Underside. ]

[crypddyd]

Wh-what is this?!

[Tall man where did you go??? He runs over, looking down into the dark but seeing none of this]

Sir?!

[cancrymods]

[ His voice doesn't carry down the staircase. Tall Dude can't hear him and he can't hear Tall Dude. ]

[crypddyd]

... damn it all.

[He follows cuz he's just Like That]

[crosscutting]

What--hey, wait up!!

[Guess who's wandering back to the fountain after Everything Happens, What The Fuck. Pariah gonna just follow Lion down 'cuz why the fuck not.]

Since when was there a secret door here?!

[cancrymods]

[ As the two of them make their way down the staircase, Tall Dude pops back into view and the rest of the Underside swims its way into view as well. The staircase is a little precarious given that there appear to be zero guardrails or anything keeping you from toppling off but hey! You're already dead, so don't worry about it. ]

[pioailurophobia]

[After tearing it up across town with Lion, Kingslayer has developed a begrudging respect for him. (Also, he's cool as hell, even if he's a bit of a ditz sometimes.) When they catch a glimpse of him staring intently at the fountain, they stop, turn around to greet him, and-

What the hell?

He's just gone!]

OI-

[That's! Not good! Kingslayer clanks over to the staircase, double-takes at the statue, then after a moment of hesitation walks down. They're already dead, what's the worst that can happen?

Bumping into a redheaded child who accosted you earlier, apparently.]

What the hell is going-

...

Holy shit.

[crosscutting]

[Excuse you, she is clearly orange, what the hell!]

[Also what the hell she's just gonna grab onto Lion's arm before she loses her balance off the edge thanks!!!]

What the heck is--are those monsters down there??

[schardynfreude]

[He came to a stop when everything resolved itself before his eyes, and then...and then he keeps going, cautiously, one translucent step at a time. A call up to the man behind him does nothing, and he wonders...wonders if he should stop, but, this is all so fascinating and disorienting. There are people below.

No. No there aren't. At least, they aren't people as he knows them.

Perhaps he should turn back.

Although, when he does, it's suddenly very crowded on these stairs, and he gives a start. Is that one person wearing a whole-ass suit of armor? Respect.]

Gods above, where did you all come from?

[It's a little exasperated, like, he was expecting one person, maybe. Sup.]

Exercise caution. I fear this may be an even stranger place than up above.

[Yeah, no shit, what gave that away, the floating bits of land? But he's willing to continue down, because...why not, really?]

[crypddyd]

[Dimitri could ask the same thing- he recognizes at least one of these people at least, and he gives the knight a friendly nod before SERIOUS FACE TIME]

The two of us discovered that the fountain was a device of some kind. And all... THIS was under it, apparently. And whatever those... creatures are we shouldn't assume they're friendly unless we have reason too.

[He doesn't seem to mind being clung to, and even pats her on the head almost out of instinct, looking over to the tall man]

If you're intending to go further, I'll cover your back.

[cancrymods]

[ Down, down, we go... at the very least, despite the weird spatial distortion making the... cavern...? down here look very deep, it doesn't take very long for our merry band to set down on relatively solid land.

An unpleasant topsy-turvy feeling takes hold as soon as you make footfall, though. Like the dizziness that might set in after a particularly wild and spinny ride at a fairground, it's suddenly hard to tell which direction is up, down, left, right... basically, your sense of spatial awareness is suddenly a bit fucked.

This isn't helped by the fact that the ground below your feet appears to be moving, albeit very, very slowly. ]

[crosscutting]

[The pat to her head is...accepted, though she does make an amusingly confused face for a moment. Is he patronizing her?? But she follows the group down, continuing to glance nervously back to the monsters wandering around. Her hands feel very, very empty for some reason...]

[--and then the worlds decides that it's vertigo time, that's just great.]

I'm not the only one seeing the ground move, right?

[pioailurophobia]

From up there, dumbass. [Your Majesty gets the distinct impression that Kingslayer is rolling their eyes, despite there being no eyes to roll.

Nodding back at Lion, Kingslayer takes a look at the ground, and this time the entire party gets the impression of raised eyebrows. Now those look like they could be trouble and they don't look for trouble but trouble looks for them.] Even odds on those things trying to attack us once we get down. Freaks like that probably aren't friendly.

[Kingslayer clanks down the stairs with everyone else, maintaining their balance despite their heavy armor-

-and immediately slips like they stepped on a banana peel, complete with a 180 degree flip, before landing flat on their back.]

...shut up, [they say, whether or not anyone actually speaks.

Forcing themself to a standing position, Kingslayer surveys their surroundings, looking for any immediate threats.]

Me too. [Kingslayer grins despite having no visible mouth and punches their palm. Oh no. One of these.] Makes for an interesting arena.