[Quest] The Black City - Part III

There are more Gembound than it expected.

A lot more Gembound than it expected. The crowd gathered around the Blacksmith upon their first meeting was large enough, but that gathering pales in comparison to the creatures collected here today. Both small and large, both loud and not, humanoid and quadruped and all sorts of shapes—

—Terror considers itself lucky that none of them are its former victims. It doesn't regret any of its attacks (it was hungry), but some Gembound launching itself at them seeking revenge would put a wrench into things. Despite its proclivity towards violence, it understands there are greater things here today. Things that require... (ugh) cooperation.

Frankly, it almost didn't come. What use was endangering itself for strangers? It's simply... the more it thought about it, the more it thought about the thrill of adventure, of a potential fight... despite its thoughts, it couldn't help but follow the siren song of blood.

Plus, there will be rewards. It's hardly materialistic—it doesn't know if it'll even do anything with whatever the Blacksmith sees fit to give it as compensation—but it is a nice bonus, they suppose.

It approaches from the water, slipping into the group with little fanfare. Many are already diving, after the little misshapen fish-thing that appears to be their—guide? That little misshapen thing? It looks...

Edible. The fleeting, slightly ominous thought rolls through the bond as Terror swims within range.

Still, it's the way they're getting to this Black City in the first place, so it'll refrain from preying upon it. It looks to be more trouble than it's worth, anyway.

"Dad! Dad, wait up!"

Ah, that's a familiar sound.

The leopard almost rushes headlong into the water—before stopping in his tracks at the edge of the shore, looking down into the depths. At the Gembound disappearing into the bay, colors and shapes and sizes galore becoming dim with the water. It all begins to fade into blue.

Gosh, that's—that's a lot of water. Astéri doesn't think he's been around that much water in his life.

Still, his dad is down there! And there's a stone that needs saving and an adventure to be had and he's not gonna back down from that!

Tail swishing side-to-side with excitement, he grabs the nearest water breathing-magicky-thing—a cuff, it turns out—and works it onto his wrist as fast as possible without dropping the thing.

It is really pretty. Maybe if Astéri wasn't so late and wasn't in so much of a rush, he'd stop to admire it. But no time for that—!

He makes a heel-face turn and leaps for the water, trusting blindly in the cuff's ability to let him breathe the sea below. Luckily, he's gone swimming a few times in his life, in the rivers and ponds of Eridanus, so he's not totally off-guard, although he's definitely out of his element here.

Literally. Fire's kind of his thing—and a good thing it is!—but he has no idea how it'll hold up underwater.

Oh well, let's give it a try!

Excited thoughts cut into the bond, flickering into everyone else's awareness at a mile a minute. Dad! Dad! Hi, I'm here, sorry I'm so late, hi Hunter, hi Carja!! Let's go find a city!

It turns out, removing Astéri's need for air lets him ramble even faster than usual.

Haven purred happily and nuzzled up against Electrum, her tail flicking happily. She leaned back to let Electrum put on her necklace and bumped her nose against his, a gesture of thankfulness.

"We'll talk to her after, but for now we need to stick together," she said, wincing at the many projected thoughts.

She followed Electrum, using his presence to guide her flight around the others who were also flying into the sky. It was a mess of different Gembound but thankfully she needn't worry about her echolocation in the water. She, like Electrum, hunted fish, so she was able to dive down, locate her prey, and snatch it up. Her swimming was pretty okay, too.

"I don't need a light," she said softly to her mate, "But I got you one."

She craned her neck and closed her wings, diving down towards the water with her body streamlined, her tail closed until she dove into the water. She hit and shot beneath the waves, her nostrils and gills closing instinctively. There was a moment of panic as she tried to convince herself to breathe, face scrunched up in discomfort.

She held her breath instead, knowing that she'd just inhale eventually and the spell would work then. It would be fine.

THE BLACK CITY

The Blacksmith called the seahorse-beast back, a brief and frantic blip in the chaos. Glyphed key exchanged hands (or rather, hands-to-fins) and the descent at last began.

Patrick dove. Those Gembounds who wished, would follow.

At first, all was noise and flashing light: the glimmer of daylight shafting down through green waters, the froth and slap of the breakers in the shallows. The tangle of bodies glimpsed to every side as they tried to avoid one another in the massive crowd. But as the Gembounds dove deeper, everything became...

...Darker. Quieter.

The heat of the lava vents intensified as they passed by. Geysers plumed bubbling, boiling water only a few dozen meters away, and the warmth was intense. Yet Patrick dove deeper. The water grew darker, dimmer. Eventually, silent. Gone were the sounds of churning waves, replaced by the muffled silence of water pressing in on ears. The light faded, the sight of Gembounds to either side becoming murky and half-seen. In the crowd, despite its size, each of them were nearly alone. It would be all too easy to become separated down here--lost from the group in Fornax's seas.

At last they came to a great, stone door: laid in the floor of Fornax's very sea, close to one wall. It led directly downward, and it was locked--and yet great, prominent stone spikes to either side held bodies impaled atop them. Husks, translucent with age and glassy with Order, of Praetors: long-dead and serving, perhaps, as a warning by the gates. Water-adapted insect limbs drifted lifelessly with the slow-sweeping tide, illuminated only by the brief flashes of bioluminescence and baubled items.

Glyphed Key slotted into a hollow in the stone. Its faint purple light flared, and traced out along the door in glowing, esoteric patterns. And then the doors swung open: falling inward, downward, not only unlocked but unhinged, each falling away into the dark.

"HERE WE GO!" cried Patrick, cheerful, into each and every mind. "THE POINT OF NO RETURN. THERE'S OTHER WAYS IN, OF COURSE--BUT MASTER FARINA CAN'T FIT THROUGH THOSE. LOOK AT THE IDIOTS OF ORDER, TOO! HA! THEY THOUGHT THEY COULD GET DOWN HERE..."

Beneath the door was utter darkness, down beneath a new ceiling: part of Fornax's very floor, jagged and uneven. No light reached down here, beyond the dividing wall. Only immeasurable black depths, far cooler--colder, even--than above, and distant glimpses of other lights far off in the unfathomable black. How far did this ocean extend-? How deep did it go; how far out did it reach? They travelled through that muffled silence, and it became harder to move, the pressure on their bodies stronger here.

Down, and down, and down, and down. Would they ever come up again-?

Every now and then, they passed another impaled Praetor body, swinging abrupt and limp out of the black, skeletal and hollow, illuminated in the sudden garish light of their passing. And then they bagan passing other things, in the dark: great, smooth black obelisks, some jutting upward from the floor, others from the ceiling, others simply... floating in the dark waters. Each, like the bodies, appeared suddenly; each was glyphed in pink or neon green, or sometimes purple, the meaning of the sigils unknown but the light carrying a little way into the dark.

"WELCOME TO THE BLACK CITY. WE HAVE TO FIND THE GREEN KEY NEXT. IT'LL BE LOST... SOMEWHERE. ALONG HERE," Patrick told them. It would be nearly a half an hour of direct swimming... perhaps tiring, perhaps draining to those unused to long journeys through incomprehensible dark, with no landmarks to guide them back. But down below was the floor of a cave: uneven, pocked with deep ravines and holes, filled with mysterious creatures. Clear jellyfish swam by in a school, lights flaring along their lengths in rhythmic patterns. "DON'T TOUCH THOSE! DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING ALIVE," Patrick advised, his own body a flashing beacon for the Gembounds to find again in the dark. "BUT LOOK FOR THE KEY. IT'S THE KEY OF DECAY AND IT'S DOWN HERE SOMEWHERE. GREEN LIGHT, MAGIC--SPREAD OUT IF YOU HAVE TO, BUT FIND IT IF YOU CAN!"

______________

After a very long descent into the Black City, the Gembounds are being tasked with attempting to locate a small, green-glyphed black Key stone. They may roll to attempt to find it in any way, or take this time to make further preparations or actions as they wish. Successful rolls will not necessarily all find the key, but a GM response will clarify what is found...

Anyone consuming one of Forgraves' gel balls will intensely crave another flask-full. They may roll an Other roll to see how many days this craving will last, but this roll may take place after the Black City thread if players wish. Taking another dose will allow them to re-roll the craving duration.

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