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thecrossinglogs2024-11-09 11:57 am
thecrossingmods) wrote in thecrossinglogs2024-11-09 11:57 am
TEST DRIVE #1
TDM # 1
Welcome to The Cavern, wayward souls.
It's good to see you again.
The TDM is game canon and will be active NOV—JAN. For further details about the setting, please reference our current setting page. All the information there is fair game for this TDM.
It's good to see you again.
The TDM is game canon and will be active NOV—JAN. For further details about the setting, please reference our current setting page. All the information there is fair game for this TDM.
arrival
— THE RIVER
The River is wide, black, and deep. It is so deep, and so dark, and so cold, that when you wake deep beneath its surface you may, for a moment, think that this is all there is. An abyss, a vacuum, a void. Nothingness in all directions.
It might even be what you expected, coming from wherever you were Before. The blackness, at least. Perhaps the cold. Maybe even the pain: all-encompassing, all-consuming. If a mortal wound brought you here, it might feel like it's being torn open anew, over and over again.
The current is simply slow, however, not non-existent. And you can swim. (Or, even if you can't, that's more of a procedural problem than anything: you don't need to breathe down here, it seems. Perhaps you don't need to breathe anymore at all.)
It hurts. It hurts so much. But if you can just concentrate long enough to pull yourself up onto the rocky shoreline, or even enough to get your head above the surface of the water, that pain will dissipate, almost as if it was never there at all. When you have the presence of mind to examine yourself, you'll find that you are actually hale and whole, with your body exactly as you expect it to be.
There are others in your same predicament. Maybe they can help you; maybe you can help them. You're all in this together, after all.
— THE CAVERN
Once you do finally pull yourself free from The River, you'll find that there was never any abyss at all. On the contrary, there's quite a lot to see — though your eyes might need a minute or two to adjust.
The Cavern yawns around you, the main chamber alone large enough to house a small town, and the ceiling too high to make out through the darkness. There's some light: you can see the eerie green glow of bioluminescent plants lining far-away walls, and tracing the underside of the land bridge that extends over The River. There are pinpricks up high on the cliffs above The River that are organized enough to suggest intervention, or at least planning.
There's something else, too — something orders of magnitude brighter than anything else in the chamber. Its glow is dim on this side of The River, and it's difficult to discern where exactly the light is coming from, just that it isn't coming from anywhere outside the cave. You feel as though you might be safer if you got closer, but maybe that's just because any light at all is comforting in a situation like this. If nothing else, you'd probably find whoever is holding it.
Either way, whether you follow the light or don't, there's plenty of time to be alone with your thoughts. Or to share them, if you're so inclined, with the others that are here with you, emerging one by one from the depths of The River.
Perhaps you've already accepted what's happened to you. Perhaps you need time, and it will take some discussion with the others to arrive at the one thing you all have in common. Perhaps even after that it's still too much, or you still aren't ready. However you get there, though, there's no way around it: you are dead.
If you have questions, The Ferryman is available to answer them.
KEEP TO THE LIGHT
— THE LANTERN
The source of the light is a lantern — specifically, it is The Ferryman's Lantern, an ornate metal lamp hanging from the end of a tall wooden staff. It's large, weathered from use, and despite how improbably far its glow casts — from the land bridge over The River, where The Ferryman is holding their vigil, up the cliffs above and into the subterranean city's many tunnels — it isn't so bright that it can't be comfortably looked at. The Lantern has an unmistakable aura of comfort and safety (maybe because of, or maybe in addition to, the light it casts), no matter how close or far you are from it.
It's only at the very far edges of the glow, where the last bits of light are swallowed by the darkness, that this sense of safety begins to fray. It's here that you can see them, prowling the boundary: wisps of something that you can barely see. Many somethings, in fact.
They can't cross into the light, it seems. All they can do is wait for you to leave it.
— THE SUBTERRANEAN CITY
Maybe you'd rather stay for now, though. There's plenty still to explore within The Lantern's shroud: to start with, the network of tunnels you can see built into the cliffs above The River.
The biggest hurdle is figuring out how to get into the city. You can spy the entrances, marked by dimly glowing torches set into the open mouths of tunnels, but they're so high up! Surely you're not meant to climb?
Well, yes and no. Some investigation reveals a series of wood-plank catwalks leading up to the lowest tunnel entrances, but it's a long climb. If you're feeling impatient (and brave), there's also a system of pulleys, ziplines, and simple rope elevators connecting the higher levels to the lower ones. The ropes have clearly been here a while, but they're probably safe, right? What's the worst that could happen, you die all over again?
(Too soon? We get it.)
There's plenty to see once you reach the city itself, even if there isn't much in way of a population. (Until now, at least!) The lamps and torches lining the walls are packed with the same bioluminescent plantlife that can be found elsewhere in the cavern, so there's no risk of them spontaneously going out. There are signs placed strategically throughout the tunnel system to point you toward major landmarks, using only simple iconography.
The city itself certainly appears lived in, even if it's currently empty; in fact, if you pay close attention to the signage and the decor, there appear to be layers of activity not unlike the rings of a very old tree. Older tapestries covered with newer ones with entirely different patterns; boxes of radically different table trinkets carefully stored in apartment closets, to make room for new ones on a shelf; evidence of the stone market stalls having multiple different usages, many of them apparently in sequence.
Some of those tapestries or trinkets might even be familiar to you, like they came from a culture of your homeworld. Strange, though, since you didn't arrive with anything similar on you. Where could they possibly have come from?
VENTURE IN THE DARK
— THE WRAITHS
The Cavern is big, and The Ferryman's Lantern only reaches so far. If you want to explore, you'll need to brave the darkness— and whatever else might be waiting out there for you.
You'll have some light, at least, even if it isn't much: the luminescent plants grow throughout the cave system, including its winding tunnels and cramped smaller chambers. As for whatever else might be lurking out there, well... without The Lantern, there's not much you can do to keep them at bay.
The Ferryman calls them "wraiths", if you were curious enough to ask beforehand. They're more what you might typically expect from the idea of a ghost: pale and insubstantial, like mist struggling to take and keep a shape.
And they certainly do have shapes; those shapes are just incomplete, sometimes blurry, like a pencil drawing that has smudged and faded over time. They have faces that seem to have been stretched too long or too wide; they have eyes with no color, unblinking, always staring back; some of them have mouths that never close, while others have no mouths at all; some of them have hands with wispy tendrils of grasping fingers; others' limbs seem to have lost their shape entirely.
There are dozens of them lingering just outside the boundary of The Lantern, and many more roaming throughout The Cavern. They do not speak, or otherwise make any sounds at all. They do not swarm, either, even when one of The Ferryman's souls crosses the boundary. They simply watch, and, seemingly at random, some will choose to follow you anywhere you go throughout The Cavern.
Annoying, maybe. Creepy, certainly. But that seems to be all. Just remember: The Lantern is the only thing that keeps the wraiths at bay. They can't hurt you, out in the darkness, but they will notice you, they will follow you, and they will remember you.
If your exploration takes you to the catacombs, you may find that your wraith shadows get lost just as easily as you in the tunnel system. Perhaps they get distracted? Or maybe they have some curiosity about the tunnels that outweighs their curiosity about you? Either way, it's possible to lose them for some amount of time there— but the wraiths aren't bound by petty things like physics the way you are. They will find you again eventually, either by floating through some wall, appearing at the dead-end of a tunnel, or even just waiting at the entrance for you to emerge again.
If, on the other hand, you find yourself stumbling upon the whispering pools, you'll discover that wraiths gather in droves there, circling the pools, sometimes trying in vain to press their faces to the water. The wraiths that followed you here seem to be the only exception; whatever the pools are saying, it's apparently not interesting enough to draw them away from you.
Aren't you lucky?
Image credits: 1, 2, 3 + stock imagery unless otherwise noted
The River is wide, black, and deep. It is so deep, and so dark, and so cold, that when you wake deep beneath its surface you may, for a moment, think that this is all there is. An abyss, a vacuum, a void. Nothingness in all directions.
It might even be what you expected, coming from wherever you were Before. The blackness, at least. Perhaps the cold. Maybe even the pain: all-encompassing, all-consuming. If a mortal wound brought you here, it might feel like it's being torn open anew, over and over again.
The current is simply slow, however, not non-existent. And you can swim. (Or, even if you can't, that's more of a procedural problem than anything: you don't need to breathe down here, it seems. Perhaps you don't need to breathe anymore at all.)
It hurts. It hurts so much. But if you can just concentrate long enough to pull yourself up onto the rocky shoreline, or even enough to get your head above the surface of the water, that pain will dissipate, almost as if it was never there at all. When you have the presence of mind to examine yourself, you'll find that you are actually hale and whole, with your body exactly as you expect it to be.
There are others in your same predicament. Maybe they can help you; maybe you can help them. You're all in this together, after all.
— THE CAVERN
Once you do finally pull yourself free from The River, you'll find that there was never any abyss at all. On the contrary, there's quite a lot to see — though your eyes might need a minute or two to adjust.
The Cavern yawns around you, the main chamber alone large enough to house a small town, and the ceiling too high to make out through the darkness. There's some light: you can see the eerie green glow of bioluminescent plants lining far-away walls, and tracing the underside of the land bridge that extends over The River. There are pinpricks up high on the cliffs above The River that are organized enough to suggest intervention, or at least planning.
There's something else, too — something orders of magnitude brighter than anything else in the chamber. Its glow is dim on this side of The River, and it's difficult to discern where exactly the light is coming from, just that it isn't coming from anywhere outside the cave. You feel as though you might be safer if you got closer, but maybe that's just because any light at all is comforting in a situation like this. If nothing else, you'd probably find whoever is holding it.
Either way, whether you follow the light or don't, there's plenty of time to be alone with your thoughts. Or to share them, if you're so inclined, with the others that are here with you, emerging one by one from the depths of The River.
Perhaps you've already accepted what's happened to you. Perhaps you need time, and it will take some discussion with the others to arrive at the one thing you all have in common. Perhaps even after that it's still too much, or you still aren't ready. However you get there, though, there's no way around it: you are dead.
If you have questions, The Ferryman is available to answer them.
KEEP TO THE LIGHT
The source of the light is a lantern — specifically, it is The Ferryman's Lantern, an ornate metal lamp hanging from the end of a tall wooden staff. It's large, weathered from use, and despite how improbably far its glow casts — from the land bridge over The River, where The Ferryman is holding their vigil, up the cliffs above and into the subterranean city's many tunnels — it isn't so bright that it can't be comfortably looked at. The Lantern has an unmistakable aura of comfort and safety (maybe because of, or maybe in addition to, the light it casts), no matter how close or far you are from it.
It's only at the very far edges of the glow, where the last bits of light are swallowed by the darkness, that this sense of safety begins to fray. It's here that you can see them, prowling the boundary: wisps of something that you can barely see. Many somethings, in fact.
They can't cross into the light, it seems. All they can do is wait for you to leave it.
— THE SUBTERRANEAN CITY
Maybe you'd rather stay for now, though. There's plenty still to explore within The Lantern's shroud: to start with, the network of tunnels you can see built into the cliffs above The River.
The biggest hurdle is figuring out how to get into the city. You can spy the entrances, marked by dimly glowing torches set into the open mouths of tunnels, but they're so high up! Surely you're not meant to climb?
Well, yes and no. Some investigation reveals a series of wood-plank catwalks leading up to the lowest tunnel entrances, but it's a long climb. If you're feeling impatient (and brave), there's also a system of pulleys, ziplines, and simple rope elevators connecting the higher levels to the lower ones. The ropes have clearly been here a while, but they're probably safe, right? What's the worst that could happen, you die all over again?
(Too soon? We get it.)
There's plenty to see once you reach the city itself, even if there isn't much in way of a population. (Until now, at least!) The lamps and torches lining the walls are packed with the same bioluminescent plantlife that can be found elsewhere in the cavern, so there's no risk of them spontaneously going out. There are signs placed strategically throughout the tunnel system to point you toward major landmarks, using only simple iconography.
The city itself certainly appears lived in, even if it's currently empty; in fact, if you pay close attention to the signage and the decor, there appear to be layers of activity not unlike the rings of a very old tree. Older tapestries covered with newer ones with entirely different patterns; boxes of radically different table trinkets carefully stored in apartment closets, to make room for new ones on a shelf; evidence of the stone market stalls having multiple different usages, many of them apparently in sequence.
Some of those tapestries or trinkets might even be familiar to you, like they came from a culture of your homeworld. Strange, though, since you didn't arrive with anything similar on you. Where could they possibly have come from?
VENTURE IN THE DARK
The Cavern is big, and The Ferryman's Lantern only reaches so far. If you want to explore, you'll need to brave the darkness— and whatever else might be waiting out there for you.
You'll have some light, at least, even if it isn't much: the luminescent plants grow throughout the cave system, including its winding tunnels and cramped smaller chambers. As for whatever else might be lurking out there, well... without The Lantern, there's not much you can do to keep them at bay.
The Ferryman calls them "wraiths", if you were curious enough to ask beforehand. They're more what you might typically expect from the idea of a ghost: pale and insubstantial, like mist struggling to take and keep a shape.
And they certainly do have shapes; those shapes are just incomplete, sometimes blurry, like a pencil drawing that has smudged and faded over time. They have faces that seem to have been stretched too long or too wide; they have eyes with no color, unblinking, always staring back; some of them have mouths that never close, while others have no mouths at all; some of them have hands with wispy tendrils of grasping fingers; others' limbs seem to have lost their shape entirely.
There are dozens of them lingering just outside the boundary of The Lantern, and many more roaming throughout The Cavern. They do not speak, or otherwise make any sounds at all. They do not swarm, either, even when one of The Ferryman's souls crosses the boundary. They simply watch, and, seemingly at random, some will choose to follow you anywhere you go throughout The Cavern.
Annoying, maybe. Creepy, certainly. But that seems to be all. Just remember: The Lantern is the only thing that keeps the wraiths at bay. They can't hurt you, out in the darkness, but they will notice you, they will follow you, and they will remember you.
If your exploration takes you to the catacombs, you may find that your wraith shadows get lost just as easily as you in the tunnel system. Perhaps they get distracted? Or maybe they have some curiosity about the tunnels that outweighs their curiosity about you? Either way, it's possible to lose them for some amount of time there— but the wraiths aren't bound by petty things like physics the way you are. They will find you again eventually, either by floating through some wall, appearing at the dead-end of a tunnel, or even just waiting at the entrance for you to emerge again.
If, on the other hand, you find yourself stumbling upon the whispering pools, you'll discover that wraiths gather in droves there, circling the pools, sometimes trying in vain to press their faces to the water. The wraiths that followed you here seem to be the only exception; whatever the pools are saying, it's apparently not interesting enough to draw them away from you.
Aren't you lucky?
Image credits: 1, 2, 3 + stock imagery unless otherwise noted
katsuki bakugo | MHA | s7 spoilers
The lantern
the city
wildcard
the river
I dunno.
[ The disaffected nonchalance of the voice emerging from the mask is definitely nothing like Izuku. The boy rolls his head to the side to face Katsuki, coughs weakly, and makes a tiny, disgruntled noise less than an ugh. ]
But if whoever you're talking about isn't here, I guess they might've. Although this might be my brain shortcircuiting as I explode, so...I have no clue what part of my brain you're supposed to be. Huh.
[ The mask tilts. Katsuki is being evaluated. ]
My inner...blond?
no subject
[Katsuki coughs up more water as he forces himself to sit up. He's only been coughing up water and yet he keeps waiting for the metallic taste of blood to hit his tongue. But the violent rupture in his chest is gone... healed over in an instance when it should have taken months.
He glances down at the kid next to him. Boy, he looks weak. Good think Katsuki dragged his ass outta the river.]
I definitely ain't a part of your brain. What's with the get up? You look like a third rate villain with a fourth rate costume.
[Says the guy with a HUGE ORANGE 'X' on his chest and armor around his neck and arms. His own mask though, is gone, ripped away by the flames of his own explosions.]
no subject
[ He is not getting up yet, content to lie like a landed fish in a puddle. Nothing hurts. He just doesn't see the point in making an effort if he's already dead. ]
I'm a second rate villain with a first class costume. And I'm not part of your brain, because judging by your costume, you don't have a lot happening in that area.
[ There's something weird about the kid's affect. It's like he's pretending to be flippant and casual, that's obvious enough - but even though he's doing a half-assed lazy job of it, there's no hint he's covering up deeper feelings of distress. It's an oddly hollow performance, like being able to look at an eggshell and dimly perceive that all the yolk and whites inside are missing by the way the light filters through. ]
I guess you're a hero. Can we say the truce is still on? I really don't feel like shoving you back into the river. Seems like a dick move after you pulled me out of it.
no subject
[Katsuki Bakugou doesn't even rank among the tallest and fittest of his class but he's impressively fit for someone of his height. He rolls his shoulders and glances sideways at the kid.]
There's no truce. It's still war. So don't make me regret saving your ass.
(no subject)
The Lantern
The borders of the safety bubble they were in had teir charm, whartever was out there it felt better than... wandering around like a lost soul. Quite literally. When the other person stops him, Kel turns around, keeping some distance from the darkness.]
Yeah. I just.. they don't seem to come into the light, right?
no subject
[The rules right now seem simple. But to trust there's no loophole in a place like this seems like a ticket to getting screwed over.]
We don't know how long the light lasts. Or if it'll keep 'em outta here forever. They can see us better than we can see them. They have the advantage.
[He clenches his left fist, expecting to feel the familiar crackle of sweat igniting, drumbeats of warmth and flashes of light. But there's nothing. His hand is cold and empty.
no subject
[It can, it really can and he's fully aware of that, he's not a fool. There are enough tales about soulds getting damned not to be careful about that kind of things. He just... has a lot of feelings and he's not entirely sure of howw to process them for the moment. Still, Kel does take a step back, turning in the direction of the blonde haired teen.]
Should we ask that ferry person? Man, I feel like countless people- can I even call them that? Well, countless things are just staring at me right now.
no subject
[Not that he believes in that sort of thing. Or at least he didn't in the past because he hadn't bothered to consider it. Death and where he'd end up after never registered to him... even in those final few seconds when it was inevitable.]
Unless you really wanna be the guinea pig.
(no subject)
(no subject)
The Pulley System
So, when someone’s voice nearby addressed him, the teen froze. Very much like a deer in headlights look (except if that deer was missing an eye), he looked around. Surely the request had been for someone else…? But Sunny was the only one around and, with a soundless exhale of words, he made his way over to the other person.
A pulley system. Like a puzzle in a game. He could help with that. Right…?]
no subject
[It's a simple instruction. He doesn't expect much out of the kid but... this should be easy and yet... he can't put everything into pulling when he can't even pull with both his hands. Katsuki makes a frustrated noise and starts trying to secure the rope around his right arm, twisting it so he doesn't need to be able to grasp the rope to pull with his shoulders only. It's clumsy and he ends up chomping at the rope with his teeth to try to pull enough to push the platform upwards.
He's going to have to rely more on the other teen than he ever would have liked.]
no subject
But… Sunny wasn’t
fullyblind. He was aware this person was trying his best despite being hurt. The teen should do what he could.He nodded, determined, pulling on the rope with both arms. It wasn’t much but… it was a start. The platform beneath them began to lift.]
no subject
He wraps the rope around his bum arm (boy he really did a number on it) and then grips it firmly with his left. With how much force the other kid put into his pull and how much the elevator moved, he has a pretty good guess how hard it will be to get up there. They absolutely can do it. He gives the other kid an encouraging nod.]
Yeah. Just like that. On the count of three, pull as hard as you can. We're gonna blow this popsicle stand and get all the way up there in just a few pulls! Come on-!
[He starts counting down!]
(no subject)
The lantern
Several 'somethings', actually. [ She gestures to the few directly in front of them, and one or two flickering at the edges of her field of vision.] I haven't seen any aggressors, just a bunch that are observing us.
Have you?
no subject
[Katsuki keeps his eyes fixed on the darkness. He can see where she indicated the creatures in front of them. And there's more, everywhere he looks. Swarming the edges of the light like roaches.]
But we're outnumbered and surrounded on all sides. We don't know what they want from us. But only an idiot would charge into their territory without a plan. Unless you really just wanna test how dead you are.
no subject
[ It’s more of a rhetorical question, entertained rather than annoyed. He looks young, probably high school and if his demeanor is anything to go by, he’s in some kind of training program.
Could use some PR training, though. Jeez.]
Fortunately, there don’t seem to be any idiots in our number. [ Her attention goes back to the wraiths, gaze scanning along the edge of the darkness. ]
Going off of behavior - lack of aggression primarily - they’re either individuals attracted by the flurry of new arrivals or scouts for a hivemind investigating for the same reason.
Avoidance of the light suggests some level of photosensitivity, though there might be someone or something they’re dodging by staying out of range of the light.
[ Her gaze slides to him though her body language suggests she’s listening for a change in the current surroundings.]
So, what’s the next move?
no subject
[Maybe he clocks her. Or maybe he's just projecting. But he nods at her assessment of their behavior and relationship to light. She's right on the money in his mind.]
Do nothing but watch everyone. Don't let anyone wander away. If they're watching us, we lay low. Don't show our hand.
(no subject)
the river-- I'm so sorry
This wasn't his first time being saved by an actual teen from actually drowning. Two for two was actually somewhat embarrassing.
Glasses askew, he peered at the kid.]
Hell if I know,
[He said. Then-- ]
-- not Izuku. I'll help you find him, though.
no subject
[Is the rough growl that escape's the boys throat as he continues to cough.]
He better not be here.
no subject
Dead, you mean?
[Unsteady and light headed, he worked his way to standing and gingerly patted his side-- where he recalled a stabbing pain that was the consequence of his own blind trust in someone he knew rationally was untrustworthy. Only an odd stiffness remained alongside the memory.
He could work with that.]
Then let's hope he's not,
[He said, approaching the teen who had fished him out of the watery abyss.]
... You ok, kid?
arrival
Still, Lili is slower to emerge than he is, so when she eventually makes it up to the surface and struggles to float, he's there to pull her out. Lili does not resist. At least she's easy to tug to the surface...but she falls to her knees near Bakugo as soon as he lets go. If she needed to breathe, she'd be gasping for air. Alas, she is but a shocked, scared mess who doesn't quite know what to do with herself.
It takes her a moment to respond to his question. ]
I-It's not like I know where we are, either...! If I knew, I would...
[ Get out of here, she means to say, but the words don't come out. Where would she even go, now that she's...dead? Does that mean he is, too, and this is somewhere beyond the mortal realm? Well, before she gets too into her head, there's only one way to find out. ]
How did you end up here?
no subject
[He squints up at her before coughing wetly again. His lungs don't need oxygen but he can't shake the feeling that there's something deep in them that he needs to expel. Once the feeling passes he sits up.]
Tried to take make a shot against a villain. Guess he got me too.
[Or maybe Shigaraki got him first but he doesn't want to think about it. All he can remember is horrible pain tearing through his chest and then nothing. Like falling asleep. Still, he reaches up to touch his chest like the hole could still be there. Instead, there's only a massive knot of scar tissue. A reminder of his final stand.]
no subject
[ Lili turns over so she sits and places her hands on the ground, trying to keep herself steady. What the boy says, though, gives her pause. He tried to make a stand against evil. Her eyes go wide, like this resonates with her somehow. ]
You, too?
[ Her voice is quiet – at least she's not the only one. At least there are other people who believe in being brave, just like Yona. Still, the feeling of it having done or meant nothing back at home doesn't sit well with her, but if she could protect –
... ]
I just hope it was worth it.
[ Is she talking to Bakugo, or herself? Probably both. ]
no subject
[It has to be true. If there was any reason to fight this, to push it aside, and keep going, he would because he never backed down from any fight. But this isn't a fight, Katsuki thinks. This is just the aftermath. All the leftover pieces.
He coughs again.]
Of course it was. It was the only way he would have a chance to end the fight. I'm not a damn fool. I knew the cost and I chose to pay it.
[He glances up at her. She's not familiar. Which, he realizes suddenly, is actually a good thing.]
Did you?
Re: The Lantern
[Mari shifts back into the light a bit, slightly intimidated by the teen’s reaction. She brushes her black hair behind her ear and nervously looks out at the creatures.]
What are they? [It seemed like the spiky haired boy had an idea of what to expect at least…]