Slide Into The Void - Part 2 - RPLOG
From Flexible Survival
Participants
Date
21/5/2022
Log
(Symaro) Seems that the group had decided to advance onwards! Despite their better judgement, someone grips the door leading deeper into the accursed place, then pushes it open. Against all logic and reason, despite the fact the party had been moving AWAY from the familiar sights of the Library where they'd had their first rest, they'd end up right back there... the air remains warm and welcoming, the only background noise being a faint fluttering of paper in the gentle gusts carried around such an expansive, potentially infinite room. Except... something is off. Something is different this time around. The room had inhabitants! Standing roughly 4ft tall, covered in scales of all colors, bizarrely bipedal with anthropomorphic features, were a swarm of small lizards garbed in loosely fitted clothing. Many were engrossed in their reading, sat down here and there, perhaps at a desk or a couch or a sofa further along into the room, where as others had their hands full organizing and categorizing the seemingly endless amount of reading material. At a closer glance, these creatures were very much like Symaro in shape and stature. Their language however makes no sense, merely a plethora of strange crooning, meeping, yapping and squeaking. The door closes behind everyone, a distant, heinous laugh fading with its final swing.
(Yejian) With a heavy sigh, Yejian sets her shield on the ground and leans it against her legs, folding her arms while she, in turn, leans against a wall. What a bother this was turning out to be! It just required a shift in perspective. She going for endurance now, and so she keeps away from the lead. Let one of those eager explorers open the doors and face what comes of it, she'll be the clean up crew.
(Fenris) Jaleel- er Fenris slouches through the door, his thoughts still scattered and his sense of self still muddied. He blinks at the unexpected sight of the library and its inhabitants. He never had much time for libraries or books. They were a luxury he had not had as a kid and running his business didn't leave time for- Those were not Fenris thoughts. Just to prove them wrong, the tanuki snatches a book from a shelf and flips it open. He reads all the time!
(Symaro) The tanuki flips open a random book, however all he finds is pages upon pages filled with indecipherable gibberish! It's some form of runic language that doesn't register... at least not immediately. Maybe if he tries to decrypt it.
(Junes) seeing the room full of well, the same form as them junes is perplexed at first but hears flipp
(Junes) flipping pages and sees leaf feels a bit worried and decides to bring their multiple kitsune tails out and pat them on the tanuki's back for comfort
(Ankh) Taking a deep breath now that they're in the safety of the library again, Ankh closes his eyes and takes stock of... well, mostly himself. The others seemed more or less fine. At least he could reload his lance now that the stake had time to re-form. Doing so with only a slight wince at the seared fang-hole in his palm. "Glad I don't feel much, physically...", he mumbles to himself, "...but this place is getting to me. Hey... Junes, right? If I start to lose myself, slap me as hard as you can. Got it? Muzzle me if need be." With that, and a final -KACHUNK- of the explosive ammunition being locked into place, he folds the lance again, familiar saw axe sliding back into his grip.
(Symaro) The group gathers a few strange looks from here and there, the library's little keepers shooting a multitude of glowing gazes directly at these bizarre tall beings and the one kinlike shortstack among them, though they don't do much other than nudge one another and make a few curious chirrups. Ankh, blessed bean... can practically feel the tension pouring out his maw in a room so safe, so serene. Junes recollects all his thoughts and feels fully at once with himself. Yejian expels some of her tension but remains quite on-edge, and Fenris, poor fella... he remains just as shaken as when he'd emerged from his trial. The library is kind, but his thoughts remain fixated on what he'd just experienced. That gnawing paranoia lingers... for now. The door leading deeper into the dungeon is within eyesight, down a flight of stairs onto the lower level, where a large collection of blue-scaled small-sized lizards had converged to converse and share in their mutual interests, yapping and trilling like a stack of adorable boopable snoots. It should be illegal for a place so dangerous to harbor critters so adorable, and yet it does! Two of them near the party where they stand, one starts getting particularly inquisitive with Yejian's shield, putting its hands atop the seemingly bizarre surface, before plucking a scroll and pencil to start noting things down in some strange language. The other meanwhile starts bothering Ankh, perplexed by the gnoll's alien armaments, poking and tugging here and there, not outwardly hostile, merely curious by the looks of things.
(Yejian) Yejian watches cautiously, but does not seem to mind the curiosity and examination her shield causes. She closes her eyes and exhales, tail flicking side to side before scooping up her shield once again. "Alright. We can't stay here forever. I'll let one of you take the lead though, whenever you're ready to start moving."
(Fenris) Fenris sighs as he carefully examines the text. "Let's see," he murmurs, "I'm seeing some norse influence? Saskrit maybe?" The tanuki feels much more himself as he peruses the obscure scribbles. The tanuki frowns over the book, then flips to the cover and the inscription on it. The tanuki grins and shakes his head. "Riddles!" he smiles, "Written in.. what? Draconic? Amazing." He slots the book back into its place on the shelf and his smile dims and sours a little. It was a nice respite bit it was not enough to really ground him. He grunts an affirmative at Yejian and slouches ahead, going for the next door, the library having lost its appeal.
(Junes) patting his back a bit more to maybe get his attention junes speaks calmly "hey leaf everything is gonna be alright, whatever happened before its over and i know we can all make it through" and unsure of what else to say or do they hold their arms open if they need a hug
(Fenris) Fenris warms a little at Junes' offer and accepts the hug. "Thanks," he says, "I like hugs." The physical contact seems to do him a little good, though he quickly returns to slouching ahead broodingly, ready to get out of this room and deeper in the dungeon.
(Ankh) Ankh chuckles softly at the innocent curiosity of the kobold creatures, showing them that the menacing sawblades head of his weapon can be removed to reveal the vicious flanged macehead it slots into, though he keeps a close eye on his things to make sure there are no sticky fingers involved before he slots the weapon back together. In agreement with Yejian, and feeling some blessed relief from the library, he can feel himself standing just a little prouder once more, moving with a nod to join her. "Just as Symaro said... much as it would be nice to catch a breather, we've got to keep moving forward. Especially with /that voice/ apparently getting a laugh out of this..."
(Symaro) The party advances into the strangest of all places that they could have encountered! Is this... is this seriously a Disco dance floor? Looks like it, a well furnished late 1900s themed establishment by all means, with one particularity. The music, something is wrong with it... is it playing backwards?! There are no discernible lyrics to really tell by, but the discord certainly suggested as much. Immediately upon entry, the party would feel themselves stiffening, in a way. T'was as though the sounds were etching into their minds, tugging at their muscles in some bizarre fashion. The room itself has denizens, if you can call several dozen faceless, vacant, black silhouettes denizens, ofcourse! They all seem wholly disinterested, even oblivious to the group's presence, although by the looks of things they seem to be moving in reverse! The door leading deeper into the dungeon is not in plain sight...
(Yejian) Yejian had never seen a disco ball before. Hell, even her mother was barely old enough to recognize the era this room's aesthetic was pulled from. "Weird place," she mumbles, rolling her shoulders. "I don't see a door. Maybe if we just walk backwards we'll wander into a different room?"
(Fenris) Jaleel hates places like this. He frowns and starts to look around for the inevitable vip lounge or back room... Then Fenris remembers that he does not care what Jaleel likes. The burly tanuki shakes his head and smiles at the gaudy decor. He hops lightly up the stairs to the main dance floor and turns a little sommersault at the top. When he lands lightly on his feet, his clothing has changed through some tanuki trick. He is wearing a white coat with wide lapels and a neon pink shirt tucked into a wide belt decorated with rhinestones. The strangeness of the music does not slow him down as he starts dancing like that one uncle at a wedding party, moving to the bizarre beat. "Take that, Jaleel!" he crows, shaking that nuki-booty.
(Junes) chuckling a bit junes waves over to the tanuki "leaf id love to join you but this place isnt the most friendly so you may wanna keep it short" and looking to yejian they mention "disco a classic, oh and what kind of style do you fight in, defensively or more aggressive?"
(Ankh) Ankh very much also had no memory of such a place, though then again his entire life before waking up in a Zephyr triage cot was a blank. Still, the strange, backwards music and the faceless figures kept him on his guard. So as long as they wouldn't attack, perhaps this was just a matter of passing through unbothered? Respect the Dungeon, and perhaps it showed mercy on you. Weapon close to himself, he slowly turns his back toward the door they had come from, and takes cautious steps back up the steps, and onto the dancefloor. Something does tug at him, though. If this place was as shifting and formless as it seemed, could they not close the door they came in, and re-open it to be elsewhere again? Was that a solution here, going backwards? With no threats for now, he figures they can try several things.
(Symaro) Ever the voice of reason, Yejian tries to open the door that they'd come from, and is met with a brick wall in the archway. There is a note on the wall, inscribed in legible English that reads as follows. "No." Seems like the dungeon has a bit of a dry sense of humor. Fenris is definitely not making things easier however, his flurry of motion was in some way making the music in the room LOUDER. The tunes tug and pull at the party's bodies, forcing the weak-bodied into joining into Fenris' motions. However...
(Symaro) ...Ankh is rendered immune to the music's effects by sheer strength of body alone. Fenris too manages to fight off the compulsion by literally struggling away from it! Junes and Fenris shelter their mind and push away the compulsion by sheer force of will. However the music seems to be growing louder and more potent in its effect by the second. A sane man might not want to linger here... lest they wish to dance themselves into oblivion!
(Yejian) Yejian certainly has no sense of humour at the moment. The lion knight scowls at the note and turns her back on it, pinning her ears back. What an awful racket. She liked music, but whatever this was... Was not pleasant. She looks at her shield, then looks towards the other two. "If you can get him to stop, please do. Otherwise I'm going to knock him over the head and we can just drag him the rest of the way."
(Fenris) "You don't like dancing?" Fenris asks, bouncing backward rhythmically, "Look! I'm GYRATING!" The tanuki laughs and tries to stop and rejoin the group, unsure what they are so concerned about.
(Fenris) The tanuki frowns a little as his limbs seem unwilling to obey for a moment, but then he muscles his way through and moves down the stairs.
(Junes) sighing in relief that they all beat the compulsion of the disco fever junes joins the group while thinking of a plan
(Ankh) "Should we... try and walk through it backwards?", the gnoll offers, trying to lead the way up toward the dance floor, still walking backwards. At least this way he kept the group in his vision.
(Fenris) Fenris shakes his head and points toward the center of the dance floor. "Right there," he says, "Can't believe you guys don't want to dance though. This place is great!" He hesitates a little then shrugs, "Aside from the creepy factor, I mean. But the shadow guys are at least trying to enjoy themselves." The burly tanuki blithely ascends the stairs again, heading for the center of the dance floor and avoiding the shadowy figures, though he casts a wary eye at the glittering mirror ball over head.
