July Exploration: Ignotum Fatum

[lifeaftr_mods]

JULY EXPLORATION: IGNOTUM FATUM

Those of you interested in exploring the underwater structures discussed in our OOC Event Information may do so here! Instead of linking to our Search Requests page, we've chosen to consolidate all OOC discoveries regarding this particular location into one post.

Che Vibra ed Arde

The opportunity is finally yours to find some answers, dear explorers. The underwater structures are yours to pick apart and study at length...as long as you're not stretching the time limit you have to your underwater shape, of course.

Even from a distance, it's apparent that most of these structures have been through quite a lot. Given that they look very much like they were meant to exist on the surface, it's very likely that they were built there and then subsequently sank. The design of each construct is relatively simple, but sturdiness was an evident priority - many of these structures have retained their basic shapes despite whatever it is they may have been through. Certain arches and pillars and supports may seem reminiscent of an almost Greco-Roman architectural style...though if you've been with us for long enough, these buildings might remind characters of a certain other city. Nothing as utilitarian or simplistic, but there's no doubt about it: this sunken city shares many general structural elements with the city of Ai'tuoh. Bear in mind that the return of this area in the future is not guaranteed. Characters must work together to cover as many of the structures as possible. Planning ahead and searching groups is advised. Also keep in mind the restrictions of the sne'akleriad - characters can only remain in their aquatic form for thirty hours at a time, and the underwater city has no places to rest. Characters may be attacked by predators and other threats, and not every find will be able to be physically transported back to the surface.

So tread wisely!

Vivida Nei Secoli

Below, we have provided the map to the entire area for underwater exploration. As opposed to our standard grid-based exploration system, searchable areas have instead been divided into numbered sections. Each number corresponds to the building or general sub-area that characters may search.

To search any part of the city, respond to our search top-level below. Remember that standard search request restrictions apply, as detailed on our Search Requests page. Make sure to use the event plotting post, as well as any other OOC avenues of communication you might need, to communicate with your fellow players as to who wants to search what!

Hover over a location for its name. Click on the location to read its description, and whatever has been found inside or around it. If a location has not been searched, it will simply read its number, and will not link to anything.

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] July 8th: The Jormun and the kaleidoshells return to Ensō's shores
[ ♆ ] July 10th: Underwater exploration begins
[ ♆ ] July 17th: Part Two of our second year anniversary Test Drive Meme goes up
[ ♆ ] July 20th: Monthly Storytelling occurs
[ ♆ ] July 22nd: The final island in this voting round appears
[ ♆ ] July 25th: The Jormun return home, and the magic of the sne'akleriad recedes

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[hellawrath]

Player: Laura
Character Name/Journal: Lup (hellawrath)
Character(s) Accompanying: Beau, Jester, Karako
Area searched: 16
Date of search: 22nd
Additional notes: This party's got it all: magic, punching, and knives!

16 | RESIDENTIALS (3)

[lifeaftr_mods]

The Search Below
Two residential apartment complexes weren't enough for this old city, apparently. There is a third, as evidenced by the striking similarity of this building's general structure and layout compared to the other two residential buildings. It is equally underwhelming as well - clearly tenement-styled, multi-storied, and built with the intention to house as many individuals and families into as compact a space as possible. Space-saving, but not exactly comfortable.

The rooms that have remained intact through the ages contain simple if thoroughly dilapidated bed frames, ancient desks and chairs, and all the remnants of the barebones lodgings one would expect from housing this simplistic. The uppermost floors are the most intact, structurally, but they also contain the least of note; most materials and furnishings, for some reason or another, no longer remain.

The lower floors have suffered more damage that makes the specific layout of the rooms harder to discern, but tumbled remnants of old furniture are more common. Just be sure to tread carefully, because you're not alone down here. This complex has some unwanted squatters - namely a couple Thelesh, which are essentially demented shapeshifters with a disturbingly blank default appearance.

Theleshes attempt to assume the shape of someone recognizable and use the guise to grow close to another. They manage this through little more than the careful hobby of observation of the behavior of their victims, as they are not psychic, and are incapable of discerning who you might trust or approach freely except by watching you closely. Their intention is to lure their targets into a state where they feel safe enough to allow them to draw physically close, at which point the thelesh will promptly sting them with a paralyzing toxin they secrete from a retractable spine in their wrist. This toxin won't kill you, but it will petrify you for several hours. And unless you have someone looking out for you, the thelesh plans to eat you alive in that state. Slowly.

If you feel like you're being watched down here, that feeling may very well be warranted. You may catch dark shapes flitting in and out of sight in the corner of your eye, or the sensation of eyes at the back of your head.

Make sure to stay close, and take head counts often. Make sure that all your party members are people that you trust - and that you can trust aren't something they're not.

♆ The Residentials (3) have been unlocked on the map of the area! ♆

---

Dancing on the Edge of the Knife
If the party is successful in clearing out the Theleshes that frequent this area, they'll be able to find a..."nest" of sorts, squirreled away in the lower levels of the building. Theleshes are apparently prone to hoarding, or perhaps taking trophies from their victims. Piles of furniture have been used to erect a very loose barricade. Within, old moldering lumps of cloth and long ropes of kelp drift lazily about, which do very little to conceal the fact that an ancient chest of drawers has remained intact enough for one or more Theleshes to use it as a storage bin.

Inside, travelers will find the following:

♆ An old dagger. It looks as though it must have been a very fine work indeed, with a hilt that was probably set with jewels or some other equally intricate design. Though clearly quite old, the blade is also forked, and the metal is...miraculously untarnished. The hilt, however, has definitely seen better days.

♆A ring. It was evidently once a plain gold band, tarnished and worn. The luster has certainly worn off by now.

♆ A deck of cards. The designs on these cards are now rendered completely unreadable, though they look like they were once very elaborate things. The cards are rather large in size, and the deck itself seems to number upwards of seventy cards. Probably not your conventional deck, then. A pity that nothing, words or pictograms or otherwise, can be picked out any longer.