Asolus

[Heim]

Post #0538: The Cavern (Arthur)
Arthur, relieved to see another person, almost yells out to get her attention, before hesitating. He continues towards her at his prior pace, not hiding himself, but keenly observing her as he goes.

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0539: The Cavern (Arthur)
As he walks, the woman disappears into the mass of crystals. Arthur presses ahead and notices waves of hazy air rising and falling in front of the crystal skyline. The already humid air thickens as he descends, rendering the stacked blue crystal prisms a murky mass on the horizon. As he pauses to catch his breath, he realizes that the crystals are much more distant than he first thought, though he’s made good progress. His sense of time is warped by the prevailing darkness; even as the blue glow of the crystals increases as he moves toward them, he can see that the enormous space that the cavern occupies is predominately dark. The sweaty trek stretches out in his mind, his senses dulled by his mounting fatigue.

Some time later, he completes his traversal of a steep rise in the path, up toward the edge of the mass of blue crystals. The air here seems comparatively fresh and cool, and his mood quickly improves as his breathing eases. Now up-close, he can see that the sapphire prisms are as big as trees, with some as wide at their base as the whole of Asher’s house in Nowhere. Low-lying roads or valleys cut between the massive crystals at various intervals, and Arthur can see a myriad of the yellow, multi-legged creatures moving about, carrying their small crystals deeper into this crystal city. The very floor he stands on is a mostly-flat plane of deep-blue sapphire.

As he gazes down into the depths of the crystal beneath him, he spots a moving shape reflected in the crystal, beside the distorted image of himself. He looks up reflexively. Above him, above the whole of the city, a giant pool of swirling, orange liquid spins slowly. It seems thick and viscous, with a few orange tendrils reaching downward toward the city, before being pushed upward by some unseen force. Every few seconds, a small chunk breaks off of the tallest of the sapphire prisms, floats upwards toward the pool, and disappears into the orange fluid.

Transfixed by the scene before him, Arthur barely notices movement ahead of him, at the edge of his vision, deeper in the city. He looks more closely, and sees that something ahead, just out of sight among the sapphire monoliths, is shedding bright light. Bright, at least, compared to the blue glow that radiates from the crystals that surround him.

[Heim]

Post #0540: The Cavern (Arthur)
Where have I seen this before?

The mysterious "holographic" crystals come to mind almost immediately. Watching as various blue crystal chunks disappear into the orange light, Arthur briefly contemplates what the relationship between the phenomena could be. Though, before he thinks too deeply, he continues towards the light source, conscious of the movement that he barely noticed earlier.

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0541: The Cavern (Arthur)
If the huge prisms of sapphire are like buildings in a city, Arthur finds himself navigating an intersection of the roads between the buildings as he comes up to the top of the “T” in a “T”-shaped intersection. The prisms are slightly translucent at the edges, but the surfaces are highly reflective, too. Arthur observes an unusual pattern of reflections, similar to a house of mirrors, as around a half-dozen bluish images of him move toward the edges of the surface of the prism, including a couple images that are upside-down. He sees his gray chinos and light brown fleece, colors distorted by the blue, but otherwise in fairly clear detail, iterated over and over.

Now at the intersection, he sees that the bright light from around-the-corner is a plane of stark white that hangs in the air about twenty feet away, in the middle of the gap between two adjacent prisms. It appears to be floating about six-inches off of the ground, with a width of about three feet and a height of about seven feet, but no discernable thickness that he can see from his current angle. A handful of the multi-legged creatures are navigating the intersection, but none seem to pay any notice to the white plane and the bright light that is shining from it.

Since he can see the small creatures more clearly now, Arthur can see that they are made from the same yellow stone of the path that he followed on his way to the crystal city. They appear to be entirely made of legs and arms, with no discernable head or eyes. Each of them is carrying a chunk of the blue crystal, always a full prism rather than a chunk or shard of a prism. They don’t all seem to be heading in the same direction, but he doesn’t see any of them heading out of or away from the crystal city.

While he is observing the multi-legged, crystal-carrying creatures, the raccoon-creature wanders into view. Arthur blinks; although it’s hard to be certain, the luminescence of the raccoon-creature seems to be brighter than it was a short while ago, and the edges of the glow have resolved into blue-white flames that flicker in the white glow of the plane that hangs nearby.

[Heim]

Post #0542: The Cavern (Arthur)
Arthur cautiously draws closer to the source of light, periodically checking his surroundings, but mostly focused on it.

Rei, Sei, is there anything you can tell me about this?

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0543: The Cavern (Arthur)
As he approaches the plane, but still about ten feet distant, Arthur glimpses another reflection of himself, this time picture-perfect, against the white background of the plane that is hanging in midair. No sooner does he spot it, though, then the figure is consumed by a curtain of orange and crimson flames that washes across the background of the plane. The flames surround the reflection, reducing it to a darkened humanoid outline obscured by the inferno.

“There is a localized decrease in the prevailing, exceptionally psi-reactive and spiritually active environment. Cause unknown,” comes the impression of Rei’s voice across Arthur’s awareness.

Only a few seconds after they appear, the flames fade, leaving the figure backed by the white void. But where there used to be a reflection of himself, Arthur now sees a short, humanoid male with vermillion skin, covered in a spiderweb of bright orange cracks, smoke rising from his body. He is wearing a black, microfiber turtleneck shirt, sleeves rolled up to just below the elbows, and slate gray trousers. The clothes look scuffed up, with dirt on the knees and ragged hems on the legs of the trousers, revealing a stylish brown boot with an aggressive, light brown tread. A pair of slightly curved, red horns, about four inches in length, rise out of the man’s forehead, just below the hairline of his trim, dark brown hair, styled in a crew cut with slightly elongated sideburns.

The figure casually steps out of the white plane, smoke still curling up from his shoulders and forearms.

[Heim]

Post #0544: The Cavern (Arthur)
Arthur watches the spectacle, at first alarmed by the annihilation of his reflection, then intently focused on the man that emerges. Still staring, he ponders over what to say, invariably settling on some questions.

"Hello... Who are you, and, do you know where we are?"

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0545: The Cavern (Arthur)
“I might well ask the same of you, but since you are asking, it would seem you know little more than me,” the man says, as he looks around at the towering sapphire prisms. “My name, however, is Arthur.”

He waves his hand in front of his face and then wipes his brow.

“Such an uncomfortable atmosphere,” he says, and removes his turtleneck shirt.

Now shirtless, Arthur can see that this man has a similar physique to himself, as well as having identical stature, despite the difference in skin complexion. The man ties the sleeves of his turtleneck around his waist and walks toward Arthur.

[Heim]

Post #0546: The Cavern (Arthur)
The initial shock of his name is solidified by the similarities between their bodies, leaving Arthur's attention fractured as he simultaneously tries to consider and substantiate various interpretations of what's going on, pay attention to 'Arthur', and select the best words possible given the impact of what he just learned. Continuing to stare as well as ponder, he speaks with a flat intonation, there being noticeable pauses between his statements.

"I'm-My name is also Arthur... Are you-I'm human... Do you know how you got here?"

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0547: The Cavern (Arthur)
“A human,” the man says to Arthur, as he crouches down in front of the raccoon-creature. “I find that unlikely, but I can hardly think of something you might wish to conceal with such a baldfaced lie.”

The creature scampers away from the newcomer and ends up crouched behind Arthur’s legs.

“I got here when a strange, mirror-like object appeared before me. After a brief inspection, it turned out to be a door, not a mirror.”

He stands up.

“Now my turn. Is that raccoon dog your familiar?”

[Heim]

Post #0548: The Cavern (Arthur)
"Hmmm... I'm not entirely sure."

Arthur taps his mask.

"This device is a ward, and it contains two of these spirits, but one of them is usually absent. Rei, just to confirm, is that Sei?" Arthur continues, having managed to process 'Arthur's' answer and get his thoughts in order. "I came here through a door as well, did you feel some vertigo as you came in?"

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0549: The Cavern (Arthur)
“No, Sei was performing routine maintenance and purging the dream buffer,” Rei says. “We can’t see beyond the conceptual space of the interface, so I can’t help you with visual identification.”

“No, the transition was uneventful,” Arthur says to Arthur.

He turns and goes over to the white plane, then examines it briefly.

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that this portal operates from both sides. I can’t even see the place I came from.”

[Heim]

Post #0550: The Cavern (Arthur)
Arthur surprised to hear that the spirit they both see is neither Sei nor Rei, his gaze fixating on the creature. The information, among other things, seems to substantiate a few interpretations of what's going on.

"Well, I came through a door much farther from here, and when I approached this portal, I first saw a reflection... of myself. It was immediately set on fire, then your silhouette appeared just before you emerged out here."

Arthur, now scratching his stubble, looks directly at 'Arthur'.

"As a human, I only just learned about oni recently. Things are... unstable where I come from, and I'm told it's because chaos is engulfing reality, causing continuities and worlds to become displaced and disorganized. Now I'm here, and I just encountered someone who can see a spirit only I've been able to see, someone who shares my height, size, and name." He pauses once again. "What are your thoughts?"

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0551: The Cavern (Arthur)
“Some of that sounds very concerning,” the new Arthur says, with an arch of his right eyebrow as he turns away from the portal. “With no real evidence to substantiate that, though, it probably isn’t worth worrying about.”

He walks back over to Arthur.

“I think a more pressing concern is how long we can survive in this heat and humidity, which, combined with what seems to be the smell of sulfur, may have some unpleasant implications about our surroundings.”

[Heim]

Post #0552: The Cavern (Arthur)
"It was much worse when I was walking through the caverns tunnels, but you're correct." Arthur returns to scratching his stubble. "I don't have a great idea of what we should do. I emerged into darkness, and followed various light-sources to get here." He looks up. "This spot resembles... something important from where I came in a similar way to how we resemble each other... But waiting around might not be such a good idea, especially since I did see one other person enter here, though they were far away at the time."

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0553: The Cavern (Arthur)

Spoiler: Arthur's Rolls

Show

+1 ongoing, Intellect test, modified target 5, result 8.

Arthur recalls the burn on his hand and the smell of sulfur. While it’s not as oppressive in the crystal city as it was earlier in the tunnel, it’s still dangerously hot. He casts his mind back toward his time in chemistry class in highschool and recalls that sulfuric acid doesn’t vaporize easily but is highly corrosive in concentrated liquid form. Even a diluted form of the acid would explain the burn on his hand. Conversely, sulfur dioxide, if it were present in the air, would have resulted in a rapid decline in ability to breathe. It is mainly used in industrial processes, or found in nature as a result of volcanic activity. Volcanic activity may explain the heat, but there is no direct evidence of gas vents, to the best of his knowledge.

New Arthur follows Arthur’s gaze up toward the swirling pool of orange.

“Well, that looks ominous,” he says.

[Heim]

Post #0554: The Cavern (Arthur)
Arthur chuckles sadly.

"Yes, It resembles the crystal logged inside my friends forehead... At any rate, I believe we're dealing with is sulfuric acid, given the humidity, and the fact that it burned my hand earlier. It's better than sulfur dioxide, but still dangerous."

Arthur begins to tap his foot in irritation.

"I can't think of anywhere worth risking a trek to, since it was already dangerous enough making my way out of the tunnels... Do you have any ideas?"

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0555: The Cavern (Arthur)
“We seem to be ill-prepared for a dangerous undertaking,” Arthur says, a smirk coming across his face. “No food or water, no acceptable shelter in sight. I can handle the heat for a while, but I’m not even sure where to start looking for a way out of here. How long have you been here exactly?”

[Heim]

Post #0556: The Cavern (Arthur)
"I... Don't know. The heat and smell made it hard to concentrate, but it definitely took me a long time to get to this spot..."

As Arthur ponders the question, he stops tapping his foot, and follows up by inhaling the toxic air through his nostrils.

"ANYONE! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, PLEASE COME HELP! MY NAME IS ARTHUR!"

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0557: The Cavern (Arthur)
“I guess that’s one way to find help…or attract anything that has ears and is hungry,” new Arthur says. “You say you saw someone here earlier?”

[Heim]

Post #0558: The Cavern (Arthur)
"Yes, what looked like a woman. I also got acquainted with a type of... Bug. They carry crystals like these and vary in size quite a bit. There were a lot of them, and some are quite large, but they didn't seem interested in me as I was traversing the cavern."

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0559: The Cavern (Arthur)
“Like these things?” new Arthur asks, as he points to one of the many multi-legged creatures moving about the crystal city with their crystal cargo. “I can only assume that they are some kind of repair crew, attempting to undo whatever the orange pool is doing.”

He points up to the pool, where small bits of blue crystal are being sucked into the orange liquid.

“The small things gather crystals; the orange pool takes them away. Must be some sort of conflict.”

[Heim]

Post #0560: The Cavern (Arthur)
"Oh, yes... Seems I was too caught up to remember they were here. Anyway, you're probably right, but what sort of conflict is it...?"

Arthur casts his focus back to the time he spent with Arthur's limp form in the kitchen. Various details come to mind, but when combined with all the confusing twists and turns at the time and after it, naught but a jumbled mess of half complete ideas comes to mind.

The air isn't helping.

'Arthur' was certainly right to say that it was hot and smelly.

"I'm wondering... if we could understand what's happening through a psychic or spiritual lens. As an oni, are you attuned to either type of thing?"

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0561: The Cavern (Arthur)
“Unfortunately, that’s not really my area, though I do know a few things,” he says, pointing to the raccoon dog. “But that…,” he says, as he points to the orange pool, “is well beyond my expertise as a tactical asset management consultant.”

[Heim]

Post #0562: The Cavern (Arthur)
Arthur finds himself surprised, disappointed, and exasperated. He puts a hand to his sweaty forehead.

"We have similar careers too. I'm a data analytics consultant... Rather, I was. Heh, did you quit recently too?"

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0563: The Cavern (Arthur)
“Uh…no, actually, I was in the middle of some…work…when the portal appeared,” he says, as he scratches his head. “Ah well, it’s inconvenient, but not much I can do about it right now. Why don’t we go look for this woman you saw? Perhaps she can shed some light on the situation and how we got here.”

[Heim]

Post #0564: The Cavern (Arthur)
"Perhaps it's worth a shot."

Arthur goes past the plane, walking in the same direction that he arrived from. He wipes his face and gazes at the surrounding maze of crystals, turning back to 'Arthur' after a moment.

"You seem fairly calm at having been transported to a different world. Is it normal in your line of work?"

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0565: The Cavern (Arthur)
New Arthur follows Arthur’s course deeper into the crystal city.

“I do a fair bit of on-the-ground assessment of assets, so I am used to being escorted to forward operating bases and command-and-control locations. If the client has a sophisticated operation, this sometimes involves swift-transit methods like shadow-walking, cloud-walking and so forth, but other times it’s chariots, dirt bikes, trucks, etcetera.”

The two men proceed for a ways, then find that the avenue makes an abrupt turn to the left and heads yet deeper into the city. Up ahead, Arthur can see this narrow avenue leads to a more open area, around a couple hundred yards distant. It appears that there are other short paths to the left and right on the way.

[Heim]

Post #0566: The Cavern (Arthur)
"The more open area up ahead seems ideal to me, but we could also head left or right... Do you have any preference?"

[Phelix-Mu]

Post #0567: The Cavern (Arthur)
“We don’t have enough bodies to cover our flanks, so I’d say we should quickly move to an area with good line of sight or some other terrain advantage,” the red-skinned man says. “I’ll keep an eye out to make sure no one rolls up behind us.”