4083/Exploration: Escher

Exploration: Escher
Date of Scene:	07 May 2016
Location:	Lumiere
Synopsis:	A combined force of Union and Confederate Elites, along with Carna, venture to the tower of Escher in search of answers and access to deeper parts of Barrowville.
Cast of Characters:	Tomoe, Staren, Priscilla, Sarracenia, 513, 974

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Carna (974) has posed:
    The tower of Escher stretches high above, probably not reaching the vast ceiling of Barrowville, but at least a higher structure than almost any other scene so far, excepting the far-distant Aetheir Cathedral. The differences between this and that, however, are stark. Fresh blood runs down the sides of the tower from high above, flowing down the elevated terrain the tower is built upon in streams that appear to gather in channels and continue on to places unknown. There are still bodies impaled, crucified, and hung all along the winding, broken-stone path leading up from the Urban Decay to this tower.

    Thankfully, actually traversing the Urban Decay isn't necessary, nor going through that plaza with the void horrors. A Shrine of Light was discovered last time, allowing for transportation directly here from the sanctuary that is the Church of Bleak Mercy. What is so special about this ugly, foul-smelling tower is unknown. Just that the Lanterns guarding the gate would rather contest their territory with other Lanterns, battle the Unlit, and risk agitating those creeping shadow-things, than come back here. Except, of course, when actually faced with the shadow things. Apparently oblivion is slightly higher on the list of reasons to retreat to Escher than the rest.

    Carna is not convinced, but this is the furthest she has ever been outside of the Urban Decay and a new location to explore in Barrowville itself. For all of her self preservation-focused behavior, there is a need inside of her to reach the World of Ashes. To find out what's really there, and what her origins truly are. She won't be able to be at peace until she does. No matter what she tells herself, no matter what stand-ins for the truth she tries to find, as long as she has not seen the world that is supposedly where the Unlit came from, and the Lanterns consequent, she can not rest. Besides, she also has an inquisitive mind. She wants to poke and prod, to explore and learn.

    And so, despite the display that is probably meant to warn off intruders, she is one of the first to advance towards the doors of the tower, barred from the outside with a wooden brace, once everyone arrives.

    She takes the time to look up, however, as that beast or creature they'd seen near the top of the tower when they first arrived. Based upon the moving shadows there, occasionally cast into slighter greater prominence by streams of flame, it appears that it's still there.

Finna (513) has posed:
Finna scans the tower nervously, neck craned back and fingers rubbing the hilt of a knife... maybe for reassurance. She's gotten here via the Shrine of Light, and is quite happy with the shortcut - however strange its convenient location may seem when she thinks about it. "Horrible-looking way to die," She mumbles with lips drawn back in sheer disgust at the guresome sights.

    Well. She's Creation-born, at least.

    She's seen gruesome.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe has returned to this place, and bitter at how patronizing that Finna has been to her as of late. That left her in a foul mood towards the Lunar exalted. She had arrived and was on guard now even where it might seem safe she half expects things to come crawling out of the walls. Tomoe doesn't seem to flinch at aht she sees but it harkens back to the floor of death.

"I can send a fimiliar ahead to scout if we need it."

Priscilla has posed:
    Whatever Priscilla had expected on the other side of that gate, it wasn't this. After the seemingly endless plane of ramshackle buildings and, aptly named, urban decay, the scene had changed so abruptly on the other side of a simple wall that it is a wonder that it could be considered contiguous; more reminiscent of an adjacent circle of hell. That said, the ongoing fields of innumerable, truly, dead, are not her point of focus. The woman has spend centuries of her life in almost intimate proximity to such brutal displays of contempt for the undead, having walked snowy fields filled with impaled and crucified corpses alongside those that still moved, and those that no longer resembled even human remains.

    What particularly has her attention, and her sense of reluctance, is the flickering silhouette unknown creature far, far above, raised so high towards Lumiere's invisible ceiling as to be completely shrouded in darkness, making its presence an unknown, and thus significantly more dangerous. Regardless, a wooden brace isn't getting in her way. She removes it almost the moment she arrives, seeing no reason to dally about the door. An addition to before, she's come equipped with a lightweight belt with a handful of pouches fastened with silver. It doesn't look like it carries much, but the fact she's deigned to bring an actual inventory is something.

Carna (974) has posed:
    Priscilla marching up and removing the brace in the door allows it to be opened readily. Well, not so much 'readily' as 'with considerable physical exertion as the doors groan and grind loudly as they're pushed inwards. They clearly haven't been touched in a very long time. And if there's anything nearby sensitive to sound, they've probably been alerted to the intruders. Carna looks cautiously indoors, leaning to one side to check the inner wall, and then leaning the other way. Walking through the door and getting ambushed by some Unlit that's been waiting here for however long just on the off-chance someone returns to the tower would be a pretty poor first experience with an already unpleasant locale.

    Carna does not know what a 'familiar' is, but she turns to Tomoe and nods her head. The motion is only discernible thanks to the wide hat she wears, but is probably better than a verbal response in this case. Inside the tower, it's fairly dark, so not a lot can be made out, but it seems as though there's a large flat area before them. In the barely-existant illumination from outside the tower, the silhouettes of furniture scattered about take on more dire forms, until one gets close enough to identify them for what they are.

    And until something scouts the area for them, Carna isn't willing to get that close, instead opting to just step inside and side-step along the wall with her back to it, leaving room for the others to enter without risking stepping on some kind of trap, or being crowded in the same location if some area attack is launched from the darkness.

    She draws her knives and waits patiently and silently for Finna and Priscilla to choose if they're coming in or staying out, while Tomoe presumably does whatever she must to utilize a familiar.

    Unlike outside, there's not even the sounds of screams or insane laughter or bestial cries. Just whatever sounds the intruders make.

Finna (513) has posed:
The tiny-framed Northern girl's about done getting her bearings. Even if she wasn't that HORRIFYING noise from opening the tower sure made her so. She FLINCHES hard, jolting in her boots. She whirls around at Carna, hissing a quick, "That's loud enough to wake the dea--... d...." But the words dwindle off in her mouth for obvious reasons.

    Oh.

    Yeah.

    Right.

    A few fouled syllables later, the Lunar shifts to her fox form, shrinking down to a much quieter style and bounding in after Carna! Her ears are up and alert for any HINT of trouble...

Priscilla has posed:
    It begins.

    Entering the room, Priscilla hits one of those pockets and brings out a stone that looks more like a rough glass marble, tossing it into the center of the floor where its exterior audibly cracks, and then begins shining bright, soft pink light like a popped glowstick. It doesn't illuminate incredibly far, but it can be seen for quite a ways in the darkness, and marks the direction to and from the door when she drops a second one pointing away from it, this one in sky blue. Her intent is far from that of crawling around the corners and ducking into the shadows however. It's easy enough to be that confident for someone who can disappear at a moment's notice, but she appears to be unafraid of quiet, empty dark. Rather than fear of what might jump out, she actually seems quite relaxed somewhere isolated and empty.

    She spends a few minutes poking around the furniture, silently checking to see what can be found in the room, casually opening drawers and brushing desks here and there if she can find anything that looks like it might contain something important or identifying, but provided there's nothing to see, her travels instead take her around the room in a circuit meant to find stairs. She holds up a little crystal in a thin, silver wire cage on a string, like a tiny lantern, to cast light around her, with about the same radius of effect. "This is far better than the outside." she comments to the vacant dark.

Staren has posed:
    This world is /messed up/. Staren's been in the Multiverse a long time, though, so while he may not have seen anything much more gory or gruesome, he doesn't get sick at the sight of it.

    It helps that his armor can run its own air supply, so he doesn't have to deal with the /smell/ of it.

    Time to scout the tower! Yes, going inside without looking is foolish, when you have any other option. For his part, Staren deploys an insect-sized spy drone to fly through the door and scope things out. Not only can he see the video, but the data is immediately added to his automap as well.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe says "Right."

Tomoe starts to chant, gold runes dance about her body and several lock into place. A moment later a small sphere of light forms and it zips ahead of the party trying to scout out things ahead of them. All the while it will be feed back everything it sees to Tomoe. Hopefully this can give her an idea of what's waiting for them ahead she looks back to Finna and then to Priscilla as she draws her Nagatinata from her back she's not tanking today, no she's going to go for all out damage as best she can muster, and she'll keep with the group into the mouth of what likely is hell or worse.

Sarracenia has posed:
     After a good night's rest and enjoying the comforts of her castle for a day or two, Sarracenia has returned here with the others. And...it is just as dreary as the last time she visited. But, at least there are no oblivion monsters this time. Still, there is -something- there, and they are about to go into this tower. She has worn a proper battle dress this time, provided by Jinx. It is a red and black dress made of ballistic materials that promises to avoid being torn even in the worst of circumstances. Or, so it was advertised.

     Sarracenia cringes as the doors make that horrible noise, and while she can't quite make out what those things in the room really are, they don't look inviting. She follows Carna's lead, moving around the perimeter of the room with her hammer in hand. "So...what do you think we will find in here?"

Carna (974) has posed:
    The glowing stones Priscilla casts into the darkness serve adequately as markers. Nothing unusual appears to happen as a result beyond providing a definition of where the ground continues to be, as well as an indicator of where the entrance is incase something unexpected happens. Staren's drone and Tomoe's familiar flit about in the otherwise dark area, scouting and searching for anything out of place. They find lots of furniture. Chairs, tables, tall torch stands, a wardrobe... Maybe people used to dwell here. A lot of them, even. But if this was a stronghold or base of operations of even just a residence for a bunch of Lanterns -- or perhaps even the original residents of Lumiere, the 'native Dead' or 'Lit' as they're called, whom the Unlit devoured to become Lanterns -- why is it now empty? And why were those Lanterns at the plaza so against returning here? Because they feared the same fate as the bodies put out on display along the path leading here?

    As Finna's foxy ears perk up, listening for anything, any sign of danger or just... ANYTHING, she may pick up the sound of what sounds like something swallowing somewhere in the darkness. It's a very faint sound. Almost missable even to sensitive ears.

    But Tomoe's familiar, that glowing ball flitting about like a fire fly in the blackness, is gone now. So it probably wasn't the imagination, unless Tomoe cancelled it on purpose... Which she will probably inform soon enough is not the case. There may also be other faint sounds of movement. Clicking and shifting. Weight settling. But among all the noises of the living present, the pounding of hearts, the rushing of blood, the suddenly far-too-loud-seeming breaths of any feeling increased pressure by their circumstances, pinning down the source may be difficult.

Carna (974) has posed:
    Staren's drone is unlikely to have caught sight of what happened to Tomoe's familiar in the darkness, and given just HOW dark it is in here, it might not see much of anything else that wasn't already detected by the familiar, but by following along the wall, it is likely that it can at least determine that this initial area is rather large and open. Like several grand ballrooms put together. And it seems to have nothing but furniture scattered around inside of it. That doesn't mean there's nothing HERE, just that there's no sign of anything... There IS a flight of stairs winding up along the wall, however, up, and up, and up. And it looks like there's another set of doors there. Wooden ones rather than heavy stone ones, but probably just as noisy.

    Carna was starting to move away from the wall a bit, to approach the crystals that Priscilla threw to mark a path, but she turns quickly when she gets this feeling like an air current up the back of her spine like something is moving behind her. She was only a couple meters from the wall, but she very quickly retreats and puts the wall to her back once more, peering into the darkness intently, as though the feeling of danger would make dead eyes see things that they could not before. She isn't sure if she actually heard anything... Or even actually felt anything. It could just be the mostly-silence and the near-total darkness working upon an already-fractured mind's loose grasp on reality.

    But she is not going to be the first one out into that open area ahead of them, and whispers as much to Sarracenia. "We seek egress to a location closed to us, and any knowledge such as might be found about the objects of our greater search: the mysterious 'Lords of Silence'. If though wisheth to step forth into the center of the room and test its dimensions and safety, I will gladly give up that task to thee." Also, apparently as part of learning how people talk outside of Lumiere, she's begun attempting to adapt Priscilla's archaic speech to her own. Now there will be two of them. The very thing to make this situation even better. Wonderful.

Staren has posed:
    Staren reaches into his bag and pulls out a handful of little LEDs attached to batteries, because he thinks glowsticks aren't bright enough. He turns them on and then throws them inside to light up the area, as it seems Priscilla's glowstones weren't enough. No more working in the dark!

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe is heading on in and her own spell is working it's way ahead of the party, after all she's using it to scout for things. Its the best idea she can do , right? Tomoe's familiar is targetting her some data is coming back to her. Her familiar is jut gone, the feed becoming nothing but statics and Tomoe lets out a unhappy nose she didn't even see what happened which troubles her the most and she moves in with the rest of the group, at this point? Her Naginata is off her back and she moves forward and she's clearly on edge.

"This is not good, it didn't even get taken out like it normally would, something happened to my Familiar and I have no idea what it is.

Finna (513) has posed:
Foxes have excellent nightvision - thanks to the stones Priscilla's throwing around and Staren's glowsticks, Finna may well be in the best position to see what's UP there even with very little light.

    Which is why.. . why... after some very faint, peculiar noises reach her ears.... she lets her curiosity get the better of her. The fox's back bulges and ripples, flesh giving way to an eruption of tendons and bones jutting out, only to quickly sprout countless shimmery white feathers. The HUMMINGBIRD WINGS thrum to life and WHeeeeoOOOOOOOOSH, up she goes. Several flights of winding stairs in just a few bounds until she stops on a chair... or a railing... or a step... somewhere out of the way.

    And then works on listening again.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Sarracenia isn't walking with her back actually to the wall, but she is staying close to the wall. When Carna speaks to her in that partial terrible old English, Sarracenia raises an eyebrow, then looks around uneasily at the suggestion of testing the room. "I am a princess! A princess is not the one who finds out if something is dangerous or not! That is the job of the heroes! Like Staren and Priscilla!" she emphatically whispers back.

     The disappearance of Tomoe's little fairy does nothing to urge the princess to change her mind. She stays close to the wall, eyeing Staren's drone and the thrown sources of light. More light seems like a good idea, but last time she used a fireflower it was bad. And Princess Sarracenia doesn't have any other options for producing light. She watches Finna make her way upward, and starts up the stairs herself. "Do not get too far ahead, Finna!" she says as loudly as she can while still whispering. "We do not know what dreadful creatures lurk in this place!"

Priscilla has posed:
    Nothing of interest. Mere living arrangements. Priscilla had roughly expected so, and so isn't too disappointed. She isn't about to get tired any time soon, so she starts tackling the stairs straight away, not about to meander around the entire, apparently massive ground floor. This tower certainly seems to be large enough to have housed the corpses outside, presuming they were previously living. All she can really do is guess why they fled. An incursion by the Unlit, or what she has charitably given the nickname 'The Bottomless', would be obvious, but not result in rivers of blood and fields of crucifixion, as they would have consumed everything they had caught.

    Heeding Finna's warnings over the radio however, Priscilla stops before the door, and produces Moonlight, the sword's soft, ethereal radiance redoubling the light around her, whilst simultaneously deepening the shadow. She holds the more elegant incarnation of Seath's soul up high as she pushes the door, elevated enough to provide a further line of sight, and lethal enough to 'dissuade' anything that decides it looks like a beacon. "We shalt find nothing by being afraid, and fear itself shalt speed this task not. There art a great many floors yet above us."

Carna (974) has posed:
    As Finna moves through the room, listening, she hears very distinctly the faint noises of things in the room changing position, moving to follow Priscilla and any others headed for the stairs. Things moving towards them all over the place. But what? And where?

    It's not until Finna lands on a chair and listens, and starts to feel the chair moving underneath her that it might all click together.

    Staren throwing out LEDs, and Priscilla's glowing sword light up the area. And this proves to be a blessing and a curse. Because anyone watching, or looking behind them, can see what the danger is. But they also will see the very disturbing vision of the furniture itself creeping towards them. Chairs with teeth along the seats. Tables with clawed 'feet' at tips of their table legs and long longues slithering out from underneath them. A multi-branched candle stand flipping upside-down and 'finger-walking' its way towards them like some horrible metal scorpion.

    This furniture is all alive. And Carna only takes the time to call out a warning to the others before running for the stairs herself. Because this entire room is full of whatever this world's equivalent of mimics are.

    They let out hisses and terrible shrieks as they stop sneaking and start chasing their fleeing prey. The legs of some of the chairs stretch up and up, and the ornate metal backs that had seemed mearly ornamental show the patterns that compose them are actually faces (or at least lots and lots of metal frames in the shape of eyes), allowing them attack anyone further up the stairs. They aren't quite tall enough to reach the very top, where Priscilla presses on the door that, unlike the one they came through, seems to be barred or barricaded from the OTHER side. But there's a lot of them. And they can use the stairs too.

    The one Finna rested on for a moment slithers out a long red tongue from the alligator-like jaws that are its seat, showing just how it probably ate Tomoe's familiar. A wardrobe stands up, just growign wooden legs, its doors swinging open to reveal a pulsating red orifice with a huge tongue lolling out of it, lined with so many teeth and spikes on all sides that it might as well be a medieval 'iron maiden'. Except this one eats people. It charges towards the naginata-wielder, somewhat slow to turn, but frighteningly fast for something its size. It howls at the top of its wooden lungs the entire time too.

    If adequate force is applied to the door at the top of the stairs, or suitable sword slices, the aged wood can be broken open, revealing another winding flight of stairs that leads up and up and up a vertical shaft, to a more brightly-lit area above.

    Hopefully everyone here is in good shape. Because their lives may depend on it.

Sarracenia has posed:
     Princess Sarracenia lets out a shrill 'eeek!' as the furniture is lit up well enough to see that they are actually deadly creatures. And without hesitation, she swings her hammer at the nearest one, bringing it down in a powerful strike that might crack the stonework...or whatever this place is made of. Then, she runs up the stairs. "I..I had heard of such things even in my world, but...so many?!" she pants as she runs, her heart racing.

     If Priscilla doesn't slash the door down, she will soon not have to worry about it as that hammer comes swinging in toward the door. "Get out of the way!" the princess exclaims as she charges toward the door, hammer ready to strike.

Finna (513) has posed:
LURCH.

    The chair moved.

    Chairs aren't supposed to MOVE.

    Finna transitions from the chair's seat to its back almost instantly, but with still more movement hhe decides to use the AIR instead. A simple exertion and SPROING off goes the fox into the air, suspended by hummingbird wings, scaled fittingly.

    And As EVERYTHINg around her becomes a nightmare show of the worst depths of imagination sh begins a TIRADE of foul, bone-twisting curses. Ones foul enough to get sailors and butchers alike making faces. Ending in...

    "FUCKING HOBGOBLINS!"

    She cheats. She's FLYING. And furniture generally cannot fly. So she beelines for the door Priscilla and Sarracenia have found. "UP OR OUT, PICK FAST!"

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe is very much on edge stilk as she progresses on wards now Her fairy going poof orries her, not because something got it but because of how it happened. She's not quite certain just what's going on with it at this point. She keeps moving aheadand then something charges right at her, she's not even sure what the screaming thing is but she moves briskly bringin her weapobn about to use it's reach against the howling horror that's coming for her and she's uite afraid here.

Staren has posed:
    MIMICS. Staren's immediate reaction is to fire the twin beam cannons on his armor's right arm. If they go down in one shot, he's not /too/ worried, if they don't... he'c concerned, but still confident that with enough magic and technology, he can reduce these things to their component... molecules? The unlit weren't flesh as such, so whatever's going on here... anyway, reduce these things to their component whatever-they-have.

    For some reason, his allies are going /IN/ instead of /OUT/. "Why are you going FURTHER INSIDE?!" he shouts, but he manifests energy wings and flies after them anyway, trying to stay too high for the mimics to reach. The big open entry area is good for this at least -- he lets fly with one of the missiles on his shoulder racks, making a nice 30ft-wide fireball of air-superheated-into-plasma. Hopefully it will burn this malevolent furniture to charcoal! They might have to come back this way to leave, after all!

Priscilla has posed:
    Mimic dungeon. Of course. How silly had she been to assume things wouldn't be almost laughably terrible for fifteen minutes. At the very least, Priscilla is the furthest out of their reach, and so doesn't have to contend with the animate furniture chasing her down. Instead, she actually turns to the side as Sarracenia comes barelling through, letting her smash the door down with brute force and charge on as far as she needs to in order to feel safe. As the group's most veteran fighter, she lingers behind in the rear guard position again, letting the others pass, and giving Staren an opportunity to fire whatever heavy ordnance he is probably thinking of launching.

    Only once the furniture starts making its way up the stairs, necessitating that they bunch up and funnel into a straight (technically slightly curved) line, does she act. It's been a while, and so she takes a little time to properly draw breath, a little tell by the faint glitter of blue light before her lips. When she releases her breath weapon, it's a far cry from the scouring wind of magical crystal dust that previously marked her heritage, but the full blown breath of the White Dragon; a coruscating beam of harsh, blue white light that rakes down the stairs in a single, smooth motion, disintegrating anything caught directly in its path, and causing the steps to explode into jagged fountains of cursed glass, leaving behind bristling fields of grey, crystalline blades to block their progress. If the mimics manage to pick their way through that terrain hazard, it should still leave the group plenty of time to get going; something Priscilla wisely does shortly after.

Carna (974) has posed:
    Tomoe's weapon cleaves into the wardrobe mimic, splintering it, sending wood fragments everywhere, but remaining in close range with the thing gives it the opportunity to attempt to lunge at her, not even trying to grab her, just trying to swallow her whole with its cavernous maw. Hopefully Tomoe dodges in time or else she's going inside that dripping murder-hole with all its many many teeth. A good dodge-roll might be enough to escape. And hopefully, from there, she'll head for the stairs up.

    Sarracenia's hammer crunches a chair, but it breaks more like an insect or beast than something made solely of wood. The wooden legs splinter easily enough, but some black awfulness leaks out of its broken jaws as well, hinting at it being more than just animate wood but actually some kind of construct or organism (necrorganism?). Not that the princess is probably focused on that as she runs up the stairs, and smashes down the door, allowing others to barge through as well. Carna lingers behind inside the stair well as Staren blasts the creatures, setting some of the sturdier ones on fire (from particle beam cannons!?) but dealing heavy damage to others. The ones that aren't destroyed keeping crawling or running towards the stairs, smoldering and black, and... Perhaps most disturbingly of all...

    As the missile explodes, dealing heavy damage and destroying even more of the miserable monstrosities... It sounds like a number of them are laughing. Giggling. Cackling inhumanly, in a very artificial-sounding voice, designed very carefully to unnerve those who hear it. As if their very appearance wasn't psychological warfare enough. It appears that attacks levelled against them are more or less effective. A nice change from those 'Bottomless' that seemed to gobble up everything thrown at them. Though there's also a lot more of these things. They just keep emerging from the darkness in a seemingly endless stream, flooding up the stairs!

    Carna waits behind as Finna zips past, up the stair well, and watches to make sure Priscilla is coming. Clearly the queen has SOMETHING in mind, because she is preparing some kind of attack... And then crystals are breathed out, turning the stairs they just came up from that death trap entry way into so many glittering knives and spears. It seems to be giving the mimic furniture difficulty at least. Some make the rush to run up regardless, or try to climb up. A heavy briefcase appears to be climbing up the side like a spider. But with nowhere to climb up TO that isn't going to impale them, and their prey no longer being detectable, they resume their duty, hunkering down and lying in wait in the darkness, for any other unfortunates who come to see what the big deal is with this tower.

Carna (974) has posed:
    But by the time they've settled back down, both Priscilla and Carna have already begun fleeing up the stairs, neither really wanting to find out if they'll eventually make it through.

    Those in the lead, and who are able to maintain such a lead, find that the stair well opens up into a place mildly less terrifying but potentially even more confusing. Another huge darkened space, but this one has people in it. Or... Are they people? Once everyone arrives, they see the wavering image of three figures kneeling in the direction of a very bright light.

    A slender, likely-female figure, with long white hair, in a dress of white and gold kneels on the left.

    A man with bright red hair, with a crown perched atop his head, and kingly garb kneels in the center.

    And a dark-skinned woman wearing considerably less than the other two, somewhat like a toga with a hood, kneels on the right.

    Who or what they are kneeling in front of is unclear. But all three of them are facing away from the Elites as they catch their breath and come down from their adrenaline high. And that woman on the right, the one in the hood, turns her head just enough that those behind her can see part of her face as she glances at the two next to her... And smirks.

    She mouths words, but they do not hear her.

    Then it all changes. Everything they just witnessed melts away into a new area.

Carna (974) has posed:
    It's bright here. Compared to the near-pitch of that first room, and the general murk of Lumiere under NORMAL circumstances, this room may seem almost blindingly well-lit. It's very white, and the platform they find themselves on has a definite edge to it, with no uncertainly of where the floor stops existing. It also has stairs leading up from it.

    Or it looks like the stairs are leading up at first. But when one looks around a bit more... There are other stairs. And there are doors. And platforms. And... Buildings? And they're all at different angles, or upside-down, and the perspective of them in relation to each other might cause a bit of vertigo as what looked like 'down' a moment ago might actually be the ceiling, and 'up' might be a huge hole that they don't seem to be falling down for some reason.

    The whole place is warped by chaos energies, expired magicks that have lost their form and flowed into each other, twisting local space. And the more they look around, the more they may realize... There's no definite sign that this space they find themselves in even has any limits to its dimensions. It could be infinite in size, regardless of the actual physical tower they entered into originally.

    And to make it worse, it appears that there are echoes and phantoms. Hallucinations and illusions. They can not trust the furniture in this tower... And it appears they can not be certain if anything of the reality of anything else either.

    But a Shrine of Light sits at the center of the platform before them. At least they won't have to go back through the mimics.

Finna (513) has posed:
Finna bounds into the room in her fox form but skitters off to the side when she sees PEOPLE, inclined to stalk and watch and...

    Oh. ... Odd.

    They're gone.

    Crooning softly in distress, the creature turns her head about up and down and all around, swaying from side to side in a very dizzy manner the longer she looks at what lies UP there...

    And she'll probably be that way until something snaps her out of it...

Staren has posed:
    "Okay, that was really cool, but why are we going deeper into this place instead of out? Are you hoping to find a particularly interesting monster, or perhaps meet that thing on the top? Because unless you can spam that breath thing endlessly... and even if you can, it doesn't look like it destroyed them all."

    On the next floor are... people! "Who are--" Staren starts to ask, then "I can't hear--" he tries to tell the woman, only for everything to change. His visor tints automatically at the sudden brightness, to give his eyes time to adjust.

    To adjust and see that they're inside a damn Escher painting. "Okay. Let's just leave, we'll get past those mimics somehow and-- oh. Well, at least we can use that to leave. Exploring a place like this does not seem safe. At all. I bet you make one wrong turn and then the way you came doesn't go back to where you were anymore."

Sarracenia has posed:
     The terrible furniture is delayed, and they are in a new room! Princess Sarracenia is suitably impressed by Priscilla's power, but she isn't about to admit it! Instead, she just hmphs softly. "Good work." is all the princess says to Prisilla.

     When those people appear, Sarracenia starts to approach the people, thinking finally there are some civilized people to talk to. But then, she is nearly blinded by the light! Sarracenia finds herself flailing to not fall off the edge of their platform, and finally she just falls backward to land on her rear. "What in the world?!" she exclaims as she looks around. Much like Finna, until she realizes Finna is looking dizzy. "Finna, are you alright?" she asks, reaching out to gather the winged fox into her arms.

     Sarracenia looks around after that, then looks back at the others. She looks back as Staren suggests running, and she scoffs. "Honestly, what sort of hero are you? This place leads to some sort of magnificent wisdom, according to our guide! We cannot simply abandon the tower. But, perhaps we can take some time to rest and plan. If we can reach that Shrine, we can return when we are rested, and perhaps with some sort of mapping device." she says as she holds Finna, her arms wrapped around and under Finna's forelegs, hugging the winged fox to her like some sort of plushie.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe cuts the mimic down and sends it on it's way but she's not going to want to end up going in furhter if she cna help it however she keeps to her allies she does not lose them and will keep up with them. Ther eis no light here, she can't fly right now so she's on foot for all of her time here. She wasn't sure what to expect now as there's a someone ahead of them she doesn't want to stay here they might have an idea of how to get out of here it's a damn escher painting and she's looking to staren.

"I have to agree we shouldn't linger here!"

Priscilla has posed:
    Priscilla exhales faintly in relief as the next floor comes into view, tiny motes of blue light on her breath. "Because we hath come to this place for a purpose. Fleeing at the first sight of danger defeats our reasons for pursuing our goal here. If we were truly forced to exit, it wouldst not be back down those steps, and asides . . ." she trails off, both for the phantom visage that suddenly takes place, and as the shrine of light proves an old adage true. "Whence thou art tempted to turn back so far from where thou started, it is most oft best to forge on just a little further, ere there be a Bonfire ready to receive thee." It'd been a gut feeling, but an informed one. If this tower was once commonly used, nobody would walk all the way down it to leave, or all the way up it to get in; not when they have these little shrines.

    "I wouldst think it best instead to concern ourselves with what I trust we hath all witnessed. If for no other reason than this place's warped import, I wouldst be lead to think that such a bleakly primordial image wouldst relate to the very Lords we seeketh, though I knoweth not their number." She has few things that she would say out loud about a certain resemblance. "At any rate, I believeth such only encourages our work here. I ill like the thought of how we art to leave this floor and ascend further, but we art pressured for time by gnashing teeth no longer."

Finna (513) has posed:
The white, winged fox squeaks in surprise as she's hoisted up, at first looking VERY confused and just sort of curling up in the grab while getting her bearings. But the position she ends up in is puzzling to say the least!

    Not at all what she was expecting. DEFINITELY snapped her out of the dizzied confusion though.

    "Wowwwwwww that's a ceiling. DON'T LOOK UP! Got me all dizzy... thanks, Princess." Her voice has gotten small and quiet. Thoughtful. A bit mopey.

    Once again she just isn't sure what to make of this place.

    Except...

    "Why are Shrines of Light everywhere? After every big problem.. Shrine of Light. Make it past gate of doom, Shrine of Light. Get past hall of MURDER, Shrine of Light... weird."

Carna (974) has posed:
    Carna does not tire the way the living do, but even she has limits to her physical exertions. She recovers quickly, but sprinting up stairs is a bit beyond her means, and she slows more than once to regain her stamina before eventually making it the rest of the way up with the others. At least she is not out of breath when she arrives. And she arrives to see three figures who look very human. Very alive. Very Lantern-like or something else. And she sees the hooded woman turn her head and speak words. "This shall be the last time we Lords kneel together."

    When the vision or hallucination or whatever it was vanishes, to be replaced with disorienting twists of perspective and physics, that nearly make her stumble just from looking about her, Carna takes the time to just... Sit down and be thankful for not getting eaten. And also to become less dizzy.

    There's a Shrine of Light on the same platform as they are, so they can leave and return whenever they wish. Somehow, it doesn't feel like they travelled far enough to have 'earned' one as Priscilla spoke of. For it to be prepared for them. And how long have those mimics been there? Since the time of the First Lantern? She doesn't know. But she hopes they'll find answers soon.

    "From this point forward," Carna begins, "We should not trust anything we find in this tower to be what it appears to be. It may add additional burden, but the caution is worth the struggle. At least, as long as we complete our objectives." Then she looks around at all the stairs and platforms and doors and white emptiness and starts thinking about just how they're going to manage that.