EXPLORATION #16

[finchmods]

EXPLORATION

For the first 24 hours please post any exploration spoilers in journal posts under a cut!

No one had been expecting the next rift to open quite so soon, but the students of Finchwood Academy are ready (or resigned) to get back to it! On Saturday evening, they all get on the bus and head to the lighthouse.

It's already dark when the bus rolls to a stop and the big headlights flood the area in brightness. Before Mr. Moon can even turn off the bus, though, [Character A] hears a sound like something metal clattering onto the rocks and [Character B] spots three silhouettes darting off into the night. Startled, everyone hurries to exit the bus and search the area but all they find is a can of blue spray paint and some fresh designs painted on the lighthouse (including some colorful expletives, some initials, some kind of animal, and a large eye). Just juvenile delinquents with bad timing, then? Putting the incident behind them, they wait for the rift to open.

Once it does, the squads head into the Shadow World and through the open door.

Squad 4: Wheelhouse

Having heard about the powerful Shadow in the wheelhouse, Squad 4 decides to head there first and is determined to eliminate the threat before it can come after them or the other squads. While Eli is uncertain about this plan, Flint and Emma make the call and the squad sets off.

Before they can even reach the wheelhouse, though, dozens of black crab-like Shadows swarm out of a gash in the ship's hull and attack with jagged pincers and jolts of lightning. Lelahel manifests to protect Josephine from damage and the rest of the squad manages to scatter and dodge these initial attacks, quickly going on the offensive. They bring the creatures down with startling efficiency. After Eli informs them that the Shadows are vulnerable to ice, Suzy switches to Chamuel and attacks with an onslaught of ice and frigid wind that destroys and injures many of them, while Flint and Emma cut them to ribbons and bash them apart with their katar and morningstar respectively. Not a bad warm-up!

With all the Shadows defeated, the group continues on and it isn't long before Eli begins to experience the same disruptive feedback that Sullivan Sinclair had. His Persona's awareness is obscured by psychic noise like static and frantic clicking that he can't interpret despite his recent lessons in Morse code and trying to push through it gives him a headache. Noticing his mounting distress, Ms. Voss joins him and attempts to help him see through the mess, but it doesn't help much. Eventually they reach the wheelhouse. The door is locked but Emma simply huffs and kicks it in.

Inside, they find a similar scene to the one described by Squad 3 but with one key difference: the figures that had been tied to the steering wheels and navigation equipment are gone, replaced with black smears on the floor. What does that mean? They don't have long to consider it before the Shadow attacks.

Expecting the grasping tentacles, Flint is able to protect Mason with a physical barrier and slash at the one that attempts to seize him, but Suzy isn't so lucky. She attempts to stun the Shadow with her Persona's magic, but the Shadow seems unaffected and grabs her in one of its tentacles, lifting her into the air and beginning to drain her energy. Emma and Josephine rush to her aid, striking at the writhing black mass with their morningstar and flail and taking sizable chunks out of the limb. While this severs the tentacle and Suzy falls to the floor, both girls are knocked away with other tentacles and hit the wall hard enough to leave a plethora of bruises. Flint and Mason attempt to attack the Shadow again, but are forced to scatter when it retaliates with powerful blasts of electricity.

Aware that the squad is struggling, Eli and Ms. Voss attempt to break through the static and scan the Shadow, but still find the task hopelessly difficult.

As the squad regroups to attack again, the Shadow hisses something in an indecipherable language and the wireless telegraphy equipment that lines the back wall of the cabin suddenly begins making a new sound. Its lights flicker. It buzzes and begins clicking out a new pattern in earnest, drawing the attention fo the squad for the first time. The force that had been keeping Eli and Ms. Voss out fades, but now turns on the squad. They feel compelled to follow the orders of the captain. They feel compelled to protect the captain and the ship at all costs. Urgently, Eli tells them to snap out of it and yells for someone to smash the table. Emma manages to do both, shaking her head as it clears and slamming her morningstar down on the equipment repeatedly until it's all broken and scattered. Unfortunately, she doesn't do this quickly enough to stop Flint and Josephine from being Charmed.

While the Shadow can no longer hide from Eli and he's now able to assist the squad, the fight doesn't get any easier with two of their teammates turned against them. Emma attempts to hold off Flint, entering into a fierce duel with the boy is increasingly volatile, and Suzy is forced to stun Josephine to stop her from healing the Shadow every time they do any damage to it. No one on the squad comes through without being bruised, scraped, and bleeding, but the fight eventually ends when Suzy attacks with Zephon (piercing the Shadow through with roots and thorns) and Mason drives the sword he'd acquired in the previous dungeon directly through the Shadow's back. It shrieks and bursts into an inky cloud of black.

Wounded and exhausted, the squad stays in the wheelhouse for a time to recover and to search it. They find nothing of consequence, but at least they know that the Shadow won't be going after anyone else. Though, that isn't what everyone on the squad is thinking about. Still lovesick and prone to irrational devotion after being Charmed, Flint is now sighing longingly and bringing up Scout Thoroughgood at every opportunity and Josephine is making bedroom eyes at Mason Chambers. It's... probably time to go.

Squad 10: First Class Cabins

• Having heard from Squad 2 about an oddly docile Shadow crab left in the first class cabins, Squad 10 figures exploring the area again could yield something interesting and heads in that direction after stepping into the strange ocean liner.They won't reach the first class cabins as easily as the other squad, though - the moment the group steps into the grand foyer, Meredith is quick to alert them that something is amiss - there's a Shadow here, hidden, and they should proceed with caution. They move up the stairs slowly, and make it to the top without incident… but then things go wrong. Meredith yells a warning, but the squad doesn't react quickly enough. One of the figures in the painting with a blacked out face suddenly surges forward and entirely out of the painting, grabbing Ulrich with terrifyingly strong hands around the neck. Unfortunately, not only has it grabbed a member of the squad, but pushing out of the painting has filled the water around them with black ink, making it hard to see. Hamsi attempts to use a gust of air to blow away the ink with no affect, and there's general confusion and scrambling before Slade manages to locate the struggling Ulrich and the Shadow. He slams his body into the creature hard enough to make it release Ulrich, but it's Luke who appears suddenly and, with a few quick snaps of his urumi, takes out the Shadow.
  
  
• The squad takes a moment to catch their breath and let the ink dissipate - oddly, the portrait still contains all of the figures, though there's a large slash in the canvas now, making it even more unsettling. After confirming that everyone is alright (particularly Ulrich, who has some bruises on his neck), they proceed to the first class cabins. It's quiet, and Meredith tells them she can sense the signatures of two strong Shadows at the end of the hallway, but nothing else. Still, they cautiously check each cabin, disgruntled to find that, while the reclined figures described by Squad 2 aren't active, they're now all sitting upright, staring out with dead eyes. All of the contents of their suitcases have been open and strewn across the cabins as well. Creepy.
  
  
• Once they reach the end of the hall, it's clear the two Shadow signatures are coming from only a single suite, so luckily they squad doesn't have to split up. They surge into the room, finding the crab they'd been told about, along with another larger crab. The cabin is in disarray, especially because the Shadows seem to have clustered most of the furniture and drapery to one side, creating a small, cave-like structure. For a moment, everyone, including the Shadows, are motionless. But it doesn't last. The larger of the two crabs, with a carapace covered in what look like rubies instead of diamonds, attacks. Slade is quick to deflect a blow from its claw with one of his hurlbats, giving Sabrina a chance to swing with her warhammer. She hits it square on the back, and it shatters off pieces of rubies, but it definitely doesn't kill it. In fact, it just seems to enrage it, and it swings at Sabrina and knocks her back into one of the walls, leaving her with scrapes and bruises. She recovers, though, and after a mix of hits with their weapons and magic from their Personas, the pair of leaders manages to take it down.
  
  
• Meanwhile, the other crab has gone for Ulrich (does he have a target on his back or something?), and while he doesn't get in any good hits he does manage to avoid injury, taking continuous hits on his shield. Hamsi attempts to come to his aid but is caught by the Shadow's claw, leaving a gash on her forearm. That won't stop her, though. Together, Hamsi and Luke manage a concussive blast of air that does some damage and scatters diamonds from the creature. The three work to take down the Shadow, and while it's tough it soon succumbs.
  
  
• It's all quiet again. Of course, they can't just leave without exploring whatever the Shadow crabs had made; they make their way over slowly, but before Slade or Luke can light the inside, two small Shadow crabs suddenly burst forth, their carapaces a mix of diamonds and rubies. The squad leaps back, ready to fight, but they don't get a chance to do much. Seemingly having gotten his sea legs, so to speak, Ulrich summons Mitzrael and crushes the two suddenly with pillars of stone. Did… they just kill a family of Shadow crabs? Best not to think about it. They search around to see if there's anything of interest and find nothing, though they do all take a few diamonds and rubies from the floor as they go. Once outside, they turn into rocks painted a silvery white and an iridescent red.

Squad 11: Cargo Hold

Heading down into an area of the ship that has yet to be explored, Squad 11 finds themselves walking through a utilitarian hallway. There is nothing decorative or ostentatious here, just metal floors and metal walls broken up with the occasional unreadable sign or pipe or door leading to an unexceptional office or storage room. It's also dark, but fortunately the squad has Pearl and Marzio to light the way. Eventually, Quincey speaks up to tell them two things: that he can sense a large room up ahead with an unusual energy somewhere inside and that they'll encounter two Shadows before they get there. They'll need to keep their guard up!

Turning a corner in the hall, the squad soon understand what their Support had been referring to: they can hear two low, droning voices up ahead. Neal gestures for them to dim the light and they wait. The voices become clearer but no more decipherable as the Shadows approach, though there is one sound that seems to be repeated. Are they talking about the unique energy that Quincey sensed? Whatever the case, they're now getting too close for the squad to wait any longer and Neal gestures for them to move while their Support offers a lightning-quick analysis of the entities around the corner.

Thalia goes first, rushing into range and summoning Cahetel. The Persona attacks with a tangle of gnarled roots that tear into the Shadows and cause quite a bit of damage (thanks for the tip, Quincey!) while the girl follows up with a swing of her kusarigama. The chain catches around the Shadow's neck, cutting in and holding it in place. The pair of Shadows are large, spindly humanoids dressed in the pressed uniforms of sailors, but their faces are overgrown with barnacles and their pale flesh is marred all over with some kind of marking or scar. Following up quickly, Pearl destroys the unbound Shadow, filling it with arrows and following up with a blast of light from Yeehah. Meanwhile, in an attempt to free itself, the sailor Shadow attacks with a swirling vortex of water somehow begins pulling Thalia and Marzio forward and (more frighteningly) into the surrounding water that has so far not been impacting them. Atticus grabs for them and tries to anchor them, but both are soaked and starting to sputter by the time Neal charges the Shadow and guts it with a blast of dark energy. The vortex fades and the danger seems to be over.

Taking a moment to regroup, the squad eventually decides to keep going and soon finds themselves in a huge room filled with huge shipping crates, barrels, antique cars, and trunks. They've found their way into the cargo hold. The space is maze-like, but fortunately Quincey is up for the task of navigating, telling them that he can see the clearest path to the unusual energy signature and that he can sense a number of Shadows, though most of them appear to be incredibly weak. As they head into the labyrinth of crates, they find the source of this unusual reading: dozens of large, dimly glowing creatures like man o' wars bob in the air, drifting on the current they can't feel, bodies pulse irregularly and long tentacles swaying. They suspect that it's best to avoid these seemingly-inanimate creatures and this is confirmed when one drifts by and brushes Atticus' shoulder, stinging him. The pain is intense and immediate, leaving a red welt on his skin even through his shirt. They'll have to be careful. Pearl wonders aloud if this might be the cause of the strange marks they saw on those other Shadows. If so, ouch.

Unable to hurry with the minefield of drifting Shadows, progress is slow. Despite being careful, Thalia also receives a sting on her cheek from the man o' wars and it's quite painful. Eventually, though, Quincey tells them to stop and to open one of the crates. Inside, they find two glass decanters filled with some kind of luminescent liquid. Having learned from past experience not to drink mystery liquids (Neal) and not to consume items found in the Shadow World (Squad 10), they opt not to drink them, but decide to take them back for Lenore to examine. But suddenly something is moving toward them, causing a rush in the current that sends the man o' wars flying. They all manage to avoid being stung but look up to see two more Shadows have found them. The bizarre mercreatures are composed of the bright, semi-transparent material of jellyfish but have a visible stone skeleton beneath that's all jagged edges until it ends at the hips, and what would normally be a tail replaced with long trailing tentacles. The overall effect is... pretty gross. They don't have much time to reflect on this before the creatures attack, though.

One Shadow lunges immediately for Pearl and Neal, grabbing them with its tentacles and viciously stinging them all over their arms and sides. Both struggle, but are only freed when Marzio slices through the Shadow's tentacles with his punch daggers. The Shadow shrieks in pain and lunges for the boy with outstretched hands, but is knocked back by Atticus with a ferocious blast of wind that clearly hurts it. Meanwhile, the second Shadow quickly swims into a dense grouping of the man 'o wars and begins to sing. Though Thalia tries to reach it with her kusarigama, the weapon becomes stuck in the gelatinous shape of a man o' war instead. The Shadow's voice is low and strangely hypnotic, tugging at their minds like a current. Atticus drops to the floor after a moment and a sudden silence from Quincey indicates that he has done the same; both have been inflicted with Sleep. The others are struggling to remain upright when Marzio manages to recall that Atticus' wind attack had been effective. He lashes out at the Shadow with a powerful gust of wind that interrupts its singing... and inadvertently sends man o' wars flying. The remaining members of the squad manage to avoid being stung and regroup, quickly destroying the injured Shadows.

Pulling up the exhausted Atticus and gathering the decanters, the squad returns to the cathedral with the help of Henry Arany, one of the Supports on standby.

Squad 5 & Squad 6: Smoke Room

While Squad 5 and Squad 6 don't set off into the ship together, both groups do manage to find their way into a series of labyrinthine hallways after entering from the promenade deck that could never exist within a real ship. On parallel but separated paths, the groups walk and walk, receiving cautious guidance from Hadlee and Blake, who find the winding pathways unusually difficult to follow. Eventually, paintings begin to appear on the walls. Unlike the artwork in other areas of the ship, the subjects in these paintings still have their faces but their eyes are black and their gazes seem to follow the squads as the move. They can feel themselves being watched. Then, suddenly, they're at the end of a hallway. Ahead of each group there's a large, ornate mirror and to the side a single door. Their reflections look back at them with black eyes.

Entering into a large room with lush carpet, ornate furniture, and dark mahogany walls inlaid with dozens of beautiful stained glass images, the squads notice two things immediately. The first is that they've opened doors on opposite sides of the room and are standing directly across from one another. The second is the pale girl floating in the center of the room with a face and arms and legs made of shattered glass and a body clad in a white gown that floats freely in the water. They've found Julianna Pahlke's Shadow. While Jude raises his rifle and immediately takes a shot, the Shadow seems unconcerned with the bullet hole now in its side and responds with a wide gesture that causes all of the stained glass to explode inward into the room. Most are able to duck away or avoid the blast shards by luck, though both Venus and Donovan receive shallow cuts all over their arms and faces. The shards then draw together, creating new forms. Squad 5 is faced with glass Shadows that resemble Squad 6 and Squad 6 is faced with glass Shadows that resemble Squad 5.

Well. This is going to be fun.

Shadow-Justice is the first to attack, hefting its ice axe as it charges and attempting to plunge it into Adam, though the boy is able to catch it and hold it back long enough for Petra to fire several shots into its torso, which knocks the creature back but does not destroy it. The rest of the Shadow-squad is quick to follow suit, Shadow-Jude rapidly firing shots that force the group to scatter and Shadow-Donovan entering into a scuffle with Venus and managing to disarm her with its hook swords. Hadlee is quick to inform the squad that the Shadows share their real counterparts' weaknesses and to use this to their advantage if they can! Lyle immediately summons Hahahel and attacks Shadow-Justice and Shadow-Donovan with vicious winds that cut through both Shadows and throw Shadow-Donovan into the wall, where it shatters with an unsettling shriek. Before he can attack again and do the same to Shadow-Justice, though, Shadow-Jude creates a magical shield around it that will protect against air magic. Almost immediately after, Adam destroys Shadow-Jude with a blast of thunder that makes the room shudder but the magical protection remains in place.

The fight continues and, while the Shadow-squad is losing ground, that doesn't mean they aren't doing any damage. Shadow-Roland attacks Venus with a blast of thunder that knocks her off her feet and leaves her bruised and disoriented. The Shadow then leaps at her with its greataxe, only to be deflected by Kodi, who fights it off and soon slices it in half with her scythe. Meanwhile, Shadow-Ashton manages to entangle Lyle and yank him into his grasp, apparently prepared to hold him hostage until Adam charges the Shadow, pushes Lyle (rather roughly) aside, and proceeds to enter into a vicious scuffle that ends with him putting his fist through the creature's head and slicing up his arm in the process. Shadow-Justice is finally destroyed by Venus and Petra who overwhelm it with an onslaught of lightning and gunshots.

On the other side of the room, Shadow-Adam is the one leading the charge and it goes after Justice with frightening speed courtesy of Shadow-Venus. The Shadow lands two punishing blows with its jagged glass knuckles before she's able to knock it upside the head with her ice axe and send it stumbling away from her. With Shadow-Venus seemingly prepared to give the advantage of speed to the rest of the group, Jude and Donovan quickly focus on bringing the creature down, destroying it with a one-two punch of firepower and just plain old fire. Despite this loss, Shadow-Kodi is quick to continue the assault, rushing forward to attack Ashton while Shadow-Lyle and Shadow-Petra provide support with a hail of darts and bullets. Ashton manages to duck away from the Shadow's swiping scythe and to disarm the creature using his bolas, but nearly takes a bullet for his trouble and has to be pulled to safety by Justice. Fortunately, Roland is there to finish the fight for him, knocking Shadow-Kodi back with a blast of thunder and then putting his greataxe through its head.

With the Shadow-squad down to three members, the real Persona-users are now quickly taking the advantage. Ashton is able to bind Shadow-Adam with his bolas as it once again goes after Justice, giving the squad leader the opportunity to destroy it with several blasts of ice. Jude returns fire on Shadow-Lyle and Shadow-Petra, half-blinding Shadow-Lyle with a bullet through the eye and drawing attention away from Roland and Donovan so they can attack with blasts of thunder and bursts of fire that eventually destroy the remaining Shadows.

With both groups of glass mimics now lying in pieces on the floor, the squads turn their attention to the Shadow. Still floating in the air, the Shadow now seems to be leaking black liquid like blood and it arches its back as if in pain. Nearby, the shadowy figure of the true Julianna looks on and begins shaking her head. Before the squads can react or figure out what this means, though, the black liquid spilling out of the Shadow suddenly lashes out and tries to grab them. While most are able to evade this maneuver, both Lyle and Ashton are caught by the throat and are lifted off the ground as the liquid crawls upward to cover their faces. As it does, both boys begin flailing and making muffled but clearly terrified screams. They've been inflicted with Fear. The Shadow then drops the pair and immediately lashes out, attacking with wild bolts of lightning and a shrill scream.

The fight that follows is exceptionally difficult, with the Shadow continuing to attack with lightning and twirling blades of glass and attempting to seize more members of the squads with its black liquid tendrils. While Blake is able to discover the Shadow's weakness to ice, encouraging Kodi, Justice, and Jude to attack together and cause substantial damage, this prompts the Shadow to retaliate against them and they all spend the rest of the battle on the defensive, dodging a plethora of attacks and ending up with no shortage of superficial and more serious cuts for their trouble. The other members of the squads gradually do damage with physical and magical attacks, supported by Petra's sharpshooting of the tendrils, Donovan's healing and Roland's ability to increase stamina, giving the others a much-needed boost as the Shadow continues to wear them down. After Hadlee and Blake use break to remove the Shadow's resistance to lightning and thunder, Venus and Adam are finally able to take it down with a dramatic Persona-induced storm that shatters it, filling the room with floating fragments of glass and a dark cloud that slowly disperses.

Nearby, the shadowy figure of Julianna Pahlke cries out in pain and falls to her knees. But this seems to pass and she looks at them apologetically before crumbling into ash. Then, the room around them begins to change.

As the Shadow of Julianna Pahlke is defeated, the water surrounding the squads suddenly takes on the qualities of real water. They're all suddenly cold and wet and weightless. They're also choking. Fortunately, the ship around them begins to shift, soon giving way to the spacious lobby of city hall. As they collapse on the floor, coughing and wheezing, they can see that the building's dome is painted with a scene that makes the observer feel like they're under water. Maybe they'll be able to appreciate it later.

In the real world, the Supports can feel powerful magic unwinding and disappearing. The ship has been destroyed.

A door stands nearby, waiting to take them back to the cathedral.

Once outside, they wait about 15 minutes before the rift closes and they head back to Finchwood. The rift was open for a total of 5 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds

» BEFORE EXPLORATION: There's a light dinner before the squads slated to enter the rift are bused out to the lighthouse.

» THE SHADOW WORLD: Please put your squad name in the header. Keep in mind that Support students are in the auditorium together with Ms. Voss and are not physically present in the Shadow World, but their threads can go here.

» FINCHWOOD ACADEMY: Students that aren't set to explore are told to stay on campus and be battle-ready, just in case.

» AFTER EXPLORATION: Everyone doing ok? Students that were injured or afflicted with ailments are taken to Iason before they're allowed to do anything else.

» OOC - QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS!