The Fifteen Strangers Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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15strangers2023-07-21 10:18 pm
strangerpeople) wrote in 15strangers2023-07-21 10:18 pm
Entry tags:
FINAL TRIAL
(1 of Hekatombaion)
[When the time comes, Charon arrives on a boat, hrrhrrhrring a little tune as he rows. No need to worry about space, even with all of the shades coming with. Fluffles, unsurprisingly, doesn't go; he does see everyone off, at least, before he falls asleep.
With a final hnnnngrrrgh, they're off. Charon is the master of the Styx, in his own way, deftly avoiding roots and branches from the Qliphoth as he guides his charges up through the layers of the underworld. From the dark and gloomy green of Tartarus, to the lava-flooded Asphodel and it's giant many-headed bone snake, sadly snarled in demonic roots (without thinking, Zack waves to it), on through the lazy rivers of Elysium, and lastly through the pitch stink of the corridors of a temple separating the underworld from the living world.
Throughout, there is eerie quiet. No shades appear to watch their procession-indeed the few wisps around seem to be fleeing, hiding. No rats try to bite Zack's face off. Aside from Lernie, there's truly nothing but tree, tree, and more tree.
Finally, though, the surface air hits, and it is...not cold, but not warm, either. Though, as everyone disembarks, that's probably not what catches everyone's attention. No-it is the barren fields of ancient Greece, just outside the entrance to the underworld-and there is only one thing alive in the area.
It is late afternoon, and the silhouette of the new moon is the only thing that emits real light now in the grey. Indeed, if there is a sun, it is blocked out by the massive, massive roots in the sky, swirling into the stratosphere. The roots in the underworld were in fact more akin to greedy branches; the roots in the sky of the world of life, however, are far more massive, and it's clear the tree is fully grown. And-if the dead grass and trees and barren lands around the Temple of Styx are any indication-it isn't simply feeding on human blood-it's affecting the life of the earth itself, greedily lapping up what it can as it further embeds itself, further spreads, further grows. Further destroys.
It won't stop. There is obsession and power, and Delta is right-it will never stop unless someone intervenes.
Wordlessly Delta points to a Spire of blood in front of them. Yup-they need to enter it to get to where they need to go. Lovely.]
Through here is the core of the tree where the fruit of the Qliphoth is being cultivated. Come.
[Well, no turning back. With luck, the Catillac has some extra towels.
So, immediately after squishing into the...blood elevator?...everyone is schllllorped on a ride akin to w water slide, going up and down, left and right, up, up, up, then down, down, down....down.......
d
o
w
n
into the depths.
And when they emerge...]
[Bright flowers grow on the vines. There is distant birdsong, and the sun shines among fat, lazy clouds. But you can see the shine of glass in the corner of your eye; the air is too perfect to breath, too cold to touch. You don't feel the grass or dirt underfoot that you can clearly see The smell of blood is everywhere.
An illusion? A dream? A delusion? Something else? Who knows. There is a patio table laid out with tea, and four seats. It's almost as if the owner simply got up and left for a moment. It's all strange, all...wrong.
Still. You're finally here. You're in the core. You freed a possible god from the grip of forced ignorance. And you have-you hope-everything you need to end this. But there is still one question:
It is time, Strangers. By the seas, the heavens and the earth, by blood and darkness, it's up to you.
Good luck.]
no subject
[Isn't it?]
[...]
[Hermes will hug the nearest person, clinging to them.]
Please don't let anything bad happen... Please don't let anything bad happen... Please don't let anything bad happen...
[It appears that millennia of trauma doesn't just go away. Hermes is terrified, just waiting for the other shoe to drop.]
no subject
[pat pat]
I won't let anything happen if I can help it. Not again.
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...Thanks... Zack. I mean Zagreus.
...You're a good friend.
no subject
Listen-I think I know a place we can all go to to...figure out things. Get everyone home and all that. If you're up for it.
no subject
[Finally it will be time to take the motorcycle]
no subject
no subject
[He drops his bracelet to the ground and crushes it under his boot as he walks away from the spot where Eva disappeared. He still seems somewhat dejected, tail trailing half-limp behind him.
The victims of this Qliphoth are back, sure. But there's one soul they couldn't save...one that's probably being ripped to shreds with sadistic glee even as the mortals celebrate.]
no subject
[ You need a minute, buddy?]
no subject
It... it's going to happen, isn't it? I did something good... and whenever I did that... it always blew up in my face...
[This might explain to Val WHY he was so passive all the time.]
no subject
Everyone's gonna fuck up sooner or later, but we'll be here doing the up-fucking with you.
CW: Fortuna Spoilers
Look at my front legs.
[He shows off one of his shiny, spotless legs. If you noticed the red, circuity lines on them before, they're gone now!]
This is what happens when I try to be selfish for once.
Re: CW: Fortuna Spoilers
So instead, she says what she can. ]
...jesus fuckin' christ, what did those assholes do to you?
no subject
[Well. He sighs, and he gives him a hug.]
It's alright.
The bad stuff is gone now.
no subject
It- it's terrifying... Fighting for yourself... and... and doing things for yourself... making your own decisions... it's terrifying... and it has been for tens of thousands of years...
no subject
[She is more than willing to hug back, but is not waiting for something bad to happen, she's just happy.]
no subject
[But anyway, Hermes remains clinging to Akane, nodding and repeating to himself, hoping that nothing bad will happen now that he's done some good in the world. He soon calms down.]
...Akane... Thank you... Thank you so much...