(no subject)

[recollecters]

So here's the thing… We have a lot of work left to do. Those of you who ventured down below got a taste of what we're looking at and hopefully that means we can make better preparations. I'm working on opening a new portal based on your energy readings and getting it to stabilize itself so you aren't stuck down there longer than you have to be. May take a few days, but I'm hoping to get a map drawn up, too. How many of you have been out to Magatus? You might wanna compare notes…the influence started spreading even further. It's better to bring everything and everyone out there back to the city where we can put up forcefields and I can monitor from here. So what am I saying? I need two teams, a rescue team and an exploration team. Take some time to decide, figure out your skills, organize and arm yourselves. Assignments will go out when you're ready, and when I'm ready. Oh yeah…and if you're interested in working for me directly? Send me your résumé. Zee Carlisle Hiring Manager Retrspec Incorporated Characters' display names are the same as whatever has been previously chosen and are permanently locked in! Please feel free to use this post as a network mingle. Every toplevel can be considered a new post, and threadjacking is permitted. No NPC response will be given, though you're free to hit up his individual inbox later. As a friendly reminder, you may also claim one of this month's freebie by submitting a thread from this mod post. This thread must be 10 comments from you and submitted before AC closes.

Comments

[morgrim]

ok so from the sound of it magatus is really cold
anything else i should know about this place?
never been before

oh yeah what did you guys see down in that new layer or whatever
didn't have much luck making it across the river
but i'm curious sounds like some of you had a rough time

UN:Al

[flametheif40]

Well, the thing I hated the most, was my body transforming into a snake!

A metal snake of all things...I was super cold and felt like I needed to go underground and sleep.

Al by the way, you? :)

[morgrim]

[whoops, I completely forgot the username, it's shigure]

whoa sounds pretty crazy
did you actually go underground to sleep?

shigure, nice to meet you

[flametheif40]

[No worries, I forget too :)]

Yeah, I was still you know, human-shaped, but skin was metallic scales and my eyes were a really nice vivid blue!

I was digging a little, then I realized I could set myself on fire and be fine.

So I did.

[Are you trying to freak him out? Setting yourself on fire isn't really normal]

[morgrim]

is that some kind of power you've gained?
setting yourself on fire i mean
sounds dangerous and kind of cool

[luckily(?) shigure is the most chill individual in the world and is not remotely concerned about this...]

[flametheif40]

Oh more than that!

Fire doesn't hurt me anymore, it feels like having the world's softest blanket keeping you nice and toasty. Hell, fire can heal me.

I...may have set my neighbourhood on fire...twice when metal bugs invaded my house and I was using my magic for the first time.

[Wow, that is lucky...I think. Al is reckless as hell and the stories he is proud of are likewise, super dangerous.]

[morgrim]

that's pretty incredible!
being able to do something like that would be damn useful in a fight
unfortunate that you've had problems learning to control it
but i guess that's probably pretty normal for most of the crazy powers people get

[flametheif40]

It is!

Magic makes me feel so alive! I really have to pour myself into it.

I even have another form! Although, when I use it, it's harder to control the massive amounts of magic.

If you notice melted signs...that was me, by accident, I was in the middle of the intersection when I was shooting flames skyward.

[manufactured]

The biggest threat in Magatus is likely the woods surrounding the place. Exactly what happens there depends on what sort of mood Vanderweele is in, I suppose; I've been a few times now. One time nothing happened to me at all, though apparently a few people I spoke to while there were very emotionally volatile. Once I was cursed and became rather ill, and I could hear voices among the trees trying to convince me that I had no other choice but to do something that I rather didn't want to do or else something terrible would happen. Vague, but convincing.

There are wolves out there, however. They're aggressive, but they're intelligent; they'll assist you if you assist them. Several of us owe them our lives.

[morgrim]

thanks for the detailed response it's appreciated
so the wolves are pretty smart huh?
i'll be sure to keep an eye out for them sounds like they could prove to be pretty useful
assuming vanderweele's not already taken care of them or convinced them to help him

[manufactured]

I imagine at least one of them doesn't like him very much. Besides, they seem able to hold their own.

...They're magical wolves, it seems, because of course they are. If that's any consolation to you.

[morgrim]

oh my god of course they're magical wolves
that is so goddamn badass and also ridiculous i love it
what kinds of magic can they use?

[manufactured]

They sent us to all sorts of places outside of Magatus, using doors that were in a place we were staying in.

One of them also transformed into a giant werewolf-type creature.

[morgrim]

i love them holy shit
okay that's it i'm absolutely heading to magatus
just for the wolves

[manufactured]

It's been a while since I've seen them myself; I may be up there as well.

[thisloveisjustice]

[un: tatsuo kihara]

'Rough time' is pretty much standard tbh

Once you got across the river there's this ramshackle version of the city, only it's flipped like in a mirror. It made a decent base though and there was stuff we could scavenge to use.

The fun stuff was through the three gates. I only went through two of them, so someone else will have to fill you in on the third.

Through one gate there was a giant field filled with faceless bodies. But if you happened to touch one of them you started getting memories of someone else's life in your head. Bad enough when you already have that happening with one person. Throw multiple people in there and it's recipe for a headache. And on top of dealing with that, there was this building that had a giant blue crystal at the very top that we needed to destroy.

Good rule of thumb, if something is the same shade of blue as the Retrospec logo, break it.

[morgrim]

[his username is just "shigure" since I forgot to mention it]

hah that's a good thing to keep in mind i'll remember it!
damn though sounds like that would've been a pain in the ass to deal with
i'm guessing once the crystal was broken everything went back to normal and you lost those extra memories?

[thisloveisjustice]

It took a little while, but yeah, after a couple of hours the effects wore off.

The people who got animal features though, that didn't revert until they left the sixth layer.

I'm really glad I didn't go through that gate. I already had something like that happen to me once, and once was enough.

[morgrim]

animal features huh?
sounds pretty crazy - all of it not just that part
i guess it's probably good i didn't get involved in all of that

[thisloveisjustice]

yeah, we had a bit of a zoo going on. rabbits, horses, monkeys, dragons. luckily no full transformations.
yeah, all this weirdness can take some getting used to
but you get there eventually

[morgrim]

i'm still getting used to the memories so it'll probably take awhile
not like i'm complaining
all this shit is pretty exciting
probably not the best response to it but better than being mad about it!

[thisloveisjustice]

it's a healthier response than having an existential meltdown at the very least

and in a way, it is kind of exciting. past lives, destroyed worlds, superpowers and magic...

un: Jamie Doh

[floret]

It was fine. There was a kind of a ruined version of the city, and a really big dog, and a suburb with a bunch of eyes, and a big field full of lost trapped souls, and a creepy lab with monsters in it

un: shigure

[morgrim]

sounds like it'd be a pain to navigate through all of that
was any of it really difficult or was it just annoying?

[floret]

Mostly just annoying...

I guess it probably would have been worse if I were tangible and didn't have the soul purifying sword or whatever.
Silver linings.