idolpro | Vergil's heart game r2

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!heart games

Vergil's heart game r2

You feel weak, your body won't move no matter how you try, and you are falling, away from everything you know and love. Away from everything you need to accomplish. If you could just reach out, maybe you could hold on to it, claw your way back. But it's a useless endeavour, you fall unconscious, and your mind goes blank except for poetry and a familiar voice.

O mother Enitharmon, wilt thou bring forth other sons?
To cause my name to vanish, that my place may not be found,
For I am faint with travail,
Like the dark cloud disburden'd in the day of dismal thunder.

My roots are brandish'd in the heavens, my fruits in earth beneath
Surge, foam and labour into life, first born and first consum'd!
Consumed and consuming!
Then why shouldst thou, accursed mother, bring me into life?

You wake on the ground in a cave, cold, wet, and sticky. It smells of rotting flesh. Your objective is clear, but you can't recall a name or face. Nothing else about your memory of him is changed, but for some reason the name "Vergil" just won't come to you, and you couldn't describe how he looks if your life depended on it. But at least your body starts to respond to your will, slowly regaining enough strength to carry on.

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IC info
-This heart is actively trying to steal your own life for itself.
-Distrust, self-reliance, and willingness to do anything no matter how difficult or distasteful are key to survival in the Underworld.
-Either canon OR Imeeji powers are on, you can pick.
-You arrive with no weapons or anything else on your person that you aren't wearing or carrying in your pockets.

OOC info
-For powers if I really have no idea how to deal with something or it'll ruin fun it's not gonna happen but generally, go wild.
-You can freely interact with others unless otherwise stated.
-If anything is destroyed or taken it will respawn for the next person unless you're doing things together. Basically you only change anything for yourself and anyone part of the thread or otherwise decidedly running with you.
-There are revives, so as much as you should be careful, it won't be over if you die.
-To avoid injury or death, or to get past other obstacles, you'll need to spend Perseverance points to pass a sort of skill check. You begin with 1 point.
-You'll gain Perseverance points generally for performing harrowing or unsavoury tasks, or going it alone.

Objectives
Find pieces of [Vergil]'s soul and return them to him - how will you know what they are? You'll just have to figure that out. Some are objects to collect, others will be something to destroy or fix.
OR
Cultivate demonic power. Likewise up to you to figure out how. But you should know demons feed on blood, for one thing!

Feel free to ask questions here or on discord

Break this heavy chain,
That does freeze my bones around!
Selfish, vain,
Eternal bane,
That free love with bondage bound.

A cave with a giant, exposed, beating heart in the centre. There's several massive...roots? coming from the heart. The walls of the cave are a web of similar thin red vines and pulsing sacks like blisters. The ground and what remains of the walls and ceiling are slick and fleshy. Some gaps between walls have a thin membrane over them.

On one end of the room is a gate, from ground to ceiling, about 20 feet tall. Innumerable red vines cover its frame. There are two openings in the walls that appear to lead into tunnels, with pointed talons or perhaps ribs poised around them that move occasionally like fingers drumming. One heads east, the other south.

There is never anyone else in this cave with you. You are alone.

Lo! to the vault
Of paved heaven,
With sorrow fraught
My notes are driven:
They strike the ear of night,
Make weep the eyes of day;
They make mad the roaring winds,
And with tempests play.

Like a fiend in a cloud
With howling woe,
After night I do croud,
And with night will go;
I turn my back to the east,
From whence comforts have increas'd;
For light doth seize my brain
With frantic pain.

It takes some walking, how long have you been wandering through caverns? It becomes more and more difficult to tell them apart. Have you already been this way? Do you know how to make it back? Do you even know where you want to end up?

The area opens up into what looks very much like a field of feather grass and wildflowers. The grass however is a light lavender shade, and the red petals of the flowers seem to glow. It's light here, the sky muddled and grey like night, but still, this is a far cry from the near blackness of the fleshy caves. The rock outcropping that looks like coral reef is almost beautiful. It could be nice to rest here.

You're getting tired. You should rest, it's awfully tempting...

The Eternals said: What is this?
Death?
Urizen is a clod of clay.

You're dropped in the middle of a lake of blood, the blood from the vein pouring out onto you, slowly filling the pool.

The lake stretches out as far as the eye can see. Shallow enough here to only brush the knees of most, but it quickly grows deeper further out in any direction. Pieces of ancient, ruined buildings hang in the sky, more still are scattered throughout the lake. And between them are countless shattered statues, easily 50ft tall if they were standing.

There's a distinct feeling that the statues are watching, even with their heads sunken in the blood. Their demonic presence is immense despite their broken state and appearing to be inanimate objects. Even more of them than there would appear, on into the distance...you may not be able to see them out there, but they see you. They see right into you, through you, and weigh your worth.

There doesn't seem to be any way back out, the flow of the vein much too strong to ride it the other way.

"Father, father, where are you going?
O do not walk so fast!
Speak, father, speak to your little boy,
Or else I shall be lost."

The night was dark, no father was there,
The child was wet with dew;
The mire was deep, and the child did weep,
And away the vapour flew.

You come to a broken down library within the endless, gory cave system. It's just as dark here, but by now you've gotten used to the lack of light, haven't you? Hopefully so, because there are beams and shelves strewn across the floor. In fact if you want to actually get in, you'll need to climb over quite a bit of rubble and trod on the books that have fallen with them. You'll also have to contend with the roots and branches of demonic trees that have broken through the windows and the floor.

That which is still standing looks absolutely ancient. Books so worn down they might turn to dust if you even look at them. Even with the damage there's a great number of shelves though, and standing by one with the blue glow of an ethereal sword lighting the book in his hands is a young boy.

A mirror floats near the centre of the room, a statue by the doors carrying an hourglass, and another off to one side with lights glowing in its hands.

There's a door to the south, and the opening to the tunnels north.

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears
Night and morning with my tears,
And I sunnèd it with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright,
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,—

And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning, glad, I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

It's...well it's a building. Hard to tell what the purpose of the place is exactly. This one huge room has it all. A bar, jukebox, stadium size speakers alongside some other musical equipment, boxes and piles of documents crammed on a shelving unit in the corner, a dart board, clippings from nudie mags pinned up, weapons on display in a framed velvet case on the wall, a few plants, a neon "Devil May Cry" sign, a fridge but no kitchen or even a sink. A lot of trash. Pizza boxes, crumpled notes, and empty bottles of booze all over. A mantis-like demon pinned to the wall above the bar with swords.

There is some evidence someone has put in minimal effort to clean up. At least around the leather couch against the wall on the right. No garbage strewn about immediately beside or in front of it. Though there is a stack of books on it, and a shelf beside.

There's a man in a red coat who you probably know slumped over the desk in the middle, head down. The mirror seems to have replaced a front door.

Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?

For I dance
And drink & sing:
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life
And strength & breath:
And the want
Of thought is death;

Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die.

A room made entirely of white marble, almost blindingly bright and reflective, a massive throne opposite the sole entrance that could seat a being of 50ft or more. In the middle of the floor, just in front of the throne, is a stark contrast of a thick, black puddle, scattered with various bits of what must be trash, mostly. But some parts sticking out might be bones.

Suits of armour line the walls, most simply standing at attention, others chained down and grunting or even screaming. Though any noise is quite muffled by their helmets, there's a certain quality to their one shared voice that sounds familiar.

I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen;
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And ‘Thou shalt not’ writ over the door;
So I turned to the Garden of Love
That so many sweet flowers bore.

And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tombstones where flowers should be;
And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars my joys and desires.

You enter the front garden of a manor on a river. The stone fence is mostly eroded, making the iron wrought gate entirely ineffective. Vines bearing fruit creep along the house, especially above the door, and there are plenty of trees and bushes on the property. Out back is the real garden.

On the left side is a woman sitting on a bench under a tree, from which a swing hangs. On the right, a rowboat lays on shore. It's summer here, easy to tell by the heat and scent in the air, the parched grass, the humming of cicadas.

If you came through the Hell Gate, it remains unsealed behind you. If you came any other way, then there is no gate. The path leading away from the house only stretches out into empty hills.

From the depths of dark solitude. From
The eternal abode in my holiness,
Hidden set apart in my stern counsels
Reserv'd for the days of futurity,
I have sought for a joy without pain,

For a solid without fluctuation
Why will you die O Eternals?
Why live in unquenchable burnings?

A giant of a demon sits before you upon his throne, a cheek resting against a fist. Disinterested. He doesn't seem to acknowledge you whatsoever. A cluster of crystals floats in front of him, shining, spinning.

The room itself is solid enough to be made up of steel, but on closer inspection it seems to be petrified roots. There is a pool of blood like a moat at the demon's feet, and like everything here he too is covered in tree roots. Almost bound to his throne by them.

If you came through the Hell Gate, it's vanished. There is no exit.

You know immediately upon entering that you shouldn't be here.

Far more of the black sludge than there appears to be leaps towards you and swallows you up the moment you're within its reach. There is nothing for a moment, only the feeling of the tar sinking into you through your flesh, probing your mind and soul as it searches for information, and then...

There's a burst of blinding light, a terrible screeching noise that continues to ring in your ears, and searing heat. Before you can see or hear again, you can smell burnt flesh. There's the smouldering buildings and plant life, the metal and gasoline from vehicles too, but the flesh is overwhelming, far more distinct than any other.

When the dust settles everything is smoke and ruins. Except Vanya's body in your hands, holding her by her collar, a knife stuck in her chest. What did you do, Five? Did you try to stop the apocalypse by killing your sister and end up causing it? Or maybe you just couldn't stop yourself, you just felt like it. Either way her blood is on your hands at the very least, and awfully suspicious you should be the lone survivor, isn't it?

It feels as if ages pass, hundreds of years, thousands? Any time you try to use your powers to escape you only find yourself in a slightly altered version of the same thing. There's no one. Nothing grows, and eventually there's no tinned food or even insects left. But you don't even starve to death, even if you try you can't die. You only have eternity to think. You can't even escape that smell.

Eventually you wake on the ground in the cave again.

Amaurot stretches out before you, home restored at last. Reunion with your loved ones, that wonderful feeling of knowing you've finally done it and can rest at last. And it is euphoric for a little while.

But you begin to notice things even from the first few moments that are off. At first people are just a little too defensive, a bit too quick to argue, slightly petty. But it becomes more obvious by the day, that these people are not really your people. They're not the Amaurotines you know. They're just like the shards, cruel and shortsighted. They don't even have the power of Creation...and they live short lives. Perhaps most damning is the way their souls look, wrong.

Is this place even Amaurot, or does it only look like it? Just a set piece. Maybe something of your own invention, just an illusion you've trapped yourself in. Or maybe it is Amaurot truly, but it's been irreparably tainted by the shards. But in that case is it really Amaurot?

You'll have plenty of time to worry about it. But eventually you find yourself back in the cave, waking on the ground.

You find yourself in Amaurot. You're so close to accomplishing your goals, and at the moment you're in the convocation, working away on preventing the Final Days alongside your people and even your own double. Full of hope. But all work stops, a hush falls over the convocation.

Hythlodaeus stands with both Emet-Selchs. They look right at you while they announce this can't continue. Things have to be allowed to run their course, after all if your plan fails, your Emet-Selch has confessed what you will do. Destroying the shards, killing all those people. Don't they have just as much right to exist as anyone here? Hades can hardly meet your eyes, but for just a moment he does to mouth an apology. He looks incredibly tired, worn down by all the long, painful years. Isn't it better at least to meet death alongside your people?

Everyone seems to be in agreement, especially about how horrific the things you've done are. Even Five, Absinthe, and Vergil are there and seem to nod and agree after only the most pathetic attempt at argument. Their hearts were never really in it. And Igeyorhm - one last attempt to appeal to someone, but she only steps closer to your double, away from you and the terror of knowing what you've become.

Finally it's decided you can't be trusted not to try something, and so you, Emet-Selch, and Elidibus are taken away, kept under heavy watch in separate, far flung places until it all begins. The Sound, Amaurot crumbling before you, and finally, the end. But you can't even take comfort in your two dearest friends, the only ones who continued to stand beside you.

Eventually you find yourself alive and waking on the cave floor once again.

What kind of nightmare do you give a man with so little fear? Well it's terribly uninteresting. You're in a line. It never seems to move. Once in a while you get to take a step forward. But you never actually seem to get closer to the end.

Have fun in endless, eternal line hell. They don't even have any music playing, it's the most boring, mind numbing thing imaginable.

At some point you find yourself back in the cave, laying on the floor.

[If canon powers are an option, well there is not really a choice is there! And to fit in with the atmosphere he changes his clothes to his Ascian attire and is actually wearing his mask.

He takes a moment to admire the souls if they are any, as macabre as they are, because he can't help himself. Does Hell have a lifestream? Well, even if it did, if he can't remember Vergil's face, he will hardly remember the color of his soul.

He gives the beating heart a small pat being careful with the clawed gloves and heads south.

(P.S. He is ignoring that failure trauma from the fall as you do. Good and healthy.)]

Edited 2021-01-25 19:03 (UTC)

[ Thanks he hates it. From the feelings associated with this entire thing to the fact he can't remember Vergil's name and face, but he understands there is shit to do, so. He's actually just going to teleport to the gate to examine it closely, can he go on the other side of it or is that off limits ]

Jesus, this is even more disgusting in person.

Zodiark says it's fine and he's never wrong. There's no souls around the cave, but if you can see further off, there are a lot. Especially above you? Maybe it's a lifestream. But they're all just sitting in place.

Anyway, south

[Hm nothing about this except the familiar him of his own power really appeals.

While he sits up and regains the strength to do anything let's look closer as that heart.]

A glowing red barrier appears over the gate and blocks the way. The wailing faces of the damned seem to twist and move within it. As you look at it, a massive hand forms from the barrier, reaching out toward you.

You have 1 Perseverance. Spend 1 Perseverance to escape its grasp?

Hello Lahabrea, wearing your hair sageo? Well good for you, you special person you. Turns out that's going to help here.

You have a sense of where some things are. Vergil, or a part of him, is in the room to the south, along with several small pieces. There are more in that direction too, in two diverging directions from there. There's something east of here, and it's...odd, is it Vergil? Somewhere above you is definitely Yamato, but it's hard to tell where.

The south most parts have a horrible, anguished call unlike the rest though. All the others beckon with indistinct whispers, but these are more like a warning.

You can also feel Urizen somewhere, indistinct.

As for the heart...

The roots seem to start from the heart, and most connect to the gate. One particularly large one breaks through the ground, then pops back up near a wall on the west side of the cave, twisting along the ceiling until another hole that it's broken through there.

It looks like a root, but considering it sprouts from the heart, maybe it's better to call it a vein or artery. When you get close, the blood rushing through it becomes apparent, not only to see but to hear. It's also plain to see an opening from its outer shell where it winds back up along the wall. If you don't mind a squeeze and being submerged in blood, you could ride the flow.

[ Okay maybe not go to the most obvious thing around the place, got it.

Spending 1 perseverance to escape and blink away east instead ]

It tries to grab you - but you're gone.

[He picks his way to the boy (he walks unlike someone!) and scoops up any books on the ground that don't look like they are going to whither in his hand.

He will give the mirror a glance if he happens to walk by it on his journey just to check that there isn't something in it waiting to jump out and ambush him, but other than that he gives it no mind at the moment.]

At least you won't hurt your eyes reading like that.

[Ugh. This is already objectively asinine and bothersome, Black thinks as he stands up (member #2 of "ignore any trauma from the fall"), dusting himself off.

But, right... A grotesque, giant beating heart seems like the obvious metaphorical choice to look for pieces of a soul, yes? Besides, it's by far the most appealing feature in this place. Going up to touch it?]

The mirror definitely has something in it - but it's a room, nothing on the attack.

This child looks to be about 10, and doesn't actually seem out of place, he certainly looks like he's been living in this world for a while. Though he's covered in dried blood and there are tears in his clothes, he doesn't appear to have a single mark on his own flesh. There's a certain wild sort of look to him, and yet, his posture is perfect, his hair smoothed back without a strand out of place... It's an odd juxtaposition.

The boy glances at you as you approach, his expression utterly cold, ready to go right back to the book. But his eyes widen with recognition, and suddenly he looks almost frightened.

"Emet--"

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Vergil's heart game r2

rules & info

LIVING CAVE

PETRIFIED FIELD

ROOM OF FALLEN ONES

LIBRARY

MIRROR WORLD: DEVIL MAY CRY

THRONE ROOM

MANOR

URIZEN

NIGHTMARE

FIVE

EMET-SELCH

LAHABREA

BLACK

Re: LIVING CAVE

Re: LIVING CAVE

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Re: LIBRARY

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Re: LIBRARY