20k Leagues Under the Sea: fin

[idolpro]

[The elevator deposits you in the interior of a spacious submersible with a decidedly steampunk aesthetic. All of the metal is brushed bronze, and the navigation tools look to be turn of the century]

[Through the periscope, you can still see the sky; the water visible through the circular windows is a pale blue-green, kissed by filtering sunlight]

Comments

RULES

[idolpro]

[The following rules are visible scrawled on a piece of paper on the navigation desk:]

Welcome to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea!

Your goal is for your team to travel a distance of 20,000 leagues in your submersible. The teams that continue the longest will win a ~fabulous prize~: instant and painless revives, and full healing for one team of their choosing.

The journey won't be easy, though. Every time you choose to take your submersible further into the briny deep, you run the risk of suffering a fatal setback imposed by the challenges of the sea.

You can turn back at any time, safely surfacing. However, fortune favors the bold, and once you ascend, you cannot return to the challenge.

So the decision each round is up to you: will you boldly press onward, to discover the unknown? Or will you return to the realm above, and leave behind the ocean's watery secrets?

ROUND 1 DISCUSSION

[idolpro]

[Are you ready to set out on your grand journey to experience the undersea world and all its wonders? y/n]

[Please roll a 1d100 and submit your result with your decision]

Re: ROUND 1 DISCUSSION

[metafaliure]

So it seems to me that either we should commit to fully descending, or we should commit to not descending at all. The worst option is to descend and then return halfway, suffering whatever injuries or deaths for no gain.

ROUND 1 SUBMISSION

[idolpro]

Re: ROUND 1 SUBMISSION

[metafaliure]

WE GO DOWN

1d100 = 68

ROUND 2 DISCUSSION

[idolpro]

"A slight declivity ends in an uneven bottom, at fifteen fathoms depth. Here, there is no fine sand, no submarine prairies, no sea-forest. It is the coral kingdom.

The light produces a thousand charming varieties, playing in the midst of the branches that are so vividly coloured. You seem to see the membraneous and cylindrical tubes tremble beneath the undulation of the waters. You're tempted to gather their fresh petals, ornamented with delicate tentacles, some just blown, the others budding, while a small fish, swimming swiftly, touches them slightly, like flights of birds. But if your craft approaches these living flowers, these animated, sensitive plants, the whole colony would take alarm. The white petals would re-enter their red cases, the flowers fade as you look, and the bush changed into a block of stony knobs."

[You take in the sights through the portholes, beholding the wonders of the sea. All around you, your submersible hums like a well-oiled machine, performing the duty of keeping you safe most admirably]

[At this depth, the pressure is beginning to increase. It will be more dangerous to continue from here]

[You think that you could coax the submersible's delicate robotic pincers to take a sample of coral and bring it in as a keepsake from your journey. Would you like to try? y/n]

[Are you ready to continue your grand journey to experience the undersea world and all its wonders? y/n]

[Please roll a 1d100 and submit your result with your decision if you plan to continue]

[To try for the keepsake, please roll another 1d100]

Re: ROUND 2 DISCUSSION

[metafaliure]

Absolutely I want that coral. For science.

Re: ROUND 2 DISCUSSION

[nohalation]

[Peeking out the portholes.]

It is like looking at the sky...

Re: ROUND 2 DISCUSSION

[asonoficeandfire]

Woah...

Re: ROUND 2 DISCUSSION

[onemoreknight]

Oh, it's so pretty...

ROUND 2 SUBMISSION

[idolpro]

Re: ROUND 2 SUBMISSION

[metafaliure]

GOING FOR THE CORAL

1d100 = 93

Re: ROUND 2 SUBMISSION

[nohalation]

MOVING FORWARD

1D100 = 83

ROUND 3 DISCUSSION

[idolpro]

[Congratulations! You now have a piece of coral as a keepsake of your journey]

"There are rays of gigantic size, five meters long and with muscles so powerful they could leap above the waves, sharks of various species including a fifteen–foot glaucous shark with sharp triangular teeth and so transparent it is almost invisible amid the waters, brown lantern sharks, prism–shaped humantin sharks armored with protuberant hides, sturgeons resembling their relatives in the Mediterranean, trumpet–snouted pipefish a foot and a half long, yellowish brown with small gray fins and no teeth or tongue, unreeling like slim, supple snakes.

Among the bony fish, you notice some blackish marlin three meters long with a sharp sword jutting from the upper jaw, bright–colored weevers known in Aristotle's day as sea dragons and whose dorsal stingers make them quite dangerous to pick up, then dolphinfish with brown backs striped in blue and edged in gold, handsome dorados, moonlike opahs that look like azure disks but which the sun's rays turn into spots of silver, finally eight–meter swordfish from the genus Xiphias, swimming in schools, sporting yellowish sickle–shaped fins and six–foot broadswords, stalwart animals, plant eaters rather than fish eaters."

[You take in the sights through the portholes, beholding the wonders of the sea. All around you, your submersible hums like a well-oiled machine, performing the duty of keeping you safe most admirably]

[At this depth, the pressure is beginning to increase. It will be more dangerous to continue from here]

[You think that you could coax the submersible's delicate robotic pincers to catch a fish and bring it in as a keepsake from your journey. Would you like to try? y/n]

[Are you ready to continue your grand journey to experience the undersea world and all its wonders? y/n]

[Please roll a 1d100 and submit your result with your decision if you plan to continue]

[To try for the keepsake, please roll another 1d100]

Re: ROUND 3 DISCUSSION

[asonoficeandfire]

Should we catch a fish? I don't think it's safe to choose a shark, though...

Re: ROUND 3 DISCUSSION

[metafaliure]

I don't know about a fish... it wouldn't like being inside the submarine, would it?

Re: ROUND 3 DISCUSSION

[onemoreknight]

I think that under no circumstances should we allow any fish into this vehicle.

Re: ROUND 3 DISCUSSION

[scarvedforlife]

We can just buy our own aquarium room if we want fish views.

ROUND 3 SUBMISSION

[idolpro]

Re: ROUND 3 SUBMISSION

[nohalation]

92!!! to moving forward.

We pass on the fishy, fishy deserves a good life not stuck on a submarine.

ROUND 4 DISCUSSION

[idolpro]

"The mountain along the sea floor rises only 700 to 800 feet; but on its far slope it crowns the receding bottom of this part of the Atlantic by a height twice that. Your eyes scan the distance and take in a vast area lit by intense flashes of light. In essence, this mountain is a volcano. Fifty feet below its peak, amid a shower of stones and slag, a wide crater vomits torrents of lava that are dispersed in fiery cascades into the heart of the liquid mass. So situated, this volcano is an immense torch that lights up the lower plains.

"This underwater crater spews lava, but not flames. Flames need oxygen from the air and are unable to spread underwater; but a lava flow, which contains in itself the principle of its incandescence, can rise to a white heat, overpower the liquid element, and turn it into steam on contact. Swift currents sweep away all this diffuse gas, and torrents of lava slide to the foot of the mountain, like the disgorgings of a Mt. Vesuvius over the city limits of a second Torre del Greco."

[You take in the sights through the portholes, beholding the wonders of the sea. All around you, your submersible hums like a well-oiled machine, performing the duty of keeping you safe most admirably]

[At this depth, the pressure is beginning to increase. It will be more dangerous to continue from here]

[You think that you could coax the submersible's delicate robotic pincers to take a sample of the lava and bring it in as a keepsake from your journey. Would you like to try? y/n]

[Are you ready to continue your grand journey to experience the undersea world and all its wonders? y/n]

[Please roll a 1d100 and submit your result with your decision if you plan to continue]

[To try for the keepsake, please roll another 1d100]

Re: ROUND 4 DISCUSSION

[metafaliure]

Is it safe to bring lava inside our submarine...?

ROUND 4 SUBMISSION

[idolpro]

Re: ROUND 4 SUBMISSION

[metafaliure]

ATTAINING LAVA

ROLL 1D100 = 87

ROUND 5 DISCUSSION

[idolpro]

"The seafloor changes little by little. Its fine–grained sand is followed by a genuine causeway of smooth crags covered by a carpet of mollusks and zoophytes. Among other specimens in these two branches, you note some windowpane oysters with thin valves of unequal size, a type of ostracod unique to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, then orange–hued lucina with circular shells, awl–shaped auger shells, spiky periwinkles fifteen centimeters long that rise under the waves like hands ready to grab you, turban snails with shells made of horn and bristling all over with spines, lamp shells, subtly luminous jellyfish of the species Pelagia panopyra, and finally some wonderful Oculina flabelliforma, magnificent sea fans that fashion one of the most luxuriant tree forms in this ocean.

There amid this display is an oyster of extraordinary dimensions, a titanic giant clam, a holy–water font that could hold a whole lake, a basin more than two meters wide. Its mass of filaments attach it to a table of granite, and there it grows by itself in the midst of the cave's calm waters.

There, between its leaflike folds, you see a loose pearl as big as a coconut. Its globular shape and perfect clarity make it a jewel of incalculable value."

[You take in the sights through the portholes, beholding the wonders of the sea. All around you, your submersible hums like a well-oiled machine, performing the duty of keeping you safe most admirably]

[At this depth, the pressure is beginning to increase. You may just head on back after this.]

[But first, you think that you could coax the submersible's delicate robotic pincers to pick up the pearl and bring it in as a keepsake from your journey. Would you like to try? y/n]

[To try for the keepsake, please roll another 1d100]

Re: ROUND 5 DISCUSSION

[metafaliure]

As pretty as a pearl is, if that shell clamped shut it could really do some damage...

ROUND 5 SUBMISSION

[idolpro]

Re: ROUND 5 SUBMISSION

[metafaliure]

WE GO BACK UP

we do not go for the pearl but we DO use our science equipment to pick up like, water samples to analyze later for science.

ROLL 1D100 = 95

ROUND 5 RESULTS

[idolpro]

"None of the weeds carpeting the seafloor of this underwater forest, none of the branches bristling from the shrubbery, creeps, or leans, or stretches on a horizontal plane. They all rise right up toward the surface of the ocean. Every filament or ribbon, no matter how thin, stands ramrod straight. Fucus plants and creepers grow in stiff perpendicular lines, governed by the density of the element that generated them.

Some peacock's tails spread open like fans to stir up a cooling breeze, scarlet rosetangle, sea tangle stretching out their young and edible shoots, twisting strings of kelp from the genus Nereocystis that bloom to a height of fifteen meters, bouquets of mermaid's cups whose stems grow wider at the top, and a number of other open–sea plants, all without flowers.

These various types of shrubbery are as big as trees in the temperate zones; in the damp shade between them, there are clustered actual bushes of moving flowers, hedges of zoophytes in which there grow stony coral striped with twisting furrows, plus anemone with grassy tufts from the genus Zoantharia; and to complete the illusion, minnows flit from branch to branch like a swarm of hummingbirds.

[Here, amid all the underwater beauty — this spectacular vista never before seen by the eyes of surface dwellers — you find one wonder that surpasses every other wonder you have encountered thus far. Not the pearl--it is left nestled within the oyster, but water, the font of life, something you are surrounded by yet have even more of in a glass container in the hold. Best not to mix it up with the lava]

[Your journey has come to a close, and you are all safe and whole. With a new tale in your heart, of adventure and daring, you guide your submersible back to the surface and turn toward home]

WINNER'S BONUS

[idolpro]

[As soon as the winners are announced in endgame, you may notice something pop up on all of your phones: a notice that, as winners, you get to choose one team to fully heal and revive]

[When the first person inputs an option, the popup disappears from every phone and the healing and revival commences]

Re: WINNER'S BONUS

[metafaliure]

[ after strategizing: ]

AlcheME!