20k Leagues Under the Sea: wild pepsitIV

[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

[sancrimony]

[ . . . looking around to see who's here . . . ]

Re: ROUND 1 DISCUSSION

[romanticlove]

Oh! We're in a room together...?

[Interesting!]

Re: ROUND 1 DISCUSSION

[sancrimony]

Ah.

We should really be careful, then. If something bad happens to us, everyone else will be in trouble.

Re: ROUND 1 DISCUSSION

[proceedwithcautus]

Ah, Mr. Lucifel!

Re: ROUND 1 DISCUSSION

[sancrimony]

Eirene-san.

[ headpat ]

Re: ROUND 1 DISCUSSION

[childeishly]

[ present. throws a hand up. ]

Re: ROUND 1 DISCUSSION

[sancrimony]

Good morning.

[ is it morning ]

Have we met before?

Re: ROUND 1 DISCUSSION

[romanticlove]

Oh. Hello. I... don't believe we've met.

[A brief pause-]

Uhm... I'm Ren. It's nice to meet you.

Re: ROUND 1 DISCUSSION

[proceedwithcautus]

...we can turn back at any time, though?

Re: ROUND 1 DISCUSSION

[childeishly]

But why would we do that when there's an entire ocean to explore!

Re: ROUND 1 DISCUSSION

[proceedwithcautus]

It seems like it's an ocean full of bad things, though. I don't really like to gamble, I don't think.

Re: ROUND 1 DISCUSSION

[romanticlove]

I don't see why not. I'm not too sure what sorts of things are out in this ocean, if I'm being honest, but maybe it won't be too bad?

[She's being cautiously optimistic here.]

Re: ROUND 1 DISCUSSION

[proceedwithcautus]

Ah—you think it'll be interesting? I don't know if I have experience with the ocean...

ROUND 1 SUBMISSION

[idolpro]

Re: ROUND 1 SUBMISSION

[childeishly]

Onward, 18.

ROUND 2

[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 the odd shadow passes by, but your submersible hums like a well-oiled machine, performing the duty of keeping you safe most admirably]

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

ROUND 2 SUBMISSIONS

[idolpro]

[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? Please roll 1d100 to attempt to retrieve it]

[Are you ready to continue your grand journey to experience the undersea world and all its wonders? Please roll a 1d100 and submit your result with your decision if you plan to continue]

Re: ROUND 2 SUBMISSIONS

[childeishly]

1, Onward.

🥺

Not touchy the tentacle flowers.

ROUND 2 DISCUSSION

[idolpro]

Re: ROUND 2 DISCUSSION

[proceedwithcautus]

...are those...

Re: ROUND 2 DISCUSSION

[childeishly]

Hybrid tentacle flowers?

Re: ROUND 2 DISCUSSION

[sancrimony]

[ it's so pretty tho . . .

just watching it all 'x' ]

ROUND 2 RESULT

[idolpro]

"Through the portholes, before your eyes there quivers a horrible monster worthy of a place among the most farfetched teratological legends."

"It is a squid of colossal dimensions, fully eight meters long. It gazes with enormous, staring eyes that are tinted sea green. Its arms (or more accurately, feet) are rooted in its head; they stretch a distance twice the length of its body and are writhing like the serpentine hair of the Furies. The monster’s mouth—a beak made of horn and shaped like that of a parrot—opens and closes vertically. Its tongue, also of horn substance and armed with several rows of sharp teeth, flickers out from between these genuine shears. What a freak of nature! A bird’s beak on a mollusk! You can plainly see its 250 suckers, arranged over the inner sides of its tentacles and shaped like semispheric capsules."

[Those suckers have taken hold of the side of the submersible; each one is large enough to obscure a window on its own, and the metal of the vehicle creaks and groans in protest. There is a snap, and a ping, perhaps of a rivet giving way]

[And perhaps for a moment, you feel assured that somehow, miraculously, the pressure inside and out reaches equilibrium as nothing happens.]

[But that reassurance would be short-lived, as the tiniest piece of glass shoots forward into the vehicle, water spraying into the breach with the full power of the ocean's depths behind it, all apparently singularly focused on meeting you in its watery embrace.

It proves to be very, very good at such a goal, unfortunately for those of you who require air to live. Even for those of you who do not, the squid is happy to take the extra morsels it has found inside]





[Eventually you wash up elsewhere...]