WQ - Exploring the Naryu Canyon - Deepest Pitch

The Naryu Canyon. This place was one that is said to stretch far into the vast unknown of current maps. This long, deep place was at some point rumored to hold a dark and ancient evil the likes of which poisoned the land and stood unmatched by human will. Titanius.

Yes, that very same Titanius that had been murdered in the sense that they had apparently killed just by drunkenly swinging all together as one at one illusory point of its body really hard. What an embarrassing way to go... Not that Haru ever wanted to think about that monstrosity any further. With that little bump in his life long and gone the canyon proper was being procedurally swarmed by explorers- officially hired by the crown or not- and it was all wrapping together nicely in one great effort. The canyon was finally being mapped out from it's outdated and archaic rough draft from countless years ago!

Now that was a motion that Haru could not ignore if he tried. The need to sight-see was too great for this white explorer and an entirely unknown canyon was more than enough to call him back for more. It's not like he'd ever went over to the Grand Canyon back home so the thought of exploring one was novel to him. Even when considering the rather dangerous time he had when visiting it last time.
Of course, that was before Titanius was slain. Now that it was gone, he might fare better here.

And so he had come like a moth to a flame. Currently he trailed along the walls on an already mapped path, admiring how the light above danced on the walls of the stone depths. The lack of life he had run into was unnerving at first but quickly became pleasant as he could focus on nothing but moving forward and comparing the land to the outdated map. He stopped at times when he found new things, adding it to the map and hoping that the Explorer's League appreciated the efforts he made to expand the knowledge of the country.
...Even though he hadn't been accepted in it when he had last applied. It's not like he couldn't help their cause anyway, though.

The silence of this place had few downsides, but one of them was rather obnoxious to him. Haru lie in the midst of all this quiet glory and had absolutely nobody to talk to. He wasn't sure what had driven him to come to this place alone but he sure did regret it now that he was a day in. To make things worse, he had company, but he didn't like it one bit. Tiny creatures of pure dissonance floated out and about him, usually too shy to leave his inventory when other people were around. The same went for the numerous eyes and creepy whispers on his staff, not to mention the massive eyeball that was now taking up most of his chest, staring at him unnervingly. And all of this only came out when no other living thing was around. Was he supposed to be turning into a dark god or something?

"...It's times like these that make me wish that I could talk to monsters." Haru mumbles out a complaint. It would be so much simpler if he could just walk up to one of the beasts of this barren waste and strike up a conversation with them. Even if they just tried to kill him immediately after he would have the satisfaction of hearing them shout in something intelligible. Maybe he could sympathise with them! He looked horrifying right now. He looks normal when anyone else is around, but still. As it stood, though, the robed explorer took as much care as he could to avoid a confrontation out here by himself.

His idle musings were cut off as something new came into his sight that breached the dull and pleasant monotony of his exploration. In front on him lie a hole. It wasn't just a little pit in the ground, either- the thing was huge, nearly as wide on all sides as a company sky tower. It was as deep as one was tall, too. The sight of the thing was pretty intimidating just thinking about what would happen if he fell down there, this place which he couldn't even see the bottom of.

More intriguing is that the rendition of the map in his possession doesn't list it at all. The situation struck him as odd. This map wasn't very recent, but it was the latest addition and payed great attention to surface shapes. Could this have been a pocket made by Titanius when it settled down? Or perhaps it was something else entirely...

It was too tempting to walk around. At the very least, the Guild should be let known of this, and Haru was feeling adventurous enough to get some exclusive first hand details about the inside.
And so, he sends a message to any player nearby in the canyon. A mass ping.

Haru

Yo! You probably don't know who I am. I'm in the canyon like anyone who gets this message, and I found a rather huge pit in the landscape that hasn't been recorded yet. Who wants to go exploring?
Here are my coordinates. xxxxxxxxxx

A good fifteen minutes had passed by and Haru was still waiting. Wow, did nobody come into the canyon at this time or something..? He was sure this place would be more popular. He himself was spending his time by setting up the rope down to the bottom. While he couldn't see all the way down there, through his rope he actually could feel ground at the end. That was good. Still, he wished that at least someone else would show up already...

@Galadion @Sean Poteitoku @Iván Carl

 

“Hello,” Iván deadpanned, appearing right next to @Haru. It was a combination of illusion magic and aeromancy that allowed the no-longer-masked illusionist to sneak up to his old friend, a familiar face, and fellow Witch Ops member. Or it could’ve been just because Haru was busy thinking about other things, waiting for Players who weren’t stinky and didn’t own a Curry House.

Prior to spotting Guide, Bound Prince had been exercising Snowy the Snow-Quilled Guardian, his summoned magical familiar that had taken on the face and figure of the Spire’s late Snow-Quilled Guardian, the same Snow-Quilled Guardian whose face had ended up as Iván’s stinky red mask, a mask he had been wearing earlier but opted to hide elsewhere to greet a familiar face. Iván was under the impression that his monstrous mount could lose a few pounds, oblivious to the fact that Snow-Quilled Guardians were simply big-boned.

At the sight of Haru, Iván quickly got off Snowy, snapping his fingers to turn him into dust. That’s summoner speak for unsummoning her. It. Whatever. Using his illusion magic, Iván made sure Haru wouldn’t notice him anywhere near him, even though he was going to be invading his personal space. With help from his aeromancy, he closed the gap between them, covering some distance to make sure Haru wouldn’t react to his presence faster than he could say… “What are you doing here, Brad?”

 

The Naryu Canyon, a vast and unexplored region of the virtual world of Terrasphere Online, a mysterious land that if legend was to be believed was said to house an ancient and sleepless malice. A legend that had proved to have been true with the appearance of the World Boss, Titanius.

Many of the Player Characters had rushed in to defeat this most powerful of opponent, each on lending their strength for their own reasons, for some it was for the glory and fame that would come with being part of the party that killed the World Boss. For others they were simply looking to get their hands on some rare items that could only be awarded for assisting in such an event. Galadion himself had decided to not participate in the event, Titanius had appeared far away from the only lands in this game that really held any meaning to him, Yladia.

Galadion had been working long and hard to gather the Player Character and Non Player Characters of Terrasphere Online that beloned to the Yladian race and get their assistance in restoring the ancient Elven Kingdom of Yladia. He had even gone so far as to proclaim himself the new Elven King of Yladia, but this was mere a self appointment and hadn't really expected many other Players to accept his title as King.

So what now was he doing so far from the kingdom that he was building? This was a question that he had asked himself every day since he had left Yladia, but yet here he was, deep inside the busty and barren crags that made up the canyon. His long silver hair danced gently with the wind as if to a tempo that only it could hear, his white robes slowly beginning to turn a light brown from the dust that he had picked up along his travels. With every step his silver eyes scanned the area around him looking for any sign of beast or monster that might leap out and attack him at any moment.

Since this area was largely unexplored that also meant that they had no clue what kind of creatures dwelled within its confines, just yet another fact that made Galadion despise it that much more. With every step that took him further away from his beloved Mushroom and Crystal forests his hatred of his surroundings grew. Suddenly he received a message from another player that had also been inside the canyon and was requesting aide, a soft sigh escaped his lips as he shook his head ever so slightly. Galadion had to admit that he had nothing better to do with his time so he might as well lend the player some help.

It took him roughly fifteen minutes to travel to the corrdinates that had been provided in the message when his silver optics fell upon the monstrous hole in the ground. Staring at it for a second he wondered what exactly could have made such a monstrosity before pushing the thoughts from his mind and calling out to the only other person in the vicinity, the person who sent out the message or at least that was what Galadion had assumed anyway "Hello adventurer, I am Galadion, the King of Yladia and I got your message. I am here to lend you some assistance"

 

Ah, it's a good day to go explore some new places! Hey, what about where the giant demon god was?

That was Sean's reason for traveling into the Naryu Canyon. As he walked through the various crevaces and turns, he couldn't help but feel as if something was about to happen...

He eventually stumbled across a group of adventurers staring at a hole. They seem occupied... Intrigued, Sean went up to them. "Oh, hey, what's going- WHAAAA..." He froze on the spot once he peered down the hole. What's going on...? I can't move my body...? He tried to lift his arm. Nothing. He tried to move his head. Nothing. He was frozen in fear at the hole.

 

"Oh, Iván," He greets his friend, "Funny to see you here. I never pegged you as the wandering type. What's up?" What a poor soul his friend was, always mixing him and Bradwynne up... Haru chose not to say anything aloud but sometimes he worried about the man in green. Could he have some sort of dementia or forgetfulness? Perhaps a severe lack of object permenance..?

"Oh, well. No need to answer that, 'cause we're here to explore this," Turning away from Iván he points down into the great pit in front of the two, "Right here. It's not on any of the maps so I think it might have been a product of Titanius' extended stay here. That, or a lovely display of erosion. Either way it fascinates me, so I'm climbing to the bottom. Want to join?" Haru kneels down and pulls an inch or two on the rope system he had set up a few minutes ago.

It seems like the two of them weren't alone, though. A few other wandering players seemed to have gotten his message and arrived well intact. Oh, hey! It was that boy who died three times. There was some noble, too, apparently. Haru might not have any idea as to why a king was out here in the wilderness but couldn't find it in him to care. After all, company was better than an eye on his chest!

"It's good to meet you two. As the message said, I'm Haru. Who wants to go on an adventure? All you need is some rope. Ha ha ha ha..." Now that he had some people to help record this place he got right down to business. Haru perched himself on the edge to the maw, straightening his clothes and making sure that everything was secure. Falling to the bottom of this pit would be instant death, and he didn't like the sound of that. After all was done, he fearlessly began to climb down the side of the hole.

 

The sun beat down on him as Galadion slowly made his way over towards the individual that stood next to the gigantic hole in the ground. As he got closer the hole itself seemed to get larger and larger until it seemed to have reached a size where Galadion was absolutely sure that there was no natural way that it could have been created. And with that thought in his head Galadion began to wonder what kind of creature could have created such a hole or if it wasn't a creature than what sort of person had the power to creature such a thing and even more importantly why had they done it.

As he neared the the hole, out of nowhere another individual just suddenly appeared, it had happened so fast and suddenly that Galadion for a second thought that he was being attacked. Out of instinct he dropped into a defensive posture and had readied himself for a fight before he realized that it was just another adventurer answering the call to investigate the mysterious hole. Relaxing once again he listened to the exchange between the two men who seemed to already be familiar with one another, hoping that their existing relationship meant they were already familiar with working with one another which could only help the investigation.

And then there was a fourth, yet another adventuring male had answered the call for help, this one however seemed decidedly less impressive especially with his entrance than the other two so he barely paid him any attention. Tilting his head ever so slightly as a way of respectfully acknowledging the mans presence before he made his way over to the side of the hole and kicked a rock over the side and watched it drop into the darkness below. Turning his head Galadion watched as Haru pulled on a rope and slowly started over the side, raising his eyebrows ever so slightly Galadion shook his head, he had no rope so he would have to get creative.

"Miopiar moipar norn!", the mystical invocation seemed to echo around the canyon as the words of power fell from Galadions mouth, as the last syllable fell from his lips the spell sprang to life. A massive vine sprung from the ground and over the side of the hole and disappeared down into the darkness of the hole, gripping the vine in his hands Galadion followed Haru up and over the side of the hole and began his descent into the unknown void below.

 

Iván narrowed his eyes at the self-proclaimed King of Yladia (@Galadion). Oh, so is he the husband of D'va? For some reason, the previously masked illusionist was under the impression that Yladia and Falderen were the same nation. They were not. Yladia was the mysterious country of the elves, whereas Falderen was another human nation, which D'va was apparently the Queen of. What both Yladia and Falderen had in common was distaste for each other, at least enough to harbor some tension between them.

And then came another, a Felis (@Sean Poteitoku), who seemed frozen at the sight of... @Haru? Wait, doesn't this Felis look familiar to Iván? He could swear he'd seen the red head before. It wasn't like Iván had met his fair share of Felis but then again maybe an NPC or two had offered him their hot buns. Iván loved hot buns. They tasted great with curry, after all. He should probably have that later, when all was said and done. Hot buns and curry, what a perfect, lovely combination!

"I was just walking my pet...mount...friend. You know how it is. How's your dire stag?" Iván deadpanned at Guide. Of course he knew the difference between Haru and Brad. One was...Haru...and the other was...Brad. Did it matter, though? It probably did. People liked being remembered by their names, faces. Iván just thought it was hilarious that the two looked alike. He faintly even remembered one of them going nuts at him for mistaking them for the other. Or did one of them? He couldn't remember. "Oh, cool. I'm in. I love holes. I absolutely love jumping into holes."

As Iván watched Haru and then the King of Yladia go down the hole in their respective ways, he was left with the Felis who still seemed unmoved for whatever reason. Iván narrowed his eyes at him before putting a hand on his shoulder, "Yo, Catnip Everdeen. You going down or what?" Chanting something inaudible, he summoned a magical familiar from out of nowhere. It took on the form of a smaller version of the Ant Queen from the Bandit King's castle, big enough to be a ride for two. With Iván's proficiency in aeromancy, it wouldn't be such a terrible plan. Or would it?

"Need a ride?" He quickly got on his familiar before offering a place for the Felis behind him. If the Felis accepted, they'd go down the hole smoothly. Well, maybe not as smoothly. Ants could carry twice their weight but they were also going to fight gravity constantly. That may get rough every now and then. Still, it was better than jumping straight down and missing your cue to summon the wind for some nice pillows of safety. Splat! was not what Iván wanted to end this apparent adventure with.

 

Sean kept trying to move his body but couldn't. Curse this thing... If one looked at his face, he'd be a mixture of panicked and furious. He watched helplessly as everybody started descending into the hole. Wait for me... One of the people, being really familiar, stayed behind. Offering a ride on an ant, of all things.

Suddenly, the petrifying grip of the Death Affliction lifted, leaving Sean tumbling backwards onto the ground. "Great, I'm afraid of heights now, as well!" He threw his hands up in defeat. "Yes, please..." He climbed onto the ant and prepared to get scared to death by the fall once more... And that was assuming he wasn't scared of the ant, which he slightly was.

 

The canyon was deep. Even from the ground that most of the explorers tread, it would take a skyscraper's elevator to get to the top in a sane manner. Explorers did not, in fact have an elevator, left only to wits and rope to climb down. Naturally, this made for a very intimidating depth.

The hole they scaled down went on further and deeper still. They descended for what felt like hours, and before long Haru felt as if they had gone deeper than the climb into the canyon proper. At this point, the depths had grown deeper and darker. He had begun to require a light source, pulling his own soul out to light the way with its tranquil glow. At some time he had stopped feeling as if he were climbing down a canyon, and started feeling as if he was reaching the depths of the ocean. There was no water- altitude was what had caused it. His ears were popping at the change unwelcome to them and the darkness gave him the sensation of floating.

That feeling was incredibly dangerous up here. If he let go and fell...
He didn't, of course, and warned the others of this as well. He'd rather not hear the sound of gruesome splats any time soon. He liked eating, thanks! After that the four had not much longer to go. These depths only went so far, as Haru had predicted.

Feet touch floor. Sweet, solid ground and hardly any way to see it under their feet. "Well, this is a boring sight. Let me just..." Adjust the glow of his soul that he held in his palm. He had it dense and shaped plainly so that it could work to its full power. Because of this, he hadn't used much effort into producing light- until now. The walls around his side of the pit were illuminated and Haru found his breath catching in his throat for a scant minute.

Entire layers of stone- grays and blacks of all kinds- contested and pushed on one another creating a stiff mural of darkness on the walls. Little glimmers of purple and blue shined in a few places, little grains of gemstones made from the pressure and heat of these depths that shone for what was probably the first time in their existences. Their glows, refracting from his own illumination, illuminated the stone around them and giving swirls to the dark canvas with light that swirled like watercolors. It was as if he had created a twilight sky with the use of a single lightbulb.

"Oh, my..." He... he hadn't expected a cave to look like this. These kinds of scenes were supposed to be born of artists who drew pictures of other worlds. And yet, here was one right before their eyes. Sometimes Haru forgot that Terrasphere was supposed to be another world.

And right in front of him lie a tunnel that merged with this well they stood in. It was wide enough to perhaps build a small cottage in while still having enough room to have a sizable yard and had a considerable height to match. The man in white robes gulps as he steels himself. There was still more to explore in this place. He calls to his companions.
"OK- You all see this, too? Let's go. There's still more to see."

 

Hand over hand, step by step Galadion made his way deeper into the abyss, the descent continue for so long that he began to wonder if there was even a bottom to this accursed hole in the ground or if it continued all the way into the depths of the underworld. It didn't take long for the depth of the mysterious hole to begin to outlive the illumination provided by the sun, another annoyance that the hole provided before Galadion had even reached the bottom of the accursed shaft. A soft growl escaped the mans lips as he expended a small amount of mana for a weak spell that didn't even require a magical invocation to bring to life, a small ball of flames flared into being, its warm rays lighting the rest of his descent for him.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of climbing Galadion found himself at the bottom of the shaft, tilting his head his silvery eyes widened slightly at the sight that they beheld. The way the colors of the stones blended together, as if a master painter and placed them there with the strokes of his brush, the flecks of rare gemstones that were seeing light and life probably for the first time in their existence. It was sights such as this one that continued to bring him back to this wondrous virtual world.

It took a small amount of effort but Galadion tore his gaze away from the beautiful walls of the shaft and looked at was around him, he knelt down and ran him fingers along the smooth surface at the bottom of the shaft and narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. The longer that he was in this place, the less is made sense to him, this formation shouldn't have been as smooth as it was unless it was man-made which at this point, it very well could have been. Lifting his head he allowed his silvery optics to peer down the tunnel that led away from them and into the darkness, anything could have been living in that black abyss or at the same time it could have been nothing. Rising to his full height once again Galadion strode over to the entrance of the tunnel and peered into the darkness hoping to get some sign of what if anything lived in there while he waited for the rest of their companions to reach to floor of the shaft.

 

Flying down should've been easy, right? In theory, the answer would always be yes. In practice? Not so much. As Iván and the familiar Felis, Catnip Everdeen, descended down into the abyss on top of the summoned magical familiar, aided by Iván's aeromancy, some turbulence here and there were experienced. For Iván, it was nothing new. For Catnip Everdeen, however, he mentioned something about being afraid of heights, so the whole experience might've been hell for him. Who knows? Who cares? Iván found it all hilarious.

"And we're here!" Iván mocked the flight attendants and pilots who always sounded so cheerful despite the fact that at any given moment, during their flight, people could die, the plane could fall apart, one of your coworkers could find out you're cheating on your diet, yadda yadda yadda. Getting used to things, taking them for granted, doesn't make them safer. Skills and expertise do. "...wherever we are. We hope you enjoyed your flight and we'll see you again on Air Antonia. Please don't forget to tip your flight attendants."

Iván allowed the Felis to get off first, before him, and followed suit shortly after. With his feet back on the ground, the illusionist patted his magical familiar on her head and snapped his fingers, the smaller version of the ant queen vanishing into dust. He turned to the Felis (@Sean Poteitoku), the King of Yladia (@Galadion), and finally Brad (@Haru), "Whew! That was a long way down. Where to next?"

He was caught offguard when Haru's illumination revealed art where they were, where they stood. Iván had not expected anything so beautiful, so wonderful, to be down here, having expected only weird monsters and horrific demon babies in the depths of whatever this all was. The illusionist found himself staring at everything in awe, savoring the masterpieces that were strewn all around them. He was caught offguard again when Haru told them to go, leading them elsewhere. Still, Iván kept his eyes on the magnificent majesties, nodding towards Guide but not quite saying anything, beauty got his tongue. He simply followed Guide, knowing he would not lead them astray. Probably.

 

Sean froze up once again as the ant made its descent. Going deeper and deeper into the hole, he noticed the darkness that presented itself. So we're going into the deep unknown. Sounds fun, but my Death Affliction doesn't want me to...

As the ant hit solid ground once again, Sean quickly got off it. Looking back to the one who offered the ride, Sean turned and bowed deeply. "Thank you for the ride!" Suddenly, the area got illuminated by a light, revealing a gorgeous cave. He thought he had rode into another dimension. "Woah... Hold on, there's still some darkness up ahead."

Sean made a fireball, floating in midair above his shoulder. Pointing at the darkness, the ball shot forward into it, revealing a further section of the cave. "Let us proceed!" Sean took out his sword, resting it on his shoulder, and began to walk further in.

 

As Sean began traversing the cave, he was hit with a wave of hunger. The empty feeling assaulted him, making him crave some food. "I just became hungry...?" On reflex, he took out a small chocolate bar and bit into it. Why does it taste horrible!? He spat it out immediately, clutching his throat. "I can't eat chocolate anymore? WHAT BULLSHIT IS THIS!?" For a moment he thought about eating one of the others before throwing his hands up, he continued to walk.

As Sean looked at his comrades in exploration, they seemed to start shrinking. He felt like he was about to fall off some sort of building. What is going on? Suppressing the fear in his heart, he continued onward, hoping to see the end of the tunnel.

Eventually, Sean was hit by a large wave of nausea. I can't see where I'm going... Clutching his head, he fell to a knee. "I'm sorry, everybody... I can't go further..." He turned and began oddly walking back to the entrance. I won't die today... I'm sorry, everybody.



Distance Gained: 86(+15) + 55(+15) + 41(+15) = 227

Roll 1 [] Roll 2 [] Roll 3

Total Distance: 227/1000

 

With every step Galadion traveled deeper and deeper into the mysterious unknown deep under the surface of the earth, it didn't take him very long for him to feel the eyes that were upon them. As he gazed around at the group it seemed like with every step that they took into the tunnel took a greater and greater toll upon each of them, yet for some unknown reason Galadion himself was unaffected in such a way. Maybe there was something about him that was special and protected him, it couldn't have been his status as a royal, that was merely a self proclamation so maybe it had something to do with his race, he was the only Yladian in the group after all.

Each one of his steps slowly became more labored than the one before it, was the tunnel sapping his energy as he went on? He shook his head and tried to push that thought out of his mind, that was crazy it had to just be the darkness that was always head of the groups light playing tricks on him. But what if it wasn't a trick, what if whatever it was that was watching them was slowly sapping their energy the longer they were down there, and if that really was the case then what in the name of the gods was it that was dwelling down there? A demonic presence of some kind?

That thought alone was almost enough to force Galadion to turn back, almost but not quite however their group did just loose its first person. The last one to arrive was the first one to quit, turning his head he watched as the red headed Felis turned around and slowly made his way back in the direction that had all just come from. He couldn't blame the man, whatever presence that he had felt was definitely doing something to them of this Galadion was sure since he now felt rather physically taxed.

Turning Galadion continued to travel with the rest of the group for a short time more, exhaustion was beginning to set in and there was still no sight of the end of the tunnel. Galadion had to admit he was beginning to loose hope that there even was a end to this tunnel, maybe whatever demonic force, as that was what he was almost positive lived down there now, was playing with them. It was sapping their energy and made them think that they were getting somewhere in this gods forsaken tunnel when in fact they were going absolutely nowhere. Enough was enough, shaking his head Galadion turned around "I am sorry, I can't stay another second in this gods forsaken tunnel. I am a elf not a dwarf. I belong in the forests not underground" and with that being said he made his way back towards the beginning of the cave.



Distance Gained: 70(+ 15) + 53(+ 15) + 3(+ 15) + 31(+15) = 217
Roll 1 Roll 2 Roll 3 Roll 4

Total Distance: 444/1,000