New Hemisect was a bustling place, and naturally, word of strange circumstances and conspiracy theories were passed around effortlessly throughout the night. In the whispers of the early morning, the most prominent secrets were shared in dark alleys – prospects of underground societies and myths unknown to even the great Alternian military. Among them, one of the most enigmatic stories bloomed: that of rainbow drinkers, walking amongst the civilians above ground.
Since the New Hemisect Earthquake, shattered grounds and poor foundations revealed a bizarre series of tunnels and underground caves beneath the city. While most had been dug up by drones and excavated or filled in, one channel in particular had yet to be touched. Rumors abounded that it was the source of a grisly murder – others suggested a creature below the surface. Most commonly, trolls assumed that it was the site of a particularly grisly collapse due to the earthquake. But intriguing it was intriguing none the less.
There is currently no drone patrolling the site—a fortunate circumstance for adventurers and explorers. The cave is deep and dark. Fauna with fuzzy bodies and leathery wings huddle in in droves on the cave ceilings, which became more cavernous and arched as the length bore on and on. Twists and turns take nearly an hour to complete. There was not much flora in the cave, save for a damp algae that threatens each step. At the end of the thin tunnel is an enormous cave opening. The signs of drone occupation cease, and an uncharacteristically expansive hive stands tall and foreboding amongst the rock faces. It is enormous and ornate, with typical troll hive patterns splayed in colorful patterns across its surface as tinted windows. It seems anemic and dank like the cave itself, but looks well lived-in all the same and broken down from the disaster. This is the source of the rumors – but which of them are true?
iStoleYurVamps
This reply can be a single solo or divided however you’d like. Post to the point where Lunear enters the hive, and then quote the mule for your next prompt. Thanks!
Posted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 6:01 pm
Batbro was better at telling when something shouldn't be messed with. Batbro was smart like that. However, Lunear was not. He was brash and headstrong with a cocky attitude that wasn't all too conductive towards self preservation. He was one of those kids who saw something that said don't, only to interpret this as 'please feel free to do whatever it is that we have forbidden everyone else from doing.' Lunear was the exception.
So a cave recently unearthed that at that current time lacking a drone was most obviously, a place that Lunear should be able to explore at his leasure. Even if batbro was shrieking at him in her high pitched way that no, he should not do that and it was a bad idea and to stop right now mister of she was going to pick you up and fly you home kicking and screaming. Though more likely he'd be pouting.
Still he ignored his lusus and made his way down the path, smiling at the smaller versions of Batbro hanging from above, squeaking at him and her as they passed. If he didn't think Batbro might eat one,. he'd have taken one with him. Give his gerbils a new friend. Unless they ate his gerbils. Then all bets were off.
A clatter of rocks tumbling down into the darkness, Lunear huffed and scoffed at the rough path. It was only when the hive came into view that he drew in a breath of awe. Batbro had managed to follow thus far, but she was not happy, and was more than ready to leave, her ward willing or not.
A tug to his coat, Lunear shoo'd her, and when she tugged, rougher that time- "I am going!" He yelled at her, running towards the hive while Batbro, panicked, raced after him.
A thick creaking echoed through the hive, accompanied by a drip-drip-dripping. Several unsavory cleanliness receptacles were stationed under leaks in the ceiling. The infrastructure of the hive had been disrupted by the earthquake. Upon further inspection, the receptacles were still only half-empty. The owner of the hive had been here recently to replace them, prior to the discovery of the hive. Creepy.
There are a number of locations within the cave hive to explore.
=> Downstairs
You make your way downstairs. A frightened group of flappy fauna rushes you as you open the door to a huge study, and fly out the entrance of the hive in a hurry. The study is ornate as the rest of the building, and appears to be one of the most damage rooms in the hive. Enormous bookcases line the walls, with statues in each of the corners of the room. They’re grotesque in appearance – wolf-like and with huge snarling countenance – but carefully crafted. The books on the shelves concern old history that you’ve never heard of before, and fantastic tales of mythical creatures whose contents are banned from Alternian Libraries.
On the study desk, a dusty lamp has burnt out. Maps of New Hemisect with circles denoting particular areas are outlined. It’s a surprisingly detailed census of the city. Notes made in curly blue lettering fill up the margins of the page.
“Morning feeding outside of the hive; fetch from vagrants.” “Pull socialite into daylight manor for dinner.” “New evening/morning shroud.”
In the desk drawer, there is a key with a keyring attached. The keyring appears to yield half of yet another key.
=> Upstairs
You head upstairs. The staircase could give out at any moment. It’s thrilling, but terrifying to boot. Rot has clearly set into the poorly-placed mansion.
All along the upstairs hallway, elegant portraits line the walls. They all are a hodgepodge of things stolen from the surface, but all have a theme: elegant busts with ashen grey skin stare back at you. Their garb is elegant and lacy – it’s unlike any highblood art you’ve ever seen. Their lips, coloured with dabs of blood (or blood-color, rather), and occasionally looking vicious and intimidating. Their eyes follow you as you walk. Such portraiture has always been reserved for the bizarre, being unusual to depict in any setting other than to illustrate a steamy romance novel. It’s reminiscent of the many mysteries spoken of the underground, and of daylight – who would collect such imagery? Between these portraits are gilded mirrors, which is additionally puzzling.
You don’t notice until too late drops on the ground – faded, but vaguely colored. Most are warmer hues, but it’s hard to tell in the light. They lead to a solid door at the end of the hall. You can’t open it if you don’t have a key.
If you have been to the downstairs: =>Use the key.
You use the key and open the door, which may not have been the best idea.
Drones. A search party, it seems – no longer alive. They look as ashen as the portraits in the hallway, as though all of the life force has been drained out of them. In the distance, a crackling: a radio, running out of battery. It’s out of place in the antiqued mansion, and appears to have been one of the drone’s possessions. It lies on a vanity – the familiar decorative mirror is angled and doesn’t appear to be in use for the purpose of self-care, and gives you a fright when you look directly at yourself. Walking over to the vanity, you find a strange chunk of metal that could be half of a key, which you collect. The radio buzzes on weakly.
There’s news of a new search force to take down the mansion. You’d better explore all you can!
=> Basement
Unless you have been upstairs/downstairs: The door is locked.
If you have been upstairs/downstairs: => Use the key.
You combine the two key-halves to create one more key on your found keyring. It fits perfectly into the basement door, and as you swing it open the stagnant air escapes from below, sending shivers up your spine. You descend.
Out of the darkness, you encounter a dark room – much too dark to see in. A sun motif is traced into the wood floor. You search for a light and manage to find a toggle. Gas-powered lights flicker on, and as the basement door creaks shut behind you, the gravity of your predicament is set.
A high-class corpse box lies in front of you. And on it – a massive, long-eared lusus, covered in scars. The lupine creature’s eyes flash in the dim light and its hackles immediately raise. There is little to defend yourself with and no way of escape; a decorative cane, whip, and a pair of riding boots line the walls nearby.
=> Defend yourself.
iStoleYurVamps
This reply can be a single solo or divided however you’d like. Post to the point where Lunear engages with the lusus, and then quote the mule for your next prompt. Thanks!
Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 3:59 pm
Hivestuck
my life has been a sake of potatos hi
Lunear's senses of adventure were skyrocketing, but so were his self preservation senses. This was soooo not how he had anticipated this adventure to start out. Abandoned hives were supposed to be abandoned. Not... maintained. The buckets were passed with caution, noting how the stench of stagnate water simple was non existent. Who ever lived here was active. And that was well... interesting. Still, batbro left behind, he couldn't just turn around and face her now! Not after having to prove that he was as cool as he liked to think himself as. Plus batbro would scold him and carry him off by his collar and he hated that. Like, he REALLY hated it when Batbro did that.
A dull echo of dripping water, Lunear brushed his hair back, tossing it back and attempting to build up his own image to boost his confidence as he descended into the hive. The creak of the floor to the dusty air kicked up by his feet, it was not an altogether amazingly comforting trek to the room where it seemed to have some kind of recent activity- Tiny fizzy lussi leaving in droves when he opened the door, though, given the state of things, he wondered if someone just came here to tend to them. Or the hive. It was so old, surely, no one could live here any longer. Surely.
Books banned and reason enough to get a troll culled were avoided, and perhaps answering the question as to just how long ago had drones come in? Perhaps not long at all. Trolls had been culled for lesser reasons than books after all.
Grimacing at the decor and at the books, Lunear was more curious as to the city map. The recent uprising he'd participated in gave a slight insight as to how maps were laid out in various instances, but this was queer to him. The Circles followed no fixed pattern, and the notes were random at best. More like a list of sorts really. Still, for all his looking the results yielded only a half key, and then a whole key. 1.5 keys was like telling him oh explore more but not everything because batbro is waiting.
Batbro could wait longer.
The other paths were just as alluring as the first. Gross, foreboding, and overall none too pleasant. The steps made him panic inside with their stability, and the decor just kept getting better and better. A bit.. to his taste sure but at the same time it was a bit much. Not to mention it was too scattered. You needed matching sets, not this and that and the other. At the least the mirrors were fun to use to check his looks.
Fabulous, of course, par the norm.
A shift in the sound his boot made, uncolored eyes saw the stains that lay under and with the debris. Gross. Mega gross. Plus how and why and gross.
The door opened with the 1 of the 1.5 key and Lunear froze. Dead bodies staring back at him. The armor of drones, pale and decaying. Cracked and piled. A pile her wanted no part off. Half his mind caught the crackle of the radio. More drones incoming. More forces- More. They were to kill. Drones coming to find dead trolls and little blue boy grubs would spell disaster and death for Lunear.
Batbro apparently had the right idea. This place was a problem waiting to happen and Lunear had made a 'mistake'. Not that he made mistakes but this time he might have but no not really this was still good an adventure and okay yeah maybe he just found a murderer's hive and they might be nuts or maybe it really was a rainbow drinker he didn't even care he just stumbled onto a pile of dead drones this was soooooooo not what he wanted. He needed a way out. Panic- the sight of the .5 key's other half was welcomed. Perhaps an escape route. It was what he hoped for.
When in doubt, head down. Sometimes the fastest way to the surface was down then out- he'd flarped enough and done enough adventuring to know this sometimes was true. Plus the way he came was no longer an option. He'd get an earful from batbro about it later.
The new key 2.0 fit into the door that cut the below from the above and as it swung open he coughed. It smelled.. well mildly the same just bad all around. The darkness wasn't what got him, nor was the embelishments, the gear, or even the lusus that threatened him the most.
It was the corpse box.
He didn't scream so much as shout for Batbro, the screech of his lusus echoing outside, hearing her ward even at the far distance. This was it. This was real. This was a hive just like the stories said and it held one of THEM and he'd gone and just walked right in and drones were coming and now he'd found a lusus that would gut him and leave him for their master to drink and he's be nothing but a nice troll snack for a rainbow drinker and he was dead. He was so dead.
If not by the lusus, or the drones, or even the rainbow drinker, he knew he was dead. Because batbro was so going to kill him for this.
The lusus lunges. Its jaws snap grotesquely, aiming for the blueblood with wild abandon. The creature has clearly been in battle-ready situations before, but suddenly...
A thunderous rumble makes the room shudder. The howlbeast lusus' ears perk up in sudden attentiveness. It twirls around, looking for the source of the disturbance, when another roaring rattle is heard. Dust falls in streams from the ceiling. With a growl, it retreats onto the box and releases a shrieking howl. Soon, the quaking becomes overwhelming. The familiar shouts of drones – reinforcements, apparently – begin to echo through the mansion halls. There’s no time now; the lusus leaps once and a device clicks into place. It dashes to the wall and digs frantically while a scraping sound is emitted from the wall, and soon fits itself into a growing crack in the wall. Drones bang at the jammed basement doors, and the lusus is gone – a hidden tunnel left in its wake. The tunnel is small and treacherous. It lets out in a dark alley of the City. The location is out of sight and subtle. There are final signs of the hiveowner’s presence here – a faint, but artistic smear of blood here and there, and a gilded mirror calling card, propped up against the dead end of the alley.
iStoleYurVamps
Once Lunear has escaped from the hive and has satisfied his word count requirement, he has finished his growth rp!
Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2014 6:53 pm
He was doomed, very clearly, doomed. He could grab a weapon, try to use it-
Fear rooted him, and it was by luck he had some muscle memory from flarping to know that rolling towards your weapons cache was how to play. Still, grabbing the whip which was hardly a toy that he was accustomed to, Lunear figured at best he might tangle it. Hit it in the face. Maybe last a few seconds.
Then salvation and condemnation arrived in the form of killing machines sent by the government.
Panicked, confused, the only way out was now leading to drone who'd kill him without thought. He shook literally, waiting for death- until the tunnel formed in the wake of the lusus's actions. The creature might be waiting on the other side, and he doubted it's actions were to save him but really? Lunear would take it. He'd take it and get gross and dirty and look horribly messy by the time he was free but he'd take it.
He'd live for now. He had the whip in hand, the keys that had been fragmented but- Chills ran down his spine. Batbro had been trying to get to him. Batbro had been trying to find him. He'd need to find them- try the entrance but. Lunear was afraid. and It was fear that sent him home, hands shaking, wondering when had the stories become real, and the games he'd played had ended and become truth.
