theshimmer | Visions.

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The further in you go, the thicker the calcification becomes.

The crystals on the walls are difficult to make out now, having been encased entirely by thick white growths encompassing the walls like spider veins, like roots; their energy, however, can still be felt if you wander too close to the walls, or if you spend too long recovering yourself after something sufficiently stressful has come into your line of view. This may be more for a problem for some of you than it is for others; some of you are holding up surprisingly well, all things considered.

It isn't a failing on your part, when it hits you.

It's hard to say precisely what "it" is - a sudden fatigue, a seizure, an abrupt swirling of the world beneath your feet; all you know is that you're here, and then you aren't anywhere, and it takes a moment to place what brought the feeling on, or even what the feeling itself is. It will come to you eventually, however, once your eyes refocus and the cavern comes into view again for you properly - it feels like that first week you were here. Like reawakening after a long stint asleep; like being disoriented after realizing that you're not where you should be.

The difference this time is that you are, for all intents and purposes, still where you should be.

You don't seem to have gone anywhere; it doesn't feel like you've lost that much time, even, if you've lost any at all. But the fact of the matter is that something feels different, and it feels wrong, and placing how proves to be difficult.

There's a bend in the path, and suddenly it becomes all too clear.

You aren't supposed to be here, are you?

This place can be anything and everything - the hallway in the upper floor of your house, the bar you frequent, that place where all your comrades are buried. What matters is that it's somewhere you weren't sure you would see again, but the fact of it is that you're seeing it here, and you're seeing it now, and perhaps some of the others with you are seeing it too. Perhaps there are others here, those that have been on your mind for the past few days; perhaps you're all alone outside of whomever is questionably fortunate enough to be experiencing this with you.

Whatever you're seeing, however, something remains present in your mind, driving you onward and encouraging you to move through this, and quickly.

You don't belong here.

You need to leave.

[OOC: Welcome to the first half of our week 5 event! For this portion of the event, the hallucinations you've experienced up until now have become far more thoroughly immersive, and can be seen or experienced by others in something akin to a shared dream-state. These visions are likely to delict something from your world that you would find familiar and would have some sort of attachment to, whether that attachment is positive or negative. Monsters or other people from your world can be present here and interacted with, to deal with as you see fit; fighting them or speaking to them are both fair game. Conversely, your personal experience may be exploring or revisiting an area of your world that may or may not be how you remember it...

Please note that the mods will not be NPCing any characters in your visions or answering questions specific to the environments that you create. However, you are free to create as you see fit; time and space have very little meaning here, and your only limitations to your character's personal illusion/dreamscapes are your own creativity. Feel free to post any prompts you may want to play with, and to tag out to others to experience whatever they want to show you. (However, it is worth noting that any physical items you find in the visions will not remain in their possession afterwards.) As always, if you have any more questions about how works, let us know!]

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Ja, that's what I'm hoping as well.

[Are we just going to head on up the stairs or do you want to try to talk to the knights? Or catch them off guard and throw a shuriken first??]

[...You know what, actually. Felicia's going to try to talk to the knights first--she'd rather this not come to a fight, but hopefully they can just try to chat first...

Still, Felicia will clear her throat a bit as they come out, to get the knight's attention. Maybe a diplomacy roll will work here???]

Excuse me, sirs! Do you have a moment?

[The knights startle at that and turn their attention to Felicia. One of them brandishes a sword, and the other wields a lance.]

Who are you? How did you make it down here?

[The one with the spear nudges his companion and inclines his head a bit to indicate Yeager and the first one eases up.]

Oh. My apologies. I didn't see you there. Um... What is it, miss?

[Felicia flinches a bit at the weapons brandished at her, before gently easing and smiling. Okay, they're at least not hostile, that's...good, she can work with this.]

Oh, no, it's okay! You're all clearly doing a wonderful job of staying on your guard--I apologize for startling you.

[Alright, let's do this--]

Might I ask if you could let us through?

[...Is Alexei beyond here, Felicia just doesn't know, but--]

There's some information that we need to pass along, if that's quite alright.

You want to leave?

[Well, now he sounds confused. The second one speaks up.]

If you're looking for the Commandant, you're going the wrong way. Why'd you lead her back this way?

[That's directed at Yeager and he shrugs in response. One of the knights sighs in frustration, like this is expected.]

This way just leads back through Zaude. Unless you're trying to leave, there's nothing out this way. And you [he nods at yeager] shouldn't be trying to leave at all.

[...Well, Felicia's mentally kicking herself at that. But at any rate, Felicia chuckles a bit.]

Oh gosh, this really is a conundrum then, isn't it? I'm so, so sorry.

[...]

But I am afraid that if you won't let us go, then we will have to find our way past, one way or another. I'd greatly prefer that it didn't come to using force, but...

I take it that there's not going to be much choice, if we wish to leave?

[Well, Felicia was hoping not to have to do this, but she's ready none the less. It all depends on just what they do now.]

Wait, seriously?

[Yeager takes that as his cue to swing that massive scythe around so he can get into position.] Seriously!

[Well, the knights aren't exactly here for that - the one with the spear goes after Yeager, and they'll be fighting over there in the background while the knight with the sword targets Felicia. He's not particularly fast, but he's definitely trying to come in and land a hit on her before she can dodge backwards and put some distance between them.]

[Well, nobody can say that Felicia didn't try. But alright, this seems to be what they're doing now, and Felicia isn't exactly going to give up here.

Felicia barely manages to dodge the sword wielding knight's attack by jumping back--it does manage to knick her a bit, but not enough for it to hurt too much, and she's going to establish some distance before trying to chuck a couple shuriken out to get some damage in.]

[Thankfully, Felicia's speed stat is definitely higher than this poor knight's, so she won't have any trouble getting some distance. He's chasing her backwards, down the stairs and in the direction of the machine, so you might want to keep an eye on where you are exactly. Yeager and the other knight have taken their fight up to the landing, so they won't get in your way, at least.

Anyway, this knight barely manages to dodge the first shuriken, but the second catches him hard across the arm. It's unfortunately not his sword arm, and it doesn't stop him from continuing to chase Felicia. At least you'll find that you have a seemingly unlimited supply of shurkiens so you can just keep tossing them without needing to go fetch the ones you threw?? Don't worry about it, it's Tales logic.]

[Felicia isn't unaware of the risk of going downstairs, at least--in hindsight, that's probably exactly what this knight is trying to do, and Felicia can't say she likes it. On the other hand, her weaponry is at least ensuring she can't fight at too close of a range...

Still, Felicia keeps throwing and throwing shuriken, trying to keep the distance of the machine in mind. And that's...when she gets an idea. Surely it'll react when attacked, and if she can do this just right...

Well, it may not be a bright idea. But Felicia's going to try to direct one of her shuriken at the machine to get it to turn in this direction, and try to jump behind one of the pillars. Maybe, just maybe, if she does this right it'll attack the knight because it can't see her? ...Well, it's worth a shot, anyway, she's not used to being outside of katamari formation--]

[What a great plan! The shuriken have been doing a good job at keeping distance between you and the knight, and that one well-placed one hits the machine! The Perfect Murder spins to look for the source of the damage it took, and there's literally only the knight in the way.]

W-Wait! I didn't— You've gotta be kidding me!

[He quickly abandons his goal of chasing down Felicia and immediately starts fleeing while that machine stomps after him making aggressive beeping sounds. This is both absolutely hilarious to watch and the perfect time for you to make your escape!]

[Score. A touch underhanded, but never the less it's worth it to make her daring escape! Have fun with the machine, buddy!!

Of course Felicia's gonna be darting back upstairs--how are you and your knight doing over here Yeager?]

[Yeager's apparently just finished up - this knight is definitely dead and Yeager looks unharmed.]

Ah, there you are! You took care of the other one?

[benny hill chase theme plays in the background]

[Well, that takes care of that, and...that is a super dead guard, okay. Not the weirdest thing she's seen so far, at any rate.]

Yes! He's, uh, not going to be bothering us--I don't think the machine takes too kindly to being attacked.

[rip in fuck, poor knight]

Come on, let's get out of this place!

[alas, poor knight]

Well done! We'll have to be careful of any more guards, but with any luck we can avoid them.

[Onwards and upwards, then! This floor doesn't have a door, but it loops around to two identical staircases on either side of the room, both leading up to the landing above the door where we entered, with yet another door!

Beyond that door lies more of Zaude. It's still difficult to tell if this place is actually underwater or not, but like the room you started in, this one is quiet and peaceful. It looks as though the majority of the room has been flooded; the door opens onto a platform, with another across the water. There are a few stepping stones in the form of smaller columns that might have once been decoration - it looks like someone solved a puzzle to get in here.

Yeager looks mildly perplexed by this, but he shrugs after a moment.]

The layout is a bit different than I remember... Oh well, at least there aren't any guards here.

[Across the water on the other platform there are two identical doors. Or are they identical? Well, you'll have to check those out if you want. Try not to fall into the water.]

[Felicia follows! This place is definitely interesting and...honestly, if this were literally any other time this place would be gorgeous and Felicia would love to explore, but the sooner they're out of there the better.]

What did it used to look like? This looks like a rather...interesting sort of place, I must admit.

[Let's just chat while we get through this puzzle room that somebody so lovingly solved for us, sure. We can deal with the doors in a bit!!]

It did look quite a bit like this, but this room isn't exactly like any of the rooms that were present, and the closest approximation didn't have this exact layout. The previous rooms were all correct, but...

[Well, obviously the Shimmer's messing around with things. Anyway, Yeager hops across the pillars easily and waits for Felicia. Are you going to be okay...??]

Huh, that is a little unusual. Hopefully this doesn't make getting out of here any worse for us--

[Felicia's doing her best to hop along herself, but it's not exactly perfect--she's not used to hopping around like this, she's not trying to score a critical hit or something!! So needless to say towards the end, she loses her footing on one of the pillars--]

Eek!

[Aaaand will probably fall face first into the water unless otherwise stopped. Whoops.]

[...Ah. Well, he probably should have expected that... Yeager moves to try to catch her, but unfortunately he's just a bit too far away. Thankfully, it's totally normal saltwater, so it's not like you're in any danger.

...........you can swim, right.]

[...Felicia has grown up in a village almost entirely covered by ice and snow, of course she doesn't know how to swim.

Perhaps thankfully, though, she doesn't fail her saving roll and manages to promptly grab onto something and just...try to climb back up (though she'll appreciate assistance), soaking wet with the goddamn taste of saltwater in her mouth. Bleh.]

Bleh--oh, that's awful!

[oh no, rip felicia...]

Oh dear. Here, give me your hand.

[C'mon, let's get you out of the water.]

[She'll...she'll gladly take it, orz...]

I-I'm sorry for making a mess of this, Yeager...

[But once she's out of the water good GODS she is gonna be wringing herself out a bit. This couldn't have gone any worse...]

No, no, don't worry about it! These sorts of things happen, ja?

[Poor Felicia... Well, thankfully there's no danger in this room, so you can take all the time you need!]

[Alright, she'll...be wrung out in a moment, thankfully, before standing up again. Alright.]

I know they do, but it sure doesn't feel good when they do...

[At any rate, though, let's go check out those doors! What do we have going on here.]

[The door on the left is exactly the same as all the other doors here, there isn't anything different about it. The door on the right looks very similar in that it is the same shape and design, but it looks far more worn. It's sporting some rather nasty-looking cracks here and there, and the bottom of it is coated in dirt and dust. From far away the doors look similar enough, but up close it's obvious that this one's pretty weird.

So which door will it be?]

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