ooc: last round before arrival. make final posts
Time: ???
Weather: 
Mentions:  [@Moonberry][@Tau][@Tellussoil][@supamusu][@CinderRadcliff][@TheTimePiece][@Spoiled Bread][@FalkinPAAAWNCH]
TLDR: several party members are severely injured from the a light arrow or crashing into some part of the chasm. Time is short before arrival 
music:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_Ay_iDRAbc

The scattered light bolts tore through the descent and most of what they came into contact with. One of Aedrianna's arrows struck directly through Jareth moments after he dispersed. The blast exploded his body apart into a cloud of sand that continued falling through the shaft. The rising spires passed harmlessly through the drifting particles while pieces of him scattered across the descent stream. Reformation would need to wait until he regained enough control to pull himself back together.

Ao Ba shattered the incoming light arrow sent toward her with her palm strikes while the hive bug she had abandoned slammed directly into one of the rising spires. The creature split apart on impact. Her short teleport carried her clear of several nearby formations and debris fields as the descent lanes tightened.

Shael failed to fully evade one of the light arrows. The projectile pierced through her side and burned clean through part of her clothing before exiting behind her. The wound cauterized immediately from the heat, though the impact still sent pain through her body hard enough to threaten her concentration. Even injured, she was able to narrowly maneuver herself clear of the rising spires afterward.

Yume took a direct hit from one of the light arrows. The blast tore through her rune tattoos and detonated across her body before the rising stone caught her moments later in a glancing collision. Blood sprayed outward through the descent stream as the impact spun her violently away from the formation in an uncontrolled tumble whipping the blood around.

Aedrianna avoided the worst consequences of her own attack. Her stepping glyph redirected her just enough to avoid colliding with a jagged ledge protruding from the tunnel wall while the destruction spread around her. Bugs, debris, and most other things that were falling with them were cleared out by her attack and others by that point.

The incoming light arrow obliterated Lauren's tree outright and shattered through her barrier shortly after. The remaining force still struck Lauren hard enough to injure her badly even after the shield absorbed part of the impact. Her reshaped glider barrier managed to carry her around the nearest spires and debris clusters before they could finish the job. She was not as bad off as some of the other party.

Yumi avoided a direct hit herself, but the light arrow struck her scythe instead. The weapon exploded apart in her hands into a storm of metal fragments that blasted outward into the surrounding descent lanes. Without the weapon anchoring her movement, one of the rising spires slammed into her during the fall and critically injured her before she bounced away trailing blood through the air.

Noelle failed to evade the incoming light attack. The projectile ripped through her kimono and severely injured her before passing onward through the shaft. Her water shield still held together well enough afterward to redirect falling debris and protect her from the surrounding spires.

Michael reached for his belt as another incoming light arrow screamed toward him.

[color=00aeef][b]"Theta! Blue World!"[/b][/color]

Space folded open before him into a glowing blue domain large enough to swallow the attack entirely before sealing shut again. Moments later Michael kicked against empty air and launched himself backward through a flipping motion that narrowly avoided several rising formations.

[color=00aeef][b]"I think I found the problem!"[/b][/color] Michael shouted upward toward the others. [color=00aeef][b]"And it definitely is not gravity!"[/b][/color]

Then the shaft changed. The black stone and crystal veins ahead warped into a shimmering curtain stretched across the entire chasm. The barrier flexed outward when the falling bodies struck it like a membrane forced beyond its limit. Resistance dragged across skin, armor, debris, blood, and magic alike for a brief moment before the entire group burst through into the space beyond.

The pull vanished. Their descent slowed abruptly from a deadly plunge into something almost drifting. Colors spread through the darkness below. Green light shimmered across the distant walls while strange glowing growths and flowing crystal veins in a rainbow of colors illuminated enormous shapes hidden deeper beneath the earth. Massive structures and shifting movement became barely visible far below through layers of mist and colored light.

Michael suddenly convulsed midair. Blue liquid poured from his mouth first before spilling from his nose, eyes, and ears as his body folded inward from the strain. The glowing fluid drifted through the slowed descent around him while he struggled to remain conscious in the unfamiliar space below.

[hider="Scene Reference"]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/IdjeMec.png[/img]
[/hider]