Perhaps it was the adrenalin coarsing through her veins or simply just sheer focus on the rapidly approaching hazards, but Lauren was starting to feel the pain from the blow the light arrow had dealt her. The large gash in the side of her abdomen was leaking blood into the rushing air around her, though for the moment she wouldn't be able to tend to her wound. Her grip on the windglider tightened as she maneuvered it around the spires and the debris, occasionally flinching at the pain ebbing from the sensation of the rushing air brushing up against the burnt skin around her wound. And from what she could see before her the others hadn't faired much better. Hell, she'd argue that she got off relatively lightly. As much as she wanted to help the others she could probably only handle one other person on the glider with her, and it seemed that for the moment the closest person to her was the lady who had created the lightshow to begin with. Between the pain and focusing on avoiding other bits of falling debris she hadn't noticed how the hell Aedri had gotten away unscathed, though with how badly injured everyone else seemed to be she was also her best bet at treating the others wounds. She straightened herself out a little to descend a little faster, gradually catching up to her before slowing down a tad to match her speed of descent.
"Hope you know how to heal wounds, because the others look to be in worse shape." Lauren tried speaking over the roar of the wind, shifting her grip on the handlebar of the glider to reach a hand out to Aedri. She didn't wait for an answer though as the fingers of her good hand took hold of hers, their current freefall not affording them time to worry about much else. "You'd better hold on tight."

Lauren focused primarily of keeping away from the spires and whatever oncoming debris was still falling down with them, though her eyes noticed a faint shimmer down ahead of them. From what she could see it seemed to be a barrier of sorts, one that both the debris around them and they themselves could pass through - albeit with some resistance. There wasn't much to be done to slow their descent with the incessant pull dragging them to the depths of the cavern, and as she came into contact with the barrier the feeling of her body creeping through it felt unnerving. Yet on the otherside of it, everything felt... Calming. The pull to their death seemingly vanished as their descent slowed to what felt like drifting through slow moving water, and the lights of the cavern itself aided in easing her into a more composed state. The blue shimmer of the windglider she had gradually faded away as the holographic surface itself broke apart and dissipated unevenly, leaving her hands free to try and stop the gash in her side from bleeding. She could feel her head start to throb from losing a fair bit of blood, though she managed to keep her wits about her while static started to arc off of her prosthetic. She lurched forward in the air as a rudden rush of pain accompanied the [Electrostatic Pulse] coarsing through her prosthetic hand, the prolonged electrical exposure on her wound cauderizing it as she gritted her teeth through the pain. She only stopped once she was absolutely sure the wound was fully cauderized, ragged breaths escaping her as the pain in her body refused to let her off the hook easily.

Whatever waited them at the bottom Lauren couldn't know, but for the moment at least their lives didn't seem to be in much more peril.

@Moonberry

Jareth
| Human | Ryken Adventurer D | Sandman | Mazerunner |
| Comrade | Champion of the West |



The bolt passed through Jareth as planned, but the explosion afterward was an unaccounted for variable. As the sandman's body was beginning to reform, the concussive blast scattered him once more.

Regen in...3 posts

Particles of Jareth and Fleet filled the nigh bottomless chasm they were still plummeting through. Jareth's awareness was in all of them...and none.

Regen in...4 posts

The turbulent air and debris made it impossible for a body to fully form. The particles began collecting together in small, formless piles wherever they happen to gather.

Regen in...8 posts

I'm...falling...I think...Why does this feel so familiar...?

Regen in...19 posts

A flash of blue fills the chasm but all is dark for Jareth. The descent slows for all, but he would not be aware.

Regen in...32 posts

I...wanted to fall...but...why did I want that...?

Regen in...Regen in...Regen in...

Somewhere, an eye partially formed. Though it observed the same dimly lit shaft, Jareth observed another place far deeper and darker than even here. A pit that all fall into eventually where there is nothing but darkness and at its bottom: a gaping maw.

Regen in...?????

Actions: 1) Try and Fail to regen, 2) Fall, 3) Hallucinate or something
Cooldowns: F (Ready) | E (Ready) | D (Ready)
Regen in ?????

While the chaos continued to unfold despite the searing pain of getting some of her side basically burned off, thankfully the wound had been automatically cauterized, and Shael still wasn't entirely sure where it had all come from. Instead of freaking out Shael grit her teeth in part thanks to her focus F no doubt, looking a bit paler than usual afer the hit.

She just did her best to focus on not dying on the descend, fighting the instinct to reach out to her side after she'd been struck, Shael continued to use her cloak to the best of her ability, damaged or not at that point, to maneuver around any remaining obstacles on the way down that could become a problem, like structures or formations in the space.

She was not able to fight properly mid air like this, nor help anyone so it was really the best she could do given the circumstances at the moment, doing her best to focus even as the group broke through the strange barrier.

Shael Actions:
1. Attempt to dodge incoming debris and or structures where needed.
Aerial Maneuvers - Acrobatics F + Fast F + Focus F + Energized F.

Shael attempts to perform acrobatic action(s) and or dodge with some focus to hopefully succeed. - Grade F 0 post cooldown (Energized)

2. Attempt to dodge incoming debris and or structures where needed.
Aerial Maneuver - Acrobatics F + Fast F + Focus + Energized F.
Shael attempts to perform acrobatic action(s) and or dodge with some focus to hopefully succeed.
Grade F 0 post cooldown (Energized)

Ao Ba was lucky that she managed to survive the seemingly harder part of the fall with minimal injury. Now that the fall had slowed down and there's less hazard around she could focus on trying to help the others. She must find way to move around first though. Repeated use of quick transmission was an option, but watching Lauren and her glider gave her idea.

Spreading her arms wide, she let her chi leaked out around her arms before she harden it into wings-shaped hardened chi. Less sophisticated than Lauren's holographic shield and less elegant than actual bird wings, but it's there. Ao Ba flapped her arms awkwardly like a chicken trying to maneuver her way to the nearest injured person.

"Hello, Blue Boy. You still alive?" Ao Ba grabbed Michael so the drift wouldn't separate them. She glanced at the blue blood coming out of his body.

"Inner damage? Hold on, I will try to stabilize you." Ao Ba tapped Michael at several spots, sending chi into his meridians to stop his body from destroying itself.

Action:
1) Creates 'wings' with Hardening F
2) Move to Michael
3) Healing E to Michael

Lauren’s hand closed around hers, and Aedrianna held on.

Her eyes frantically searched for Noelle, but what they found was the blood she could see trailing from Lauren’s side. Noelle’s torn kimono, Yume’s limp tumble, Yumi’s broken weapon and battered body. The man that had been blasted apart like sand. The strangely blue grey man shouting up at them, and now coughing up blue blood. Aedrianna’s throat tightened as the strange curtain swallowed them and the violent pull vanished. The fall became slow. Dreamlike. Almost merciful.

“I’m sorry,” she breathed, though the words were nearly lost in the vastness below.

Then she squeezed Lauren’s hand tighter and shut her eyes. A slow breath filled her lungs.

Then another.

The panic that had gripped her earlier gradually loosened its hold as she forced herself to focus. Soft golden light began gathering around her fingers where they remained wrapped around Lauren's hand. The glow spread gradually outward, flowing across her skin like warm sunlight through water. Pale blue and gold mana drifted away from her in gentle ribbons, carried through the air toward the wounded figures nearby.

The light sought Lauren first.

Then Noelle.

Then Yume and Yumi.

Michael.

Shael.

Anyone she could reach.

A faint hum escaped her lips. Barely audible, more instinct than song.The mana answered.

The light spread outward through the cavern as healing laurora blossomed around the drifting group, gentle and steady where her earlier magic had been wild and uncontrolled.

Actions:
1. Take Laurens Hand
2. [Healing Light] - [Magic] C, [Affinity: Light] F, [Magic AoE] D, [Healing] C - Character hums a hymn that spreads light up to 500 feet around them and casts healing magic on anything within the light. (Grade C, 3 Post Cool Down)

Yume coughed as she felt the magical extension of her mind drawn on her shoulders shatter. It was like a splitting headache. Worse, the suppressed emotions of fear and surprise surged back like a tsunami as the enchantment lifted.

"Aiiieee! How is this— ghhck!"

She didn’t get to finish the thought as the spike sent her into a tailspin. At this point, she was too dazed to even think properly. The spiral of blood above reminded her of her hair, and she delirious enough from its loss to almost find it… funny.

"Eh?"

A body. Warm and protective, calling her by a familiar name. A song joined the embrace, healing wounds and snapping her mind back to reality just in time for the plunge to turn into a slow-falling drift.

Maybe Yumi meant it as a sacrifice. Yume would land on her and have a chance as the soft body cushioned her. Would’ve have worked, of course… not at that speed, but a nice sentiment.

Now, that their fall had turned into a leisurely drift, she turned her eyes to her ‘captor’ with a smug look.

"Aren’t you the eager hero~" Aedri was useful for once. Yume had almost missed out on prime snark opportunity.

Yume intercepted Yumi’s arms before she could pull away, eating up the awkwardness like a furnace eats fuel. "Nope. You’re committing to it now," she winked, settling in like Yumi was a comfy couch. Totally a tease. Nothing to do with years of loneliness. Nothing at all.

"Tell me what we’re falling into? I can’t see past our hair."

Noelle’s shield trick kept her safe from collision with any of the environmental hazards. Sadly, Aedri’s light beams hit her, knocking her into a trance state. The water of her shield started to shift to encase Noelle in a cocoon of water. The water shimmered as Noelle started to transform. Her legs turned into a fishtail. But something was off with this.
Noelle remained unmoved with her eyes closed as her barrier and Aedri’s light slowly healed her. Yet the mermaid didn’t seem to move.

Moments went by without change when suddenly the magical aura around Noelle seemed to shift. And did she suddenly grow bigger, or was that just a trick of the light on the shield in combination with the fact that her tail obviously would be a bit longer than her regular legs.
Another moment passed, and something was happening. Noelle’s mouth shifted. Those who could notice might see she had a faint smirk on her lips. Then, a second later, one of her eyes shot open. A yellow eye turned to look straight towards Aedrianna before Noelle softly chuckled.
"How ironic… the one you gave everything to protect. To then see turn on you and hurt you so badly…" Noelle focussed herself on the descent "Now that I have the oppertunity… let’s see what fun awaits down there"

ooc: thanks for playing. rewards will grant you permission to rp in this setting now. please wait for grade and next rp to continue where this one leaves off
Time: ???
Weather: tropical
Mentions: @Moonberry@Tau@Tellussoil@supamusu@CinderRadcliff@TheTimePiece@Spoiled Bread@FalkinPAAAWNCH
TLDR: party's metal of any kind has left them, but they are now safely landed and whole in the Deep
music: youtube.com/watch?v=xarC5jAiO7w

The last of the momentum bled away as the group drifted downward through the glowing air. The wounds torn open during the descent gradually closed beneath layers of healing magic and strange ambient energy. The strange effects did not stop there.

Metal began to move. Armor buckled inward before softening. Weapons sagged within their sheaths. Mechanical parts, prosthetics, implants, buckles, tools, and fittings lost their shape as though exposed to impossible heat. Steel and iron moved like liquid metal. Entire weapons collapsed into streams that spilled free from straps and scabbards.

Lauren felt the change first through her prosthetic as liquid metal poured from joints and seams. Yumi watched what remained of her ruined weapon liquify completely. Metal fragments, armor plates, nails, screws, clasps, and fittings all abandoned their forms. Even the smallest hidden pieces escaped containment, flowing away from their owners before drifting through the air toward the distant landscape.

The metal flew. Streams of liquid metal curved across the sky like migrating birds before disappearing toward distant destinations unknown.

One by one the survivors reached solid ground. Soft moss and broad jungle leaves broke their final descent. Warm air greeted them. The roar of wind was gone. The crushing pull was gone. The endless shaft above just a memory now. For the first time since the collapse, they stood still.

The cavern they found themselves in stretched beyond sight in almost every direction. At a glance it looked like the surface world. A warm breeze drifted through dense vegetation. Jungle trees towered overhead. Vines hung from enormous branches. The distant crash of waves echoed through the air from a vast inland sea visible beyond the canopy.

Then the details began to reveal themselves. Leaves shimmered with crystal growths. Tree trunks contained veins of polished metal beneath translucent bark. Flowers unfolded petals formed from glasslike minerals. Strange creatures moved through the undergrowth, some flesh and blood, others partly metallic or crystalline. A herd of massive reptiles crossed a distant clearing, their scales reflecting the colorful light overhead while winged creatures larger than ships circled high above the jungle.

The sky itself demanded attention. Instead of darkness above the cavern ceiling, a brilliant neon sunset stretched overhead. Pink, purple, orange, and electric blue painted the impossible sky in glaring colors that belonged more to a dream than a natural world. The light reflected from crystal formations scattered throughout the cavern and cast the entire landscape in vivid hues.

Far in the distance stood a structure so large it dominated the horizon. A single colossal pillar rose from the jungle floor and disappeared into the neon sky above. Its surface was covered in countless interconnected metal cubes stacked and fused into an impossible tower. Streams of liquid metal flowed along its sides like rivers climbing upward rather than falling down.

Movement surrounded it. Small figures drifted through the air between the cubes. Some rode floating boards that skimmed across invisible currents. Others stood upon strange metallic constructs that carried them effortlessly through the sky. They moved between the distant structures with casual familiarity.