TEAM FOUR

[paradisamods]

Now there's a sight you don't see every day

Comments

THE VIEW

[paradisamods]

Before you start moving to explore, maybe it's a good moment to take in the view and second-guess where they are. Are they in Paradisa? Or somewhere else? What the fuck is going on here?

[teds_up]

Holy.. shit.

[THERE WAS AN ENTIRE CITY HERE AND NOBODY TOLD TED?]

[her_mouse_jesty]

This... it's Paradisa, isn't it?

[she isn't entirely sure herself. because. well. wtf?]

1/2 hope you don't mind backtagging too much

[teds_up]

[He spares a look at Minnie, then back to the castle, her form not quite registering with him yet.]

...huh.. I guess there are some striking similarities, aren't there?

HEADING INTO THE CITY

[paradisamods]

Closer to the city's outskirts, they'll notice something really big about the city:

It's been retrofitted. A lot.

While the buildings look like they may have originally been built out of brick-and-mortar in some earlier century, they've been revamped. Windows and doors look like they were put in hundreds of years after the buildings were built, wires and electronics are built into the walls, and there are satellite dishes and antennae all over the place. While the City Royale is lucky to have cobblestones and some horse-drawn carts, this place has tracks for streetcars and there are "pods" abandoned all over the streets -- pods that look like they could be some sort of futuristic car. Streetlamps are electrical, rather than oil-based.

Whoever lived here certainly wasn't happy with an old-fashioned city.

[sir_durge]

[Poking his head into a "pod"]

This is a strange thing...

[lonenoble]

Some kind of transportation.

[sir_durge]

There are no wheels [You crazy]

MAIN ST.

[paradisamods]

Most of the buildings are sealed up, but a few are open on Main Street. Along the way there are little shops, a church, a primary school... from the contents, one could easily infer that the people who lived here just up and vanished. Little restaurants have tables set with half-finished meals, schoolrooms have dozens of little textbooks open on the desks, with half-written answers from pupils who never finished a lesson. Everything is in the same language that had been printed on the door to the tomb, incomprehensible, impossible to understand.

Where did everyone go?

[her_mouse_jesty]

[She feels a little silly doing this, but it's worth a try. She calls out, looking around.]

Hello...? Is anyone there? We're peaceful!

[inmylight_comdr]

[Kat pauses, canting her head slightly to see if there's any reply, before shaking her head.]

No dice. I think we've got the place to ourselves.

[her_mouse_jesty]

But... doesn't it look like whoever was here left only a little while ago? Look at the food!

THE FOUNTAIN

[paradisamods]

Much like Paradisa, this city has a fountain in the City Square as well. It's one of the only things left completely functional, the spewing, murky water the only sound to be heard for miles.

Upon closer inspection, one would discover that the fountain has been vandalized. Someone -- or someones, given the varying handwriting -- have taken fat markers and written all over it. It seems to be the same message every time, but it appears in thousands of different languages. Whoever left this message wanted to be sure that the odds of any passerbys understanding was high.

There it is, in the Common Tongue, clustered amongst all the other languages:

DON'T TURN OUT LIKE US.
DON'T LET YOUR PARADISE DIE.

[solar_absorber]

[Apollo is crouched down, studying the writing on the fountain.]

This isn't weird or anything.

...Anyone recognize the other languages? Do they all say the same thing?

[her_mouse_jesty]

[She manages to read some, frowning.]

I think so.

[solar_absorber]

I guess they really wanted to get the message across. The next question would be, what does it mean?

BLOCKED

[paradisamods]

They may try to head towards the castle, but they'll find their passage blocked: there's a river of lava acting as a moat around the place.

Convenient.

There is a map of the city posted there, though, and clearly marked is SUBWAY STATION to the East end of the city.

[inmylight_comdr]

[KAt's going to inspect that lava moat for a while, but the fact that it's flowing freely means there's less chance of a buildup somewhere.]

[She'll shoot off a journal entry for York about hte lava, and then turn her attention to the map.]

[daisy_wick]

A lava moat?

[Yup, that's what it looks like. This whole place is like a ghost town version of Paradisa, minus the fiery moat of lave]

[inmylight_comdr]

I bet it's effective in deterring an ambush.