[F6-SP-ST-PT] Into the Depths of Memory (Calming the Soul)

[Nisahime 0]

A swift wind blows along the top of trees, as strings of webbing are misted with the soft twinkle of an incandescent waft. That gentle reminder met eagerly on that draft, offering the stone of change down a winding path that would lead it to the future. Further beyond, the sapphire blue sky held its stark contrast to the green and pressed upon the eyes a magnificent composure. Leaves dance wistfully to the ground, showing their joy in this silent serenity. Many come to scale the mountains that lingered beyond the Ruins of Tsjericanth, eagerly seeking redemption and the peace it would allow. This is conveyed through the sheer calm that the floor provides, substantiated once those players would find their ways from Krycim. 

The uncut path that worked its way loosely up the side of this mountain, where many had faced themselves once before. Here hoisted and lay the Waterfall of the Sage, the place to which the process would find its finality. A sacred place to which no matter the players who traveled up its precipice would find it isolated, alone. In its water a reflection of the self, and yet it would provide no comparison in its clarity. Like a mirror, it would reveal all that you are and would hope to become. Another finger upon the harp of destiny, another soul would find itself to the stones that ringed its circumference. In due time, for it was told upon the strings. The chains that contained ones souls, ones heart and ones inner most darkness would soon be broken. Threatened by introspection and the desire to grow, beneath the forgiving trickle. Like tears from a sage itself, all would be exonerated.

We hide from what we fear, yet know not what we fear. But float upon a wild and violent sea, trying to keep our breath and our head high.

[tricolor_mina 0]

*Made the stats colorful bc color makes the brain go brr

Violet took a deep breath, looking out at the sight before her. Nothing her brother could have said to her would have prepared her for what lay before her. The ruins had given way to an elegant waterfall, and the eerily calm pool that it flowed into. her virtual heart beat loudly in her chest, the scene leaving her breathless as she slowly drew closer, taking slow steps towards her goal. She'd talked to her brother about taking the quest, wanting his opinion. "The Waterfall of The Sage... so you're doing that quest?" Akane had looked away from her, his tone solemn as he spoke. "I won't stop you... but... you should be careful Violet."

"Sometimes... Sometimes you'll see things that you never wanted to learn about yourself."

Which had led her to coming to this place almost immediately. Violet stood before the Waterfall with a determined look in her eyes. "No matter what. I'll do this no matter what it takes." she murmured, before kneeling down before the fall, arranging herself in a manner that almost made it look like she was praying. She retrieved a skewer roll and one of her damage potions, taking her time as she ate and drank. She let out a soft sigh, watching as her stats raised from the meager numbers that her basic gear gave her. She leaned her head forward, allowing herself to hone her mind in on the roar of the waterfall.

"Into the breach."

Statblock

Spoiler

Tricolor Mina | HP: 780/780 | EN: 112/112 | DMG: 27 | MIT:18 | ACC:5 | AA | PHASE | VAMP-D: 78 | HLY: 16 | LD:4

List o' stats and inventory uwu

Spoiler

Name: Tricolor Mina, The Guiding Light

True Tier: 6
Level: 33
Paragon Level: 23
HP: 780/780
EN: 112/112

Stats:
Damage: 21
Mitigation: 78
Accuracy: 5
Loot Die: 4 (3 from Searching, 1 from Attic - Bedroom)
Stealth Rating: -2
AA PHASEVAMP-D: 78 HLY: 16
Equipped Gear:
Weapon/Armor/Trinket:
- Everlasting Ember (T4 Demonic War Fan: Phase/Holy II/A.A.
Armor/Trinket:
- Queen's Gambit (T4 Demonic Light Armor: Vamp. Def. II, MIT II)
Shield/Armor/Trinket:
- Mask of Rose (T1 Perfect Trinket: ACC III)

Combat Mastery:
- Combat Mastery: Damage R3

Combat Shift:
- ST Shift

Familiar Skill:
- Hunting Familiar

Custom Skill:
-

Skills:
- Charge
- Energist
- Light Armor R5
- Lock Picking R3
- Quick Change
- Searching R3
- Thrown Weaponry R5

Extra Skills:
- Assault Mode
- Frozen Hide
- Photosynthesize

Inactive Extra Skills:

Addons:
- Dismantling
- Focus
- Precision
- Resolve
- Stamina

Mods:
- Meticulous
- Night Vision
- Tracking

Inactive Mods:

Battle Ready Inventory:
- Briar's Lost Lament (Cursed/Blight/Burn/Frostbite) x 1
- Imugi's Inspiration (Mass Healing Crystal) x 5
- Popcorn (T4 VIT) x 5
- Popcorn (T4 VIT) x 5
- TP Crystal x 5
- Truffles (T3 VIT) x 5

Housing Buffs:
- Basic Kitchen: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot. This can exceed normal Cook enhancement caps. Ex: A perfect T2 MIT food gives 35 MIT instead of 30.
- Storage Closet: +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot
- Attic (Bedroom): +1 Expertise to declared utility skill. Cannot boost a skill without ranks, or increase a skill past its maximum rank. Cannot boost a skill the user has not learned yet. Ranks obtained using this buff will make the mods of that rank available for purchase. Mods obtained this way are unusable if this buff is removed until the skill is returned to the appropriate rank by way of SP purchase.
- Fishing Pond: +2 Fishing EXP per fishing attempt
- Extended Workshop: +2 Crafting EXP per crafting attempt and +1 crafting attempt per day
- Mega Slime Farm: +10% EXP to a thread. Limit one use per month. Must be used on a player's first post in a thread. Cooldown begins counting down when used in a post.

Guild Hall Buffs:

Scents of the Wild Totem:

Wedding Ring:

Crafting Profession:

Gathering Profession:

[Nisahime 0]

When placed upon the stones and allowing a stillness to overtake their mind, the player will find sound itself begin to become so small. The wind moves to silence, the trees no longer allowing their voices to be heard. What remains is the subdued cascading of the waterfall, the only notable noise. Then it would hit

*drip*

The sound of a single droplet striking a puddle in an empty cave, and with it weightlessness, the slight feeling of falling

*drip*

Again that sound like a raindrop is heard and it would send shivers down the spine, as the body seemed to become numb.

*drip*

Once their eyes would open, a torpid tingle upon the skin would convey the lack of a physical connection. A darkened hall of a myriad of doors. The soft burning of torches that would provide light in their offering, allowing the halls of memory to ring true and be traversed. Down these depths a singular guise, a shape nigh indistinguishable for it was beyond such understanding. It would offer the player within the depths of its own nightmares a choice. That choice spoken in a ringing that felt as though it would pierce the ears, a stinging reminder of how alien it was:

A curious sight to behold in this place, a curious girl that found themselves rattling the chains that secure the soul. Eager? Afraid? How will you fair I wonder? To look into the captive heart is to look upon the face of madness, and invite it out to play. Will the hardships destroy you when made to manifest? Will you escape this place with your life? I must say, color me curious Violet? Will you overcome your captivity and find the courage to break your binds or find yourself consumed? Best of Luck, Dancer of Wild Roses.

The lights surge and the first part of the test would begin, as whoever was causing the players ears to bleed with their monologue was gone. The first reward was finding the door that would lead to the correct path:

---

First Post Action Challenge, Find the Correct Door (LD: 11+) | Upon failure, Mina will experience some portion of her memory in vivid detail threatening her mental health before returning to this corridor.

[tricolor_mina 0]

Roll Result below uwu

Spoiler

Roll ID#: 233823, LD: 8 (8+5 (Lockpicking+Dismantling) = 13)

Violet felt herself drifting, the roar of rushing water slowly dying down. it was like she was falling down, deeper and deeper. eventually, the flow seemed to stop almost entirely. A shiver ran down her spine as she rose to her feet, slowly opening her eyes as she slowly began to look around the area she was in. "... Its... different, compared to how I imagined it to be." she murmured, carefully looking around her. "So this is what it looks like for me..?"

Ba-Dump!

Violet clutched at her head, her ears ringing as a voice rang out throughout the halls. It was a dizzying sensation that left her trying to keep to her feet. "Nngh..! What the... hell!" she gasped, eyes watering as she tried to steady herself. "A specific... door..? ugh.. was that the keeper of this place..?" she shook her head violently, trying to throw off the illusory sensations that had been forced upon her. She shakily walked forward, drawing closer to the wall of doors that lay ahead of her. One by one, she passed by them, carefully looking at each of them... until finally, she stopped in front of one in particular.

a small puddle of water had started to leak from below.

"Is... is it this one..?" she mumbled, carefully reaching forward with an outstretched hand. The faint dripping sound grew louder in her ears, causing her heart to race as she steeled herself to open the door... leading to seemingly nothing..? "Huh..?" she reached through the door, her hand pawing at the inky darkness, only for it to ripple as her hand sank inside, swallowed by the shadows housed within. "O-oh.. I guess I can't see what's going on until I go inside, huh..?" she took a deep breath, before closing her eyes and moving forward. She was trembling as she moved forward. "Too late for me to be afraid, right?"

It was almost like she was sinking

Edited September 27 by tricolor_mina

[Nisahime 0]

As the player sought out the first door of many, taking an ounce of caution as to not step into the wrong part of her own psyche. Flames perched high upon its sides would snuff out from the torches, and that gilded ivory door would turn blue once its handle is clasped and reshape itself instantly. This one took the shape of pull bar the moment its touched, as if divining the place to which it would lead and the choice was chosen. A black abyss stared back savagely and without warning as it would reach out in blackened tongues, vines topped with barbs but color stricken from them. Like a rose but opaque and without definition. Coiling around the waist and wrist, they rip with a pitiless tug and peel the player into the stygian roots of bittersweet nostalgia. Behind them the door slams shut, the sound echoing out for miles before disappearing.

Should the player look back they will see that threshold flicker like a candle snuffed out, and the moment they blink the room will suddenly shift. From their hands and knees they will find them buried in what would appear to be water, enough to bury up to their ankles in depth. The scent of decay would burn deep into the soul. That water chilled the skin and threatened the bone. Clothing would be stricken doused and hair knotted. A single chair with a dimly lit screen, the only source of light that paints the silhouette into the eyes but hard to see. Pale light offered from it would reveal the shape of a desk, hallways. Dimly reflective white surfaces, and above? As the player would look up, a sputter of sparks that would offer a blinding flash in inconsistent intervals. The spark and hum of electricity uneven and broken. The real world? But broken beyond repair.

[tricolor_mina 0]

Violet grunted in surprise as she landed on her knees hard, the motion jarring to her. the sound of water sloshing hit her ears, the icy cold of water eliciting a deep chill that hit her very core. "F-fuck..! That's really cold..!" she gasped, doing her best to pull herself to her feet. Her eyes snapped open as she scrambled for the nearest higher up structure that she could grasp on to, her hands locking onto icy cold metal that bit into her hands to the point that her whole arm went numb for a moment. It was a desk of some sort, and that was all she could tell in the dim lighting of the structure that she now stood in. The water she'd fallen into was only up to her ankles, but it was just enough that it was starting to make her legs go numb, her body trembling. "Where... am I..?"

she turned behind herself, her heart sinking as she realized that the door she had gone through had completely vanished, cutting off her only escape from the danger that lay within this hall.

Then the smell hit her. Acrid, decaying flesh, and rotted blood filling her nose, eliciting a gag from Violet as she struggled to try and block it out. "Ugh, no!" she started coughing, her eyes watering as she started walking forward. Between the cold and the awful, decaying stench that pervaded her sense of smell, she just wanted out. "Hello? Is anyone there?!" she cried out, staggering forward, only to trip over a fallen chair leg, falling into the frigid water once more. "Agh!"

[Nisahime 0]

The splashing within this dimly lit entryway would ring out and seem to carry on for eons. The audible outcry screaming off the walls in a hollow retelling. The figure in front of that faint glowing square would shift and stand, looking down upon the girl that had so rudely interrupted his research. Even further still, it was exactly one participant to which that documentation entailed. "You have some nerve, Himé." That opaque specter would respond in a familiar voice, but with it a tinge of pain. The voice cracks and nearly chokes, as the very soul seemed to ache on every word. A flash of fluorescent light would provide vision, revealing the figure of Akane, yet his expression would be a mix of pain and outrage.

"How dare you come here.... After all you've done." A twist of his body as his heart burned in a most magnificent sorrow, yearned for answers and a sense of fairness. The glint of bronze shine as another flash blinds the player, showing a brief view of weapons being put onto his hands. "Why, la sorella? Our father? Our own carne della mia carne?" This comes out so primal and in anguish it would break into a scream, gut wrenching as it would move him closer to vomiting. "Himé, you never should have shown your face here again. I would have protected you with my life mon chéri. Declan. So why!?" He'd slam his fist into the back of her skull knocking her deeper into that bone chilling pond, as his mixed horror came to reality. "Your dead to me traditrice, I guess its just time to pay the piper and make it official..."

---

Players:
Tricolor Mina | HP: 780/780 | EN: 112/112 | DMG: 27 | MIT:18 | ACC:5 | AA | PHASE | VAMP-D: 78 | HLY: 16 | LD:4

Enemies:
<<Akane, Bitter Survivor>> | HP: 195/195 | DMG: 156 | MIT: 7

[tricolor_mina 0]

Violet let out a groan as she pulled herself to her feet, the chill having fully settled in as she leaned against the damp wall. Her hand clawed at the wall, a shiver running down her spine as she tried to keep herself warm. "Where even is this!" she growled, a hand going to her waist as she prepared herself to defend herself from an attack. One of the things she'd been warned about, when she'd originally decided to take this quest was that she was never alone, no matter where she went during her travels inside of this world. There was always something, be it hostile or otherwise.

and sure enough, she caught sight of something, someone, that was leaning forward in front of a computer screen. The instant they spoke, however, violet felt her blood chill cold, colder than even the ice that was beginning to form across the tips of her fingers. 'So... that's the way that this game is playing, then..?' this version of Akane, her older brother, was clearly enraged. his words cut deep, and Violet could understand where the sentiment came from. She put a hand to her weapon, closing her eyes. "Akane... Te lo prometto, caro." her fan suddenly glowed as she hurled it forward, the bladed edges of the closed fan landing square in the center of his chest. "I'll make this quick for us both, I'm so sorry..!"

ST-I vs <<Akane, Bitter Survivor>>

Spoiler

Roll ID#: 234697, BD: 7 (7+5+1 = 13, Hit! 15*27 = 405 - 7 = 398 DMG to Akane, Bitter Survivor! Akane, Bitter Survivor is Slain!)

Mina loses 14 EN!

Tricolor Mina | HP: 780/780 | EN: 98/112 | DMG: 27 | MIT:18 | ACC:5 | AA | PHASE | VAMP-D: 78 | HLY: 16 | LD:4

<<Akane, Bitter Survivor>> | HP: -203/195 | DMG: 156 | MIT: 7

Edited October 8 by tricolor_mina