The Parasite King's heads squirm this way and that as they follow the Tropers, many of them indeed giving chase to the Seals. By the time most of us have reached the other end of the chamber, the Parasite King has managed to get its heads all tangled up, all in amongst the ropes and earth pillars and also each other.

The Parasite King screeches in defiance as the Tropers make it safely out of the acid chamber.

---

Xabby and Mr. 300 find themselves in a dark tunnel that seems to stretch endlessly.

she magnificent my bastard till i complete on her monster

Briya is using the pillars to get ahead and got to safety.

"Do you think we can kill the Worms?"

It seems to be charging up another spell... and launches what can only be described as a tree trunk sized stone stake at one of the giant worms. Another crack shows up starting to climb up its right arm...

"Oh... right. I think the next version has to fix that issue!"

Edited by sci300768 on Jan 18th 2022 at 5:12:37 AM

I have no idea what to put here, oh well!

Cassie's brain place

   "OH NO."    Cut to wherever the demon lady is hanging out in Cassie's brainium. She has long cyan hair and...a office uniform. OF COURSE. She's sweating.

The lily-pad area

"Oh no, im a susceptible target! I hope no big, strong, WORM comes and KILLS me!" Chibi hops around, going around Lilypads/pillars. She is a couple away to everyone else.

Edited by Chibi-Robo on Jan 18th 2022 at 5:14:14 AM

Molly found a dead body.

Guy jumps from one pillar to the other before jumping and dropping down into safety.

It's the same as always! I just wonder if I should fold those blood lumps into squares or triangles this time?

The stone stake smashes into the tangle of worm heads, causing it to shake and topple. However, the impact of the massive worms against the acid lake produces a large tidal wave of acid, threatening to overcome any stragglers.

she magnificent my bastard till i complete on her monster

Lily-pads

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" She falls onto the ground-place that's after the acid pit.

Molly found a dead body.

Cassie's headspace

Cassie takes a good moment to appreciate the demon's looks in his head.

"Cool."

"...I'm booting you out of my brain once we escape this whale though."

The tunnel

"Hoooooly shit how did I even escape~!???" Cassie yells in a panicked, singsong tone.

Cassie | he/they | But will it stop the pain forever? / I just can't be sure

The acid splashes against the ground, just barely missing Chibi, before gurgling back into the pit.

"We did it," I pant breathlessly. "Dear god..."

I look out onto the chamber we entered. It's a long, dark tunnel that seems to stretch endlessly.

"Alright guys... Don't ask how I know, but I think we're close."

she magnificent my bastard till i complete on her monster

"... We are missing a Troper- nevermind."

It is now visibly panicking for some reason. There are more cracks showing and it is one solid hit away from falling apart.

"I mean... we did not test what happens if... Oh."

Briya now realizes that they did not QUITE finish all of the tests when making these statues... no wizard is in actual danger of dying while using these though. But no one knows what happens if a statue breaks.

I have no idea what to put here, oh well!

The chamber of darkness

Yeah, it looks dark in here.

Then turn on the lights, dammit!

Okay okay.

Mr. 300 BC then emits a fire in her hand, just to see what the hell is there in the dark.

“You bowl with 3 middle fingers” Oh hey, a troper wall

As I start to walk down the tunnel, and the demigods traverse theirs, the hooded figures from planet Soundgarden finally emerge onto the cornfield, gaping at the broken down plants and scattered worm corpses.

"What the hell happened here..."

she magnificent my bastard till i complete on her monster

Guy gets up from his fall and joins up with the group.

It's the same as always! I just wonder if I should fold those blood lumps into squares or triangles this time?

Gold Wasp looks at the Soundgardners. Big worm!

and the public won't dwell on my transmission cause it wasn't televised.

Cassie's Headest Spacest

   "Yeah i get it. Anyways, i better text my boss, i'll be quiet for a little bit, just gonna wait for him to respond..Oh wait! I didnt introduce myself! Names Lilith (just Lilith..), 3rd highest ranking in Hell.INC, yes, everyone is."   

Edited by Chibi-Robo on Jan 18th 2022 at 5:27:29 AM

Molly found a dead body.

The chamber of Darkness.

Okay, let's see what will lead us to is the Pale Amber. If not, let's hope the tropers got it. Mr. 300 BC then nods at that as they use the light to travel onto the chamber.

Edited by Xabbynip09 on Jan 18th 2022 at 8:31:08 AM

“You bowl with 3 middle fingers” Oh hey, a troper wall

Headspace

"Like, everyone's 3rd highest? PFFFFFFFFF."

Cassie | he/they | But will it stop the pain forever? / I just can't be sure

The statue is now trying to fix itself to no avail.

Briya is following After and the statue is standing on her bag.

"I think we actually did something good back there."

She places her sniper rifle on her back and while reaching for ammo to place on her belt from her bag... accidently swats the statue really hard. Now she has restocked on ammo... the poor statue has been flung ahead and nearly crashes into After.

It gets up and did take a hit. Fortunely this statue will still hold for now. So it opts for running behind After despite the size difference.

I have no idea what to put here, oh well!

The seals follow the others down the tunnel. "Hmm... long, dark tunnel, escalating trials up to this point — clearly, this is the symbolic abyss. The belly of the whale, as it were."

"Actually, any part of the tunnels could be the belly. Of all the parts we've seen, this actually seems the least likely."

"Okay, the... I don't know, appendix of the whale? Point is, this is where we should face our greatest trial. A symbolic death and rebirth. Then, having undergone major character development, the Tropers continue on, as greater heroes, able to take on the challenges of the rest of the tournament."

"Classic hero's journey. Except we're usually more of a quirky helper character that would be encountered briefly in the first part of the journey. Maybe we'd get a Big Damn Heroes moment later, but no more than that. Definitely not a hero-archetype."

"Actually, none of the Tropers are really hero-archetypes."

"Maybe if you add us all together, our character traits all cancel out to create a standard hero-archetype?"

Edited by aPod-ofSeals on Jan 18th 2022 at 7:33:49 AM

Data is imaginary. This burrito is real.

Headplace

   "Yes."    Lilith falls silent.

Hell.INC

Cut to Satan, he's tapping the wooden desk, when he notices an text.

   "Hey Boss, im currently in someone's headspa...head...headplace! Yeah that! Uh, i'll be late."   

Tunnel

"Hero's journey baloney. Where's the bad?"

Edited by Chibi-Robo on Jan 18th 2022 at 5:34:45 AM

Molly found a dead body.

"I can... See that." Virgari notes.

"Good morrow, my friends!" Jayuce greets the wasps. "Have you had any luck finding the pale amber?"

---

As I lead the Tropers down the tunnel, it suddenly comes to a stop. There, poking out of the walls and ground, is the magic stuff, the grey amber that we've been searching for.

..... There isn't a lot of it.

"Looks like our greatest trial is figuring out how we're gonna win with approximately 2 grams of grey amber."

---

Meanwhile, the demigods' tunnel seems to keep going and going...

Edited by Afterwards on Jan 18th 2022 at 5:38:01 AM

she magnificent my bastard till i complete on her monster

. . .

"Does the quality matter? If it's overall, I think we could get a small amount of high quality stuff?"

It has teleported and is back onto Briya's shoulder.

I have no idea what to put here, oh well!

tunnel

"is it possible to just breach the whole-ass digestive tract and straight-up escape the anus- ...oh wait right we gotta hit the friggin, large intestines or whatever to extract spicy poop."

Cassie facepalms seeing the ambergris.

Edited by SomeLibre on Jan 18th 2022 at 8:40:11 PM

Cassie | he/they | But will it stop the pain forever? / I just can't be sure

The long ass Chamber of Darkness

I swear, if this is what I'm thinking is, I'm-

Oh come on, Xabby! You always assumed the worse possibility! Let's keep going..in case there's a pale amber we're looking for.

Of course, they'll keep walking. In fact, they're not alone. Well, they're kind of alone, it's just that the two invisible black cloaks are just observing the duo.

“You bowl with 3 middle fingers” Oh hey, a troper wall

"I'm pretty sure if we escape out the anus - which first of all, gross - I think we'd get flung into space and die."

she magnificent my bastard till i complete on her monster

"Yeah, no, we can win with these." She picks up the amber.

Cassie's headspace Headplace! :)

   "Uh...back?"   

Molly found a dead body.