L: With the loading finished, Squirtle and Aron find themselves in a desert environment, a large set of ruined columns, rooftops, and other sorts of platforms in front of them. They can already see their goal from here: Something glowing on top of a small tower on the far side of the ruins. All they had to do was get there...
N: Squirtle: This gets tricky now
L: "Never been too big a fan of desert levels... Let's get this over with." With a jump that's a fair bit higher than what would actually be possible for him, Aron gets himself onto the first platform, looking ahead to figure out a route.
N: Squirtle: *Jump to higher ground as he sees a slightly darker sand below them* That looks like quicksand below us
L: Aron looks over the edge. "Oh yeah, look at that! It's been a while since it last showed up in that jungle level!"
N: Squirtle: A place full of plant enemies that I never forget. I’m glad that jungle level is over
L: "Those SUCKED! SO glad we don't have to go back there." With a route mostly planned out, Aron resumes hopping between platforms.
N: *They soon reach the halfway point as they found an extra live* Squirtle: There’s another extra live, we are doing good on lives
L: "Not really the biggest fan of games where players share the same amount of lives, but that's been working alright for us so far at least." Aron happily touches the life, adding it to his and Squirtle's total.
N: Squirtle: Let’s see, we should have about 20 lives
L: Aron checks his inventory. "Oh, 21 actually! I'd say we're probably set for the rest of the game, as long as we don't get another awful level."
N: Squirtle: Yeah, let’s hope the later levels doesn’t get brutal *They soon reach the final checkpoint of the level*
L: "Hmm... Not quite sure where to go from here... Any ideas?" Aron looks around, trying to figure out which direction would be best.
N: Squirtle: This jump here look plausible
L: "You sure? That seems kind of far to me... Maybe you should try it first, you've always been better at platforming."
N: *Squirtle make the jump to the next platform* Squirtle: Not a problem for me
L: Aron smiles. "Never an issue for you, huh?" He backs up a bit and takes a running jump toward that platform. He comes up just a little short, barely managing to grab the edge with his front legs while scrambling to keep himself there with his back legs. "Argh, so close! Help me up before I fall!"
N: Squirtle: On my way now *Tries to pull Aron up but struggle to get him up* Wow, you’re so heavy
L: "S-stupid metal body... AH!" Aron can't manage to keep himself in place any more, falling from the ledge and dragging Squirtle with him! Aron lands on his back in the quicksand, more frustrated than scared. "Damn it, we have to go SO far!"
N: *Squirtle starting to get worried and scared* Squirtle: Oh man, we gonna drown here. We never fallen in quicksand til now
L: "Maybe if I wasn't STUCK here... Nnh..." With some effort, Aron manages to flip himself over, and realizes it's surprisingly easy to keep from sinking. "Oh, we can basically just jump back to the surface... Man, that's almost worse, we have to go all the way back now!"
N: *Squirtle calms down after noticing that it’s escapable* Oh, we can actually escape this quicksand *Look around and see that it’s a long way back* Well that sucks
L: Aron looks back up at the platforms above. "Hang on... We hit a checkpoint just before this. What if we just... Let ourselves sink? We'll respawn at the checkpoint and save a ton of time!"
N: *They start trying to escape* Squirtle: That is a faster way, though I’m not sure I feel comfortable about waiting for the quicksand to slowly drown us
L: "I mean, it's not like it's gonna feel like the real thing, and we can probably dig ourselves deeper to speed it up."
N: Squirtle: I can’t dig like you do *They sink to knees*
L: "No problem, I can help you. If you want, anyway." Aron pushes himself back up in the quicksand and walks over to Squirtle.
N: Squirtle: I might need to take time to brave the quicksand, I’m a little nervous right now
L: "That's fine, I'll stick close and try to go under when you do." Aron digs a bit to get himself to the same depth as Squirtle.
N: Squirtle: I might jump a few times between depth til I’m brave enough to give myself in, well at least I can say that this quicksand feels rather comfy
L: "It does feel weirdly nice, especially considering it had to be programmed like that. Ha, I think one of the developers was into quicksand!"
N: Squirtle: How strange, wonder why that is
L: "No idea. Certainly good for us, though, means this won't be all that unpleasant. Wonder if it's just gonna have us immediately die when we go under, or if it'll let us hold our breath..."
N: Squirtle: Not sure, it will be a bit scary if we just instantly drown *They sink to belly*
L: "Do you want me to check? I don't mind being the first to go, if that's how it works."
N: Squirtle: Sure, that will help me understand the quicksand mechanic
L: "Alright, hang on." Aron starts digging to get himself deeper, soon submerging entirely. Some bubbles rise up from where his head was before he climbs back up, completely coated in sand. "Nope, not instant death. Just brings up a breath meter like it's water."
N: Squirtle: Interesting… hang on, did I remember something in the option menu?
L: "What do you mean? I haven't looked at that since we started, and all I did was turn on subtitles." Aron brings up the options menu.
N: *They see through the miscellaneous tab and found the option for quicksand* Squirtle: Here it is, we can change it so we can die instantly when we sink under so we can get back to the checkpoint faster, that’s something to keep in mind for later
L: "Always neat when a game gives options that change the mechanics... After this first one we'll turn that on, I kind of want to ride this out."
N: Squirtle: Yeah, best to keep it short *They sink to their chest* Getting pretty deep now
L: "I'd bet the only bottom to this is the bottom of the entire map... Kind of doubt we'd be able to get there though, even if we tried."
N: Squirtle: Yeah, no way we getting that far *They both suddenly move in a perilous motion which made them shock in surprised as they jump a bit* Whoa, what was that just now
L: "Is there something down there? I don't really see why there would be, it's not like we're out of bounds..."
N: Squirtle: Or maybe there’s a trigger point when we hit a certain depth
L: "I'm not sure it's that, I went entirely under and this didn't happen... Might just be a time-based thing."
N: Squirtle: Or maybe an animation that triggers when idling at certain depth *They start doing a perilous motion again*
L: "O-okay, don't like that! I'm gonna turn that off on my end, I REALLY don't like it taking control of me like that." Aron starts looking through the options again.
N: *The panic animation is turn off* Squirtle: Guess the dev have too much fun with the quicksand
L: "They probably should have considered not putting something like that into a VR game, that really freaked me out..."
N: Squirtle: Yeah, don’t want to think about it
L: "Man, this is taking forever... Does anyone even die to quicksand in this in normal gameplay? This really is only a threat if you let it be one!"
N: Squirtle: Only those with kinks for quicksand I’m betting *They sink to their neck*
L: Aron starts tilting his head back. "You ready to finally go under? Can't imagine they made drowning feel very realistic, so it should be fine."
N: Squirtle: Yes, I think I’m ready to sink under the soft sand *Squirtle tilts his head*
L: "See you back up at that checkpoint. Heh, this took so long I'm not even sure it's faster than redoing it all..."
N: Squirtle: At least it feels so relaxing
L: Aron gets a deep breath before enough of his head finally sinks under that he can't breathe any more. In his vision, he can see a breath meter pop up and slowly begin to drain.
N: *Squirtle toke his breath before sinking completely under the quicksand as his breath meter shows, draining slower then Aron*
L: Calmly holding his breath, Aron closes his eyes and smiles. Being completely under the quicksand feels even better to him than simply sinking in it!
N: *Squirtle continues holding his breath as he starting to love the quicksand surrounding his body and shell*
L: Too soon, Aron is starting to be under some strain, his chest heaving a bit as some bubbles get forced out.
N: *Squirtle keeping his breath in as he felt like being buried in beach sand*
L: Aron struggles, his breath meter close to being empty, but he doesn't try to go for the surface, knowing he'll be perfectly fine soon enough.
N: *Squirtle starting to strain which doesn’t concern him at all, making him wanting more of quicksand fun*
L: As his breath meter runs entirely out, Aron is forced to gasp, drawing sand into his mouth and throat. It feels weird, but only moderately painful, and he's sent into a coughing fit as his health starts draining. He has quite a bit more health than Squirtle, owing to his metal body, so he has a while before he'll run out.
N: *Squirtle breath meter is nearly empty as he hums and moans*
L: Even drowning is feeling oddly good to Aron, likely because it's less painful than it actually would be. He smiles as he keeps trying to breathe the sand, his health down by about a quarter.
N: *Squirtle breath is fully drained as his lungs starts being filled with sand as he losing health, it felt so good despite the pain*
L: Aron holds onto Squirtle as he enjoys continuing to choke on sand, now all but certain that one of the game's developers enjoyed quicksand.
N: *They both enjoy every breath of it, feeling like they wanted more quicksand fun*
L: As much as he wishes he could keep going, Aron is almost out of health. He hugs Squirtle in his last few seconds, happily taking another couple gasps, before going limp, his drowned body soon disappearing as normal.
N: *Squirtle toke his last gasp as his health drop to zero and lose one of his extra live*
L: Seconds later, both he and Aron respawn at the checkpoint, back on the last platform before they'd fallen. "Yeah, one of the devs is really into quicksand. That felt great!", Aron says.
N: Squirtle: Yeah, I won’t mind drowning in quicksand again
L: "Think we'll keep that quicksand instant death thing off." Aron winks at Squirtle. "We should probably get going. I hear there's a level select once we finish the game, so we can come back here whenever we want after that!"
N: Squirtle: Yeah, we could turn on instant death only one time to see what it’s like. We have plenty of lives to experiment with
L: "May as well give it a shot, yeah." Aron opens up the options and sets sinking in quicksand to be instant death. "You want to both do it, or just one of us?"
N: Squirtle: I’ll go for it *Squirtle jumps into the quicksand*
L: Squirtle doesn't quite go all the way under the quicksand, only going to about his waist. Aron looks down to watch him. "Need any help going under?"
N: Squirtle: Nah, I’m good *Starts wiggling around in the quicksand*
L: Aron keeps watching anyway. As soon as Squirtle goes entirely under the quicksand, his vision goes black and he loses a life, respawning at the checkpoint again.
N: *That was after he “swim” around a bit and tilt his head the moment he hit neck deep and lift his arm up the moment his head about to sink under giving some extra hang time before sinking completely under for the instant death* Squirtle: That instant death was all the sudden, just instantly filled my entire lungs and boom, I’m gone
L: "Can't imagine that was as much fun. Alright, turning that back off, and we'll be keeping it off."
N: Squirtle: Now we continue on with our adventure
L: "This is a really good game, can't wait to mess around in it once we've beaten it!" Aron finally makes his second attempt at getting to the platform he'd missed before, and succeeds this time.
N: *They both completed the level*
![[RP LOG] Reconsidering the Deep options](https://va.ib.metapix.net/images80/overlays/writing.png "[RP LOG] Reconsidering the Deep options"){kind=small}
