raiamods: (Default)
raiamods ([personal profile] raiamods) wrote in [community profile] ethyraia2021-06-10 06:01 pm

EVENT #01 —

WHO: All PCs
WHAT: Guests arrive at the basecamp
WHEN: June 10 - June 17
WHERE: Basecamp Leviathan
NOTES/WARNINGS: None currently (let us know if we should update this because we missed something)


EVENT LOG 001 — JUNE ❀
CONTENT WARNINGS: None currently (let us know if we missed something and should update this!)

Please note that several of these sections have deadlines, so it's a good idea to prioritize your plotting for the earlier section of the event first.

A calendar of events and deadlines is as follows:
IC:
June 10 -
The thessyx arrive with the shell.
June 11 - Dinner with the thessyx, gifts distributed.
June 12 - Scrimmage interrupted by the formation of a sinkhole.
June 14 - Critters emerge from the sinkhole in the gymnasium.
June 13-17 - Two more sinkholes open up, with more critters emerging within the day.

OOC:
June 13 -
Last day to ask about your character interfering with the shell.
June 16 - Last day to ask about your character joining the closed-door meeting with Childe and the thessyx.
June 30 - Last day to register the way your character engages with the thessyx and the critters directly. (Mods do not anticipate replying to these comments.)
❀ UNEXPECTED VISITORS


At noon on June 10, a dozen visitors arrive. The Thessyx carry themselves quietly, moving through the base as if they were attempting to enter a body of water without disturbing it. Lightweight robes of some native skein cover their green-grey amphibian skin, but do not obscure the fact that each of them possesses four arms. Once inside the base and in the leviathan’s embrace, they will lower their hoods and additionally reveal fins of varying colors along the back of their scalps. These creatures have slit noses; wide-set, irisless eyes; and mouths that stretch the full width of their skull. With them, they bring a great shell about three meters long and as tall as a small adult human.

The security force of the Adamant greets the visitors on their entry to camp. These strange amphibious creatures inform the security force that they are the Thessyx, and that the shell is full of gifts. The security force is ordered by Chief Security Officer Rémi to lock the shell away until Captain Childe has had the opportunity to decide what will be done with the contents. If you intend for your character to interfere with the shell in some way, please reach out in the QUESTIONS thread below BEFORE JUNE 13TH — this includes if your character would try to stop others from interfering with it.

Three of their number with blue fins on their head go to speak in a closed-door meeting with Captain Childe. If your character would like to attempt to get access to this meeting, please reach out in the QUESTIONS thread below with an explanation of how they would attempt to do so BEFORE JUNE 16TH.

The next day, more Thessyx arrive, and they will remain on the base for about one week. They move around the camp fairly casually, mingling with the Adamant’s crew. They are particularly interested in the hatchlings. If your character would like to ask specific questions of the Thessyx they encounter, please direct them to the QUESTIONS thread below.

Just before dinner the next evening (June 11), Captain Childe announces that there will be a special celebration in the mess hall, courtesy of their guests — all of their guests. The announcement is as follows, and goes out on the communication devices camp-wide:
I'm sure some of you have noticed the Thessyx walking among us. In light of their arrival and the gifts they've brought with them, we've decided to have a joint celebration in the mess. They have agreed to have guards from their city patrol our perimeter, so everyone has twelve hours off. Attendance isn't mandatory, but it's strongly suggested.

They've brought gifts for our new arrivals as well. These gifts are to be distributed later. I know some of you will think it's unfair that the Thessyx are favoring them, and that in three years of being here this is the first time they've initiated contact with us. Tensions are bound to be high — but the first person who picks a fight is getting thrown in the brig, I don't care if you're a civilian or not. We could all use this break.

Don't offend them. No fish jokes.

Childe out.
At dinner, a few crew members get out their instruments, and Captain Childe even looks the other way when Senior Engineer Thorkil Bjørnson opens up a barrel of the moonshine he’s just finished. It means going without later, but they’ll share some of their modest wealth with the Thessyx. The mess hall is cluttered with revelry, and some of the tables have been pushed together to make room for people to dance.

The feast is made up of various mosses and seaweeds, pickled insects, and a few mollusks. Whether this sounds appetizing or not, it’s the freshest food anyone on the base has had for a while, and it seems it’s only intended for the Children of the Leviathan. Some crew members look on jealously or externalize their bitterness. Others may be pushier — after all, they’ve been providing for the hatchlings out of their own supplies for a while now. Still others will be surprised if any of the hatchlings offer trades or pawn the food off on them preemptively — they may be inclined towards favors and good will.

A few notes:
  • The Thessyx refer to the hatchlings as ‘Children of the Leviathan.’ They do not appear to sleep, nor do they step out from under the leviathan’s embrace when the sun is out. The three blue finned Thessyx who meet with Captain Childe are not the Thessyx’s leaders, only representatives. They prefer to ask the PCs questions about them and where they came from rather than answering questions about themselves.

  • To interfere with the shell, attempt to be involved in the closed-door meeting between Childe and the thessyx, or to ask questions of the thessyx, please visit the QUESTIONS sub-thread. These options have staggered deadlines so that we can account for each stage while responding to the next; these actions of some hatchlings will reflect on others.

  • By JUNE 30TH at 21:00 EST, please respond to the mod comment labeled THESSYX GREETING with a brief description of how your character would greet the Thessyx. Feel free to write multiple characters in a single comment. We just want to check the temperature in the room.

  • ❀ A DISTURBANCE UNDERFOOT

    On June 12th, the thessyx’s visit is disrupted by the appearance of a sinkhole in the gymnasium. The basketball court, which was already in disrepair, suffers the worst of the damage. In the midst of a scrimmage between PCs and NPCs, which the thessyx observe quite rapturously, a 5-meter hole opens in the middle, with concrete and steel and earth crumbling underfoot. Any injured PCs will have their sprains and scratches treated well by the medical team, and the gymnasium will be closed until further notice. Don’t worry! The Adamant’s engineers are on the case, figuring out how the soil’s stability gave way. This could be bad news for the entirety of the basecamp if it’s an ongoing issue. The engineers could probably use some help addressing the issue — to volunteer, reach out to us in the QUESTIONS thread.

    Over the next couple days, two more sinkholes appear — one near the Memorial Wall, and one in the showers (though it thankfully doesn’t seem to have affected the plumbing). Anyone injured by a sinkhole will also have their sprains and scratches treated well by the medical team. Cartagena shares a helpful (“helpful”) PSA about the dangers of sinkholes and how to protect yourself, which is clearly dated and has nothing to do with whatever is going on here on Ethyraia:

    Hello, Children of the Leviathan! Isn’t that a silly name? I guess it’s the most accurate, since you did come from eggs. Soon you will be one month old! Hahaha! Biology can be odd sometimes.

    It’s not just biology, though! Ecology is certainly strange and confusing, and nothing is stranger and more confusing than the ecology of Ethyraia. I’m sure you have all noticed the sinkholes appearing more and more often these days. Do not be alarmed! Not because there is nothing alarming, but because alarm leads to panic and panic leads to more danger!

    For the time being, please follow these helpful tips for sinkholes:
    1. If you see a sinkhole, go the opposite direction.
    2. If you fall into a sinkhole, try not to cry. Instead, yell for help!

    I think these are sufficient enough guidelines to follow, yes?

    Remember, be careful out there! And protect your squishy selves. You never know when you might be useful later. Then it would be a shame if your squishy self was gone. We’d all be very sad. Or most of us. Or some of us. At least me, to the capacity that an AI can be sad.

    Stay safe! Cartagena out.

    On June 14th, the first of the critters emerges from the sinkhole in the gymnasium. These creatures are roughly a meter tall at the shoulder, blind, with enormous clawed forepaws and supernumerary hind-legs that appear shrunken and shrivelled and barely provide function. These creatures have tough, armored hides and truly, truly awful breath. They are capable of tearing through metal with their claws, and small arms fire does nothing to them. Within the day, dozens of them have skittered into the base. They seem as confused and afraid to be in here as the basecamp’s residents are to have them here. However, these are wild animals; they react to their fear with sharp teeth and claws. A few perseverant critters find their way into the cafeteria, sniffing out food, while others can be found gnawing on cables that power the lights for the basecamp.

    Chief Security Officer Rémi will be quick to pursue an extermination plan. The problem is big enough that the PCs are encouraged to help out, and those who volunteer will be quickly accepted, as long as they aren't trying to offer their own bright ideas.

    A few notes:
  • To volunteer to help out with engineering, please visit the QUESTIONS sub-thread.

  • If your character would volunteer to help security exterminate the creatures, or if they would disregard the security force and go after the critters on their own, please let us know in the QUESTIONS thread so we can talk about what this would look like. Rémi isn’t well-known for liking people who subvert the chain of command.

  • By JUNE 30TH at 21:00 EST, please respond to the CRITTER WRANGLING comment with how you vote the critters get dealt with — extermination, rehoming, or something else. If someone has already commented with your characters’ IC preference, please add your +1 under other people’s comments, so it’s easier for us to sort.
  • dissemblance: (pic#14842331)

    [personal profile] dissemblance 2021-06-29 02:20 pm (UTC)(link)
    what do those hands do?

    natasha is used to being up against people that outclass her in height, weight, strength. speed. she's fought aliens and gods and everything in between by now — you don't have to be the best, you just have to get enough of a read on your opponent to put your strengths against their weaknesses.

    it's a game of basketball. she probably shouldn't take it seriously. but it's a fun challenge just the same. she lets him chase her around, chases him, and generally there's a flow to the game, that sort of give and take you can lose yourself in.

    it's — nice.

    after a while, though, she stops on her side of the line, dribbling the ball idly with her left hand.


    I'd say we've got some fans.

    a few of the younger thessyx seem to have gathered at the edge of the court, their gills fluttering in curious interest.
    dissemblance: (Default)

    [personal profile] dissemblance 2021-06-29 02:30 pm (UTC)(link)
    does she trust him?

    if she falls, she's not going to have the time to throw another line out. if her anchor breaks —

    (she thinks about a bleak world, red skies, black rock, and clint begging her. she made her choice, but falling always drops the bottom out of your stomach no matter how well you're prepared for it.)

    so, she'll put her life in the hands of a near-stranger. rogers would. did, with sam. and she knows balthier at least a little better than that.

    so, she looks up at the anchor, calculates the amount of momentum she'll need. swings her legs to get her started. something above her creaks, and she grits her teeth. the pipe's going to give, it's just a matter of when.

    it happens at the apex of her next swing, she feels the line go slack and hears the distant screams of metal clashing against metal, she lets go of the cuff on instinct and lets the momentum carry her.

    trust is a funny thing.
    dissemblance: (pic#14842220)

    [personal profile] dissemblance 2021-06-29 03:27 pm (UTC)(link)
    Can't wait for a rousing game of 'pin the tail on the Scorpiug'.

    she sits down across from him, reaches out and clinks her little tin cup against his.

    So what's your take, '76'?
    sunmon: (Default)

    wildcard

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-06-29 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
    Basketball, huh?

    [ alina catches up with her at the end of the scrimmage. alina is more of a watcher than a doer, but she'd sat through the whole game. she wrings her hands in front of her, like she's aware that she's potentially intruding.

    she'd learned the name of the game from other audience members, who had painstakingly explained the rules. there was nothing to compare it to in ravka.
    ]
    sunmon: (Default)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-06-29 05:44 pm (UTC)(link)
    Claptrap?

    [ she turns around, face ashen and not just from the dirt. ]

    What are you doing down here? [ then, looking around. ] Where did you come from?
    annoyware: (pic#14869552)

    [personal profile] annoyware 2021-06-29 05:54 pm (UTC)(link)
    I found a path! Well, more like a tunnel. A pipe? It's something I definitely didn't accidentally fall into.

    [This is her rescuer. A three-foot-tall robot who doesn't even know how he got down here.]

    The important thing is, I'm here to save you!
    dissemblance: (pic#14842320)

    [personal profile] dissemblance 2021-06-29 07:39 pm (UTC)(link)
    who's she to judge? she's russian.

    she pours a few fingers of moonshine into his cup with a little salute of cheers.


    To our new amphibious fan club.

    she clinks her shitty little tin cup against his, and then takes a thoughtful sip.

    You spoken with any of them yet?
    dissemblance: (pic#8938053)

    [personal profile] dissemblance 2021-06-29 07:50 pm (UTC)(link)
    you're never done with gym class, sonny jim. but as it turns out, natasha is excellent at playing keepaway. she doesn't even trouble herself about having one arm out to block him, just keeps herself vaguely turned so that her shoulder is roughly angled towards the center of his chest.

    I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours.

    she says it playfully enough, as she bounces the ball behind her back and tips her chin upward at him in a sort of 'come on' gesture.
    dissemblance: (pic#14842183)

    [personal profile] dissemblance 2021-06-29 07:56 pm (UTC)(link)
    her smile is wry.

    Being alive, I guess.

    right now, only sam and barnes know she has an reason to celebrate that. but it's one of those little off-the-cuff quips no one would ever take too seriously anyway — they've been kidnapped to an alien world and they've already seen their share of hardships to endure.
    brosbeforeprose: (staying power)

    [personal profile] brosbeforeprose 2021-06-29 08:27 pm (UTC)(link)
    He's already decided this one somehow reminds of him of Aveline, who he saw mere weeks ago, but he still finds himself oddly fond of someone who reminds him of a friend who feels forever away. Maybe it's the height and the knowledge that both could snap him like a twig.

    "You smoke it," he says to both human and thessyx, and lights one - instantly with a tiny tool in the palm of his hand, wonders of technology.

    He usually doesn't smoke, but... Well, this whole experience so far has been a trip, why stop now? He shows both people the lit joint and takes a slow drag. That said, he doesn't inhale the whole lot - even if he does know that as soon as it starts to kick in, he won't care anymore.

    "That's all there is to it. Careful, start off slow." And he passes it first to the thessyx, who takes it hesitantly and copies what Varric did, with...a minimum of coughing and hacking. Varric wonders if they've done this before with something similar.

    "It tastes horrible," the thessyx says, but dutifully hands the joint carefully on long fingers to the other hatchling.
    fortyforged: (huh)

    [personal profile] fortyforged 2021-06-29 08:40 pm (UTC)(link)
    [The Exo shrugs.]

    Seems good enough a reason.

    [The little things, too often taken for granted. Given where they were and the circumstances, things could probably be worse. ]
    cryptoherpetology: (006)

    [personal profile] cryptoherpetology 2021-06-29 08:51 pm (UTC)(link)
    The nickname almost catches Alex off-guard. For as long as he can remember, the Aeslin mice have been calling him "The God of Scales and Silence" since childhood, and hearing someone else come to a similar conclusion about him when assigning a nickname would make him smile more than the twitch of his lips if it weren't for the answer to what Varric asks after that.

    "Nothing that would do anything to one of these," he admits. "But one of them did seem to be scared off by the sound of my gun firing. Which was good since I don't think the bullet even tickled when it hit. I'd be pretty fascinated if it hadn't been charging at me up until that point." He's lying, he's still fascinated, and the curious glances he's giving the carcass shows.

    "I can't exactly do a field dissection on this, but if you're willing to watch out for a few minutes I'd really like a chance to examine it. The more we know about them, the better we can figure out why they're here and how to make them go away." This is a man for whom the real loot is the taxonomical data we collect along the way.
    dissemblance: (pic#14842298)

    [personal profile] dissemblance 2021-06-29 09:00 pm (UTC)(link)
    she's scrubbing at her hair with a towel — it's hot, and she'd hustled out there — and she smiles at alina's question.

    Basketball. that's an affirmative on that one. You much for sports back home?
    sunmon: (Default)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-06-29 09:21 pm (UTC)(link)
    [ she shakes her head. ]

    Around the camp, boys in the First Army would box or wrestle, but I ... [ her nose crinkles. ] I prefer to save my punches for when I mean them.

    [ like zoya nazyalensky. alina should probably let that go, eventually, but she's a creature of grudges. ]
    sunmon: (pic#14982508)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-06-29 09:35 pm (UTC)(link)
    Tell me you didn't just trap yourself down here with me.

    [ now she has guilt AND no way out. ]
    ulfrkysst: (ou mi galdr maðr áss áss æt)

    [personal profile] ulfrkysst 2021-06-29 10:21 pm (UTC)(link)
    'Smoking it' doesn't mean much -- she imagines he's going to burn it and they'll get high off the smoke or something, so she's not immediately alarmed when he produces a small flame -- but she begins to understand when he inhales.

    But she's not so trusting when the thessyx has a fit, suspiciously taking the thing and throwing a skeptical look Varric's way.

    "I've already had my fill of 'coffee.' This had better not taste worse than that."

    Tentatively, she tries this 'smoking' thing, but seeing as she has never done it in her life, let alone seen someone else do it, she just gets a lungful of smoke and instantly starts coughing. "By all the gods!" she manages to choke out. "What --"
    annoyware: (pic#14869566)

    [personal profile] annoyware 2021-06-29 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
    Okay. I didn't just trap myself down here with you!
    sunmon: (pic#14981223)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-06-29 10:56 pm (UTC)(link)
    Saints.

    [ she breathes the word out in relief. because claptrap has literally no vocal variation to denote sarcasm from his normal speaking voice. she just accepts it. ]

    Okay. Which way is the path out?
    annoyware: (pic#13267555)

    [personal profile] annoyware 2021-06-29 11:07 pm (UTC)(link)
    [Oh. He hadn't expected her to believe him. Now he has to go along with this lie, oh god, oh no, oh god.]

    Uhhhhhhh. This... way? [He swivels around for a second, then picks a random direction and says, more confidently,] Yes! This way!

    [And he starts to wheel off.]
    dissemblance: (pic#14842157)

    [personal profile] dissemblance 2021-06-29 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
    Nothing wrong with that. Means you don't get much practice in, though.

    she cocks her head. a cartographer shouldn't, in theory, be in a position to punch anyone at all. but when has that ever stopped people? steve wasn't supposed to try to stage a one-man invasion of nazi-occupied italy, either. she gives alina a bit of a faintly curious look, eyebrows raised, and then:

    I could always teach you.

    punching? basketball? both??
    sunmon: (pic#14981251)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-06-29 11:34 pm (UTC)(link)
    Basketball?

    [ her nose crinkles. the stale smell of cleaning detergent used on the court fills the air, and of sweat from people in the cramped space working out. it's not the most appealing environment. ]

    I think my energy's probably better spent elsewhere.
    sunmon: (Default)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-06-30 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
    [ with a slightly nervous expression — hadn't he come from the other direction? alina glances that way briefly — she follows after him. the limp makes her slow, and even on the uneven terrain of the tunnel his wheel goes fast, so she mostly chases the light of his little eye.

    it is an eye, right? saints, what if she had been staring at the wrong place all this time? no. he'd definitely have said something.

    but she doesn't have much walking stamina, injured as she is, so in short order, she asks,
    ]

    Are you sure it's this way?
    morozova: [ used with permission ] (pic#14854889)

    [personal profile] morozova 2021-06-30 12:20 am (UTC)(link)
    I'm glad they're not entirely inept. [ he's being ungenerous. he knows he's being ungenerous. nina had addressed the issue of the aid station with him when they'd first spoken, how in need they were, but it's difficult to detach from his usual pragmatism here.

    allowing himself to be drawn closer, though. that helps. even if he can't feel the warmth of her against his skin, his power presses up to meet her all the same. ]
    sunmon: (pic#14981169)

    [personal profile] sunmon 2021-06-30 12:28 am (UTC)(link)
    You didn't yell at Rajan while I was asleep, did you? He's been kind.

    [ the poor aid station workers. but there's something humming in the back of her tone that suggests she's all too happy to make her own apologies later in exchange for feeling worth yelling at someone over.

    she squeezes his hand, guiding him nearer. her neck cranes and cranes.
    ]

    Sit down. I can't look at you. [ she makes room for him on the edge of her cot. ]
    morozova: (pic#14874491)

    [personal profile] morozova 2021-06-30 12:47 am (UTC)(link)
    I don't yell. [ a lie. he yells plenty when it suits him to, it's just that there's seldom a need for him to do more than loom aggressively and let the aura of casual malevolence do his work for him.

    evidently, even the aid workers are not immune.

    it's a tight fit, the two of them on her cot, but they make it work. ]
    Better?

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