raiamods: (Default)
raiamods ([personal profile] raiamods) wrote in [community profile] ethyraia2021-08-08 03:57 pm

hatching mini-event 003

WHO: All PCs
WHAT: New characters arrive on Ethyraia as MONSOON FLOODS ARRIVE at the Basecamp!
WHEN: August 8-21
WHERE: Basecamp Leviathan & nearby fields
NOTES/WARNINGS: mentions of corpses, flooding, and cult religion


AUGUST MINI-EVENT ❀
CONTENT WARNINGS: mentions of corpses, flooding, and cult religion

Players who participated in our TDM are welcome to keep their CR and the content of those threads. Please make sure to chat this out on the OOC intro & CR meme before making assumptions. This log demonstrates our attempt at approaching engagement aspects within the setting a bit differently and providing people more options directly geared towards the establishment of CR. Let us know how it works for you!

❀ MONSOON BLUES



There are giant thunderheads on the horizon, and the air smells like ozone and petrichor. The skies are black and very little sunlight gets through — but when the sky cracks open along with the newly hatched dragon's eggs on the 8th, the locals aren't up in arms over it. Instead, they are grimly preparing for the inevitability of...

"Monsoon season," Thorkill will explain to anyone listening. "We're all shored up for it this time. Should ride it out just fine so long as we stick together." And the rest of the Adamant's survivors have plenty that the hatchlings can do to help do just that! Hatchlings will be paired up and sent off to help secure the camp: here are sandbags to be made and lined up at the edge of camp to brook the floods, securing non-permanent buildings or structures, and helping to dry or prepare food for longer term storage.

However, Thorkil's engineers insist the washes they've dug should do their job. The tunnels left by the moles are at high risk of flooding and further damaging the entire base's foundational integrity, though, so engineering will be dedicating most of their efforts in the direction of continuing to repair the sinkhole damage.

After a full day of rain, though, these levees and washes aren't feeling quite sufficient. Some of the floodwater is washing into the edges of camp. Don't expect standing water, but it certainly leaves everyone feeling on edge. Most people will still get an itchy rash from contact with any standing groundwater. The particularly sensitive may get blisters! Sunya may also ask for hatchlings' help in distilling the compounds from the Starspire plants that neutralize the acid's effects on skin.

Life around the basecamp:
The weather will worsen over the next two weeks. The winds pick up and some of the buildings at the edge of the encampment get acid-washed. Hope that new community garden that Vidar and Zhongli built is being babysat! The power will begin flickering around the 3rd day of the rains, and on the 5th, the power will cut out completely for 48 hours. Hope you have good night vision! It's rather dark inside the Leviathan, and there are still those pesky shredder mole holes (schmoles?) to contend with. Anyone that can create a light source or is lucky enough to have a flashlight is going to be in high demand!

☆ The power cut hits in the midst of opening night of The Wrath of Ejayla Bon, a play panned as a commercial failure back on Earth that developed cult status amongst the theatre nerds the world(s) over due to its rousing musical features and encouragement of crowd participation. Along with the interactive piece near the end where the villain is (symbolically!) torn apart, there's fun for the whole family! (sidebar: ribbons are used in place of actual gore!)

Vidar has graciously opted to donate one of his Gundam's reactor cores to the NPCS! Given the issues with the power, removing it becomes a top priority during the monsoon! Ian Fowler has been tasked with its removal. Maybe he could use a hand...? Someone to hold the flashlight, bring snacks, etc cetera?

☆ A group calling themselves the Guardians of the Leviathan has cropped up. Part cult of personality, part religious fervor, this group was started by one of the Adamant's survivors by the name of Petra. They claim to have had a different dream than everyone else prior to the Thessyx visit, and they have begun preaching with fervor that Doomsday is coming.

❀ WASHED AWAY


But minor irritation is the least of the camp's worries. On the 9th, after a second day of active storming, Rémi can be heard from a rather alarmingly large radius yelling at some poor underling who seems to have turned tail and ran when the rains started, leaving a group of agricultural harvesters stranded!

Given the reckless action and the danger posed to the rest of the camp as a result of this, Rémi is petitioning to have this person jailed until the process of restorative justice can be started.

The situation feels more pressing when, after three days of heavy rain, three human bodies surface at the edge of camp, washed in by the flood. The remains are old, eaten by the elements, time, and a lot of acid rain. Anyone working at the aid station may be responsible for bringing them back under the cover of the basecamp for burial, and anyone drinking from Thorkil's stash in engineering may hear him telling a sad story of a group of people that splintered off from the Basecamp over a year ago and moved inland. The bodies, he assumes, badly decomposed and identifiable only through genetic testing, are what remains — though he notes that the group was larger than three when they set out, he acknowledges they may never find the others' remains. It's hard not to take this as a sign of what may be to come for the poor missing explorers.

A few notes:

☆ Tensions rise with the water level. As tempers fray, NPCs will be somewhat more testy than usual, and while the goodwill garnered by the PCs is still intact it seems rather less valuable as a currency in and amidst the troubles. No one can seem to decide if anyone should be sent out after the missing group of harvesters.

☆ One of the small congregations of NPCs is starting to get irate about the preferential treatment the Hatchlings are having. These people will be colder, pick fights with the Hatchlings, speak up against them in group settings. They will point out the fact that the Thessyx could have visited at any time over the last three years and helped them and chose not to as their reasoning.

❀ SEARCH & RESCUE

The Zeta Harvesting group is roughly a day's travel from the basecamp, in variable terrain that's prone to wash-outs from the monsoon. The flooding that blocks their way back will be a challenge to navigate, both due to strong, unpredictable currents and the fact that the water does have a mild acidic bent.

Their mission, assigned by the Agricultural group and guarded by Rémi's security volunteers, was to head into the open fields to gather some of the few edible native plants in the narrow window of their growing season. These crops are largely berries and roots that grow under the cover of some of the coniferous trees in the rocky outcroppings nearby. The berry plants and root-plants largely survive by the shade of the trees' branches, but once the flooding starts, there will be no eating them anymore. They'll be washed out and damaged.

Those who were caught in the storm have retreated to neighboring caves, where they are undersupplied and dealing with a bunch of nervous botanists who fancy themselves farmer, all of whom are largely convinced that the caves will flood if they remain here too long. They push anyone accompanying them to try to find a route out of the caves, encouraging their protectors to go out in pairs with the remaining rain shields to scout a safe route home through the trees. Plus, it sounds like something is breathing deep in the caves...

Anyone from the basecamp who volunteers to go seeking the harvesting group that went missing can still communicate intermittently with those stranded, but the comms are spotty. The storm's magnetism seems to be affecting messages, sending them twice or garbled or not at all. Sometimes it sends them to the wrong people altogether, so it's a good time for some fun misfires, or even some phantom messages by the people who owned the comms before! Feel free to have fun with this.

What's more, the road has been washed out by a flash flood — so if anyone who can fly or teleport or has a hovering vehicle feels like going to play hero ... Well, we're not going to discourage them!

A few notes:
PCs are also welcome to have been part of this harvesting mission, which left on August 7th. If anyone wishes to say their character needs a rescue, feel free! This may influence how and why hatchlings might volunteer to go out into the storm to help out! (Note: Newbies will arrive after the harvesting mission has already left, so only pre-existing players can have accompanied the NPCs out. However, new Hatchlings are more than welcome to help out with rescue efforts!)

☆ Standard guidelines for auto-NPCing apply! Feel free to name them, help them or, um, have them dramatically killed! Whatever suits your narrative. Rémi will not be accompanying anyone on this mission, but he will be rather more liberal than normal with his supplies. It seems as if the PCs are starting to earn his trust!

❀ THE TROUBLES WITH QUIBBLES

Monsoon season seems to have kicked off the migratory pattern of many of the creatures native to Ethyraia. A small herd of squirrel-like creatures have taken temporary shelter near basecamp, huddling underneath the junction of dragon wing and body when the rains come on, and they will scatter afterwards. These creatures will not venture into the basecamp properly, but will be seen frolicking on the exterior of the Leviathan and may interfere with patrols done around the premises. They will also be trying to steal food whenever they have the opportunity! Hope you weren't planning on enjoying that... odd, broccoli-flavored... cold gelatin bar...?

Although playful, these creatures may become aggressive if they feel threatened, and it doesn’t take much to startle them. They have a sharp bite that causes many potential symptoms, including a significant drop in body temperature, increased spatial awareness, altered perception of both sound and color, and a short temper. It also seems to enhance feelings of combativeness and a competitive nature in those prone to them, and some individuals may experience nightmares.

But they're so cute, though?

A few notes:
☆ The effects will last 3-5 days. There is no known cure or antidote.

☆ You could always try biting one back...? (mod note: do not do this.)

☆ The creatures will move on in their herd after about a week of terrorizing the local population. They've got places to be!

☆ They would make terrible pets, as their, um, bodily excretions are truly rank, and they will pee on everything and everyone you love. Highly against recommendations.

❀ HATCHING

When the new Hatchlings emerge from their eggs on the 8th, the Adamant's survivors are as ready as they've ever been! Each newcomer receives a bundle from the community outreach group containing non-gendered toiletries and clothing — which is random in both size and style — and some tubes of protein paste. After a shower, the new hatchling will spend a few days quarantined in an area of the Theatre set up with emergency bunking and privacy screens.

Given the weather, the new Hatchlings are mostly trapped in the basecamp. Anybody up for a rousing game of tic-tac-toe? Ensign Ashley Porter will be flitting around introducing himself to everyone and explaining that he's terribly sorry you're all stuck here! He has a questionnaire prepared for your characters that includes a list of their likes, dislikes, allergies, etc what planet they originally come from and their technology familiarity level. He's also designed a technical fluency guide to help anyone from a less developed world adjust! Isn't he just the best!

A few notes:
☆ Your character will at some point be pulled aside and asked about where they're from, what year, any personal information they wish to share, etc. This is not an interrogation, but a friendly chat. Captain Childe has deferred this duty to her various underlings, and she will likely not make an appearance here unless a Hatchling says or does something very interesting or meaningful — if they do, please let us know in the MOD QUESTIONS header!

☆ The NPCs will be as forthcoming about how the Hatchlings have arrived and what they know about the Chrysalis as possible. Unfortunately to both, the answer is 'not much'. They will still try to be transparent about this.

☆ Characters cannot join up with the Security team until they have proven themselves competent and community-oriented to Rémi, but the Engineering division is led by the friendly Thorkil and always needs help. Similarly, the Dr. Hyacinth's Aid Station and the Theatre-cum-Childcare Center are always ready to take on new people! Please read up on these places in the LOCATIONS page if you plan to have your character sign up.

☆ While it's not mandatory that the Hatchlings work, those that don't 'pull their weight' so to speak will find themselves being increasingly shunned by the community, and the quality of their rations and their overall care will decrease. There isn't enough to go around on the best days, much less when someone isn't contributing at all!


firelords: (007)

[personal profile] firelords 2021-08-13 03:40 pm (UTC)(link)
she recognises him at once, of course: he had been useful during the journey to the adamant, and he had known how to handle the more... grisly situations aboard the ship. all things considered, she had thus far filed him under 'competent', so this question comes a little out of left field for her.

he seemed to be so versed in the ways of the world, is all.

not that the point he makes is bad, per se. she cocks her head to the side, considering the new angle, though not with any kindness.


Isn't that worse? I am sure they would be glad to know them dead. ⟪ she watches him, not quite immune to some curiosity regarding his own take here. ⟫ Otherwise they would have to bear the shame of their failure.
lifetothefullest: (ᴇᴠᴇʀʏ sᴛᴜᴍʙʟᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴇᴀᴄʜ ᴍɪsғɪʀᴇ)

2 bad i'm a REBEL

[personal profile] lifetothefullest 2021-08-14 01:15 am (UTC)(link)
[Lance is, fortunately enough, expecting something like this and so it doesn't bother him; on the contrary, it's actually kind of nice to get such a reaction, honestly. He does the appropriate shoulder pat in return, giving a small laugh at the question.]

Another world, another weird disastrous situation to deal with, but otherwise not much. How was hatching out of an egg?

[Not that Dean hadn't made his opinion clear already, but it's an easy opening to discussing how he actually is.]
righteously: credit if you take (⁸ I ᴡᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ sᴀᴍᴇ ᴍɪsᴛᴀᴋᴇs)

[personal profile] righteously 2021-08-14 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
Gross, thanks for asking.

( It's an immediate, emphatic answer. Ya boi kind of a germaphobe, weird fluids are just... Nope. No. No thank you. Hard pass.

One last pat before the detach, and then he'll settle back into his own personal space half-sitting on a table like a heathen.
)

But get this-- my friggin' car hatched too, so I guess that's... something. Tell me what kinda sense that makes?

( Not that he isn't happy to have her, just... what? Right when he starts to think he's getting a handle on this whole thing, bam, curveball. )
pridecroweth: (pic#15015595)

[personal profile] pridecroweth 2021-08-14 02:40 pm (UTC)(link)
that's a lot to unpack.

sam shifts faintly on his feet, brings one arm off the opposite bicep to gesture faintly.


Some of them, maybe.

he doubts it — but he also knows the quickest way to shut down a conversation is to tell someone you're wrong outright. it might work on a kid if they're intimidated or cowed, but she's neither. so, a gentler tack.

I've never minded failure much in my own family, though. Different upbringings, different culture, could be that makes different priorities.

he cants his head to one side.

Is that how it was for you back home?
dissemblance: (pic#15035397)

1

[personal profile] dissemblance 2021-08-14 02:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Are you?

her tone is calm. neutral. alina looks like a wreck even with the eau-de-recently-showered. nat's reasons for being awake are less fraught — she just doesn't really like sleeping all that much more than she needs. the night is quiet. it's a good time to just take in the camp, its twenty-thousand some-odd residents, and breathe to yourself.

she likes being alone. she's good at it.

(she knows she doesn't have to be, anymore. but rogers' disappearance is a weight she carries in the small notebook she took from his belongings, and she can only lean so much on sam, who lost two people he was close to, rather than just her one.)

she has a little bag of some sort of deep-fried local food. it doesn't taste particularly good — clearly, whoever made it had been hoping for popcorn — but it's something to do with your hands. she holds the bag out for alina to sample it.
morozova: [ used with permission ] (pic#14854921)

@starless

[personal profile] morozova 2021-08-14 06:16 pm (UTC)(link)
( what did he just see with his own eyeballs? )

Dare I ask where you found this?
sunmon: (pic#14899426)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-08-14 06:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Living here is like ... living inside of the Fold.

[ she reaches out to take some of the dubious popcorn. it's actually more flavorful than plenty of ravkan foods, but it's also an unfamiliar kind of flavorful. the saltiness is something that she associates with fish. her nose scrunches. ]

Everything's trying to kill you. Any time someone leaves, they might never come back. It's not new. For me.
angerberg: (pic#14132775)

3

[personal profile] angerberg 2021-08-14 06:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[ yennefer doesn't really have a maternal bone in her body. geralt had known that, had shoved it in her face when she'd expressed her intentions with the dragon's heart. her desire to repair what she'd lost in becoming a sorceress ultimately has nothing to do with children and everything to do with her relationship to control.

that means that when she sees tina stumbling after a quibble, yennefer watches idly. it's not until tina gets bitten that yennefer rolls her eyes and yokes teh invisible force of chaos around the creature, yanking it away with a startling amount of propulsion. it smacks anticlimactically against the calcified hide of the dragon.
]

What do you think you're doing? [ it's stupid, whatever it is. that's what yennefer's tone says. but she has something to prove here — to herself, to geralt, and to anyone who'd seen the mess she'd made of trying to help around the theater with bratty children clawing at the ropes of her dress. ]
pridecroweth: (pic#15015532)

[personal profile] pridecroweth 2021-08-14 10:30 pm (UTC)(link)
being a bird doesn't save you from getting squashed. human intellect helps, but sam's got a lot more faith in his good ol' human form when it comes to all things rough and tumble, so when the rocks fall, everyone dies saga springs from the page, sam stays human.

he doesn't remember getting knocked down, but the ache in his shoulder and side sure testify to it having happened as he slowly picks himself up. shakes his head. coughs out the dust. he can still hear the creature in the distance, screeching in a way that's like knives in his mind, but it seems to be on the other side of the rocks.

sam rubs at his temple, which is itching faintly, and his fingertips come away slick. cool story. he sees the dull blue glow, but it means he can't make out who or what it's coming from. he assumes one of the humans. so:


You good?
pridecroweth: (pic#15015592)

the play;

[personal profile] pridecroweth 2021-08-14 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooookay.

don't mind him, he's just putting his hands on cas' shoulders and gently steering him away from the stage like the doddering uncle at a family dinner that's said something spectacularly Bad with a capital b.

Don't mind him, kids, he's just into gritty realism.

castiel please there are toddlers here!! once they're far enough away from the pack of youths, sam lets him go.

I think it's more about the symbolism inherent in a baptism by blood to rid themselves of the villain's influence. Personally.
dissemblance: (pic#14842243)

[personal profile] dissemblance 2021-08-14 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Mm.

it's not exactly new for her either, but she'd seen more of it in her youth. the snap was — a rude awakening to loss, for her, after the avengers had been lucky so many times she'd almost started to think they were untouchable.

but they weren't. and certainly, no one is here. she's silent a long moment, and then:


Hey. You draw, right? Maps I know, but do you do anything else?
sunmon: (8)

[personal profile] sunmon 2021-08-14 10:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ somehow, it catches alina off guard that natasha remembers this about her. she went most of her adult life as the mapmaker who was only useful for what she could provide, but it's been a while since then, and now it ... it strikes her as something else. not 'that mapmaker over there.' but someone remembering something about her. something she likes. ]

Sure. [ she nods. ] Not a lot. I found a notebook in the chyrsalis when we came, and I've been trying to get the most out of it. People have told me that you can use these for that sort of thing. [ she indicates the device on her wrist. ] But I think there's some kind of adapter needed, and ... [ her nose scrunches. ] Honestly, I can barely send messages.
skagzz: (i will eat ur face)

@TinyTea

[personal profile] skagzz 2021-08-14 11:00 pm (UTC)(link)
nyan cat finds YOU sucka

[[I told u not to click]]
Edited 2021-08-14 23:06 (UTC)
skagzz: (i dont wanna)

Re: 3

[personal profile] skagzz 2021-08-14 11:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Did the bite hurt? Sure. Has Tina been bitten by worse? Absolutely.

Did she just see her new best friend magically slam into a wall and some weirdo but definitely hot lady who probably does magic shout at her? Also yes.
]

HOW DARE YOU ASSAULT SENOR MEOW MEOW. [ Tina has several explosives on her, but in her frustration somehow forgets that and throws a rock at Yennefer instead. Tina's aim is decent, but usually more area of carnage, so she bounces the rock nearby.

If it had been a grenade Yen would have totally exploded though.
]
morozova: [ used with permission ] (pic#14854873)

[personal profile] morozova 2021-08-14 11:11 pm (UTC)(link)
( it has a name. fantastic. )

Why put it up there if not to have us see it?
spalten: (awkward) (Default)

[personal profile] spalten 2021-08-15 01:58 am (UTC)(link)
1. What Are Those Cultists Up To? if questioned about their religion how would they talk about it/what would they say?

2. the image link for the creature is broken, what's it look like?
2.1 vidar will be helping out with transport efforts though it's a gundam, it's not made for transporting people and it can only carry so many at a time.

3. re. Thorkil's story: where is 'inland'? how far from the basecamp, if someone tries to go over there at a later date?
spalten: (pic#14544677)

vidar | ota

[personal profile] spalten 2021-08-15 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
POWER SHORTAGE

[ the gundam is over twenty feet tall and it's not really made to become a lamp post or anything, but its high beams, at least, illuminate part of the camp as its ghostly eyes loom overhead. it's kneeling right outside the basecamp to create some form of light but that's as far as it can go.

getting in and out of it is an even bigger pain. he'd had to make do with rope and skittering off the metal plates worn down by acid rain. vidar's boots squelch against the muddy ground; he's wearing the mask, though really, that's more because his uniform doesn't have a hood and at least it's protecting his sight and face from the rain.

the mask itself lights up at least, even if it's faint. once back in basecamp, he can be seen scrubbing off the mud from the soles of his boots with a stiff brush. ]


Ah. I hate nature. [ he sounds exasperated. ] This really is no way to treat a good man.


SEARCH AND RESCUE

[ the gundam isn't made for rescuing anyone and really can't make room for any passengers, but at the very least it can fly. more than that: raw power allows it to clear the roads, its steel sword cleaving boulders and trees.

if you're going with him, he'll give you a ride, but it's tight fit in the gundam's hand. he's suiting up for the search and rescue, and anyway, he's tired of waiting. ]


Want to go hunting?


NETWORK TEXT | un. VIDAR

Creative ideas to stay dry? I hate the feeling of wet socks especially. Or wet gloves, for that matter.


WILDCARD

anything else, PM me or hmu @ discord: wrryypugnant#6666
spalten: (pic#14544801)

2

[personal profile] spalten 2021-08-15 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ nobody can say that he screamed when the lights went out, because you know, it's not true.

anyway. ]


Careful - I think something got dropped there.

[ it was a small vase, and the pieces are now all over the floor. vidar sighs and starts to take a wastebasket. ] Do you mind moving a bit closer?
Edited 2021-08-15 02:13 (UTC)
spalten: (pic#14544839)

play

[personal profile] spalten 2021-08-15 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
Huh.

Why do you know so much about entrails?

[ he certainly doesn't seem like a doctor, otherwise he won't be hanging around here. but he feels like laughing anyway after hearing the words, considering how scandalized some of the stage hands look. ]
spalten: (pic#14544798)

le gundam

[personal profile] spalten 2021-08-15 02:20 am (UTC)(link)
[ he tries not to fret about it.

it's stupid, because he clearly seems to know what he's doing, and anyway he'd know within a heartbeat, as soon as he wakes it up, if something was wrong. more than anything else, he's just fretting over the fact that gundam vidar has been out in the elements for far too long and he's worrying about structural integrity. longevity. gundams can survive for 300 years and they have proof of it with the way they discovered hashmal, with the way barbatos was unearthed on mars completely intact.

but those were known planets with well-studied environments. this planet isn't like that, and so he does worry. there's nothing else he can do about it anyway.

he's wearing the ground thin underneath his pacing and brooding, until he finally decides to do something useful: he comes back with food from the mess. ]


Hey, you want to take a break? You've been there for a while.
dissemblance: (pic#15035411)

search and rescue

[personal profile] dissemblance 2021-08-15 04:06 am (UTC)(link)
Vidar, are you asking me on a date?

flirting? while cradled less than gently in the hand of a giant robot?

yep, that's exactly what she's doing, thanks.
spalten: (pic#14544814)

[personal profile] spalten 2021-08-15 04:16 am (UTC)(link)
[ at least the huge metal claws are protecting her somewhat from the rain and the wind. the question does make him laugh, though. ]

Would you say yes?

It'd certainly be an interesting one, if nothing else.
dissemblance: (pic#14842327)

[personal profile] dissemblance 2021-08-15 04:23 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not really the dating type.

it's not a yes. it's also not really a no. she's setting cross-legged in the palm of the gundam's hand, with the shield she'd taken from steve's belongings braced along one arm where the crack in the fingers leaves her vulnerable to the rain.

it's a hard thing to joke about. the last person she'd talked about dates with was barnes — another old soldier who, like vidar, has lost too much of himself to a war. it's almost an eerie parallel in a way.


But you never know. Maybe you'd surprise me.
spalten: (pic#14544645)

[personal profile] spalten 2021-08-15 04:27 am (UTC)(link)
Neither am I.

[ he used to run away from all of the women he was supposed to be with, ffs. and carta doesn't count, she's carta.

all that is to say, while she's interesting and he feels good with her, he actually doesn't know how to manage himself. it's quite a tall order. ]


If you were actively trying to kill me, the answer would be a little more clear-cut.

[ jk!!! not jk!!! ]

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