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Entry tags:
event #02 —
WHO: All PCs
WHAT: Flooding and power outages at basecamp lead to a mission to repair the Desalination Plant at the coast, where the Children of the Leviathan discover a new kind of alien life native to Ethyraia.
WHEN: 8/22 through the end of the month
WHERE: Basecamp Leviathan, the Desalination Plant, and Underwater Caves off the coastline
NOTES/WARNINGS: See top of log.
WHAT: Flooding and power outages at basecamp lead to a mission to repair the Desalination Plant at the coast, where the Children of the Leviathan discover a new kind of alien life native to Ethyraia.
WHEN: 8/22 through the end of the month
WHERE: Basecamp Leviathan, the Desalination Plant, and Underwater Caves off the coastline
NOTES/WARNINGS: See top of log.
EVENT LOG 002 — AUGUST ❀
CONTENT WARNINGS: SUICIDE, GORE (let us know if we missed something and should update this!)
As the flooding ramps up, the shoring up that the electrical engineers have done to keep the lights on fails completely. The entire basecamp has gone dark, and unlike the periodic rolling blackouts of the last few weeks, this seems to rather more... long-lived. The electric grid has overloaded.
What this means is that everyone is sloshing around in ankle-deep water in darkness. There are hastily-erected ropes around the remaining holes from the Shredder Moles, because if you fall in one of those... well, let's just say it would probably be unpleasant.
The emergency lights, many of which were stolen out of the Adamant's wreck, are turned on after some squabbling. They cast an eerie red light over the basecamp in high-traffic areas, but almost everything else is pitch black. It's a big place, remember!
As a consequence of the grid being offline, nothing that was hooked to a power source will function, and despite the gracious donation of the Gundam's nuclear reactor, with the grid out the remaining systems are not yet compatible. While engineering works on adapters to get things back online, this means for now that rationing of resources is a high priority!
RESTRICTIONS
With no power, there's no cooking. Food will be cold and even more unpalatable than usual. In addition, say hello to rationing. Most of the more 'vulnerable' food was stored off the floor to make it more difficult for vermin to access, but some of their protein staples, stored in crates, has been spoiled. Those that are not currently doing physical labor are being limited to one meal a day. Those doing physical labor will receive two with the presentation of proper credentials.
There is also no running water. Hope you don't like showering every day! Or... every... other day. Or every other day after that. Or once a week. With no ability to draw the water, emergency water rationing is in place. There are some containers earmarked for drinking, but even that is tightly controlled. No more of this 'I'm thirsty, therefore I shall...' nonsense! Some enterprising people are trying to catch rainwater, as it's possible to neutralize the acid with large doses of the compound distilled from the starspire plants. Perhaps your character could be part of these efforts...?
The latrines, thankfully, are on high ground and haven't started to leak into the groundwater yet... but maybe somebody should make sure that's sandbagged off so there's less risk of disease?
BUNK BUDDIES
The structural damage remaining from the shredder moles, as well as the rising floodwater damage, mean that a significant portion of the bunking section of the basecamp has collapsed. Hopefully you weren't sleeping when it happened! (There were no reported fatalities, but there were many injuries, and now a few thousand people are expected to bunk up while repairs are being made.) Say hello to your new bunkmate! Hopefully they don't snore!
For fun rather than the sake of any logistics, Hatchlings will be paired with other Hatchlings. Randomized bunkmate assignments from the OOC plotting post are below.
A few notes:
All of the Hatchlings receive a DM from Childe directly. This states:
What the maps don't show is the pipelines.
The massive pipes, among the things salvaged from the Adamant, have been buried the requisite 12" below the frost line — which, in this region of Ethyraia, translates to about 72" down.
The cause of the water shortage is not, as the general public thinks, from the power outage. It's because these pipes have been ripped out of the ground. Anyone who ventures out on this mission will be able to note the scorches of recent burns, and massive scores that look like claw marks that have yet to be washed away by the rain. The pipes seem to have been ripped from the ground in a spot roughly 100 yards from the sea, and they have then been impaled into the ground like ghastly bones protruding from the earth.
THE PLANT
The desalination plant is set back from the cliffs. It rather resembles a warehouse, or a very small Costco. It's a surprisingly hardy-looking structure... or it would be, if the wide bay doors weren't torn off the hinges. Inside is a maze-like structure of pipes and tubes and desalination pods that prepare the water for being shipped back to camp. The place looks like a bomb went off inside, putting it mildly. Many of the pipes are split, there is blood on the floor. It certainly looks no more than a few hours old...
The plant's control room has been locked and barred from the inside, but there was a glass viewpane overlooking the main room that was broken. Inside are several dead bodies. They appeared to have died by gunshot, rather than by whatever creature attacked the rest of the plant. Clean deaths.
There is one person still alive. A young woman, who is hiding beneath the control panel. She looks visibly distraught, and cannot be spoken to or reasoned with. She will say she ran out of bullets. Over and over and over. Any attempts to touch her skin will result in her lashing out violently. Characters who try to reach her through supernatural or palliative means may have better luck.
There are enough equipment and supplies to repair the plant to 40% percent capacity, and Childe included schematics on the pipelines and detailed instructions on how to do these repairs. Luckily, the desalination pods themselves seem salvageable. The generators have been destroyed, so the Ahab Reactor will need to be hooked up manually. This work is estimated to take 3-5 days.
A few notes:
Fuck it, you say to yourself. People are in danger. It's not exactly disregarding orders — after all, Childe isn't your commander. So, with that in mind you follow the blood. It's still fresh enough to be tacky, slick and shimmering in the glow of the moon.
It leads right into the ocean, the lap of the waves is distorted and pink where it's washed the sand clean.
You walk up to the water, and...
You're back at the plant...?
You blink. Look around. The people you left with are there with you, each of them looking equally bewildered. Weren't you all just...?
Something is wrong, but you're having an awfully hard time caring about it. Logically, you know, but you're having a hard time marrying your logic to your emotion, which is carefree. Floating. You feel like you should be enjoying this. Or at least not fighting to grasp some tepid feeling of danger and concern.
And when you're well and truly stuck in this sensation, that's when you see them for the first time. These great, hulking creatures. They reek of brine and dead things, their mouths are full of razor-sharp teeth. Unlike the Thessyx, these creatures move strangely, like they're too heavy for the land. Maybe you try to fight them now that the shock of their appearance has pulled you out of your reverie, but then they touch you — and you stop caring about anything at all.
You wake up in a cave. You can hear water dripping, smell rotting fish. It's almost entirely black, except for the faint glow of some sort of lichen or moss perhaps, coating the walls of the cavern. It's also cold. You're soaking wet, your hands are bound and if you are one of those lucky enough to have some sort of extranormal power, you will find to your panic that when you reach for it, it's simply... gone. You can hear the ragged out-of-water breathing of one of those... things nearby. But are you alone? Hard to say, unless you start feeling around in the dark...
Occasionally, a group of these creatures will arrive, grab someone and depart again. You don't know where they're going. Any attempts to fight will, upon physical contact with the creatures, result in that same happy, euphoric floating feeling.
Can't let them touch you. Right.
If you're one of the unlucky people taken away, they will render you unconscious for the swim (probably for the best) and you will wake up in another room. It has better lighting, and just beyond the halo of odd, smokeless fire you see piles upon piles of bones and odd, egg-shaped rocks. The creatures will try to speak, but they don't seem capable of it. Eventually, they will put pictures in your head. Pictures of... dragons? The leviathan soaring overhead, and of its final resting place. But it looks different than you know it to be. In these images, it just looks like it's sleeping.
They point at the oddly shaped rocks. Then at you. In your mind, the dragon flies again.
Oh, you realize. Eggs.
The creatures seem to get increasingly frustrated with this exchange, and their frustration turns to violence. They will grab at you and force you into the pile of eggs and bones, shaking you like a little purse dog. But you have no idea what they want from you, and no clarity seems to be forthcoming.
What happens next is down to your level of defiance. Characters who seem defiant and angry will get the worst of it — their treatment will turn to torture of a wide and varied sort.
If your character seems scared or cries they will seem... puzzled. Your character will receive further images of calm oceans and sleeping dragons as the creatures click amongst themselves in their alien language.
Either way, characters will be returned to the main caves within a period of hours.
A few notes:
❀ MAJOR POWER OUTAGE
As the flooding ramps up, the shoring up that the electrical engineers have done to keep the lights on fails completely. The entire basecamp has gone dark, and unlike the periodic rolling blackouts of the last few weeks, this seems to rather more... long-lived. The electric grid has overloaded.
What this means is that everyone is sloshing around in ankle-deep water in darkness. There are hastily-erected ropes around the remaining holes from the Shredder Moles, because if you fall in one of those... well, let's just say it would probably be unpleasant.
The emergency lights, many of which were stolen out of the Adamant's wreck, are turned on after some squabbling. They cast an eerie red light over the basecamp in high-traffic areas, but almost everything else is pitch black. It's a big place, remember!
As a consequence of the grid being offline, nothing that was hooked to a power source will function, and despite the gracious donation of the Gundam's nuclear reactor, with the grid out the remaining systems are not yet compatible. While engineering works on adapters to get things back online, this means for now that rationing of resources is a high priority!
RESTRICTIONS
With no power, there's no cooking. Food will be cold and even more unpalatable than usual. In addition, say hello to rationing. Most of the more 'vulnerable' food was stored off the floor to make it more difficult for vermin to access, but some of their protein staples, stored in crates, has been spoiled. Those that are not currently doing physical labor are being limited to one meal a day. Those doing physical labor will receive two with the presentation of proper credentials.
There is also no running water. Hope you don't like showering every day! Or... every... other day. Or every other day after that. Or once a week. With no ability to draw the water, emergency water rationing is in place. There are some containers earmarked for drinking, but even that is tightly controlled. No more of this 'I'm thirsty, therefore I shall...' nonsense! Some enterprising people are trying to catch rainwater, as it's possible to neutralize the acid with large doses of the compound distilled from the starspire plants. Perhaps your character could be part of these efforts...?
The latrines, thankfully, are on high ground and haven't started to leak into the groundwater yet... but maybe somebody should make sure that's sandbagged off so there's less risk of disease?
BUNK BUDDIES
The structural damage remaining from the shredder moles, as well as the rising floodwater damage, mean that a significant portion of the bunking section of the basecamp has collapsed. Hopefully you weren't sleeping when it happened! (There were no reported fatalities, but there were many injuries, and now a few thousand people are expected to bunk up while repairs are being made.) Say hello to your new bunkmate! Hopefully they don't snore!
For fun rather than the sake of any logistics, Hatchlings will be paired with other Hatchlings. Randomized bunkmate assignments from the OOC plotting post are below.
A few notes:
☆ The floodwater seems to have washed in some kind of unusual pollen... Anyone who comes into direct skin contact with the flood water may risk, in addition to the skin irritation from our last log, a lowered inhibition that leads to brutal honesty. The world is your bartender-cum-therapist, and it's time to trauma dump!
☆ Have you ever had trench foot? Not fun. Any character not taking proper care of their feet may be susceptible to it given the standing water. Said water is also more likely to carry disease — maybe it's time for some good old-fashioned inoculation from the Aid Station, just in case?
☆ Given the state of Dark, Cold and Hungry, many NPCs will be more tetchy than usual. Even the commonly-cheerful Thorkil is a bit grim and wan, to the great shock of those that know him. Feel free to use this as a period of heightened NPC conflict.
☆ Creating the neutralizing agent for the acid rain from the starspire plants may sound tricky, but it's really simpler than you might think! The entire process from start to finish involves extracting the flower bulbs and then hanging them to dry in a sealed environment. Said pods are then subject to dry-steam distillation, a process by which their inner oils are extracted. Said oil can then be used both externally to ease the irritation from the acid rain, or emulsified into a powder that can be added to the water. Feel free to do any of the busy-work involved here, from separating out the flower bulbs on down! If your character isn't a botanist or chemist, feel free to say they were shown how!
☆ Randomized bunkmate pairs are as follows: Alex & Tina, Balthier & Soldier-76.
☆ Have you ever had trench foot? Not fun. Any character not taking proper care of their feet may be susceptible to it given the standing water. Said water is also more likely to carry disease — maybe it's time for some good old-fashioned inoculation from the Aid Station, just in case?
☆ Given the state of Dark, Cold and Hungry, many NPCs will be more tetchy than usual. Even the commonly-cheerful Thorkil is a bit grim and wan, to the great shock of those that know him. Feel free to use this as a period of heightened NPC conflict.
☆ Creating the neutralizing agent for the acid rain from the starspire plants may sound tricky, but it's really simpler than you might think! The entire process from start to finish involves extracting the flower bulbs and then hanging them to dry in a sealed environment. Said pods are then subject to dry-steam distillation, a process by which their inner oils are extracted. Said oil can then be used both externally to ease the irritation from the acid rain, or emulsified into a powder that can be added to the water. Feel free to do any of the busy-work involved here, from separating out the flower bulbs on down! If your character isn't a botanist or chemist, feel free to say they were shown how!
☆ Randomized bunkmate pairs are as follows: Alex & Tina, Balthier & Soldier-76.
❀ DESALINATION PLANT
All of the Hatchlings receive a DM from Childe directly. This states:
We've lost contact with our desalination plant on the coast. We're telling everyone the water is out right now because of the power grid, but the truth is it runs on a separate system for the sake of redundancy and safety. It shouldn't be out, and it is. We've got a team of people out there, and none of them are answering our hails. This is need-to-know information, we're trying not to alarm anyone, but those are people's loved ones out there.The maps she's given are accurate and detailed — this is clearly an area her people have spent a great deal of time in. The coast is barren and rocky, high cliffs bracket the path down to the sea.
We don't have the manpower right now to go investigate, and you lot have been meddlesome do-gooders since you arrived. I don't want to beg, but I will. Please go check on them. I've included maps of the region, known dangers, and I've told Rémi to knock off his bullshit — you'll have full armory access. Take the Ahab Reactor with you — we die without water a lot faster than we die without food.
What the maps don't show is the pipelines.
The massive pipes, among the things salvaged from the Adamant, have been buried the requisite 12" below the frost line — which, in this region of Ethyraia, translates to about 72" down.
The cause of the water shortage is not, as the general public thinks, from the power outage. It's because these pipes have been ripped out of the ground. Anyone who ventures out on this mission will be able to note the scorches of recent burns, and massive scores that look like claw marks that have yet to be washed away by the rain. The pipes seem to have been ripped from the ground in a spot roughly 100 yards from the sea, and they have then been impaled into the ground like ghastly bones protruding from the earth.
THE PLANT
The desalination plant is set back from the cliffs. It rather resembles a warehouse, or a very small Costco. It's a surprisingly hardy-looking structure... or it would be, if the wide bay doors weren't torn off the hinges. Inside is a maze-like structure of pipes and tubes and desalination pods that prepare the water for being shipped back to camp. The place looks like a bomb went off inside, putting it mildly. Many of the pipes are split, there is blood on the floor. It certainly looks no more than a few hours old...
The plant's control room has been locked and barred from the inside, but there was a glass viewpane overlooking the main room that was broken. Inside are several dead bodies. They appeared to have died by gunshot, rather than by whatever creature attacked the rest of the plant. Clean deaths.
There is one person still alive. A young woman, who is hiding beneath the control panel. She looks visibly distraught, and cannot be spoken to or reasoned with. She will say she ran out of bullets. Over and over and over. Any attempts to touch her skin will result in her lashing out violently. Characters who try to reach her through supernatural or palliative means may have better luck.
There are enough equipment and supplies to repair the plant to 40% percent capacity, and Childe included schematics on the pipelines and detailed instructions on how to do these repairs. Luckily, the desalination pods themselves seem salvageable. The generators have been destroyed, so the Ahab Reactor will need to be hooked up manually. This work is estimated to take 3-5 days.
A few notes:
☆ Characters have been well-outfitted for this excursion. This means weapons, medical supplies, etc. Childe is repaying their hard work and help to the fullest extent she can by making the best of what she has available to them.
☆ Characters will have (very minimal) rations and water, as there's little to spare. This could lead to scavenging or foraging in the wild.
☆ The repairs needed in the plant are: general clearing away of debris and broken parts, pipefitting, electrical maintenance and reinforcement of the doors and walls. It'd also be real nice if someone cleaned up the blood, just saying! Childe has also sent detailed instructions on how to do any of the more complicated repairs.
☆ Anyone may go on this mission. In fact, we strongly encourage it, as it ties into the next prompt! If your character would not go, but could be persuaded by Childe, please let us know and we can have Childe drop into their inbox for a quick chat! Given that there is the potential for combat, a need for handy-folk, and the potential for caring for the injured, we hope there is a full gamut of reasons the Hatchlings may be compelled to go!
☆ The pipes outside that lead down to the ocean will also have to be replaced. There are plenty, and the are auto-interlocking. Mostly they're just a pain-in-the-ass to carry, and they will need to be re-buried.
☆ The bodies of the deceased will need to be buried, and the lone survivor will need proper medical and psychological care. There are sedatives in the medical kits.
☆ The blood trails lead down to the ocean. Via crackling and unreliable comms, Childe will stress that getting the plant functional is the highest priority, and if those unaccounted for are dead, there's no good chasing after them. But we're just saying... if anyone wants to investigate that...
☆ Characters will have (very minimal) rations and water, as there's little to spare. This could lead to scavenging or foraging in the wild.
☆ The repairs needed in the plant are: general clearing away of debris and broken parts, pipefitting, electrical maintenance and reinforcement of the doors and walls. It'd also be real nice if someone cleaned up the blood, just saying! Childe has also sent detailed instructions on how to do any of the more complicated repairs.
☆ Anyone may go on this mission. In fact, we strongly encourage it, as it ties into the next prompt! If your character would not go, but could be persuaded by Childe, please let us know and we can have Childe drop into their inbox for a quick chat! Given that there is the potential for combat, a need for handy-folk, and the potential for caring for the injured, we hope there is a full gamut of reasons the Hatchlings may be compelled to go!
☆ The pipes outside that lead down to the ocean will also have to be replaced. There are plenty, and the are auto-interlocking. Mostly they're just a pain-in-the-ass to carry, and they will need to be re-buried.
☆ The bodies of the deceased will need to be buried, and the lone survivor will need proper medical and psychological care. There are sedatives in the medical kits.
☆ The blood trails lead down to the ocean. Via crackling and unreliable comms, Childe will stress that getting the plant functional is the highest priority, and if those unaccounted for are dead, there's no good chasing after them. But we're just saying... if anyone wants to investigate that...
❀ KIDNAPPING
Fuck it, you say to yourself. People are in danger. It's not exactly disregarding orders — after all, Childe isn't your commander. So, with that in mind you follow the blood. It's still fresh enough to be tacky, slick and shimmering in the glow of the moon.
It leads right into the ocean, the lap of the waves is distorted and pink where it's washed the sand clean.
You walk up to the water, and...
You're back at the plant...?
You blink. Look around. The people you left with are there with you, each of them looking equally bewildered. Weren't you all just...?
Something is wrong, but you're having an awfully hard time caring about it. Logically, you know, but you're having a hard time marrying your logic to your emotion, which is carefree. Floating. You feel like you should be enjoying this. Or at least not fighting to grasp some tepid feeling of danger and concern.
And when you're well and truly stuck in this sensation, that's when you see them for the first time. These great, hulking creatures. They reek of brine and dead things, their mouths are full of razor-sharp teeth. Unlike the Thessyx, these creatures move strangely, like they're too heavy for the land. Maybe you try to fight them now that the shock of their appearance has pulled you out of your reverie, but then they touch you — and you stop caring about anything at all.
You wake up in a cave. You can hear water dripping, smell rotting fish. It's almost entirely black, except for the faint glow of some sort of lichen or moss perhaps, coating the walls of the cavern. It's also cold. You're soaking wet, your hands are bound and if you are one of those lucky enough to have some sort of extranormal power, you will find to your panic that when you reach for it, it's simply... gone. You can hear the ragged out-of-water breathing of one of those... things nearby. But are you alone? Hard to say, unless you start feeling around in the dark...
Occasionally, a group of these creatures will arrive, grab someone and depart again. You don't know where they're going. Any attempts to fight will, upon physical contact with the creatures, result in that same happy, euphoric floating feeling.
Can't let them touch you. Right.
If you're one of the unlucky people taken away, they will render you unconscious for the swim (probably for the best) and you will wake up in another room. It has better lighting, and just beyond the halo of odd, smokeless fire you see piles upon piles of bones and odd, egg-shaped rocks. The creatures will try to speak, but they don't seem capable of it. Eventually, they will put pictures in your head. Pictures of... dragons? The leviathan soaring overhead, and of its final resting place. But it looks different than you know it to be. In these images, it just looks like it's sleeping.
They point at the oddly shaped rocks. Then at you. In your mind, the dragon flies again.
Oh, you realize. Eggs.
The creatures seem to get increasingly frustrated with this exchange, and their frustration turns to violence. They will grab at you and force you into the pile of eggs and bones, shaking you like a little purse dog. But you have no idea what they want from you, and no clarity seems to be forthcoming.
What happens next is down to your level of defiance. Characters who seem defiant and angry will get the worst of it — their treatment will turn to torture of a wide and varied sort.
If your character seems scared or cries they will seem... puzzled. Your character will receive further images of calm oceans and sleeping dragons as the creatures click amongst themselves in their alien language.
Either way, characters will be returned to the main caves within a period of hours.
A few notes:
☆ Due to the fact that one of these creatures' primary method of communication is via empathy, this means that characters may occasionally feel flashes of each other's pain. This possibility is increased if the characters know each other well. Characters can also be taken away in duos for interrogation if you'd like to play that out!
☆ Characters are being held in one of several aquatic cavern accessible via a labyrinthine knotwork of 15-yd deep underwater tunnels not far from the shoreline. Not everyone is necessarily held in the same sub-cavern (for the sake of logistics, staggered escapes and rescues, CR building, etc). There are multiple exit and entry points to the area. Characters will find themselves in a rocky outcropping in the middle of the cave. If they wish to risk it and are good at holding their breath... who knows, they can probably navigate the tunnels leading away from the cavern... right?
☆ Rescue is possible! Characters who are not kidnapped can still get empathic flashes of pain, and this can be accompanied by images and a general impression of where they are being held. This will help characters to narrow it down! We hope y'all can swim...! The tunnels most often used by these creatures are very smooth and worn down. The other tunnels are rough and jagged — could be better to follow the former rather than the latter...?
☆ Do not let the creatures touch bare skin. Any creature that gets skin contact with a PC can exert influence and control — this may result in rescuers winding up in a tight spot that they need help getting out of too! Characters doing the rescuing will have access to their powers — however, should they be touched by these creatures, they will find they lose them! Play it smart out there, everyone! These creatures are also psychically formidable at a distance and can get into your head!
☆ Escape is possible, but will require a bit of coordination. Characters will need to coordinate to take down their guards and escape. Depending on the amount of characters in the space, there could be between 3-4 'guards' that will need to be dispatched. These creatures are incredibly tough, with skin hardened and adapted for extreme depths. Your best bet is to hit them in the gills on the sides of their neck, but they will fight violently.
☆ While communications have been spotty but basically functional between the Desalination Plant and the Basecamp, they will not transmit through the rock (i.e., kidnapped PCs cannot send messages to their rescuers). Sorry! But they do still work... wonder if they can be used to your benefit somehow...? Maybe they can be used as makeshift flashlights, or as a distraction for the guards? They don't seem to like loud noises... There are also some sci-fi glowsticks in the kits the characters received. Bringing those along is probably a good idea!
☆ Characters are being held in one of several aquatic cavern accessible via a labyrinthine knotwork of 15-yd deep underwater tunnels not far from the shoreline. Not everyone is necessarily held in the same sub-cavern (for the sake of logistics, staggered escapes and rescues, CR building, etc). There are multiple exit and entry points to the area. Characters will find themselves in a rocky outcropping in the middle of the cave. If they wish to risk it and are good at holding their breath... who knows, they can probably navigate the tunnels leading away from the cavern... right?
☆ Rescue is possible! Characters who are not kidnapped can still get empathic flashes of pain, and this can be accompanied by images and a general impression of where they are being held. This will help characters to narrow it down! We hope y'all can swim...! The tunnels most often used by these creatures are very smooth and worn down. The other tunnels are rough and jagged — could be better to follow the former rather than the latter...?
☆ Do not let the creatures touch bare skin. Any creature that gets skin contact with a PC can exert influence and control — this may result in rescuers winding up in a tight spot that they need help getting out of too! Characters doing the rescuing will have access to their powers — however, should they be touched by these creatures, they will find they lose them! Play it smart out there, everyone! These creatures are also psychically formidable at a distance and can get into your head!
☆ Escape is possible, but will require a bit of coordination. Characters will need to coordinate to take down their guards and escape. Depending on the amount of characters in the space, there could be between 3-4 'guards' that will need to be dispatched. These creatures are incredibly tough, with skin hardened and adapted for extreme depths. Your best bet is to hit them in the gills on the sides of their neck, but they will fight violently.
☆ While communications have been spotty but basically functional between the Desalination Plant and the Basecamp, they will not transmit through the rock (i.e., kidnapped PCs cannot send messages to their rescuers). Sorry! But they do still work... wonder if they can be used to your benefit somehow...? Maybe they can be used as makeshift flashlights, or as a distraction for the guards? They don't seem to like loud noises... There are also some sci-fi glowsticks in the kits the characters received. Bringing those along is probably a good idea!
yennefer of vengerberg (ota)
the flood waters are impossible to avoid, particularly after laying down camp. it's fine for a time, but as they make progress the next day, the ennui strikes her. she fixes her poor mood on the first person she sees trying the comms. ]
You should stop worrying about those who are back there. If they're not already dead, it's only a matter of time. [ she doesn't sound sad about it. ]
she can't even muster up anger or outrage. only bleak, dark humour comes to her in her euphoric state. it starts out as one abrupt laugh, then turns into a string of them, the sound of a mad woman. ]
We're not going anywhere. [ she mutters a little bleakly. ] They've taken my magic. I'm sure they've taken whatever else we had going for us as well.
[ she has her doubts, and it's obvious in the arch of her eyebrow when she invites herself to jon's bunk. her usual one had been swallowed by the flooding. one more in a long series of miserable things that she won't soon forget, another reason to remain bitter and cynical and expect nothing of the world. fortunately, jon owed her. apparently. ]
bunk bickering
It reminds him of who isn’t there. But she had not been sharing his bunk before she vanished… and at least Yennefer is, in some ways, someone he knows and almost understands.]
— Not a bunk.
no subject
[ it is easy to be swindled by yennefer's delicate appearance. she lets it happen frequently. but there are these little moments, not precisely slips because it would be a lie to say that she wasn't aware of them, where she does not hold back her harshness, the ways in which she is not some dainty noble lady from a tower.
but she delivers the words so softly and with such scrutiny that somehow they are still far from harsh. ]
no subject
No, that’s the Free Folk. Northmen have beds like anyone else.
no subject
[ as if she can scent his growing discomfort, yennefer prods at it further. like a wound on the inside of your cheek. ]
no subject
I’ve never shared my bed with a woman. Not in this life.
[A sleeping roll, but he does not wish to speak any further of Ygritte. Maybe to Daenerys, if she were still here, but not Yennefer, not now.]
You can stay. I won’t dishonor you.
nsfw warning
[ she snorts. there's no disguising that it's at him and his sense of honor and virtue. it has little place in yennefer's life, and she doesn't know what to do with being coddled now that she has it. she'd never had it when it counted. it's unwelcome, foreign.
beyond that, it seems to miss her. as if he's looking at her and seeing something other than what she is. that would be fine, were it her design, but it's not. the result is that it feels like some kind of erasure. ]
still kinda nsfw
Where I come from, people might think so. [He doesn’t, necessarily, but he is aware of how the world is.] But you knew what I meant.
[The way she framed it proves him right: they both understand that he means he won’t try to fuck her. With what he knows of her, he can’t be sure that she won’t try the same with him. But it doesn’t matter if she does.
He adds, a little more gently,]
You’re safe with me, whatever that means to you.
no subject
[ her smile is a knife, slight and sharp. he wants to feel like he's saving her from some worser fate. she'd known this, of course. it was why she'd come to him, knowing he wouldn't turn her away, knowing she could use this about him and get what she needed.
it still irks her. ]
no subject
Aye.
[— and then he shrugs. It’s not the first time someone has tried to mock or goad him in this way, and he is no longer a green boy, to be so easily goaded.]
Would you rather I wasn’t?
[It’s not a real question. Posing it so bluntly might be a mistake: perhaps she’s goaded him after all, in a different way.]
no subject
Quite the contrary. I've met a great deal of noble men, and know well that the most honorable are usually anything but. [ she waves her hand dismissively. ] If you're worried about your honor, however, I assure you I am not noble in the least, but neither am I interested in your virtue.
continuing salty language + unfortunate pollen experiences
[He wants to turn her question back on her: does she think his virtue is in his cock? If that was the only kind of honor that mattered, his is stained.
It’s that he remembers an easy exchange of those kinds of words with her — and of other things — that stops him from saying it. It’s because he doesn’t want to fall into that again with her, particularly when she doesn’t remember it at all. He does not like the man who had bedded her so enthusiastically.
Instead, he finds himself adding something else without meaning to, as if the words are being drawn out of him.]
I had a lover. She is dead. A spearwife — she died in battle.
[He frowns. He doesn’t like that he’s said this.]
no subject
How fortunate for you. A dead lover is the only sort that cannot someday disappoint you. [ would that geralt or istredd had died instead of betraying her trust. she would have been able to mourn them properly, at least. the cold comfort of mutual betrayal had helped her withstand the disappointment of istredd, but she can't even properly hate geralt. ]
it’s called a status effect, Jon!
I wouldn’t call myself lucky. She died in my arms.
Who disappointed you?
no subject
he has bumped into her everywhere but here. some part of her, despite herself, longs for that djinn wish to curse him here with her, as much as she equally hopes that ethyraia might be the place where she is finally far enough from him. ]
Geralt of Rivia.
[ it feels foreign on her tongue. wrong. like it doesn't suit her memories of him, which are split down the middle frustration and affection. ]
Nothing would satisfy me more than to weep over his body and be rid of him.
no subject
Does it matter if she loves or hates this Geralt now? It sounds as though it’s a little of both.]
I don’t know the name. You haven’t mentioned him before.
[He doesn’t recognize that this is a slip. The same impulse pushes it out of him.]
When you were done weeping, you wouldn’t thank his killer.
[A guess, based as much on his knowledge of Ygritte as his knowledge of the Yennefer he had known.]