August Event Log: Part I

[savmods]

Who: Everyone
When: August 9 and onward
Where: An unexpected destination
What: The newcomers go on a trip and end up far from where they expected
Warnings: Potential violence. Please label your content!

NOTE: PLEASE READ THIS OOC POST FIRST.

When the time comes for the travelers to go on the off-world trip that will help restore Thisavrou, they are not alone. Others who have settled on the planets longer and come to call them home are also prepared to travel; through the Ingress and do their part. Yet when the newcomers step through, whether they stepped through the Ingress seconds or hours apart, they will find that they have arrived at the same time, and only newcomers are in sight.

What awaits them is not a land of plenty. The land is barren, and dark storms in the sky resemble those held at bay by the Ingress complex—but much, much closer. Those who traveled on the Moira may recognize the landscape; though they have come through at a different point from the crash, they are on the Midway Hub. And there is no portal back. They are trapped.

hitting the road

Though some have been here before, the Midway Hub is not as they remember it. The storms fill the sky, leaving it dark and ominous even when they are not sweeping across the landscape—but they have clearly done so in recent times, and often. While never a lush land, large patches of ground an acre or more wide looking nothing more than utterly dead; the thistle that naturally grows is brittle, black and unable to be consumed even with the usual preparations to make it edible, and here and there animal corpses are found twisted into unnatural poses, but seemingly uninjured. These places are particularly concentrated near the broken Ingresses litter the landscape. While Midway Hub as a whole may seem naturally arid, these dead spots leave no hope that anything can possibly live there again.

The travelers have two options: stay where they are, or move on. While it might seem that they've been tricked into coming here and been left abandoned, those with the technological ability to do so may detect a sign of hope: a familiar energy source, far in the distance. Although none of the Ingresses they pass will ever work again, the faint energy shows that one still-functioning Ingress lies far in the distance, days away.

Although technological scanning or impressive memory of the landscape indicates that they are not separated from their destination by one of the gates that divide the land, they are also far from the shelter of the facility at the center of the Hub. Any attempt to travel in a direction other than that of the energy signal will result in a strange disorientation after several hours, bringing individuals back to their original path as though they've gone in circles. Meanwhile, though travelers will feel the need to slake their hunger and thirst through any natural water sources they discover, wildlife they can hunt for food and any supplies they have on them, if they don't find sustenance, they'll find that they will never pass out or reach the point of starvation. Instead, they'll be left alive and awake but feeling utterly hollow.

storm front

At regular intervals, the energy storms above descend onto the land, bringing not rain but violent clashes of negative energy and thunder so loud that nothing can be heard above it. The passing of the storms leaves some strange effects. The ground is warped and rotted by their touch, even solid stone degrading to a spongy surface. The air is tepid and oddly charged. Prolonged contact with air or ground will not supply energy, however — it drains it from organic and synthetic life alike.

Those who remember their last trip to the Hub, or simply explore in the right direction, may come across the cave complexes with their glowing surfaces and streams. The light is dimmer now, a sickly green, but drinking from the streams will still restore the energy lost, for a time. This time, however, the lethargy that inevitably follows is much more severe, and the drinkers are left with a raw, empty feeling leeching in from the wasteland around.

Those who are exposed to the storms, either by finding themselves in very close proximity or even closely observing them for too long as they approach, may lose their sight, or hearing, even much of the ability to feel touch — whatever sense they used in observation. What lingers in its place is a numbness. A hunger. And as time passes, the time between storms decreases; what seemed like hours between the storms becomes scarcely one, and their intensity grows.

wild life

Sentient beings are not the only ones affected by the storms; these creatures, attracted to sound and able to track by scent, and these panthers, which once looked normal but have been twisted by the storms into more monstrous forms, are numerous enough that travelers must be constantly alert for their presence. Though natural predators, the threat the creatures represent is not itself natural. They are also more aggressive. Some strange instinct drives them, not a need for food. While the panthers themselves can be caught and their meat cooked, it has little taste, offering nutrition but not satisfaction.

old familiar places

Although it's difficult to track the passage of time without day-night cycles, after what seems like more than a week of the travelers' unexpected trip, the storms abruptly come rushing in at the group of travelers, as if they're herding the group to move faster toward their destination and the Ingress energy that awaits them. The true nature of that destination becomes clear when debris appears on the horizon; the energy comes from the wreckage of the Moira, the interstellar ship that crashed here months ago.

Despite the trauma of impact, large sections of the ship remain surprisingly intact, though few of them are properly vertically oriented. If travelers are able to make their way inside the damaged sections of the ship, they'll find familiar territory, if they are one of those who traveled on the Moira, as well as shelter—something that's increasingly necessary as the storms seem to center over the ship, leaving little hope for survival outside. Useful items may be scavenged from the ship if they are willing to explore, but no personal items of any kind remain.

Strangely, the deeper travelers go into the crashed ship, the less familiar their surroundings will seem, regardless of their orientation. The inward-leading paths into the ship become generic metal, and as with the travel on the surface of the planet, they may find themselves back where they started. And no matter how far they go or how hard they try, they will find themselves unable to make it to the Ingress chamber itself...for now.

Comments

[gerechtigkeit]

[The fact that she looks him over without prodding further is a good sign, and he lets his worry slide for now. He's certain that eventually, he'll have to explain more about himself- but the less people know, the better.

Siegfried breathes out just for a moment, sounding a little amused.]

I wouldn't consider humans "boring," in general. But I understand.

[He gets what Elizabeth means. Though he does watch her shift and listens when she speaks again.]

I'd think many were in the same situation. [No one wants to rest comfortably in this barren wasteland, himself included.] I'm hoping wherever we're headed provides people with what they need.

[tearmeanewone]

I suppose you have me there. Just when we think we've got it figured out, something else happens. But at least there's some consistency-- we all have to eat, we all have to sleep. [Her included, honestly.]

Something tells me wherever we're headed, it's not likely to be more hospitable than this. [She looks off in the direction of the signal, brow furrowed like she's looking for something she can't find.] If we were to find some sudden oasis, full of water, food, and comfortable beds, I'd sooner say we'd fallen into some kind of trap.

[gerechtigkeit]

I find the consistency a good thing. [It allows him to keep track of those who have taken care of themselves, and who hasn't. A tally of sorts to make sure people manage to survive while in this landscape.] If there wasn't...

[He's not really sure what would happen, honestly. People need something in common to keep them together.

He frowns at the latter part of her statement, before he nods quietly.]

I agree. I doubt many of us would be so eager to believe it after what the Savrii have done.

[tearmeanewone]

I doubt many of us are going to be eager to step into another Ingress after what the Savrii have done. [Elizabeth's expression goes stony. Even though the reason for their being here has never left her mind, the reminder of it is enough to tick her displeasure up a notch. It's not like this is a huge surprise to her-- most people she encountered were only interested in themselves and their own safety, the rest of the world be damned. This is just another day, as far as she's concerned.]

I can't say that I'm surprised though. One of us created a serious problem that got a lot of people killed. I can't believe that everyone thought the Savrii would just forgive us and continue on as though nothing had happened. Part of me doesn't even blame them.

[gerechtigkeit]

[Truthfully, no one's really told him much about what happened before his arrival. There's been word about the Moira and what-all entailed there, but not what's happened on Thisavrou. He'd spent more time trying to adjust to being "normal" among hostile and incredibly cautious natives, rather than expecting anything for simply arriving.]

Hm. [More of a note to himself and an agreement with her statement than anything else.]

What surprises me is that they took all of us here- even those who had only just arrived. [To him, it's unjust and immoral- but if what Elizabeth says is true, then this isn't too far from what to expect from their supposed "benevolent" neighbors.] I can understand their reasons, but to go through with it is still wrong.

[tearmeanewone]

[It is unjust and it is immoral-- blaming the former crew of the Moira and the most recent arrivals for the actions of a few is unconscionable. But is she surprised? No-- she's seen fanatics preach against entire groups for less, threaten to raze cities under weaker reasoning.]

The Savrii consider themselves to be smarter, less barbaric, perhaps even more fair in their attitudes towards justice. However, in the end, they aren't much different from the people I escaped from. Talking about being generous and humane doesn't carry much weight when you collect a single group regardless of responsibility and deposit them in a barren wasteland.

[gerechtigkeit]

Not much seems to matter when a group of people are convinced of a single goal or belief. [He sighs.] Trying to convince them otherwise may only work poorly in your favor.

[For him, it wasn't a group, per se- it was his Master, specifically. Convinced that the homunculi were nothing, less than dirt, and seething with enough jealousy of other Masters to try and ruin their Servant's abilities. Nothing would stop him from believing that Saber was the best, and that he was going to win the war single-handedly. Trampling over others naturally came with that territory.]

[tearmeanewone]

Not that we're in a position to convince anyone of anything. At this point, it would be preaching to the choir. [Elizabeth looks back at the sleeping group and rubs her face. It hurts from being awake so long.]

I don't know if we'll ever see them again, but if we do, they'd better hope the odds are stacked against us.

[gerechtigkeit]

At this point, I don't know if the choir wants to hear it. [He watches her, eyes quietly following her actions before he decides to speak again.] You should rest at some point.

[Before they start traveling again. He doesn't want anyone to fall behind.]

I wouldn't be surprised if people in this group reacted poorly if we somehow returned. [He knows how violent people can be.] It'd be a poor decision for them to think we would easily go back without any issue, anyway.