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

[lavelly]

I...

[A wave of confusion sloshes over him. No, he hadn't been. They'd asked, and he had gone. He'd thought it was that simple, but...

Had he been the only one?

Had they all been tricked into coming?]

No. No, I came because they asked. [And it had made sense. --But

if he'd come alone, if he'd somehow foreseen this, would the rest of them have been spared this punishment? Had it just been meant for him all along, and the rest were collateral damage yet again?

He freezes, then reels, swaying in place.]

[inconsequence]

[Oh, good. They've gone and overstepped, haven't they? Unsurprising, given how little control he has over himself on a good day, but they're hardly cut out to be the one uttering any soothing nothings to ease him into believing that things are not, incredibly, all about to downward spiral.]

Plenty of others did.

[Chara would be - dismissive.]

[C.T.?]

[C.T. would be...better at this. Far better.]

Don't worry about it.

[lavelly]

[Right. Right. Of course. Stupid. Calm down.

He barks out a single dry, panicked laugh.]

What about you?

[inconsequence]

Didn't need much convincing.

[That much, at least, is not a lie. They didn't require convincing at all, because they are now fully aware of what level of intervention is involved when an intermediary is called upon to convince anyone of anything.]

[Doubtless Lavellan is reliving that now.]

They could've left us some blankets. Some kind of protection.

That would've been nice.

[lavelly]

[Blankets. Nice. Lavellan shakes his head muzzily.

Even before this had happened he'd seen enough to admit that the Savrii were not interested in cooperating with them all, that despite what they say they're more interested in fixing than helping. They'd done--something to him that he still doesn't quite comprehend the scope of, they'd decided to punish them all as a monolith despite most of them being innocents. Victims, even, of the same crimes the Savrii were accusing them of.

Very few of them deserved to be here, other than him. C.T. least of all, and any child like them. But the Savrii don't seem to care about that.]

I don't think our comfort is what they were ever interested in.

[He's... learning. Even if the process of it is grueling.]

[inconsequence]

Personally, I'm not sure we should expect them to let us back.

[Or is that just the optimist in them?]

[It's possible they're skewing a bit far from C.T., and a bit closer to someone he may still recognize. Hastily (perhaps revealingly so) they add, amending:]

I've lost track of time.

[Chara has - ]

[They've not lost track of time. Have they? Have the days been passing in sluggish uniformity, or are things just the same as they always have?]

[Can they really say?]

[lavelly]

[They shouldn't. They should expect to be stuck here forever. That's what the Savrii want, isn't it? And it's all because of what he did. It should be him here, only, with everyone else safe on Thisavrou.

Stop stop stop stop thinking about that.]

I have as well. This place is... strange. Nothing works the way it should. Like it's all in stasis.

[It reminds him of the Fade, or the Crossroads. Suddenly the rankling anxiety like static electricity makes sense. The realization isn't a comfort. These places will always return to plague him, somehow.]

[inconsequence]

You've never been to the Hub before, have you?

[They were unlucky enough to have arrived there. The difference between the world they entered and the world in which they're situated now is both stark and palpable. It could almost be another world entirely.]

[lavelly]

No. I came through the Ingress after the ship had already arrived.

[Maybe if he'd come through earlier, things would be different. If he'd had the information everyone else did and took for granted.

Or maybe not. After all, he's still him.]

I've been told the Savrii killed everyone there.

[inconsequence]

I wouldn't be surprised.

[Too cynical, maybe, for the likes of C.T. He's not been here as long as they have; they'd never asked.]

[They've never asked anything, never bothered to express even a cursory, elementary interest. All business, and no courtesy whatsoever. C.T. - would be more inclined to be personable, now that they've relaxed a hair. Would they not?]

Have you fought them before?

[lavelly]

Fought them?

[If he had, he wouldn't put it like that. He wouldn't really describe the Savrii as "fighting" much at all. The slaughter at the Hub is the only instance he's heard of them using violence, and even now, knowing everything he does, he has difficulty believing it.

Even if all other evidence supports it.]

No. It doesn't really seem like their...

[...]

...Method. But apparently one they employ occasionally.

Have you fought them?

[inconsequence]

Yes.

[It's an answer given on impulse, but once inputted, there's no taking it back now. It's not even true, is it? They've not done anything that could be construed as fighting them; resisting them, certainly, but everyone knows how that happened, do they not?]

[C.T., on the other hand...]

[Maybe they're far more effective at fighting the Savrii than anyone, demon or child, could ever hope to be.]

Before I learned they were our allies.

Or were meant to be.

[lavelly]

[This is a more involved conversation than he ever expected to be having when he ran into C.T. in the cave. Hesitantly, he holds his hand behind him, reaching for something to brace himself against--when he find something that seems enough like a wall, he leans against it and slides down so that he's in a more or less sitting position.

He suddenly has the feeling they might be here for a while.]

What happened?

[inconsequence]

The place was trashed. [Now that they're tripping over their memory of the hub, upon their first contact with it, they might be able to admit that they're almost enjoying themself. He's in an unexpectedly vulnerable position - one of which only an objectively terrible person would take advantage.]

[Which, of course, they are. And therefore will do.]

Dead bodies all over the place. Something had happened and we had no idea what. So when the Savrii showed up, I thought they'd come back to finish the job.

[Only about five percent of this story is true, but they're still going to enjoy telling it.]

[lavelly]

[That's two with personal experiences with this, now. He can't really deny it anymore, and in truth he doesn't want to. It's just such a difficult truth to comprehend.

He rubs his temple against a sudden headache.]

Obviously they didn't. What did they do instead?

[inconsequence]

They offered us a home. Funny how their charity worked out, isn't it?

[Can you spell "instant regret"? The Savrii sure can by now!]

I was never on the Moira. But after it crashed, I guess they took pity on us.

[lavelly]

[Charity. Took pity on him.

Until he ruined it. Until he ruined it until he ruined it

his voice breaks through like surfacing from the ocean.]

I have something I need to tell you.

[C.T. has only wanted to help him. C.T. deserves to know.]

1/2

[inconsequence]

[...]




[...!]

[inconsequence]

[Did you just want to see him suffer?]

[They must have. This must have been intentional. They meant for this to happen - for him to have to admit to them the sins of which they are already fully aware, and confess to the sins crawling on his back.]

[You did this. You did this.]

[I did this.]



[Answer]
[the question.]

What is it?

[lavelly]

I did this.

[His voice sounds flat. Dead. Like what he's saying is wholly unremarkable. To be honest, he figures C.T. had already guessed.]

Us being here is my fault. The Savrii are punishing us because of something I did.

[He stares out into nothing.]

[inconsequence]

[Laugh. Laugh, because this is what you wanted, is it not? To lay this bare, to force him to relive it? There's a staggered rasp in the far reaches of their throat that barely qualifies as a sound.]

[What will you do?]

[What will C.T. do?]



[...]




I doubt that very much.

[lavelly]

[That's a nice idea, to doubt. Unfortunately it doesn't change the truth.]

I'm the one who broke the Ingress. If I hadn't we wouldn't be here.

[There's no self-hate, no emotion at all in what he's saying. He's simply stating facts. Two plus two.]

I'm sorry you have to suffer because of me.

[And then he waits for the verdict. Will C.T. abandon him, now that they know? He wouldn't blame them if they did. Maybe he's starting to hope that they will.]

[inconsequence]

[A profound lack of patience with self-pity is what carries them through. It must be, because the response snaps out with a firm sense of immediacy:]

One man alone?

Perhaps you didn't help, but you weren't the only one. All any of us have ever done is cause them endless trouble. I doubt you can take all the credit for that.

[lavelly]

[Lavellan scoffs, unfazed.]

True, probably not all the credit. But I don't think very many other people caused quite as much damage. Maybe if all they'd had to deal with were petty annoyances, we'd still be there.

[world's smallest violin playing intensifies]

[inconsequence]

I'm sure the massive amounts of property damage and death don't hold a candle to breaking a piece of technology that was already faulty to begin with.

[ha ha oops did they show their hand]


[Backpedal. Now.]

But maybe that's just me.