thisavrou_log | ( event )

Who: The crew of the Moira
When: 9/18 to 9/30
Where: Planet and ship
What: Main event; all info inside
Warnings: Effects from Exuo, heavy and graphic themes

PENUMBRA

"Into the darkness they go..."

As the crew enters its third week aboard the Moira, the majority of supplies have been gathered, and everyone will find themselves with more free time than before. The marketplace has offered numerous diversions, as well as the opportunity to trade for items they need or want. Life on the Moira is relatively peaceful, and there have been no unusual occurrences. Excursions onto the planet have yielded an invaluable resource called Exuo, which has been determined to be a rare mineral that is used for multiple purposes. A general awareness has spread among those aboard the Moira that, while it is used as an additive to food and drink, resulting in a slightly elevated change in demeanor and leaving a person feeling generally better, it is also in the air they breathe. The effects of Exuo will vary from person to person.

Yet...

Things have started to change. The once vibrant sunlight that hasn’t given anyone a moment’s reprieve is now slowly beginning to disappear, and with it, a shadow is being cast across the horizon. The red dust is more noticeable now than ever, blanketing every surface, and the planet’s true grunge surfaces.

☄THE EMPTY MARKET

The hustle and bustle of the marketplace has slowly started to taper off, leaving behind empty stalls and hastily closed up shops. What visitors the crew have encountered are no longer so friendly; they won’t say a word as to where they are going or why. All that’s left are the few things they could not carry with them to their own ships before leaving. But is it worth the peculiar looks the natives are giving as you traverse the now quiet streets to take them? What is this abrupt feeling of unease weighing down on your shoulders?

The only living things that remain, aside from them, are the members of the Moira, but it’s not a comforting notion, especially if you step into the ever-growing shadows.

☄THE NATIVES

With light dwindling quickly, nothing is safe anymore. Those people with the plain masks and hoods worn to hide their faces? They’re not so quiet and not so friendly now. Their behavior drastically deteriorates the darker it becomes, shifting from harmless and complacent to feral and dangerous. They lash out at anyone who gets too close, and they don’t hesitate to drag away those foolish enough to get closer. And those masks and hoods? They, too, have been tossed aside with the slow setting of those distant stars.

● Aside from physical outbursts, some of them may be found trying to damage the transporters to prevent return to the Moira.
● Their mouths appear sunken in, stained red like the Exuo this planet is known for. Or is that something else soaked into their skin? Are you sure all those visitors made it back to their own ships? Their small black eyes never seem to close either.
● They are thin in stature but relatively strong. It will take more than one person to overpower them.
● If approached, they will retaliate with sharp nails and teeth. Their movements are aggressive, meant to disable but not kill.
● Killing the natives comes with no reprimand from the captains.

☄PURLOIN & OBLATION

The suns have eclipsed.

What light there is can only be found through artificial sources, and with the lack of light also comes alterations in the crew’s own mood. Where MIDs had detected a decrease in stress and increase in endorphins, that is no longer the case now. Some may find themselves irritable for no reason, while others are torn between fits of paranoia and excessive anger. The pleasant sweetness of the Exuo in the air has dissipated, leaving a staleness behind, and those that have been exposed longer to the surface of the planet suffer extensively more than those who have not left the safety of the Moira for extended periods of time.

However, most crew members will find themselves desperate to return to the empty marketplace or even the mines. Perhaps they are in search of more Exuo, or maybe they simply want to find those natives to question them or take out that aggression on something not so fragile. During this time, disappearances are more noticeable than ever, and those who go in search of friends and crew may find more than they bargained for.

●the seized: The darkness is unerringly quiet, and the natives that still linger on the planet have faded away with the sun. Maybe you find yourself in the deserted marketplace, or outside the wreckage of a transporter that’s been torn apart. The sounds you hear come from your left and grow steadily louder beside you. The sudden irritability that the crew has been experiencing multiplies and transforms into a paranoia that leaves you wanting to beg for the sun to return. Thin but strong arms wrap around you, long fingers with sharp nails dig into your skin. They don’t speak, or attack with the intent to hurt you, merely pull you away and back into the shadows. Whether you struggle or fight back doesn’t matter, try to get free.
●the subjugated: With your arms and feet bound, you wake up in an unfamiliar place. It may be hard to remember where you were last, or it may be crystal clear. You were taken by a group of the planet’s natives, tied up and thrown into a hollowed out pit in the ground. The dirt smells sickeningly sweet, metallic, and it overpowers your senses. There are others around you, both crew members from the Moira and people you might recognize from the marketplace. You know now that the disappearances weren’t random, or normal, and are the result of the natives capturing explorers and traders for their own unknown reasons. **
●the scarified: They want the the light back. This much is clear now. The natives believe their sun was stolen, and the only way to guarantee its return is through offering worthy sacrifices. With whatever dim lighting there is, you make out the shape of an altar slathered in something wet and dark. You are on your knees beside others that were chosen, waiting in line to be sacrificed. The person ahead of you is lifted and carried to the altar, and with the natives gathered together,chanting growing louder, there are quick movements before everything goes still all at once. Are you next? Or has someone come to save you?

The only reprieve from this nightmare is the familiar sound of the Moira’s transporter ships landing nearby. The crew has banded together and are on their way to free you. **

☄ASCENSION

The planet is no longer safe. Through a series of disturbing events, it has become clear that the crew cannot stay. Supplies has been gathered, hopefully enough to last until they can find another place to dock, and the captains, through the MID devices and in person, are ushering everyone back to the ship. It is imperative that everyone board swiftly so that they can make a hasty retreat. There is nothing left for anyone here.

( ooc; ** These options are for those who signed up for the event. All other characters are encouraged to rescue their crewmates from these situations as quickly as possible! For questions and/or plot, go here. )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Garrus stands uneasy before torn hatch of a crashed transporter and into the darkness of it's midsize hull. The wreckage was discovered earlier during a routine patrol of the area and it must have been Garrus lucky day to earn in on the assignment to investigate and salvage anything of worth on the downed vessel.]

I still don't like this.

[He admits bitterly with heavy emphasis on the layover on this planet. From the start of their descent Penumbra's world combined with it's even more stranger than before natives left Garrus feeling more uneasy than he had ever felt facing off against the reapers or the collectors. He had just opted into staying on the ship and locking himself away to work in the gunnery when he had been volunteered to join this team's recovery efforts.

Something isn't right.

The thought crosses his mind just in time to distract him from catching the thinly framed shadow that skirts along the perimeter and out of sight. Leaning down he ducks his head into the opening and looks around for the rest of his squad.]

You want to hurry up in there?

(OOC: Garrus is set to get captured in this event so you are welcome to try and save him and fail. However, if you are due to get taken then feel free to get captured with him.)

[When Garrus comes to his head is pounding and a his eye sight is blurry and blue. Pain rockets up his nerves as his muscles shift to bring his hands up only to discover they are bound. He growls out, dual toned voice rising just slightly above the chanting of his captors. He has to shake the blue blood from his face before he can get a better look at his surroundings and that's when he realizes he has once again be taken along side others and each of them are on down on their knees in various stages of alertness. Garrus recognizes a only a handful from the Moria and before he can inquire if they're all right or what's going on their captor's start to move.

Garrus watches in shock as their long arms snatch up one of the few people ahead of him and into the air. The woman doesn't even scream and Garrus is fairly certain from the way her body hangs limp when it is laid to rest on the alter that she she must have failed to regain consciousness.]

What are you doing?

[By the time words finally come it is paired with the feeling of acid in the back of his throat, because he knows exactly what the natives are planning before the knife comes into view. Garrus tries to get up to stop this savage ritual from starting, but he is quickly subdued by one of the long armed natives and forced back to his knees. No matter how hard he struggles against his restraints they do not give and Garrus is left screaming out as the knife plunges down and the cheers rise up.

Everything has grown so loud that no one, not even Garrus can hear the gunshots in the distance.]

Edited 2015-09-20 16:06 (UTC)

[ Clark is nothing but a blur across the darkened sky. He'd been trying to keep the natives off the transporters to allow people to get to and from the ship, but the screaming in the distance decides exactly where he needs to be, in a hurry.

Flying isn't exactly the most subtle of entrances. His arrival is heralded by a sonic boom high above the area, a strong wind whipping through and pulling at his cape as he descends - floating, fully upright, his eyes glowing a bright red that veins out past his temples. He's seen the alter, and the dead woman laying on it.

The knife begins to glow as well, and the native is forced to drop it or be burned, then scramble away from the object with a loud hiss. When he turns, the natives that are guarding the hostages begin to back away. He's not giving them much worse than a nasty sunburn, but the air is several degrees warmer everywhere on the ground - a side effect that he's largely unaware of.

He floats above the alter, just out of easy reach. ]

Let them go. I'm only asking once.

[ The hostages look like they're coming around, but he can't scan them for broken bones while his heat vision cools down. He's just going to hope that the distraction is enough to get them mobile, because the natives recover from their shock a moment later. He catches the first tentacle that flies at him, and swings the native into another.

After that, several of them lash out on and drag him down to the ground for an all-out brawl. ]

[The minute the rifle was put in to his hands again brought a rush of clarity that Garrus had not felt since waking up among the natives at the start of their ritual. He was quick to turn it on his captors, first using the thickest part of barrel to knock out the closest that had been just moments before holding him to the ground. Garrus only paused to count the bullets in his clip and then he was off, using claws to break binds and the steadiest grip he could manage to get the rest of the captives up and to the safety.

His words were short and to the point: Go. Run. Don't look back.

Garrus takes up the rear, kneeling just atop a dune behind the survivors as they flee in order to provide cover for the few fighters who still lingered behind. Setting his eye into the sight the device comes to life with an electronic sound and three laser targets that are quick to find Garrus's first target.]

Now that's what I'm talking about!

[The eagerness in his voice is followed by the click of the trigger as Garrus takes his first of twelve shots which buries deep in to the alien's left shoulder. The creature screams wildly as it falls to the ground clutching it's now limp left arm. With the alien now prone Garrus takes his time to line up the next shot, he has an idea of the new rifles capabilities and like hell is going to waste any more bullets.]

( event )

Garrus Vakarian

☄PURLOIN & OBLATION; the seized

☄PURLOIN & OBLATION; the sacrificed

let me know if this works!

☄ASCENSION