February Event Log I: Breathing Space

[savmods]

Who: Anyone and Everyone
When: February 10-19
Where: Avagi
What: Life support fails, and a team sets out. Check out this ooc post for more.
Warnings: Label your content.

Synce their arrival, Avagi's residents have been plagued by minor system failures. Faulty taskbots and infested crawlspaces, supply shortages and the floods last month. For the most part, they've coped admirably, and quality of life aboard the station is substantially improved from what it was. But even as the damage in the lived-in space is scrubbed away, more dangerous poisons have been building underneath. On February 10, the groaning from the walls will escalate to a harsh scraping, audible station-wide. Then silence falls as the filtration systems die completely: leaving all vents to begin spewing thick, black smoke.

	System Failures
	(February 10-19)

Acrid and hazardous, the cocktail of gases emerging from the vents are the result of three centuries' toxin storage spilling over. A shallow breath can cause a coughing fit, but individuals who draw in too much of the toxic air will find themselves becoming dizzy, passing out, or worse. While effects may vary based on individual biology, all beings who require breath will find their lungs burning and their vision blurred. An hour after the initial failure, the lighting goes out too. With it, all station power: to computers, doors, and any system not hooked up to its own supply. Investigation: The electrical failures can be sourced to an automated safety shutoff, override-able from Life Support's main controls. But the mechanism isn't in place without a reason. Generating station power produces more of the dark fumes, and without working filters, they will pump straight into the air. Wait in the dark (and growing cold), or suffocate more quickly? Either way, your air troubles won't be resolved quickly. Over the next couple days, groups searching Sanitation can track down the vapors to their source. A small mob of taskbots run sad circles in the filtration hub: between the air processing units and a row of shelves along one wall. The label reads Purification Crystals, and a single empty container remains. Survival (Home Team): Without the crystals, there is no effective way of restoring the entire living space. It may, however, be possible to section off small areas. Able bodies will be required to seal off the fumes and guide those suffering from their effects to safety. Many may need medical assistance, and technical skills will be in even more desperate need: to equip these regions with oxygen and power, and insulate them against the cold that leeches in from the outside. Some amount of work has already been done, and a few safe rooms are prepped across the station. As days progress toward weeks, however, their air and power reserves will run thin, and some larger sectors may warrant securing regardless. The Greenery contains young plants that are susceptible to the fumes, and those invested in the library's book collection may also want to take measures. The gas has acidic qualities in higher concentrations, enough to eat through paper... for a start. Contain it? Remove it? Or just try to protect yourselves? One way or another, you'll need to hold out for a while.

	Travel (Away Team)
	(February 12-19)

When Avagi's current population first got here, it was clear that others had inhabited the space before. Recent developments have even proven that these others—or, perhaps, their descendants—might still exist elsewhere on the station now. With the crystals that might repair your home missing, diplomacy is no longer an optional consideration. It's time to meet the neighbors, and hope they come in peace. Navigation: Those volunteering to undertake this mission will be provided with a patchwork set of maps. However, these contain little to no information on the current state of the station—including which parts still exist. The explosion that tore apart the former Ingress Complex left wide gaps in the structure, many of which have been invaded by the storms outside. Scanning tech will be required to assess what lies behind the sealed walls, and physical labor to cut through them. As no contiguous paths across the station remain, this process will need to be repeated numerous times. Where no adjoining regions can be verified intact, smaller scouting tools (or group members!) may be required to traverse crawlspaces for a view of nearby rooms. Survival: Behind the first wall lies a pressurized room with normal gravity—and contaminated air. This will not persist as the travelers continue. Some regions have power, but no gravity. Others contain pockets of unaffected, still-clean air. Few spaces will be fully online before the travelers get there, but local generators can be found that might allow for a night or two of "comfortable" camping. At least one juncture can only be crossed by floating through an empty docking bay. The area contains no power, air, or gravity, but spacesuits can be procured... inside the sealed vacuum of the bay. Creative thinking may be required. Enveloping the station's outside, the roiling shadows of Avagi's storms have crept invasively into all unsealed regions of the interior. While the Observation Station may have accustomed some Avagians to the view, there's something much more immediate about the shadows pressing at the other side of these windows. The faint patterns of light that ripple through the clouds prompt a sense of malice and exhaustion, one that lingers even when you've turned away. Those who attempt more intense scrutiny may suffer more severe effects. Certainly, it feels like something is watching back. Discoveries: As harrowing as the journey may be, it's not entirely without its gains. A few tools can be salvaged from some of the decks visited along the way, and while food is in much shorter supply, there are a few signs that it might not have been, long ago. Wrappers and empty cans turn up in strange places. A few glyphs can be found scratched into one wall: ones that your ACE's translators roughly interpret as prayers. One sealed room has a large "X" scrawled across the walls despite the detectable presence of power, air, and gravity. Opening it produces a strange sight: two skeletal corpses pressed up against the still-active force field that cuts this room off from the storms. Both bodies show extensive burns to hands and faces, but don't appear to have died from that effect.

---

[For questions, signups, or plotting, check out the ooc post. For the duration of this log, characters may travel between teams to whatever extent they are capable. The event will escalate with a second log on February 20.]

Comments

[brokeassgoing]

Thank goodness for extra medical crap.

[a wry grin beneath the scarf]

Alright, I can dig it. Long as you sit your ass down soon.

[shadowblends]

I've been trying to distribute everything equally.

[it's been different, trying to keep up with medical things since the loss of adrien, but he's done his best.]

I might even have some leftover cookies we can eat.

[brokeassgoing]

No one's in too much trouble, you've got this.

[he even leans over to ruffle Kurt's hair]

Yeah? Kept em safe, didja.

[shadowblends]

Thank you, Badou.

[he huffs a laugh at the gesture, reaching to playfully nudge the arm away then moving the hand so he can brush his bangs aside.]

Did my best. Let's hope they're still good.

[brokeassgoing]

[he rubs his hands together excitedly]

I'll only complain a little, which is my right.

[shadowblends]

[another chuckle, then he loosens the mask from his belt loop to lift up and secure around his face.]

Fair enough. Shall we go and check them out?

[brokeassgoing]

Yeah, might as well mosey before we become the fog, from that book.

[shadowblends]

Which book? [might as well have something to chat about while they head back to camp.]

[brokeassgoing]

The school of hard space knocks-- no, its one of those by Stephen King. A spooky one....where the fog turns freaky and kills a buncha people.

[shadowblends]

'The Mist.' I think I remember most of that one. Wasn't it filled with monsters?

[brokeassgoing]

Thaaaaat's the one, the Mist! I think there were monsters...but I thought they hallucinated stuff too?

[shadowblends]

I vaguely remember 'The Arrowhead Project,' but I can't recall much else? I should give it another read one of these days.

[brokeassgoing]

Was that another one? Never read it. Ah, guess this is where I should plug in about all the books Liz has got stored up.

[shadowblends]

No, it was from the book. I'm sure Elizabeth has some Stephen King material we could check out, though.

[brokeassgoing]

Good luck rescuing it.

[shadowblends]

[he winces.] Luck could be on our side and it might have already been rescued?

[brokeassgoing]

Noooo, no, rescuing it from her. Then again you're fuzzy so you'll probably do just fine.

[shadowblends]

Oh! What, you think she won't lend it to us? She should know I wouldn't do anything bad with it.

I do have a certain charm about me, though, don't I?

[brokeassgoing]

Oh yeah, yeah she knows I wouldn't either! We ain't assholes, we wouldn't.... [not after last time..................]

Don't let it get to your fuzzy head, man.

[shadowblends]

No reason for Lizzie to have more things to stress over. [lizzie. it sounds so different-- using a nickname that he's only heard a handful of times and said even less, but somehow, it feels right.]

My humility is one thing I do take pride in, at least.

[brokeassgoing]

Mmmm, it keeps the blood boiling, but sure, whatever you say.

[he chuckles to himself. at least Kurt's making friends, not that he's surprised]

Ah, well you got that, then. Nothing else matters.

[shadowblends]

Which isn't healthy, you know. [what can he say? he's friendly and that makes him more approachable.]

I'm sure there are a few other things, but thank you.

[brokeassgoing]

It depends, these days. At least out here.

[chuckling]

A couple things.

[shadowblends]

I suppose we do need something to give us a jumpstart-- make sure we're all still breathing.

Like the charm I was talking about earlier.

[which was apparently worth rementioning.]

[brokeassgoing]

Yours? Again, debatable.