( world #2 - the storm. )

[acatamods]

I ▫ main IV ▫ premise       XI ▫ applications XIV ▫ activity II ▫ logs V ▫ rules VII ▫ bestiary   IX ▫ canon updates XII ▫ taken XV ▫ drop/hiatus III ▫ ooc VI ▫ faq VIII ▫ setting   X ▫ mods XIII ▫ reserves XVI ▫ players a storm approaches.This log is for everyone who signed up for The Storm investigation. Feel free to use the here to plot further on how you plan on approaching The Storm, and the issue. The mod questions thread is also open, if you have anything you would like to run by us. the investigation. It takes a day of preparation, and a day of discussion, before you are led further down into the tunnels. It's pitch black, but one of the BGs who you have become familiar enough with turns on a low light and continues further. You walk for ten, fifteen, twenty minutes, and then turn a corner into a large, open cavern. The BG explains that at one time, this had been an underground transportation system - old and unused for centuries, now, but still in working order. They file each of you onto a single car - it seems to be large enough to fit nearly a hundred, possibly more, bodies - so everyone has a space. The BG explains that they have already input the coordinates into the system, and that once they close the door, you will be transported to the last known location. The car will be programmed to wait for 72 hours, and then will return to this location. There is food and water supplied, and already packed, in the car. If you are not back in the car by that time, it will leave you behind. They then give their farewells, thank you for your help and readiness, and step away from the door - letting it close behind them. The car travels down a pitch black tunnel, and while the inside is dimly lit enough for the Circle Members to see each other and move around without hinderance, you can see nothing through the windows. It continues for a few hours at this rate - nothing to see, no idea where you are going. That is, until it seems to break through the surface, the track running through buildings and another, unknown area of the city. The streets and buildings are abandoned, the tech old and outdated, windows broken out and dust filling the street. The sky, like back in the city you knew before, is cloudy and grey. But these clouds are different - these clouds are dark in a way you haven't seen before. You travel for another half hour above ground before the cart comes to a stop, and during this time it happens twice. A low rumble, seeming to come from everywhere at once, and then a few heartbeats after, a disasterous flash of lighting - miles away, yes, but threatening and gigantic, brighter and more violent than you've ever seen lightning before. The crash shakes the ground under you, and the damage is immense. But the buildings are abandoned, the streets empty save for crates, old mechanical bits, dusty remnants of a society long forgotten by the Struxta you came from just a couple of days prior. This is The Storm you've been warned about. the storm. You have been asked to find out information that will help the BG's, and Struxta, to stop The Storm. From what you can gather, it does seem to be a naturally occurring weather phenomenon, as far as weather systems seem to work on this planet. However, rather than scattered thunder and lightning strikes, it seems to almost recharge and strike with epic proportions. It can damage, or destroy, buildings. It shorts out any and all items (and people) who depend on electricity in any form to function (Sorry Daylight and Conner, sorry to anyone who brought along technology) within a three mile radius. The 'darkness' the BGs were talking about does follow this storm, but they seem to have been referring to this electrical shortage that comes from the storm and it's strikes. If this storm does reach any of the still-occupied areas of the city, it will shut down the entire grid, as well as any of the robots, androids, or electrically based figures that exist there - essentially ending the life of every Struxta citizen that is effected. Plot, plan, theorize, and see if you can find a way to stop The Storm. If not, be back on the train car in 72 hours time, to return to the BGs and report what you have found. PROMPT IDEAS 1.) Discussions on the train - do you have any ideas for what to prepare? Any discussions you may want to have? You and your fellow Circle Members are caught here together for a few hours, driving into a situation you know very little about. What do you want to make sure you're prepared to handle? 2.) Scouting missions - the heart of The Storm is very much in the distance, and it is not moving quickly, giving Circle Members plenty of time to set out and check out the surrounding city. What you will find won't be much - this is a robotic ghost town in every turn of the phrase. Buildings have been abandoned for hundreds of years, covered in dust and left entirely undisturbed, except for the breeze that now seems to flit through this entire area. There are stores, warehouses, apartments, and buildings you can't even tell what they were used for, cleared out. Whenever, or whoever, lived in this part of Struxta had evacuated, quickly but efficiently. 3.) The Storm - The Storm is still a distance away from where the cart has dropped you off, enough that when your 72 hours are up, the heart of the storm and the lightning strikes shouldn't reach the car, or the track. This does mean that to do any closer investigation, you will need to go to The Storm itself. But be careful - the electrical output from these lightning strikes are dangerous, and can have all sorts of effects on both natural and mechanical beings. The wind, the closer you get to The Storm, will also pick up - making any kind of flying or air travel impossible. 4.) Planning - the car leaves everyone off at an old train station, which a large room attached. This room can be used as a kind of home base, as well as a meeting location. What do you plan on doing? Simply taking down information, or trying to take the storm head on? How do you plan on doing that? Will your abilities help? This room attached onto the train station is a safe location - no effects of The Storm will make it inside. Use as you would like!

Comments

[paladorable]

A ☀ THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE

[ All this gallivanting down dark tunnels has made Arenvald’s newly-discovered power seem more useful than it probably is in the long run. The lighting in the train is dim, and though there’s just enough light to see by if one really needs to, it’s still not great.

But at one end of the car, it is… much brighter. For anyone who needs it, there is a six-foot-tall light source in the form of Arenvald. The glow he gives off isn’t blinding and is in fact quite pleasant! Getting closer will also reveal he’s giving off warmth, though not so much as to make things uncomfortable. He’s just here to be a personal sunbeam for people who are not fond of the dim lighting.

Should you approach, he will turn to offer you a smile. ]

Hello there. Let me know if I need to tone it down a bit. I’m still learning just how this works.

B ☀ THE THUNDER ROLLS

[ Okay, well. The only piece of technology Arenvald has on his person is the watch from Astoria, if that even counts. (It’s… it’s magic, isn’t it? He can’t keep it all straight anymore.) So, he’s far better equipped than some (cough-Connor-cough) to investigate the Storm.

He’s not sure how close he can get, or even wants to get, but he is for sure going, if that determined look into the distance is anything to go by. ]

Are you headed out? Strength in numbers, right?

C ☀ WE BUILT THIS CITY

[ Of course, in order to get to the Storm, one has to first get through the ruins. He pokes around a bit as he goes, not wanting to delay overmuch, but still recognizing that there may be a clue to be found in the abandoned city. Something, anything, to give them a hint about what they can even do to help.

He’s beginning to get the sense that this might be too big for them, even with Astoria’s gifts.

But on the other hand, he’d never forgive himself for giving up, so onward he goes. He pokes his head through an open doorway, the door itself having been lost to time, peering up into the gaping, empty space within. The wind whistles through the empty windows. ]

Brilliant. This isn’t creepy at all, now is it?

[ That was mostly meant to be said to himself. ]

D ☀ WILDCARD

[ Something else you want to do? Fee free! You can also hit me up at exposition if you want to work something out! ]

A

[beyondthegreen]

[Tefé's mood is about as gloomy as the tunnel itself, but she can't just sit around. Astoria supposedly was sending them to help people, right? She's not sure what to expect from the Storm, but...

The comment interrupts her own thoughts as she wanders the car. This end is brighter but... oh, is that him doing that?]

Oh, no. It's fine.

[She doesn't quite smile back, but at least looks a little less glum.]

It's nice, actually. Is that the power you were given when you got here?

[paladorable]

[ It's hard to miss that it's him, considering he's the one glowing. ]

Aye. At least, I don't remember being able to do this before I got to the Circle.

[ He holds up a hand, examining his own glowing digits. ]

I'm not sure what use it will be when we're not slogging through the dark, but I figured I may as well help while I can.

[beyondthegreen]

[Tefé sits down nearby. It takes more than just sun and water to sustain her here without full elemental powers, but that doesn't mean a little bit of warm almost-sunlight isn't welcome.]

I don't know if there's anything any of us can do to help against the storm, to be honest. But I guess we have to try.

[For once, she doesn't sound completely convinced of herself.]

[paladorable]

That's all we can do. Astoria seems to believe we can be of help somehow, or else she wouldn't have sent us here, right?

[ He hopes so, anyway. Surely Astoria must have more of a method to her madness than "throw the Circle at a problem and see what sticks". ]

C with a dash of D

[bleps]

[Except that the space within is not so empty, not so gaping. It is abandoned, certainly, with long-broken windows that allow whipping wind to slip through. But there’s overturned and upturned furniture, or piles of rubble where the ceiling had fallen in. Everything one might expect from where there had once been bustling life, and now there’s only a shell of it — proof in what decaying things are left behind.

And there is one other thing: Connor himself, leaning forward against what once might’ve been an old, metal counter, now covered in rust. A flash of lightning, a rumble of thunder shaking the ground they stand on, and his LED flashes viciously red, feeling the effects of the electrical storm. Even this far out, it rattles everything about him. Processes gone dark for a few terrible moments, warnings scrambled in his mind’s eye. Limbs that feel too stiff, then too useless, requiring him to lean on whatever is near to remain upright.

He hasn’t even noticed Arenvald coming in, he’s busy trying to refocus himself, a hurried soft reboot, coupled with a gritted frown on his face.]

[paladorable]

[ He's too busy looking up, up at the ruined ceiling as he frowns at the whistling of the wind, to even notice Connor at first. When he does glance around properly, he spots the bright blue symbol on the back of Connor's jacket first, followed quickly by the angry red of his LED, and Arenvald's heart leaps into his throat. ]

Connor!

[ He crosses the room in an instant, slinging an arm about his friend's shoulders to steady him. ]

Connor, talk to me! Are you all right?

[bleps]

[Not until Arenvald is closer does Connor note a presence in his mind. An arm around him, to keep him balanced, something worried in the other's tone. His first thought is Hank?, but then he remembers this world, the people here, the Circle; memories all coming back in a flash, as fast as the lightning itself.]

Arenvald. The Storm-

[How to explain it in simple terms? Maybe doing so is a blessing, with the earth lurching this way and that, though he knows the ground doesn't move.]

It pulses. Affects my biocomponents, overloads them. Like what happened before.

[In the Library, but this was different. Each pulse was a threat, a timed guarantee that Connor would not survive being in its vicinity for long.]

[paladorable]

[ It’s not terribly hard to connect the dots. “What happened before” must be referring to Connor’s incident at the library, and Arenvald will be damned if he lets that happen again. ]

Come on, let’s get you out of here. Can you walk?

b

[flyingsolos]

Yeah.

[ Rion's still smiling strongly, even though from the looks of her completely windswept self, she's had a fun time of it already. ]

For the record, flying won't work, so we'll have to go at it the old-fashioned way.

[paladorable]

Wait, you can fly?

[ Someone just realized he never asked what her power is. ]

[flyingsolos]

Normally!

I got about two seconds of air time up there, though, and then it was like hitting a wall of wind.

[ it wasn't fun. ]

[paladorable]

You look like you’ve had a rough go of it.

[ If her windblown appearance is anything to go by. ]

I can’t fly, myself, so we’re stuck going at it the old-fashioned way.

B

[cakebuffet]

[Ann has no idea what she can actually do against a storm, against something this huge, but she does know one thing: they're not going to learn anything by hanging back by the car and playing scared. She gives Arenvald a wry smile as they both find themselves pointed in the same direction, and she's glad to have a friendly face nearby.]

Won't learn anything new if we don't. Strength in numbers is a good idea— we'll stick together.

[And if they get struck by lightning, well... they can do that together, too. She exhales, steeling herself before starting to walk.]

I know coming here to investigate was the right thing to do, but how can we stop the weather?

[paladorable]

[ Arenvald is right there with her, honestly. They are up against a literal force of nature, and his ability to glow at it really doesn’t seem like it will be of much help here.

He walks along with her, trying to keep an eye out. This part of the city should be abandoned, but in Eorzea-speak, that’s just code for “crawling with monsters”. ]

I’ve no idea. Mayhap if there’s something causing it we can put a stop to that.

[ It’s all he’s got at this juncture. ]

[cakebuffet]

[Similarly, Ann is pretty damn sure she's can't just tell the Storm to knock it off and expect it to listen. It's a force all its own, not a thug in a back alley whose mind she can sway— not that she's entirely comfortable with her newfound power anyway.]

If that's the case, we can get this whole thing shut down before it reaches the city, but if not...

[She lets out a soft hm.]

Maybe then the focus should be less about stopping the storm and more about finding a way to protect the city and minimize the damage done. Still a tall order, but we should keep in mind that there's more than one angle for us to approach this from.

[AND THAT'S ALL SHE'S GOT. What she wouldn't do to have an engineering genius on hand right now...]

c

[oculusriffs]

A bit — why, are you expecting robot ghosts?

[sorry if he pulled a jumpscare by accident there, Arenvald, Dave's just been curiously shuffling into any open building, occupied by other Circle members or not.]

[paladorable]

[ He’s only a little frightened by the sudden voice behind him. Only a little. He just put his hand on his sword but didn’t draw it, so it’s probably fine. He relaxes a second later when he sees it’s another Circle member poking around. ]

At this point, why not? A robot ghost might be able to tell us something about the Storm, at least.

[oculusriffs]

[it's maybe just a tiny bit funny, maybe, if only because Dave's the one who usually gets startled by his much more silent friends. but he shrugs, not really skeptical of the idea.]

I've heard of way weirder things happening. And I'd take a ghost story over diving headfirst into a giant murderstorm without knowing how to fight it.

[should they hold a robot seance? no ... no, that's a dumb idea. he will refuse to entertain that thought and entertain getting a better look around instead.]

Nothing interesting in here then, I guess?

A.

[lumberlady]

[Centaurs weren't built for train travel, apparently. At least, Konoha is sure she wasn't. She can't seem to keep her balance when the train takes turns in the dark tunnels, and she's feeling dizzy, semi-nauseous... and she certainly doesn't know when this horrible trip is going to end.

She tries to sleep, manages to get down on her side and pillow her head on some supplies, but she's too nervous in the end... and the glow in the dark keeps drawing her attention.

On stiff legs she makes it over to his side of the train car and shakily gets back down to her knees and then eases back down her side, tucking her legs up under her belly and resting part of her weight on her palms, holding off from fully laying down until she asks,]

Do you mind if I stay here... ?

[paladorable]

[ Now here’s a face he hasn’t seen in a while. He offers her a gentle smile, nodding. ]

Of course, Konoha. Make yourself at home.

[ He has to wonder just how she’s dealing with all this – this strange train and the underground tunnels and the lot of it. He can’t do much for her aside from ask, but mayhap a little sunlight helps as well. ]

Are you doing all right?

[lumberlady]

Thanks.

[Once she has his blessing she eases down fully, pulling a bag of supplies close to clutch it between her arms and use it to pillow her head as she does something... a bit more like a dog than a horse, honestly, curling up on the train floor in as much of a ball as a stiff-spined centaur could. If she closed her eyes she didn't have to see the dizzying play of tunnel and train lights they occasionally passed, but she could still see the comforting glow he was emitting. It was kind of familiar...]

Aha... I don't think jinba are meant to travel like this...

[She tries to keep it light, to laugh despite the situation, but... when the old train shakes slightly she tenses noticeably. Quick, something else-]

I didn't know you glowed in the dark...

b;

[parttimes]

Oi, are you sure about going out there?

[Kou's been like...explicitly avoiding going out into that mess, and he's definitely grimacing a bit at how willing Arenvald seems.

(Maybe, if he had his Soul Device, but...)]

[paladorable]

Aye. How else are we supposed to learn anything?

[ It will probably be dangerous, he's not denying that, but so many of their number are already going to be stuck at the station out of sheer necessity. Not going would be remiss of him. ]

[parttimes]

Preferably by not getting fried by lightning...

[Just saying!! He's concerned about this!]

... But fine. If you're really set on this, I guess someone'd better come along to make sure you don't die.