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The streets and buildings are abandoned, the tech old and outdated, windows broken out and dust filling the street.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! |
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acatalepsy_logs2018-07-29 11:52 pm
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But he is pretty adamant about this lightning, and the fact that Cayde shouldn’t be out in it. He watches the man try to stand, managing it for all of a heartbeat before his legs buckle and Arenvald is left supporting him again. ]
You can’t even stand, let alone walk. Getting any closer might do worse than turn your legs to jelly.
You’ll thank me for this later. [ Not being able to stand means he can’t resist much, so Arenvald bends and slings Cayde over his shoulder. He’s two for two on hauling robots back to the station like a sack of popotoes, but you gotta do what you gotta do. ]
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Oi, oi, oi! [He still has enough energy to rap his fist against Arenvald's back and make an attempt at squirming out of the hold. This is embarrassing, and a blow to his pride that he may never recover from. Especially if anyone else finds out about it.] I told you, I'm fine! No need to bring out the big guns.
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But you’re not fine. I’m no expert in technology by a longshot, but even I can tell you were struggling.
[ This, as he begins trekking his way towards the station. ]
I know you want to be out here helping, but that Storm can be truly deadly for you. I don’t want to see someone get hurt, or worse.
[ Congrats, Cayde, you’ve found yourself a noble soul. ]
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[Okay, perhaps a giant apocalyptic storm isn't necessarily 'child's play', but that's not the point. The point is that he wants to keep going, even if he feels like he's about to crumble in on himself.
Arenvald doesn't seem to want to listen to (flawed) logic, however, and as much as Cayde protests it doesn't change the fact that they're getting further and further away from the action. In the end it seems that struggling is futile, and with a dramatic sigh he lets himself sag against the armor against his cheek; it's not necessarily comfortable, but it's good to be off his feet. Not that he'd ever let Arenvald know that.]
You make a habit of slinging people over your back, then?
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It wasn’t a habit I had until just now, to be honest with you. You’re not the first person I’ve hauled back to the station, though I can foolishly hope you’ll be the last.
[ And since introductions have yet to be made in turn, he asks, ]
What’s your name?
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Besides, the couplings in his leg have been killing him since he ate dirt.]
So. [Even if he's being carried, and even if the storm's presence feels like a raging sickness in his bones, he can't cut the sass.] I guess we're doing the pleasantries thing, alright.
[Is it possible for an adult man to be petulant like this? An adult robot? No matter, Cayde's pulling it off.] Cayde. Cayde-6, if you will. Make sure you spell it right on the ransom note if this is actually just some elaborate kidnapping attempt.
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I'll just stick with Cayde, if that's agreeable. Is there anyone in particular I should address the ransom note to? I mean, have you any friends from home here?
[ Well, this is one way to make conversation. ]
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"Agreeable"? You have to be the second most formal person I think I've ever met. Maybe the third. Fourth? Whatever, you're up there. [In truth, the banter gives him something to focus on beyond the storm's surges and were he the sort he would probably be greatful for that.] Sorry to bust your bubble though, bud, no one here but me and so your dreams of retiring rich will have to go unfufilled.
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I’ll have to introduce you to my friend Alphinaud, then. When it comes to formality, you’ll find he blows me clear out of the water.
[ Being a scholar and a diplomat both will do that. ]
Ah. A pity, that. No one I could even get a few coins from at all?
[ Arenvald is beginning to wonder just how lucky he really is to have friends from home here. Connor is all by himself, and so too is Cayde, it seems. ]
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[But he falls quiet for a moment or two before beginning again.]
Sorry, big guy. While I assure you I'm worth a whole pile of glimmer (maybe a few of those humming coins?), you're barking up the wrong tree here.
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All right, all right. I suppose you’re off the hook for now. I’ll just be taking you back to the station, then.
[ He can sit in time out with the rest of the robots. ]
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[There's another crack of lightning off in the distance and Cayde's tirade is summarily cut short with a grunt of pain and a slight spasm of one leg (there go the couplings again) and he sags against Arenvald further.] Y'know, I think I'd rather be kidnapped and ransomed than brought back. Can we go back to that plan?
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[ Which the Storm is most certainly not. Arenvald hasn’t stopped feeling out of his depth since he got here, but that won’t stop him from trying his best to help. ]
Oh, no, no. The opportunity for ransom has already passed. It’s back to the station with you.
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[Can he...get them off track? Hopefully.]
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[ He would shrug, but the presence of Cayde on his shoulder stops him from trying. Alphinaud is the diplomat, and the rest of his fellow Scions each have their own strengths. Arenvald is good in a fight. Or, at least he's good enough. ]
Yeah? I usually keep a dagger or two on me in addition to my sword, but those wound up missing when Astoria brought me to the temple.
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[Huh. Maybe he's lucky that he managed to keep the ace.]
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[ The former is currently resting at one hip, while the latter – a small buckler – is flung over his shoulder opposite Cayde. ]
What about you? Did you wind up with anything missing?
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Ah, so you're a man that appreciates some good bladework then. I can see that. [Cayde, what does that even mean.] But I'm about the same. They left me with a few toys to play with, but I'm missing more than I'm comfortable admitting.