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The streets and buildings are abandoned, the tech old and outdated, windows broken out and dust filling the street.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
no subject
meddy makes a sharp whistle in response now, the sound clearly aggressive and worried. the finials attached to the side of their helm are also twitching about, revealing their stress/doubts/anger(?) at the demand. but, in the end, meddy zips away. quickly too, before they can change their mind and attempt to tackle simon or something. they make their way towards the other unconscious bot that's sprawled out on the street.
compared to daylight, it seems they've gotten out of this incident with little-to-no injuries. they're simply offlined but active. (if the occasional beep and whirr that seems to be coming from their system is to be believed.)
the little drone begins to nose around the bot, looking for something sharp on them. it isn't long before they let a happy bwoop! and swoop down out of sight. they come up, holding a sharp looking knife to their chassis. they have to be careful while zipping back to simon, not wanting to drop the knife since, um, they have no fingers or thumbs to speak of.
all the while, meddy is beeping and booping. perhaps trying to ask, will this do? ]
cw: self harm??
[ He raises his right hand over the tubes and cables that run into Daylight’s... heart thing, holding the knife at practically a 90-degree angle and already cringing away from what he’s doing. In full adherence to the ‘rip off the bandaid’ philosophy, he jams the blade into his palm and slices, hard, with a hiss of pain.
Simon curls his hand into a hard fist, breathing through his teeth, or at least making a sound like he is doing that. What pours from the wound is... slightly more viscous than blood, tarry-black and shiny like crude oil. ] —ghh— let’s hope this works.
[ yes he knew better than to say that before Meddy brought him the knife.
Even before he’s finished speaking, structure gel is seeping into divets and crawling over tubing and cracked glass like something alive, drawn to areas of damage as soon as it hits the inside of Daylight’s chassis. Even where any defects are invisible to the naked eye, the way it distributes itself, hair-thin like roots or lightning in some places and a full coating of the stuff over particular segments of pipes and tubing, is erratic but clearly not random.
Almost immediately it solidifies whenever it settles into silvery-black, industrial metal that looks very similar to the odd ivy-like tendrils on Simon’s suit and would absolutely ruin Day’s color scheme if any of this were meant to be seen. But it spreads out to repair every broken connection it finds, and within a minute the glass chamber is sealed entirely, damaged tubing fixed and fortified, containing the currents that run through them so that strobes of electricity are no longer escaping the cables.
...hopeful, albeit strained: ] Well, it’s doing something.
robots recklessly injuring themselves for others, a fine tradition
because only now does meddy do their best impression of a screaming droid, not expecting that, of all things, when they brought the knife to simon. makeshift bandages? they were hoping. impromptu surgery? not something they'd like, but meddy would take what they could get?
a human(?) deliberately hurting themselves and pouring their ichor onto daylight's exposed systems??? no! not what they thought at all!!! what is with humanoids and their ability to freak this poor drone out??
before said drone can try and assist simon or whack simon on the head or make a choice on how to deal with simon, it's then that their readings pick up a spike of activity in the repair nanites that can be found in daylight's systems. judging by their happy trill and swoop down to daylight's helm so they can nuzzle his cheek, this is a good sign. a really good sign.
eventually daylight returns to the land of the living, made evident by the flickering light of his optics turning to a stronger, steadier shine of bright blue. ]
Wh-What?? What's going on...? [ he tries to look around, smelling burnt circuitry and oil, and sees simon. specifically, he sees simon with the knife and a cut hand.
the light from his optics bloom bright and near white, shock obvious on his face as he struggles to sit up despite meddy's angry orders against it. ] Hey! Hey! Are you okay?
You're hurt.
[ daylight are you for real. ]
no subject
The point is, he kinda thought he’d have this put away by the time he came to. Even though it’s a little late to hide it, Simon drops the knife on the ground next to him and splays his palms on his thighs. It hurts but whatever, he’s had worse. ]
Yeah, I’m...
[ Actual incredulity, separate from his evasiveness, creeps into his tone, because. same, narration. same. ] Really? You just almost died. What happened? -Don’t try to move, you’re making your little buddy mad.
[ and asking him what happened isn’t purely an evasion tactic, either. He’d really like to know what laid out a ten-foot-tall robot(...?) in the street nearly to the point of death without leaving any visible outside marks. ]
no subject
oh!! ]
Oh! Meddy!
[ he twists himself a bit despite the sensible advice given to him, trying to get a good look of his chirring companion in his attempt to reassure them.
between coming back from emergency stasis and meddy literally whistling in his audial to scold him for his (admittedly stupid) stunt, daylight doesn't notice that simon dodged the question he had asked. maybe he'll ask it later when things have settled down.
(or, more likely, he'll end up forgetting it due to distractions and other questions. that's more likely. his processor a mess- still whirring and reeling, trying its damnedest to comprehend what the heck he tried to make it face.) ]
I-I tried to- [ ow! sparks literally fly out of daylight's mouth at this point, flashes of gold and red jumping out in lieu of words. it's clear his frame is still feeling some affects of the botched connection.
after he gives himself a second to compose himself, daylight continues, ] I tried to... I tried to connect with the Mass Subconscious with someone's help. Wanted to see if I could find out more about the city...
[ clearly did not turn out well for him or his fallen friend. ] It seemed like a good idea at the time.
no subject
You tried to connect to it? Are you crazy? That’s millions of people! Connor only tried to download the information they aren’t all hooked up to, and we all know how that turned out.
[ Despite the fact that... “it seemed like a good idea at the time” is a good indication that Daylight is no longer under the impression that it was a good idea. Simon can’t just go “oh okay, guess you probably figured out why you shouldn’t try to do that” when it’s a stunt this ludicrous. He should have known already!!!
He settles back on his heels and drops his hands in his lap like just hearing about this is exhausting and fretful, which it kind of is. ] Did you even get anything? Guess you couldn’t have, not without going insane.
no subject
I got a very good impression that I should never do that. Ever again.
It was like- Drowning? [ he tries to remember the experience. just long enough for him to recall what it was like. the least he could do for the guy who saved him was give a good description of what was like.
when he's gotten what he needs, daylight cuts off the thought with extreme discomfort. ]
Like too many voices, too many thoughts. All... squished together so it's supposed be uniform, but you can tell it's all different. Kind of smushed together. Like putty that's all different colours and rolled into one big bit. You can see and feel where some bits ended and began.
[ he sticks out his tongue and, suddenly, daylight looked like the eighteen-year-old he was the equivalent of. ] It was gross
Zero out of ten. Would not recommend.
im sorry this is So LaTe.....
His retelling isn’t all that specific - not that that seems like it’d be possible - but it’s vivid, the kind that makes you imagine it, and he doesn’t super feel like doing that. Not when he could really have done without even the smallest shadows of that experience that he’s been subjected to, and those weren’t the Mass Subconscious, not even in Struxta, not even coherent. Just voices, fragmented thoughts, tugging and pleading.
So, at the end of it, his feedback is just, ] Yeah. Sounds like a zero out of ten. You must have a pretty good CPU, if you can even... think, after that.
[ because boy would he ever be immediately dead if he’d tried that ]
I’m Simon, by the way.
highfives in lateness solidarity
[ daylight has a suspicious feeling if not for the latest firewalls and stopgaps that's been installed, simon's attempts - whatever it was. how did he do it?? - would have been more difficult. he's never going to complain about emergency aid's nagging to update his systems ever again.
(... okay. maybe he'll complain if emergency aid tried to make him do it during shore leave.) ]
I'm Daylight. Daylight vis Lornlit. [ part of him wants to give his full name, just to show simon how grateful he is for the help. another part of him wants to not give his full name, just to spare simon how long and clunky it is.
thankfully, he finds a middle ground by gesturing to meddy. who is currently running series of scans and checkups on daylight to ensure he's alright. smoke still wafting off his frame and the occasional spark aside. ]
This is Meddy. They're my nanny, more or less.
[ beeop beep beep boop chirrr- ]
They're saying thank you. Um- 'Thank you for making sure Daylight didn't kill himself this time, the dumb boy.' [ wait a second- ] Hey! I'm not dumb!
[ beep boop bweoop, goes meddy. they sound faintly amused. ]