Test Drive #2

[atlasmods]

GOOD MORNING NEW ARRIVALS This time for real! WAKEY WAKEY. As the storm finally peters out and characters can once again move above ground it becomes abundantly clear that the landscape has changed. Where vast expanses of sand dunes once laid is now the half-buried remnants of what looks like some sort of...city? Full of structures. It stretches so far it's really hard to tell. But there is one thing characters will notice: There are more stasis pods. Revealed by the sandstorm, a whole new flurry of pods can be found scattered on the way to the city (curiously though, not in it. Hurry and wake those guys up! SPREAD THE LOVE. OR ACID. With the departure of the storm there's even more new arrivals to be found besides those fellow travelers of yours! The "Seedlings" and "Cactus" are now both available, the former blown in by the storm and the former uncovered. The Seedlings are generally pretty harmless. They like to burrow into the sand so only their "Leaves" plant-like leaves remain above ground, and they're quite happy to stay that way until surprised. Then they pop up and trip over themselves a little, before slowing down and wandering aimlessly. When they find a patch of sand that looks comfy they begin burrowing back down. Pull or yank on their leaves though and you'll find yourself with a face full of pollen that makes you want to just tell everyone how super-cool they are. It lasts a while, and then you get a fever and vomit for two hours. Good times. The Cacti are much less harmless and just...why would you eat them? Everything about this plant is poisonous, and cracking it open causes a corrosive acid-like substance to spill out. It'll eat through everything but...dirt, oddly. Metals and flesh are like hot oil on plastic. DON'T GET LOST And last but not least: The Forgotten City. Maybe you want to check out the Hull first for some loot, but maybe that's not such a cool idea anymore? Although it looks like the ship's definitely more powered after draining the suits of whoever went in, now it's started to spread and fill the sinkhole the ship's in. Suits can go from 100% to 0% in just ten minutes--not good! Lucky for everyone else, it looks like finally there's some sort of civilization up ahead. Go on and check it out! THE FORGOTTEN CITY Down below the lowest levels of the city, somewhere beyond the twisty maze of passages, several of the paths converge in a huge underground cavern. Here the air is blissfully cool compared to the desert above. A single shaft of light shines down from somewhere on the surface; motes of sand drift lazily as if suspended in the light. Elsewhere, the cave is lit by small clusters of glowing fungus that live off the moisture collected down here. Dim but navigable for most. But perhaps the most striking items in the area are the monoliths. Great fragments of stone over three meters long, too smooth to be natural but too jagged to be whole either. Several of them glow from the pulse of energy running through them. Others, while dark, have recessed notches large enough for a person’s hand. And still another group seems nearly shattered, a larger fragment surrounded by smaller ones. All of them react when the interlopers draw close enough... LIGHT Upon closer inspection, the lit monoliths have a curious pattern worked into the tone. The symbols are rather arcane, but perhaps they make sense if one tilts one’s head and squints. This one has strokes that resemble tongues of flame. That one is covered in cascading, fluid lines. Another … well, that look more like a warning sign than anything else. Interacting with these monoliths results in a warning crackle and the scent of ozone before the monolith opens. Something comes pouring out of it in response. Gushing water is the most common, matching up with the cascade monoliths; others open to flame or greenery or other odd things. And one definitely opens up into a vacuum. Careful with that unless you want to have something sucked out into space. Whatever connection they make is brief and non-traversable, but whatever comes through stays on this side. DARK The unlit monoliths aren’t nearly as flashy as their glowing brethren, but they have their own stories to tell. With the help of a little light (and the suit), the interlopers will find that these monoliths are covered from top to bottom in alien script. Most have at least one solid crack or chunk in them - at the juiciest parts! - but there may be enough left to be intelligible, given a little luck. VISION The last set hum with an ominous energy that belies their dilapidated appearance. Interlopers who approach these monoliths trigger strange images that float in the air. No two visions are alike, though they all share common themes. Silhouettes descending to the surface of the planet and spreading out across it. Exploring and interacting with an alien environment. There’s something deeply familiar about these shadows despite the variety of body types represented by them. The shape of their clothing is reminiscent of your own suit... Other snippets are set in space. Here the silhouettes are a darker patch of black against the darkness of space. The mood in these images is strangely pensive, somewhat tense. These figures are searching very desperately for something. There is one, though, that’s different from all the others. No silhouettes, no searching, no space. Only a shaft of light starting from a point beyond this planet’s moon. At first it’s a too-bright star; then, a solid beam stretching down to the planet itself. The light increases in intensity and breadth exponentially until it impacts physically with the surface of the planet itself. The eruption kicks up huge clouds of dust that race towards the city with all the heat and speed of a pyroclastic explosion. It rises up like a wave...and then crashes down, burying the city. Eventually, each of the images go dark once again. OOC If you're considering joining or want to dabble in the setting a little then you've come to the right place. This post should ideally give you a feel for what it's like to play in the game...especially since this is how we're kicking things off! What does that mean? Basically that this post is considered game-canon and any inter/actions here will lapse over into the game once it begins provided both parties agree to keep CR when they are accepted. TDM threads can be used for sample requirements on apps! Still interested? Applications open on the 3rdth at 00:00 EST and close on the 5th at 23:59 EST. Make sure you're familiar with both the setting and arrival conditions before posting...and have at it!

Comments

Hartley Rathaway/Pied Piper | DC Comics

[soundsmith]

WAKEY WAKEY.

The first thing Hartley's aware of is a lack of air. He panics, struggling to breathe, but all he can manage are weak, shallow gasps. For a second, as black spots begin to spread into his vision, he wonders if he'll die like this. Struggling to breathe, with no idea of why or where he is...and then it lets up. Suddenly he can breathe, and so he sucks in breath desperately, coughing a few times but grateful nonetheless of being able to pull the dry, dusty air into his lungs.

Blinking a few times as the last of the black spots faded from his vision, Hartley looked to see if anyone was nearby who could explain what the hell was going on.

SPREAD THE LOVE. OR ACID.

Once he's awake, and very are of his incredibly strange surroundings, Hartley decided to get a better idea of the lay of the land. It wasn't the first time otherworldly forces had whisked people away, after all, and the sooner he worked out what sort of situation, exactly, he was in, the better he could handle all of this. He didn't bother thinking about whether he could get back home or not, though truth be told, with as badly as things had been going, he almost wondered if he wanted to. Instead, he focused on survival.

Now, he'd gathered up his rations and was carrying them with him as he went, but even he could see this would only last him so long. While it might be nice to think everything would be resolved in three days, it wasn't exactly realistic, so he figured he might as well investigate whether anything was edible in this place.

That's what he was thinking when he pulled up what he'd presumed to be an ordinary plant...only to get a bunch of pollen in his face.

LIGHT

After that...unfortunate encounter with that plant, Hartley decided to proceed with a bit more caution. Still, as time went on, and as he became more curious about what appeared to be signs of civilization, he ended up approaching one of he lit monoliths. Curious, he reached out to touch it, when suddenly he heard it crackle, and the scent of ozone.

Hartley scrambled back, wanting to put some distance between himself and the monolith, taking this as a sign that something otherworldly and quite possibly deadly was about to occur, when suddenly, the monolith opened, and...water gushed out.

Well. That certainly wasn't dangerous, and if he'd known it would have just been water, he'd have likely tried to catch some of it in the container his water rations were in. He had, after all, been hitting them rather heavily in this harsh and dry environment. Still, it never hurt to be too cautious. That's why he didn't even want to approach the one that looked like someone was desperately trying to warn people away from it.