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ximilialog2022-11-08 03:24 pm
MISSION: THE DARKEST WILD
● ● ● M I S S I O N 1 0 . 0
It’s the middle of the day when the ping! of a new mission file is broadcast across every crewmember’s communications device. Whether you were in the middle of your meal, or occupied in one of the other rooms, you might want to pause for a moment to check on the file and hear what Viveca has to say.
You’ll have the rest of the afternoon to figure out what to pack with you, and it might not be a bad idea to seek some advice from those more experienced with the great outdoors; and when the morning comes, it is time to head to the teleportation platform once again.
It’ll be up and running when you arrive, its’ hum now a familiar sound — and beside the platform, Viveca awaits the entire team to shuffle in. Once everyone has gathered there, she takes a quick headcount and then smiles.
With that, the machine’s hum grows louder and louder, its lights blinding —
And then all of a sudden the lights shut down, the hum of the engine cutting off as if by a knife’s edge. Perhaps you are part of those who are left standing on the now-quiet platform, Viveca’s quiet curses in the dark the only other sound … until sudden laughter is carried into your comms, a woman’s voice echoing in your ears.
Or it may just be that you are one of those that the machine takes with it, suspended in the middle of nothingness with the multiverse surrounding you, waiting to be pulled towards the right direction — in your ears, there is the whisper of many voices, telling you what you must do in order to receive their help.
And then, just before you can open your mouth to shout for help, you find sand beneath your feet.
Somehow, some way, you’ve arrived on Noth 11X8.
The pale yellow skies of Noth 11X8 are dark and storm-filled when you arrive. Rolling thunder booms in the distance, and fat raindrops fall around you, leaving you drenched in seconds. At your feet are the pale sands of the island’s shoreline, and stretching out beyond that are the wild, torrential waves you’re meant to cross.
You might take a moment to gather your wits about you, but it won’t take long to realize there are fewer of your number than you last remember. If you try to reach out to the missing crew, you’ll only find static through your earpiece… similar to the way it sounds whenever you try to reach Viveca or Degar during a mission.
Wherever the rest of the team are, whatever happened to them — those are answers you won’t find in the wilds that stretch out around you. What you do know is this: there is an orb waiting for you on the next island over, and the faster you get to it, the faster you can hope to find your missing people and finally get the sand out from between your toes. (You know, if you’ve got them.)
1.0 Unfortunately, it doesn’t look as if the storm will let up any time soon. (In fact, it won’t until seven hours later.) Those of you who are perhaps feeling antsier than the others might genuinely consider attempting the trip even with the waters raging as they are. Who knows, maybe you’ve got skills and abilities of your own that would make the journey from island to island mere child’s play.
2.0 Maybe you notice the giant turtle dragon peacefully slumbering along the shoreline, whose entire length, as far as you can see, stretches the distance between the two islands. With its tough, armored skin and the rock-like formations along its shell, the turtle dragon almost appears… hikable. It’s definitely a risk, but is it any riskier than braving the churning waters yourself? It doesn’t even seem to notice the commotion happening all around it, so what are the chances it’ll notice a little ant like you crawling along its body?
Of course, you can always choose to wait the weather out. By the following morning, the skies will have cleared, and you can now see the main island in the distance. There, rising right out of its center, is the volcano that houses the orb. Thanks to the mission file you know it is active, but right now it sits dormant, save for a faint cloud of crackling energy floating over its peak. The more you look at it, the more unsettling it becomes, until eventually you find yourself forced to look away.
You refocus. One quick look around you will make clear that the turtle dragon has disappeared, likely sinking back under the cooler waters to avoid the rising heat from the planet’s trinity of suns. The air is thick and humid now, tasting of the previous night’s rains, but the ocean is calm and welcoming. What better time to venture out than now?
3.0 Daylight reveals the smaller island to be rife with natural resources that can easily make a handy raft, should you have the skill to fashion one. The trees alone would suffice: tough wood, sturdy and flexible leaves, vines for rope, and sap so sticky and waterproof it would give any artificial glue a run for its money. (Careful not to get it on your hands! The only way to remove the sap from any surface is to use the juice of the tree’s fruits ... a fine idea of course, except for the rank smell that lingers for at least two days.)
4.0 Further investigation will reveal the planet’s fauna to be just as helpful as its flora. Basking along the shoreline are a herd of irkals. While the males are only about 2 meters long, the females average around 3 meters from the tips of their snout to the tips of their tails. They are friendly and playful when approached, to the point where it doesn’t take much cajoling for the irkals to wade into the waters with you. By that point, why not test your luck? This time around, fortune favors the friendly — any who attempt to get a ride off of one of the irkals will find them agreeable. In fact, they might even make a race of it…
5.0 Should you choose a more direct route, you’ll find the waters during the daytime a tepid temperature, just a degree or two shy of feeling uncomfortable. Swimming the distance will clock you in somewhere under three hours, and the trip will be (miraculously) relatively uneventful. Save for the group of irkals, the waters are quiet. As you get closer to the main island, you may happen across a lone gevvin hanging around just outside of the shoreline. Though it will find you curious and swim closer for examination, it won’t prove aggressive unless provoked first.
Regardless of how you get there, the moment you step onto the main island’s sands, you can feel the difference. The air here is thicker, almost tangible and electric. In fact, the closer you get to the island’s center, the denser the atmosphere around you will feel, as if something invisible is physically trying to prevent you from approaching.
But that’s a problem for future-you. Right now, you’ve still got the rest of the island to get through. Those of you with teleporting abilities or enhanced speed will find they no longer work accurately, and the more you try, the more disastrous every outcome gets. Hopefully you’ve packed some water to keep hydrated, because it looks like you’re stuck doing it the old-fashioned way.
At least the view is nice. Like the island you first landed on, the main island is overrun with nature, with plenty of vegetation and fruit to provide sustenance. Flora of various kinds thrive in vivid, brilliant colors, providing a lush backdrop to your otherwise tenuous trek.
6.0 But as the day wears on, the planet’s suns prove to be an obstacle all on their own. In the middle of the day when the suns are at their highest in the sky, the heat will be so unbearable that only a handful of seconds under direct light will result in second degree burns. It may be in your best interest to find shade and shelter with your fellow teammates until the worst of the mid-afternoon sunlight has passed.
7.0 Nevertheless, the majority of your traveling will probably be best done during the daytime. At night, Noth 11X8’s only moon plunges the planet into a bone-piercing chill. Even if you can withstand the freezing cold, what little moonlight that manages to make it through the tree’s canopies makes for overall poor visibility, hindering any productive travel.
8.0 And be careful not to get too distracted by the scenery either. Many dangers await you on a planet deemed ungovernable by its own neighbors. Apart from the creatures of interest listed on the mission file, the island is teeming with wildlife who may not take too kindly over being disturbed. They may be encountered during the day as you're trekking through the island, or at night when you're trying to rest, so make sure to familiarise yourself with them beforehand so you know what to look out for.
• Dregzeok: Nocturnal. They hunt in pairs using their razor-sharp horns/antlers and the glowing orbs along their body, which gathers energy from the planet’s moon to create concussive energy blasts.
• Bladed Iris: Named for their coloring that matches many of the island’s wild flora, these solitary reptiles main weapon are the numerous spikes along their tail and frill. If that doesn’t work, they can also spit out a corrosive acid the same orange color as their markings.
• Thrilqoils: A symbiotic species, each thrilqoil is host to at least a dozen qoils (miniscule, gnat-like insects). While relatively peaceful, they can be very territorial of their nests found along low-hanging branches of trees. Just one sting can cause the flesh to swell up to the size of a small melon.
• Swamp Boars: Found only in swamps, their tough plating make for good armor. Though these herbivores keep mostly to themselves, they have been known to maul and gore any would-be threats.
• Khulgruns: These giants can be easily confused with the trees found scattered near rivers, but the khulgruns themselves are not actually the wood, but rather the glowing bulbs encased within them. Once fully matured, a khulgrun will burrow itself into a tree, uproot it, and use it as a vessel for its body.
• Oltir: While a useful plant during the evening, ingesting the bulbs of an oltir will cause the eater to feel incredibly intoxicated for the next three hours as it digests.
Despite it all, you reach your destination. By now, the orb’s power is downright palpable in the air surrounding the volcano. Gravity feels stronger, making each step heavier than the last. At its peak, pink-purple clouds swirl overhead like a brewing storm. Maybe you feel a sense of unease at the sight of the omen, but you also know how close you are now. There, nestled into the volcano’s caldera, sits your ticket out of this hellscape — the orb.
Then it happens — a daunting rumble.
9.0 Like a tidal wave, the rumbling ripples through the volcano, making the ground beneath your feet shudder and groan. Without any further warning, scorching lava spews out from the opening, erupting into the air and running down its craggy sides. Riding the fiery currents are magma crabs, looking for an easy meal by snatching up any scorched creature the lava leaves behind. You’ll probably want to get out of the way.
And yet, you know you have to find a way to brave the lava and the fumes of the active volcano, because leaving the orb there is not an option — so it's in your best interest to put your thinking caps on, plan with others, and figure out a way to get to your goal.
F Y I
• If you have questions about any of the prompts or the mission in general, please direct them HERE.
• To submit a suggestion for the orb retrieval, please do so HERE.
• And finally, your soundtrack for this log: ♪ ♪ ♪
no subject
"Earth?" he asks. The guess that seems to be the default for most people here, though he's always pleasantly surprised when he's wrong.
no subject
"That's the one," he answers, arching his back to work the knots out of it, when an odd realization hits him. "...You're not?"
For whatever reason, Clayton had pictured that Rosinante was a human from Earth - just a very watery alternate version of it, where maybe humans grow a bit taller than expected. Suggesting otherwise also puts the thought in Clayton's head that Rosi isn't human. Separating those two associations isn't an automatic thing for him yet, and just outright asking about what species someone is feels rude, so Clayton figures the safest approach is the planetary one and he can make assumptions (correct or otherwise) from there.
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He stumbles on his way to pick his hatchet back up, and ends up crashing down into the wet sand and tree debris. Ugh. Well, that was bound to happen eventually whether or not it was wet out here, and he spends a second plucking a splinter out of his palm before getting back up.
"Seems most people here come from Earth, though. The orbs really like you guys," he says as he dusts his knees... sort of clean. Still very wet and sandy. Such is life, though, and that's not too different from home either.
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Of course, Rosi is fine and doesn't need his help. This does not stop Clayton from offering a hand up. "I suppose," he says, brow creasing with concern. "You alright? Need a break?"
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He smiles, as if to prove it really is no big deal, then takes the hatchet back up. "What I could use is a smoke, but I don't think I have any chance of that in this rain."
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"Good," Clayton says blithely. "You oughta kick that habit anyway."
no subject
As in, yes, he's been told and no, it's not likely to happen. He was in for a bit of a shock when he arrived and first discovered all those surgeon general warnings and grotesque images on the packs that keep turning up in the Ximilia requisitions, but now it's all background noise. If he gets home and sorts his problems out, then maybe he'll look into it.
Anyway, he's already eyeing another tree, and bites the hatchet into it with a solid whack.
"So, where on Earth are you from? I've heard stories about a few places."
no subject
"Kinda all over, really," he says, welcoming the change of subject with his own thwack of the hatchet on a different tree. "Born in Oregon, grew up in Kentucky, finished school in Michigan - livin' in Illinois, now. Thought I'd finally settled down 'til they brought me here."
no subject
"I guess you went to a medical school, then?"
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"--Yeah. University of Illinois," Clayton continues. "Did my residency at Granite City General. Been officially workin' for 'em for a couple years now--" Thwack goes the hatchet, missing its mark slightly. Clayton frowns and wrenches it free. "--But I did some time with 'em in EMS 'fore that. Folks in ER knew my face already."
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"I understood about half of that," he admits, casting a smile over his shoulder toward Clayton. "Enough to get the gist, though. Was that always what you wanted to do, work in medicine?"
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"Good enough," Clayton says through a barked laugh. His tree finally falls with a few shoves of his shoulder into the side, which he allows to sit for the moment while he rests. "Think so, though I ain't sure I knew I did for a while. Wanted to be a vet when I was a kid, but--always liked helpin' folks, y'know?" He hefts his hatchet over one shoulder, looking wistful. "Wanna make sure I can be there for 'em when they need me."
no subject
Ways which he learned, thanks to growing up with Sengoku's constant menagerie, but even so. It's surely not the exact same thing.
"I guess you never met Law," he then says, and delivers a swift chop to knock the limb off of some large-leaved tropical thing he downed. Sticky sap bleeds from the cut, which is promising when it comes to any sort of construction. He'll keep that one in mind.
"My best friend," he adds. "He was here until recently. He's a surgeon, one of the best in our world. Maybe the best, actually, though I'm not sure he'd say it himself. But he's like that, I think. Just grew up wanting to be able to understand the human body so he could help people."
A rosy assessment of a man who is also a dangerous pirate captain, but the contradiction just makes Rosinante smile more, knowing how Law can be and how much kindness he always insists on hiding.
no subject
Then he lapses into silence - just listening, patiently, as Rosinante describes his friend, deliberately slowing the pace of his work so he can pay attention better.
"Sounds like a great fellah to have around." Clayton's smile turns sympathetic. "You miss 'em?"
no subject
The next tree gets a particularly solid whack of the hatchet into it. Clearly there's some anger or sorrow behind that, though Rosinante's face remains carefully neutral.
"But I'm glad he was here for as long as he was. When I knew him back home, he was only thirteen. So him turning up here and now the same age as me, I got to learn all about what he's done in life so far, and that... I can't really ask for anything better. I just hope he's doing all right, now that he's back home again."
no subject
"I'll bet he is," he answers, panting and wiping his hands off on his extremely wet jacket. "You were lucky to have that kinda opportunity, sounds like, and...I know folks don't remember what happened here when they go back, but experiences like this, they, ah. They stick around. I'm sure you left a mark on 'em."
no subject
That's the power of humanity, isn't it? Show enough love and care to someone and it can persist through generations, across all boundaries. It's what he believes, anyway, given all he's seen.
"You have someone back at home? Someone you're hoping to see whenever we're all done here?"
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It makes the next part a little less painful - though not by much. "...Yeah," he says through a sigh. The loneliness hits him like a truck, stopping him in his tracks towards the next tree to cut down. "My brother, Gary, and my Aunt Laura. Hope he's takin' care of her."
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"What are they like?"
He looks over at Clayton as he asks, and lets his hatchet hang at his side. Maybe talking about the people back home helps, maybe it won't, but he can try.
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"Gary's my twin," he starts, sizing up a smaller palm revealed by the ones Rosi has cleared away near the front. "I like to tell folks that we're nothin' alike, but then he an' his boyfriend - Eli - they went an' got an apartment in the same buildin' as me, didn't say nothin' 'bout it 'til we ran into each other in the lobby."
Clayton chuffs a laugh and shakes his head, readying a strike at the tree.
"Boy's always nippin' at my heels," he says with fond exasperation. "That's what he's like."
no subject
His smile turns sheepish. Still, it's nice to hear about someone else's family, especially a brother who Clayton gets along with. Because that, too, is certainly something Rosinante wonders about. It would be nice to have a brother who was also a friend.
"And your Aunt?"