Mission 013 Log

[etrayamods]

Mission Summary

Genre: Survival / Exploration / Spooky

Premise: Mesa is a wild, lawless land of megafauna, from feathered dinosaurs to redwoods soaring stories high. Etrayans must document what remains of a world on its way out and then get out alive, surviving in the wilderness for two weeks while fighting off a hostile environment. Most importantly of all: beware the dark.

Tone: Dark and philosophical. Is this a world worth saving?

Objectives: Take samples and record for posterity what happened on Mesa. Demonstrate appreciation of what is lost and the capacity to preserve it.

❬ all that men presume ❭

While Mesa is full of life even now, with large creatures roaming the continents and making themselves comfortable, there are traces indicating that at one point this wilderness was constructed. The Citadel, a galaxy-spanning empire, had wanted to collect creatures from the numerous inhabited planets they could reach, and selected Mesa as the location for their conservatory given its lack of sentient residents. Once a carefully maintained vacation destination for Citadel elite, landscapes were meticulously groomed and animal husbandry was rigorously planned to create fascinating creatures across generations.

A good idea, in theory. Perhaps even in practice, given that whilst the rest of this galaxy has collapsed and died, this particular planet is still standing, along with all the creatures that had been transplanted onto it to call it their home.

Now abandoned by the Citadel, Mesa returns slowly to its original state: a deserted planet much like Etraya was before Aurora and Borealis's cities had been developed on it. Which is why Aurora has sent the Etrayans abroad: gather data on those who still live amongst Mesa's population, so that these creatures will not be forgotten as their predecessors have been.

Aurora's portal brings characters to a bare base camp, previously visited by a spare few of her bots in order to outfit it with just enough to allow them to survive. Simply called the Lux, their base camp takes the form of a massive spire with a built-in high-powered lamp at the peak, which bathes the entire outside of the building in light at all times. Some rooms hidden within the facility provide darkened spots to allow Etrayans to rest safely.

Aurora had told them that they must make sure to not be out in the dark -- hopefully the spire's eternal light as well as how carefully the entire outside of the structure is lit up offers them enough of a reminder to listen.

Possible Hooks
• Taking stock of your assigned team that you've just met, sharing supplies, and getting ready to leave on your assignment.
• Building up the base to serve as a safe respite for the time on Mesa.
• Returning to camp between assignments for a breather or because you've spent a little too long out in the dark.

❬ a conservatory left behind ❭

Mesa's ecosystems are dominated by megafauna: creatures of immense size and stature, often with lengthy lifespans and narrow biome niches. Most are locked to their environments, adapted precisely to the area they reside in, with little chance of surviving outside of their specific ecosystem. A swamp titan would not survive the cold tundra that the ice leopards call home, and the ice leopards cannot survive in the ashy, hot environment that let horned beetles thrive. Smaller animals may exist amongst them, but they are significantly less common. Many rely on the larger creatures for survival: feeding off of the parasites that attach themselves to their massive bodies, or nesting within their fur.

Much of the wildlife exhibits ancient evolutionary traits, behaviors and patters long-since established with no signs of further development. They no longer evolve with time and generations but instead have settled into their place on their planet.

The megafauna are not the only living beings on Mesa. Scattered across the planet are traces of civilization: abandoned ranger stations, research laboratories, and observation outposts. While these locations appear as if the technology within them was at one time advanced, it has now become nonfunctional, left to rot without maintenance over the generations.

Yet some of these structures still contain life, the descendants of the humanoid beings that established Mesa long ago. One may consider trying to extend a hand out toward them to offer what assistance they can give - but none of them will be friendly.

Long abandoned by those who had once brought them here, these people have become opportunistic predators, fiercely defending what facilities they were able to keep partially functional. The darkness that plagues the Etrayans also appears to plague them, and without light, the same ill fate would be their demise.

They do not travel far, choosing to maintain their own livestock and supplies to ensure they are never far from the light. After all, they know the greatest threat on Mesa is not the wildlife, but the dark.

Possible Hooks
• Encounter various wildlife while out on assignment, and perhaps run into another team.
• Build an observation blind shelter with your teammates and hole up there for a few days, hoping to document your species of interest.
• Discover and explore an abandoned structure.
• Come under threat from the residents... or try to reach out to them.

❬ hatchlings ❭

The chelonians, one of the species in one of Mesa's warmer climates, has struggled to maintain their numbers over their centuries on the planet due to their inability to change their ways.

Hatchlings are born several kilometers away from the beach shores, burrowed deep into soil to protect them from predators that may seek out their eggs during high tide. These creatures are massive, large shells encasing a significant portion of their bodies with only their heads and limbs visible from under it.

These creatures are rare and difficult to spot on Mesa: they breed slowly, live for centuries, and their offspring very rarely make it passed their first few hours of life. They often hatch in the dark of the night, making them extremely susceptible to predators that lurk in the dark, waiting for prey too small and too fragile to protect themselves. Large winged beasts swoop down from the skies, picking up the newborn chelonians to enjoy a fresh meal.

Without them, their ecosystem begins to collapse: kelp beds and forests fail, and entire food chains unravel.

Etrayans with interest could assign themselves a simple, unofficial mission to find the burrows and protect the younglings as they manage to break through their shells, then help them into the ocean so that their kind may survive to see the sun again. They must set up light sources and wait beside the burrows to make sure these massive creatures not only escape their eggs but do not become lost on their journey to the water. Following them to the water is critical, as their eyesight, even with a light source, is quite poor -- and they have a tendency to lose their way.

No one's asked them to do this -- the whole planet is slated for destruction, so maybe this entire venture is pointless -- but maybe this is something worth doing anyway.

Possible Hooks
• Idealistic types see the chelonian hatchlings struggling to make it to a beach and step in to help. Considering how large they are, this might be a struggle for them, too.
• Cynical types question what the point is.

❬ night falls ❭

Mesa's darkness is not merely the conventional absence of direct light.

The planet itself has no moon, and when darkness comes, it is absolute.

Remaining in the darkness has several consequences, and the effects accumulate over time, progressing along a spectrum rather than in tidy stages. This only seems to effect those from Etraya and the humanoids living within their bases, not the animals brought to reside on planet. Remaining within light sources suppresses the effects, but the moment the planet's rotation angles them away from this galaxy's star, any Etrayans caught outside of the light will find themselves succumbing to the effects.

Characters were warned not to stay out in the dark, but they were not told why they should not.

If any of them prefer not to find out and remain at base during one unfortunate night, they'll find out why anyway: the power cuts. The surrounding terrain, once held at bay by artificial light at the Lux, is swallowed whole. The air feels heavier and the atmosphere itself feels weighted.

Blithe apathy sinks in. The ability to listen to reason slowly leaves those left in the darkness. If they do not find a light source quickly, they will be able to feel the physical effects of the darkness set into their skin, potentially ending with permanent changes.

Those remaining on base may work together in order to bring the power back on, utilizing any personal abilities in addition to fixing the damaged circuits in order to bring everything back online. But they had better react quickly -- the longer the darkness remains, the worse the effects become, and maybe someone who was once trying to help is now trying to hurt...

Possible Hooks
• Help restore power after it cuts at the Lux.
• Underestimate the darkness effects, assume your light source is enough, and slowly fall prey to the pleasant apathy. You'll need rescue.
• Stumble onto another party's camp and need their help to be coaxed back to sanity.

❬ MISSION NOTES ❭

📌 — Please make sure to use the major events comment thread specifically to announce character actions that have a significant impact on the mission outcome or other characters.

📌 — For all questions relating to this mission, please refer to the mission queries comment on the plotting post. Other questions can be directed to the FAQ.

🔵FULL NAVIGATION🔵

Comments

[rudelanguage]

[Pending shrugs up a shoulder.] Don't mind. But I don't know what you guys are like if you get weird.

[maybe being weird by Knife's standard is just normal for them!]

[lockdownbuild]

[Her armor tends to make her shrugs much more dramatic than she intends them. It's the mass. And also the spikes.]

If it's not pretty obvious, it can wait till light, right?

[Why worry about psychology and profiles and all that when you can break it down so clearly to "trouble" or "not trouble"?]

[rudelanguage]

[warily:] Guess so. [Unless one of you freaks has some fuckin' weird-ass nightmare habit I get to learn about in the dead of night, yeah? thinks the normalest creature to ever normal with no abnormal tendencies whatsoever.

he gestures at the wire.] Whistlers at the perimeter for smaller things. A few covered holes a way back for larger things to trip. Won't stop nothin' huge, just noise warnings to wake up to.

Tree sleepin's probably the way to do it.

[lockdownbuild]

So instead of darkness, our most dangerous foe will be gravity. I do so enjoy an outing where my enemies are all fundamental aspects of reality.

[She knows he probably means hammocks or something, but damned if she can get the image of just sprawling over a branch out of her head.]

I like the traps idea though, so long as everyone can get used to not tripping them. Anything else along that score you've got in mind?

[rudelanguage]

Fall or get stepped on. You pick. [Fuck me for suggesting shit, huh!! Sheesh!

at least the kudos takes the sting off the snark; Pending shrugs lazily and looks around at the dense foliage.]

This much stuff, big things are gonna make themselves known...whether they want it or not. It's the littler ones that're maybe problems.

[...]

Could always kill somethin' and leave it out somewhere a ways. More interesting than hunting live stuff, maybe.

[lockdownbuild]

[Aliarra makes a mental note that this guy doesn't get her sense of humor.]

Yeah, that could work... Question there is if we attract scavengers, and then things that like to eat scavengers. But then we're definitely going to be lit up, so anything out there is already either going to be repelled or drawn towards the light as appropriate...

[Mmm. She takes a couple steps to the right, then back, in a very understated pace as she considers the options.]

[rudelanguage]

[he shrugs again, scratching at the bridge of his scarred nose.]

Not a ranger sort. I'd rather...not draw any of 'em. But I dunno what works. Smoke? Light? Noise?

Dunno til it happens. Which sucks.

[lockdownbuild]

['Ranger' is a term Aliarra doesn't even blink at.]

Yeah, well, if it were that simple they wouldn't need someone doing the sentinel duty. So we can settle for 'best effort' and understand it's not going to be perfect. Nor does it need to be.

[She punctuates that sentence with a smile and a clatter as she draws one gauntleted hand into a fist.]

[rudelanguage]

Okay, Sentinel. [because he's already forgotten the name Aurora told was hers.] Best effort, don't...let me die.

[lockdownbuild]

If you do, it'll be because I did first. And I'm incredibly good at not dying.

[Never needed to be raised from the dead once in all her years! Considering the stakes on some of the battlefields she's walked, she does actually consider that something to be proud of.]

I'm wondering if we really ought to consider some more dangerous traps. I don't think any of us are so blundering as to wander into them, and hurting anything before it can get to us seems wise.

[rudelanguage]

[Unless you're ALREADY dead, Knife thinks grimly, reflecting on conversation with another member of this little squad. they'll leave it unsaid, because there's only so many hours in the day before nightfall, and they can have the existential dread in appropriate settings later.

right now, instead of thinking of already being dead, they're going to be thinking about how not to die in this fuck-off wilderness.]

Didn't see crossbows in the, uh. Stuff to bring. For spring-traps.

You got extra javelins? [they could always settle for the good ol' fashioned grave-deep pitfall.]

[lockdownbuild]

I mostly gave up on any sort of ranged weapon once I got the ability to fly. [She shakes her head, her smile slightly rueful but mostly amused. Who in her position wouldn't have?] Think we can make some stakes from the local resources?

[rudelanguage]

...Probably.

[but fuuuck does Knife not want to do it! Pending may look pretty suited to grunt work, but Knife doesn't have the endurance for tree-chopping or pit-digging.]

Snap a few that seem brittle enough, why not.

[lockdownbuild]

[Do any of them? Probably not. Will someone have to do it anyway? Almost certainly. Will it be Aliarra? Yeah, that'd track.]

This is when I wish we had a wizard along. Wave hands, conjure a giant mansion we don't have to worry about. Hell, we wouldn't have any problems at all if my own home hadn't gotten wrecked in the transport here...

[rudelanguage]

Eh? [it's a very emphatic eh? on account of not knowing what the hell she means by that last bit.

in fact, he shoots a scrunched up, confused look at her.] Your house is here?

[lockdownbuild]

Was. [She emphasizes this with a fingerpoint.] Or really, my shelter. But it turns out that something about being hauled around the multiverse to come here really screws up extradimensional spaces.

[rudelanguage]

[woman with math dot gif.. . . . .. . . .. .

OH]

One of those magic hut things? Ain't that wizard shit?

[lockdownbuild]

[Aliarra shrugs, which looks pretty dangerous thanks to the spikes on her armor.]

Hey, I don't know who made it, I just paid for it. Hell, my clothing is pretty much the only thing I have that isn't enchanted, and that isn't counting my belt.

[Equipment is the martial's magic, after all.]

There's not a magic bone in my body, it's all on the outside.

[rudelanguage]

[Knife makes note to squint at this lady through their magic-discerning planchette later; We'll see if any of that shit you attuned to's leaked into your body, lady. You could be a magic sponge like Jayce!

for now, Pending grunts, an eyebrow quirked.]

Shook down a wizard? Or just...scavenge magic stuff of people you clobber.

[lockdownbuild]

Some are from the church, most are custom-made for me. Pretty sure I was the one getting shaken down in the end, but I can't say they haven't all been worth the investment.

[Except possibly her bracers. Somehow the expected scenario of "healing people by punching them, thus revealing secret undead who get double-hurt" never quite materialized.]

[rudelanguage]

Hrmh. [he cocks his head.] None of them...custom-make spikes for a pit trap?

[lockdownbuild]

Yeah, turns out those aren't too helpful when most everything you have to deal with can fly or teleport or otherwise deal with mundane stuff like that effortlessly.

[To the point that if you can't do one of those things yourself, you might as well just roll over and die. That's yet another reason she invested so much money into her gear.]

Honestly, if I'm being real, nothing that shows up here is going to be a threat to me in and of itself. It's if I'm sleeping, out protecting someone, or even just a bunch at once that are the worries.

[rudelanguage]

[Then I am NOT fucking helping if something swallows you whole, pal.

Pending grunts.]

N'less you're a heavy sleeper, the wires and whistlers should do.

[lockdownbuild]

[Look at the spikes on this armor. Swallowing her whole would be the stupidest thing any critter can do.]

Yeah, I'm just itchy because of all that warning. Dark this, dark that. They clearly take it really seriously here, and I hate to assume that everything will go just the way I expect it to.

[rudelanguage]

[dry:] No mention of mind-altering poison this time. So. There's that.