ataraxionlogs | ARRIVAL ▒ 006

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ARRIVAL ▒ 006

CHARACTERS: Any and all.
LOCATION: Basecamp, Medical and beyond.
WARNINGS: Implied (and possibly explicit) nakedness. Gore and violence.
SUMMARY: The Tranquility jumps again, while the camp is beseiged by bloodthirsty monsters.
NOTES: Can be found at the bottom of the post. This post is also a plot post.

T H E C A M P ( C U R R E N T C H A R A C T E R S )
The Tranquility sirens have been wailing since daybreak, heralding a jump, but they don't command the same attention as usual. The air tastes smokey and there are fire-glows blossoming up from the tree line in the southern portion of the jungle, but there's a more immediate problem to contend with. Jungle creatures come barrelling from the tree line, making bad, frenzied dashes across the expansive crash path, directly for basecamp. Shrieks, growls, and the thump of bodies and scrape of claws against wood and metal, all connote the besiegement that those on the ground can't clearly see.

A monster, bigger than a black bear, with jagged bony growths breaking through its skin, slams its paws into wooden walls, where overgrown claws strip splinters from them, shaking them, testing their strength. It leaps, snapping, blood spatter from its open maw painting ruined wood. An animal that looks like a cross between a heron and some kind of feline, scrambles up into the trees, and launches itself down onto an unsuspecting crewmember, who screams as tooth and claw slice through his clothing, flesh, muscle. A horse-like creature with a bony head slams itself recklessly into the wall, pieces of wood shattering, provoking cries of alarm from the people within.

And on and on.

The initial wave eventually dies off, but the animals persist, and so do the fires in the distance. Those brave enough and capable enough might investigate and put a stop to it themselves, and perhaps gain an idea as to how they began. Those that stay behind have the arduous task of defending the camp, dealing with the swiftly rotting corpses of infested jungle animals, and fortifying the camp.

It's ten hours later when the jump happens, sneaking up on those preoccupied with the current crisis. There's a tremble in the earth, shaking up through the trees, and the wreck of the Tranquility begins to cord with lines of white light, threading across the hull like veins, some patches remaining dark, standing out against the vision like splotches burnt to the back of the eyelids. There's no great sound. In an instant, the ship is gone, a soft whomp, a feeling of air rushing past, the trees bending towards the site as if blown by a fierce wind. It's only a second. With a crack, the wreck returns, a rumble rolling through the air like thunder.

The earth shakes. The trees tremble. The ship groans, the sound echoing out like the cry of a wounded beast.

The jump has passed.

Most of the crew and the passengers are unaffected, but some experience a moment of unbalance, the world going black at the edges, and a sudden trickle of blood running from both nostrils, or bursting the fine veins in the eyes to make annoying red splotches on white. The moment passes, and the immediate nausea subsides. There is still work to do be.

M E D I C A L ( N E W A R R I V A L S )
You wake up, alone in the dark. There's a breathing tube jammed down your trachea, and you're suspended in a tube of clear blue fluid. Through the fog you can see shadows of movement, the muted sound of alarms crying. Upon registering your level of consciousness, the gravity couch drains the fluid surrounding you and retracts the breathing apparatus; the doors in front of you open, and you're suddenly dropped several feet onto the opposite wall.

The impact is painful, winds you, and it takes several seconds to overcome and persuade uncooperative limbs to move. All around you is chaos: the sirens of alarms are shrieking in your ears, close and claustrophobic in the wreckage of the medical bay you've awoken in, lit dim and red. Around you, others are waking up, falling from other gravcouches, stumbling to their feet. Light catches your eye, and you look up to see a huge rend in the outer wall high above you, overhung by broken structural beams and damaged cabling.

Climbing up takes all the strength you have.

You emerge to air that smells smokey and a little gory, surrounded by an immense, vast jungle. As your vision clears, you realise you stand on the hull of a colossal spaceship, crashed on an unknown world, two moons hanging heavy in the sky above, visible as the sky begins to darken. In the distance, far out on a great swathe of torn up earth through the jungle is a campsite, surrounded by walls, and seemingly beseiged by sporadic attacks of monster.

Hopefully, someone will think to come and help you. Otherwise, you best be ready to run.

N O T E S
Anything remaining within a mile radius of the ship when it jumps will be irreparably damaged. Soft organics will be pulverised, while all trees and plants will initially appear fine but crumble to pieces within a day (or sooner if disturbed). Non-organic material will also be weakened, bending or falling apart when touched.
Newly arriving characters venturing through the medbay will discover their inventory items scattered beyond the ship. Feel free to find all of your inventory items, or lose as many as you like, as they will be randomly distributed around the jump radius. They will also be able to find jumpsuits and other standard clothing in the wreckage of medical.
The alarms will cut after two hours, a which point a looping audio message telling passengers to make their way to the blue lifts will be audible. The lifts, if investigated, will be missing, leaving only empty elevator shafts.
The wreck will show increased signs of instability for a few days after the jump, and will have seemed to have sunk further into the rock of the cliff than it was before.
As mentioned, some characters will be affected by dizziness, nausea, and nosebleeds/eyebleeds for a moment. This will only apply to characters who are at ability grid levels three through six. Everyone else remains unaffected.
This arrival log doubles as a plot log. Please feel free to be attacked by and kill as many monsters as you like. Breaches to the wall will occur, but the camp will not be completely overrun only thanks to the combined efforts of passengers and crewmembers.
Those investigating the fires should mark it clearly in their subject header, and if you are touched by a GM/NPC tag, please feel free to continue to tag in whatever order.
If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to contact us via PM, the FAQ or Questions pages!

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Jungle Lining the Camp, Before the Jump - CLOSED to Firo

In a few short hours, the base camp will be under siege by both beast and fire, but right now there is a very different sort of trouble brewing just its walls. There is a another creature on the prowl, picking his way through the foliage; his measured movements and green skin allow him to blend in with the natural hues of the jungle effortlessly, the only thing betraying his presence as he watches the camp from a distance being the glimmer of sunlight off of his icy skin. The Tranquility's sirens do not command Algidus' attention in the usual way; he's not venturing over to scavenge supplies. He's hunting something--no, someone else now, and it's been a long time since he's fallen into this sort of behavior. It calls back to his earliest days in his previous hellish prison, makes him predatory in movement and gaze.

He's spotted his prey, the man that dared to threaten him when he was injured. The man that suggested he should be subject to the same cruelties he had fought and put his life on the line to escape from before; the man that knew nothing of his suffering, yet saw it as his place to comment on it anyways. Humans and their assumptions, born of bias and arrogance. He'd been willing to fight even when he was laid up in that tree house, but now that Algidus has healed, he's been feeling his slow-simmering anticipation steadily rising. It is time to take Firo up on the offer of a fight, and it is time to teach the vermin a lesson for his careless tongue.

As soon as the man breaks away from the camp he'll find that a row of ice spears erupt from the ground before him, jagged and glistening in the sunlight, keeping him from heading back in that direction. Now Algidus reveals himself, standing tall, his shoulders squared... and even though he would be happy to throw himself roaring from the trees to tear the human in two, he wants to take his time here. He's planning on enjoying this, so when Firo turns to face him he'll see that the alien's body language isn't overly aggressive yet.

"Turn around, little human. I trust you know what time it is."

Camp Wall - CLOSED to Cassie

Algidus finds himself falling rapidly back from the jungle, his operculum hooding like a cobra as he hisses loud, furious defiance. Maddened beasts fling themselves at the towering ice alien, only to be cleaved to pieces effortlessly by his limbs, which shift into sharp blades and cruelly serrated edges as his unique fighting techniques demand. This was not how he wanted his fight with Firo to end, but he had to admit that at least the human could fight. Their untimely interruption had been put down before either of them could incur too much harm--or deal too much harm to one another, for that matter-- and the two were forced to disengage on a rocky truce to see to the people back in the camp that they respectively cared about.

Before the alien can even get that far, however, he sees a large monster with jagged bony growths breaking through its skin slam its paws into the walls that had been erected to protect the camp. A roar booms from its slavering, bloody maw as its claws strip splinters from the wood, and Algidus realizes that he must act. If the walls fall then these creatures will flood through the camp, and while he normally might not care all too much about the humans that huddledtogether in their ramshackle arrangement of tents and huts, there are some people within that he's deemed worth protecting. So the alien waves an arm over his head in a broad arc, summoning up multiple jagged chunks of hail at once; he launches on at the beast to draw its attention, which turns and gives a furious roar as its already sore-mottled skin is opened in yet again... but the other two chunks of hail hold themselves in place ominously above the ice alien's head, making it wary to approach. Algidus bellows a challenge as jagged particles from his own projectiles rain down protectively around him.

Both beings are intently focused on one another, unaware of any outside interference that may be planning on swooping in. The monster stalks in a slow circle around the ice alien, then seems to decide it isn't all that threatened by the hail, snapping its jaws and beginning to bound forward. Algidus launches the other two jagged icy projectiles, which pelt the creature in the muzzle and forehead; it bellows in pain but does not stop its rapid advance, swinging its overgrown claws right at his torso. The ice alien is quick to liquidize to avoid the attack, but reforming takes time, and the creature is rounding on him again. He can weather some hits from the thing but he'd really rather not, so any outside interference would be wonderful while he's got the damn thing distracted.

As he’s been doing every morning now, he’d asked Rey to return his knife to him while he went out. He still doesn’t have faith in his ability to stave Szilard off in his head forever, but he figures it can’t hurt to have his weapon while he’s conscious and a little more aware.

It stays safely in the sheath at his waist for now, and his hands stay lightly in his pockets. He turns around when the ice appears in front of him, eyebrow raised at his attacker—what a surprise…

"You drop something, pal?"

Firo hadn’t thought too much about their talk, only enough to recall the hostility when making sure that both members of his family returned safely at the end of the day. So he didn’t bother hoping that gratitude would keep Algidus from showing up—and, knowing what he does of human nature, he’s not too surprised that it wouldn’t keep him away.

If he was expecting gratitude then it might not have been a good idea to lead in with threats when the worst the alien had promised before that had been to extricate himself from the situation. Algidus merely exhales in a scoff, unimpressed with the show of nonchalance that's been put on by the man in front of him. He'd been hoping to see Firo jump at the sudden appearance of the ice spears, but if he was going to put up a brave front, that was just perfect. It would make it all the more enjoyable when he finally broke those walls down, saw the fear in this man's eyes.

"If by 'drop' you mean 'have complete dominion over', then yes," the ice alien sneered, his eyes narrowing dangerously. "All it would take is a simple gesture and you'd be skewered where you stand. But don't worry--I plan on actually giving you a chance. Because I'm benevolent, you see." Algidus' tone drops to a purr, sounding all too pleased with himself--the irony there was thick, and he knew it.

Firo snorts and widens his eyes in an unconvincing display of mock surprise. "Wow, you have 'dominion' over some giant popsicles. Good for you."

He turns so that he's facing Algidus from the side rather than straight on. One hand comes out of its pocket and hangs there. "So can you hear how dumb you sound, or are you too high on your own hot air?"

The little smirk remains on his face as he settles into the familiar street fight banter.

"You are the only one spouting drivel if you cannot see the threat that my shatters pose," a snort gusts from the alien's nostrils, and his sneer only widens. "Or... perhaps you can, and this is your attempt at dredging up some courage in the face of a superior opponent. Either way, I would be more than happy to show you an example. You do seem to insist on learning the hard way."

Firo drops the smirk, his voice dripping with contempt. "You're funny. What makes you so sure you're superior, huh? Goin' in thinkin' you're tough shit without considerin' what the other guy can do is how a lotta guys wind up dead."

Lucky for many of the people facing Firo, he's not the type to slit throats first and ask questions later. He doesn't like killing. But he's not going to admit to that right now, considering it's a major weakness.

"But why am I givin' advice to you, huh? You're probably not listenin' to a word of it."

Algidus' body tenses when Firo's expression goes more serious--it's like he can feel the air electrify with tension, and he could snap into movement at the drop of a pin. The alien, however, still does not advance. Instead he stands his ground, and then after a moment, he gestures grandly to himself.

"Oh, I will listen. In fact, I am all too happy to indulge you here. Go ahead--throw the first blow, and show me what it is exactly that you can do." Now the alien leers again, hoping that contempt he can hear in the human's voice means that he's itching to attack. Because he knows for a fact that his icy armor will allow him to weather a multitude of blows--in fact, unless Firo has some sort of powers or great strength under his belt that he hasn't show off yet, he's more likely to hurt his hand before he can even begin cracking it.

Firo doesn't like to be the first to strike, in part because that means it's harder for him to plead self-defense if the cops come sniffing around. The other major drawback is, obviously, that Algidus will know when he's coming. But there are no cops around here, and, to be honest, he kind of does just want to hit the guy.

Fine. He rolls his shoulders. "Just don't forget that you started this."

With that, he'll dart forward, ducking in low and coming straight in to try to dig the fingers of his left hand into the space where Algidus's leg meets his hip.

"I started this, of course. Have you forgotten your threats--" But Firo doesn't give him any time to finish that though; he's already darting forward with a surprisingly smart attack decision--for the ice that coats that joint is less solid to allow for a full range of movement in the alien's leg. Algidus does not, however, balk--he is a resilient creature who isn't going to be thrown off by one attack. Instead the alien takes it, ignoring the jolt of pain in his joint and shifting his leg to pin the man's hand--and his own swoops down to grab his assailant by the head, palm smothering his face and his two thumbs locking in place around the sides of his skull.

Then, surprisingly, instead of retaliating he simply tosses Firo away with an air of nonchalance and a low chuckle. It's very clear that he's still playing around, doesn't see any reason to take the man seriously yet, even though the dull ache that's slowly ebbing in his hip might suggest otherwise. "Come now, human. Surely you can do better than that?"

Damn it. Firo rolls when he hits the ground, but being thrown certainly isn't fun. He doesn't waste time rising to his feet, though he's surprised to see that a follow-up attack isn't coming.

Can't leave a taunt unresponded to. "Who's dumb enough to start a fight by goin' all out on the first hit?"

Except that is the way to do a fight--a certain kind of fight. That's what Firo's used to doing when he faces groups of men, but groups of men aren't outrageously tall ice aliens. He has a feeling that this is going to last longer than what he's used to.

"Why don't you come at me, if you're so tough?"

"Normally I would not indulge you, but I'm worried that if I do not take some initiative here I might get bored," Algidus snorts, tossing his head. Now he looks Firo up and down, trying to decide where to go from here. The stand-by of forcing his opponent to run a deadly obstacle course of hails and shatters is always amusing, but the ice alien still doesn't seem much of a reason to be wary of getting in a close-quarters fight with the man... and the idea of pummeling him with his hands is satisfying in its own right.

So Algidus tucks one shoulder down and performs a quick dash forward, covering a surprising amount of space as he attempts to catch Firo off guard and bash the the base of one curling spike into his opponent to beat him back and open him up for further attack. Should the move be blocked or avoided he'll be open briefly for retaliation... which Algidus still doesn't seem to mind, knowing he still has natural armor to take hits for him.

No time for verbal jabs now; if he could think, Firo would reflect that now is the time to really get cooking.

The observation that pops into his head is that this guy may be as fast as Maiza, but Firo doesn't linger on it. He drops in low to the ground this time, aiming to slide between his opponents' legs almost like a baseball player crossing home plate. The ice rains down on him, cutting into the exposed skin on his face and hands; he winces put pays no mind as they start to heal up already.

If Algidus hasn't already moved, Firo stays crouched on the ground as he tries to drive an elbow into the back of his knee. The instinct driving him consists of both the desire to cause pain--probably not likely--and to use the natural hinge to cut down on the other guy's height.

Edited 2016-02-18 04:54 (UTC)

Firo's dodge shows some surprisingly quick thinking; Algidus' past opponents had a number of ways of dealing with his pressure, but very few of them had straight up slid underneath him like this; by the time his feet are coming back down to sink into the earth and halt his momentum, the human is already striking at the back of his knee. The ice alien gives a snarl as his leg threatens to buckle under the impact, shifting one forearm into an elongated spike that he drives into the ground to support himself. His other arm swivels around behind himself, fingers grasping repeatedly, attempting to snare Firo by whatever point he can, be it a limb or hair or clothes so that he can force the human away again. Energy is already crackling over the back of his hand, across his palm-- ready to be unleashed in a potent blast should he get a proper grip on his opponent.

He feels the hand come down on his shoulder. Trying to get away from that grasp isn't an option--too late now--so he braces for the impact and grabs for Algidus's wrist. If he can make it, then at least he could get an opportunity for another opening out of this. It could make whatever's coming worth it.

[ooc: Sorry for the slowness; had a couple busy days!]

[It's no prob you're all good!!]

As soon as Algidus feels that he has a grip on his adversary, energy ripples across his hand and accumulates in the center of his palm; a light winks into existence, giving off a low hum as it swells and sharp rays of light prickle forth. The ice alien is channeling the metaphysical energies of his body, turning it all into an offensive blast that snaps forth from the mote of light in a burst of glimmering lights. It's a powerful attack that hurts rather a bit, but isn't necessarily strong enough to knock Firo off of his feet unless he somehow manages to lose his footing in the dirt and grass when he's flung backwards multiple feet.

In the meantime, Algidus uses the space that he's earned from the technique to set up some defense. He waves an arm over his head, generating a jagged ball of hail that hangs in the air above his head, rotating and ominously shedding sharp particles. When the man decides to get in close again, the hail will launch itself at him, forcing him to either take another painful hit or disengage from his offense, giving the ice alien another opportunity.

Firo moves back with the force, digging his heels in after several paces to catch himself. He spares a quick glance down at where he was grabbed--is his sleeve burnt from that? It may seem a trifling thing, but his body heals. His clothes don't.

He's wary of that ball of ice, so he tries to prod with a taunt first. "That all you got?"

"If it is so insignificant a thing, why do you not approach? You are not already giving up, are you?" Algidus crows back, seeming to enjoy these taunting battles. Meanwhile the hesitation is exactly what he needs--from here it will be simple enough to start putting up a dangerous obstacle course for the human to scramble over if he wants to get anywhere near the ice alien.

Curious to see how his opponent will react, the alien gestures, lifting his arm and curling his hand towards himself--and as he does so a beam of light shoots up from the ground right beneath Firo's feet. A moment later, a column of ice erupts from the dirt in that same area, aimed for the man's face in an attempt to strike and disorient him--and now the hail also launches itself forward, so that any vertical movement that Firo might attempt is covered. If he remains where he is the shatter will strike him, and if he jumps over the column he'll have a jagged ball of ice exploding in his face--a quick dash backwards or to the side, however, should have more luck in getting him safely out of this predicament.

It's to the side Firo goes, though not out of any grand strategy or prescience. It's not exactly an instinct either, but an impulse that's been trained into him by his Martillo teachers. It's human nature to want to barrel forward or stumble back, so you roll off that line, making for the corners out of range. That's what Firo does now, bouncing up almost immediately after his shoulder hits the ground.

Instead of moving away, though, he now darts back in, coming towards Algidus on the diagonal. He's already tried going low, so now he springs up high to try to grab Algidus's wrist as he shoots a knee at his side.

Algidus clucks his tongue--this human is showing remarkable awareness in the heat of combat. He's lost count of the number of opponents that simply panic and jump to avoid the shatter and get a face full of jagged ice shards for their poorly-thought out methods. The human manages to close the distance, and now the ice alien lets him take hold of his wrist, not sure what the intent is there; he knows that his opponent lacks the physical strength to tug him around, and if they're interlocked like this is means Firo won't be moving around a whole lot, which will make it easier to grab him and subject him to yet another blast of energy.

As his free hand comes back around to try and grab his opponent, he feels Firo's knee drive into his side. Well, that can't be comfortable for either of them. The ice over his flank is solid, well-accustomed to receiving blows, so while it hurts it isn't enough to get Algidus to flinch. He snarls, allowing the limb that the human has a hold on to liquidize so he can free himself--then takes a step back and shifts it into a massive gob of solid ice, attempting to slam that fierce attack right into the human's gut.

Disappointed, Firo notes the lack of reaction--at least now he knows not to try there again. He tries to cover up his surprise at the sudden melting with a mocking jab. "Never seen anybody retreat from a fight like that."

Whether or not it actually offends his opponent, he keeps moving as he speaks. He flings himself back to lessen the impact of the blow. He can feel the force right at his midsection, but knows that any lasting damage will be gone in moments. Besides, Firo's never been one to worry about what condition he's going to come out of a fight in. Once he has some space from the blow, he comes right back in, moving low.

This time, he goes for the leg--hoping that Algidus will liquidize it as before. If so, he'll then simply hurl himself at the alien to try to catch him off balance.

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ARRIVAL ▒ 006

Algidus | first batch of openers

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Thanks for the video link!

No prob, I like to think it's a neat visual aid!

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