epidemiology | EVENT ★ WELCOME TO ZETA-12

WELCOME TO ZETA-12

Recruits arrive on a relatively calm, placid afternoon on the tundra. The snow is sparkling white and completely untouched, the sky overhead is a dazzling blue that seems to go on forever. The new arrivals have hopefully dressed warmly, though, because the temperature isn't nearly as nice as the weather. It's well below freezing today, helped not at all by a nippy breeze that stirs to life now and then.

THE TUNDRA (WEEK 1)

Not far off, the scene grows a little less tranquil. Here the ground is raw, ripped up and shredded by the recent, skidding passage of an asteroid on its way to a violent stop. Snow has already begun to fall and soften the torn up earth, but it's a long way from looking whole again. The asteroid itself sits huge, the size of an office building, half buried in the ground and cracked open. The interior of it is a silent labyrinth of stone, and here and there basketball-sized clear, jellylike balls can be found: the squidge eggs. There are no adults in sight, although there are many pools of spilled liquid here and there, presumably from eggs that didn't quite make it.

The eggs nearest to the outside air are cold, some of them even starting to solidify. They'll need to be warmed up if they're going to pull through. All eggs should be kept warm, but some of them are strong enough to pull through anyway if neglected — while some of them are going to need a lot of attention to make it through. Those eggs that do make it will eventually begin to soften, and 24 hours after the recruits arrive, will finally blink open their black, beady eyes and unfold into the squidge shape everyone will come to know and (hopefully) love. A small handful of squidges that hatch won't seem to imprint on anyone. These squidges are standoffish and sullen, but follow the group at some distance.

Any time after that, the journey begins. Recruits' jewelry will pull up a compass when needed, with a blinking red light urging them on south. The journey begins whenever you start walking.

The weather stays fair as the recruits head south, and the snowy plain is fairly uneventful, but eventually an impasse is reached: an enormous lake. Its shore is studded with beautiful snow stars, and may as well be an inland sea, for all that it seems to extend before them; that flashing red light asks that they cross straight over it. The water is iced over, but not thoroughly and not reliably. Even now, before any attempts to cross it have been made, there are cracks in the ice, great floating chunks that have broken free of the crust and would give a nasty surprise to anyone attempting to step onto them.

The first choice is a simple one: take your chances with the ice and attempt a crossing? Or do you venture east or west and hope it has some sort of end that won't take you weeks out of the way? Please choose one of these options to determine how your character fares.

As the journey takes them on, plantlife makes a slow return to the scenery. First it's the water cactae, proving a welcome relief to anyone tired of melting snow for water, if you can get into them. But eventually the temperature drops even further, and a forest begins to spring up around them. The first few days of it are chilly, sometimes even still snowy, but further on the plants are beginning to get a little more colorful.

THE FOREST (WEEK 2)

The second week of the journey is entirely under the leafy canopy of the forest. There's green all around, and the sun is warm whenever it breaks through the leaves. There is much more food to be scavenged here, although you couldn't possibly have made it too far through your food rations, right? Meals can be supplemented by berries, roots, or edible leaves, although it's suggested you find some way of quickly telling what's poisonous and what's nutritious. Here and there are plants trying to bite back, too. Do you hack these apart, or just give them a wide berth? The learning eyes of your squidge are on you, whichever option you pick.

Eventually comes another obstacle, not unlike the earlier frozen lake. This one, though, is a sheer drop. A deep, seemingly bottomless chasm has been slashed through the forest. The good news is that you won't have to find your way around it this time! There's a thin spit of land joining the two sides, only wide enough for two people to walk abreast, provided they don't mind getting cozy. You could walk right across… but you'd be leaving your squidge behind.

It turns out that squidges are terrified of heights. They want nothing to do with this, and would much prefer they just live out the rest of their natural lives on the near side of the chasm. The choices are these: A squidge must be sweet talked into crossing, calmed and comforted for several hours, or, if you must, forced into it. The squidges collectively are doing a lot of nervous wailing just at the suggestion of crossing, but a forced squidge will do a lot of screaming, even for days afterward. Recruits will find that they have an easier time of it in a group with at least one other person and their squidge. Although they still clearly hate it, they can handle it better in groups. But take heart: on the other side of the chasm will be a grove of large winefruits , a reward for the haggard parents. Just make sure your squidges don't partake as well, that wouldn't go well.

Please select an option below to determine how your squidge will be gotten across the chasm.

The forest begins to thin out again after the challenge of the chasm, and finally begins to warm up. In fact, it's getting a little muggy. It's easy to feel drowsy in the sunlight dappling through the leaves… or maybe that's the magical poppies. Seemingly innocent little red, purple, and yellow flowers begin to line the way. They're generally harmless on their own — but they're rarely on their own. Any recruits who lie down in the vicinity of a batch of magical poppies may find themselves slowly overtaken by dermal vines. Discretion is most definitely advised, as recruits finally make it to the swamp.

OOC NOTES

This log ICly and OOCly covers two weeks! Characters may proceed at whatever pace they'd like, but going too quickly or too slowly will mean they travel alone. (And those going too quickly will probably have to contend with screaming squidges, who prefer to travel at the speed of an easy plod.)

The unbonded squidges mentioned at the beginning of the log will be determinedly trailing after the group. They refuse to interact with much of anyone currently around... but may be convinced to take a liking to someone as we get new characters apping in.

Characters have been provided with large backpacks containing basic necessities -- food and water rations, shampoo, soap, etc -- and whatever they decided to pack. They will not be receiving another official supply drop, so it's up to them to make the rations last.

We are also introducing a Bounty Board for Zeta-12! It is entirely optional, but gives you some ideas to spark threads and rewards you for playing them out.

Please remember to select your choices in the threads below! How you choose will determine how your squidge grows.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( he's not using any magic to decide the path he would like to take, yet the combination of both perspectives seems to come to the same place. he does not want to risk the chance of walking across a frozen lake; he might have, on his own. traveling with a group, however, it seems poor. the weight is much and their charges are too small. no, they must go around.

and while he can't see how long the detour would take, the fact that most have ventured east hints him in that direction, also. Brother sniffs at the snow, ears perked toward the east; with Sieglinde agreeing, there seems no reason to go any other way. )

I think so as well.

[The images swirling into existence in her grotesque crystal ball were hard to make out, flashes of mountainside, of the ice lake, tundra-]

I do not not like the look of this western area...

[Concentrating on the orb beneath her fingertips, she tried to stop the image from moving, hovering over one area of the tundra...

Splashed in blood red.]

Why? What is it that you see?

( he's already fairly set on the idea of going east, but it doesn't hurt to have knowledge. maybe they could warn anyone headed west, if what she can see is dire enough to cause concern. )

It looks... red.

[She managed to get the image within the orb to steady for a moment, leaning back to let Graham inspect it for himself, a bead of sweat tracing down her temple from the strain it took her to maintain the image.

But it was definitely red, wasn't it, splashing across the tundra...]

( Red was just about the clearest detail he could see. he squinted at the image, trying to make out the details, but in the end all he could make out was the stark red against snow. )

I can't tell what that is, but it looks similar enough to blood that I'll take my chances to the east.

( blood could mean predators, and they had too many to protect and not enough to fight if it came down to that. east seemed wise. )

Exactly-

[No matter how she focused she couldn't get the image any closer or clearer- only that it looked like a splash of blood across the snow.

Weird enough to avoid.

She released the spell with a heavy exhale, shaking the echo of the farsight from her eyes and jerking her hands from the makeshift crystal ball.]

That direction has mountains, but... that seems safer.

We can handle some mountains.

( he knows that he'll be carrying himself and Sieglinde, but that doesn't seem to bother him much. heartlessness has its perks, and not feeling weariness is one of them. he hasn't felt weary since the waning magic in Nalawi. )

Are you ready?

( he wouldn't blame her for wanting a bit of a break. he's been pushing hard, wanting to get out of the tundra as soon as they can manage. even if Sieglinde isn't able to walk yet, that doesn't make traveling much easier on her. )

[More than the travel, it was the squidge that was exhausting Sieglinde. She had excellent bedside manner with patients... who were adults able to communicate what ailed them. Hers had finally fallen asleep... of course, not at night, but long enough for her to get her scrying spell done.

Reluctantly, she pulled the serpent eye lens back into her lap and then rolled it into her satchel, exchanging that pile in her arms for... her grape-colored squidge, careful not to wake it.]

- Ready enough. Isengrim?

[Her familiar lifted its head from the snow at the call, huffing before hauling itself up to its feet in preparation to resume the march.]

(well, single parenthood was exhausting even for fully grown adults; it couldn't be that much of a surprise that it wearied even Sieglinde, who often seemed under the mistaken impression she was superhuman. the huntsman saw a bit too much of himself in her in that respect, though at least he couldn't feel all the weariness, whereas Sieglinde simply ignored it.

his own squidge was far more quiet than most, perhaps taking after the human it had imprinted on. considering the size of the group they were traveling, it was a relief that at least one of the goo babies was on the quieter side. )

Ready enough it is.

( they'd do themselves no favors lingering much longer. they had a plan, it was about time they started on it. hopefully they'd make it around the lake by nightfall, and they could get some much needed rest. they were all showing a bit of weariness, yet there was nothing to do but push through it. that was their mission, after all, and the only thing they would get from lingering was more of the cold. he lifts Sieglinde fairly easily, despite the fact she was holding her squidge to boot. )

Hopefully that one will stay asleep.

( less wailing that way. )

[Rest would be wonderful. Already the squidge was wearing on her despite how Sieglinde liked to think that she was responsible and able to care for almost anything...

Well, it was likely a good thing that she was only in the planning stage for her future heir.]

We can only hope.

[At least for now the squidge stays sleeping as Sieglinde adjusted herself in Graham's grip until she sat comfortably, keeping her feet held stiffly away from his body. Wolfram beginning to fall behind them, sniffing the air.

And at least the squidge would stay sleeping for at least a fourth of this journey...]

EVENT ★ WELCOME TO ZETA-12

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wrap on yours possibly?? sorry for slow

same... we win