epidemiology | EVENT ★ ZETA-12 WEEK 5

ZETA-12: WEEK 5

As the journey wears on, the land underfoot dries out. Team Audiences has reached the highland desert… and of course, once again the squidges begin to transform.

For each choice your character has made, select one squidge evolution. Please note, you must have submitted your choice to the threads in the previous logs in order for your squidge to evolve.

For those who encountered the swamp creature:

If they stood and fought, their squidge has taken on one of the following features: hardened pangolin-like plates of armor, higher tolerance of loud noises, sharp(er) teeth.

If they outsmarted it, their squidge has one of these: slow color-changing to match the environment, catlike eyes with enhanced vision, long ears.

Those who made someone else do the work, will have squidges with one of these attributes: small horns, spines along the back, mildly toxic skin.

As for dealing with the tornado:

Everyone who found shelter will find them with a greater tolerance for enclosed spaces as well as giving off their own very slight heat.

For those who powered through, their squidges will no longer be afraid of heights and be able to float several feet off the ground, regardless of whether or not they previously received wings.

THE DESERT (WEEK 5)

The desert has a little more to look at than the grasslands offered, as the grass begins to yellow and thin. Some stretches are just wide, empty swaths of dust and dirt, with not much more than the occasional rock or low, desperate scrub brush to color the horizon. Here and there are impressive outcroppings of rock, thrust up from the parched ground. Plateaus and mesas make the scenery, and overhead the sky is a wide, clear blue. The sun is merciless. Hopefully you filled your canteens in the swamp and the grassland, because water is going to become a pretty valuable resource out here.

There are a few helpful flora to be found, though. Those Beachwoods will be pretty handy if you run out of water, just so long as you keep an eye out for the Red Stellas that tend to grow nearby. The Scarlet Oasis can even send you on your way with a meal, if you play your cards right. Have a care if you’re gathering any bristlegrass, though.

While scenic in its way, the view doesn’t offer much clue as to what progress has been made so far. Three days pass in this way. On the fourth day, however, the recruits encounter their first choice.

The ground has cracked open in their path. It yawns into a wide and dark cave, wonderfully cool after the scorching sun and heat of the desert. A breeze can be felt in the mouth of the cave, and their maps will indicate that any exploration into it is sending them in the right direction. It provides an alternative route to walking over the surface of the ground, a much cooler route. There might even be hidden streams of groundwater down there, who knows? It could be a refreshing jaunt. Of course, recruits can also choose to play it safe, and continue overhead as they’d been doing so far, where they can trust they won't run into any dead ends or have to backtrack.

The going goes well for those who chose the caves. The cave system is apparently pretty extensive, because they manage to walk along in generally the right direction for a good half a day. Around dusk, though, this little dwarf planet hits a run of bad luck.

Meteoroids. Those who chose to walk above ground will find the darkening sky suddenly growing brighter again as a meteor shower begins to burn in the atmosphere. Some of them don’t burn up entirely, though — meteorites begin to pelt the desert not far from the procession. Some of them might even be scattering into the procession. Heads up!

But while those above ground only have to worry about dodging, those below ground will have much more serious concerns. This planet isn’t quite as sturdy as recruits may be used to, and the impact of the meteorites is enough to trigger a small earthquake. An underground cave is really not where you want to be during an earthquake, because even this small one is enough to cause a cave-in.

Players of recruits who choose to take the cave route can opt to be trapped by this cave in, or can have their characters in the right place at the right time, to have their way to the exit unimpeded. Characters trapped may be freed at whatever speed players find realistic, but to find and free everyone will take no less than three days. Hopefully you brought a flashlight. Communication between those trapped and those above may be difficult, as the meteorites will cause interference and make the jewelry flicker in and out. We ask that you indicate the length of time your character is trapped along with your sign up.

After the cave in ordeal is passed, though, the recruits aren’t quite in the clear as they finally reach the end of the desert. It seems the impact of the meteorites and the resulting earthquake released a few gases that had been held under the surface of Zeta-12. They’re invisible and odorless, and harmless to the squidge’s caretakers. The squidges, however, may begin to react to them. Squidges exposed to the post cave-in gasses will begin to get aggressive toward their caretakers and other squidges alike. The level of aggression can range from grumpy to murderous and last from 10 minutes to a few hours, depending on the size of the dose. If anyone has been training their squidges to fight, they may regret it.

Tuomas Korpi

OOC NOTES

We decided to split things up a little! This log lasts ICly for one week, and OOCly for 1.5 weeks. Our next log will encompass the last biome and the final event, and will go up on August 11th. 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.)

New characters will find one of the unbonded squidges toddling after the group takes a shine to them. A squidge will imprint on them very quickly, then refuse to leave their side or rejoin their unbonded friends.

Direct questions about the Zeta-12 mission here. And don't forget about the bounty board!

Please remember to select your choice in the thread below! Late choices will not be accepted. How you choose will determine how your squidge grows. Please choose before August 8th, 11:59 PM GMT!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I know, right? I thought nothing could be worse after the freezing-to-death thing, and then we got the swamp monster. After that, I thought, you know, that's totally it, we're in the clear. And then we're in the desert for three days, oh my god, it's like this planet is out to get us.

[ The words stream out of his mouth like he can't stop them, like it's been killing him, the inability to talk (and really, it kind of was, traveling while keeping his mouth shut because it sped up the dehydration, made his mouth into parchment), and he doesn't really care who he's talking to as long as he can talk.

... well. At least two of those things are true; he may not have realized who she is, but the second he does, he'll definitely, definitely care. ]

[ While Natasha didn't begrudge him the conversational space—he'd said more words in a few sentences than she had said all day—she did flash him an arched eyebrow look that questioned the intensity of the rant. ]

How long have you had that pent up?

[ She lowered Bart to the ground, letting him scuffle further inside the cave to get a look around, but she made sure he didn't move out of sight quite yet. ]

[ This, at least, was more the kind of interaction he was used to: a redhead girl looking at him like she judged all of his life choices and the plaid shirt all at once. (The wow-I-miss-my-friends hit him sharply and acutely, and was pushed to the back of his mind just as fast.) ]

Uh... six hours? Give or take. [ Every time he tried to open his mouth he felt like he was slowly turning to sandpaper...

As Bart started to hobble along the ground, Scooter decided it was time for him to escape the cocoon of Stiles' uniform, too, though he opted not to wait, instead jumping down and scuffling after Bart with a soft coo. ]

[ Bart made seal-like gurgling sounds as Scooter emerged, lauding his efforts. It was a stark contrast to Natasha's disaffected stare. ]

Let's just get down there and find some water. [ A wellspring would be welcomed by all of them right now, and it was entirely possible (but not likely) that Stiles' outbursts were proportional to the time spent penning them up. Better to make sure he didn't have to hold any more in.

If he was young to be on a mission, Natasha didn't notice. ] Come on, you two. Move and make friends at the same time. [ She urged Bart along by walking up just behind him, peering further into the dim light of the cavern while her eyes adjusted. ]

[ All Stiles managed was a bitten-off hey, before he promptly decided it was a lost cause and that Scooter was probably alright. And, really, it wasn't a bad idea, for the squidge to walk as well, now that he wouldn't melt doing it. ]

Yes, I am so here for that plan. 200% behind it, best plan ever.

[ Not that. it was any guarantee that the caves would have any water in them whatsoever, but he was willing to be optimistic, just this once, mostly because the idea of traveling whoever-knows-how-many-days-more without a fresh source of water wasn't one he particularly wanted to contemplate. ]

... also here for that plan. [ He made some shooing motions with his hand, hoping that Scooter might interpret them correctly... or, you know, just followed Bart. That'd work, too. ] What's his name?

[ Motioning at Bart. Because it was totally the polite thing to do to ask for the squidge's name first. ]

[ Natasha adopts an affect of mocking surprise, as though the question hadn't occurred to her, and she shakes her head with the simplicity of bland ignorance. ]

Well he hasn't told me yet, so I've just been calling him Bart.

[ There's little indication that she's joking, particularly since she moves on fairly quickly. ]

And you? What should I call you?

Well, he doesn't seem to have too many objections.

[ Or maybe he did and all those chirps and cooing sounds were actually serious complaints about how he's been named completely wrong, who knows!!

The question seemed to trip him up, quite literally, as Stiles stumbled, took a few quick steps to steady himself before turning to Natasha, blinking, then pointing at himself, as if to ask, who, me? ]

Right, uh, Stiles. Stiles Stilinski. [ A pause. ] And you're... [ ??? maybe he should have stopped to ask this first ]

[ Sorry, he's gonna have to wait one minute. She's hung up on one thing— ]

Your name is Stiles Stilinski?

[ That sounds fake but ok. ]

Oh my God, not you too.

[ What's?? Wrong with his name??

... okay, no, never mind, he knows exactly what's wrong with his name, what's wrong with his name is that no one can actually pronounce it so he goes by this nickname and it's. It's. Something. ]

There was a guy here called Badou Nails, and my name is what people think is weird?

[ She holds her hands up in surrender, but there's no disguising (or at least, no effort to disguise) the look of amusement that crawls across her lips. She tips her head in reluctant deference. ]

I didn't realize it was a touchy subject.

It's not--

[ Uuuuurghhh. His actual name, now that would qualify, but this is just. a small annoyance. ]

You know what, never mind. So- your name? We kinda never got to that.

Natasha Romanoff.

[ The most American accent for the most Russian name ever next to Ivan Ivanovich. ]

Less peculiar.

That's-

[ ????!?!?!??!!?? THANKS TONY, FOR NOTHING APPARENTLY, definitely not warning him in advance about this.... ]

Yeah, definitely less peculiar.

[ Not one to be bamboozled, ]

What was that?

EVENT ★ ZETA-12 WEEK 5

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