epidemiology | EVENT ★ GILLIGAN'S ISLAND

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EVENT ★ GILLIGAN'S ISLAND

MAROONED

Three days after the eruptions wrecked their havoc, a storm begins. It's not so different from the storm the recruits first encountered upon arrival, but this storm seems oddly and peculiarly driven. In some places of the islands it's nothing but pattering rain, but in other places it's strong enough to lift a fully grown human off his or her feet. And that's just what it does. It sweeps up recruits here and there -- not all of them, and there is no apparent method to who it takes and who it leaves. Some stay on the Nalawi islands, some are simply swept up into the sky. Here and there the storm grabs a Nalawi as well, but these victims are always dropped again. Sometimes out over the water, sometimes crashing down into land. They do not generally survive this.

The recruits stolen by the storm aren't aloft for long. They emerge eventually from the tumbling, buffeting, blinding winds, spewed out onto the beach of a strange new island. This island, to anyone paying any attention to their surroundings, is a recent addition to the surface of the ocean. In fact, flying in the face of physics and statistical likelihood (much in the way the storm had), it seems to have recently been on the seafloor.

This island was clearly once inhabited, although it's been a long, long time since then. Uniform structures can be found arranged in streets and avenues, now all thoroughly caked in barnacles, coral, seaweed, and other assorted debris of the sea. Here and there can even be found dead fish, suffocated when the water began to drain away and turn to open air. Most of them are horrifying, the things that tend to keep to the dark depths of the water. Toward the center of this empty, silent, sea-claimed city a giant sea serpent threads around and through several buildings. It's just as dead as the rest of them, its huge, pale eyes staring at nothing.

There are a few things here that aren't quite dead, though. Sometimes something armored, dull red, and hungry crawls out of some dark place. These creatures can't really be compared to anything on the surface, but they are each about the length of a human, with three sets of sharpened limbs held up off the ground, used for stabbing forward to pierce its prey, and one set of pinchers below that. The pinchers might anchor prey in place for easier stabbing, but they also create a tiny sonic boom when clacked. Standing too close to this can leave you dazed and momentarily helpless. These creatures aren't fazed by the lack of water around them, they're just hungry and ready to feed on anything nearby -- even each other. The danger they present to recruits is at least slightly mitigated by an unknown force, though. If a recruit finds themselves unable to handle one of the creatures or overwhelmed by it, the storm itself will lash out at the thing. This isn't a very precise defense, but it is generally enough to pick up one or both of the contestants and separate them.

Nothing here looks anything like what can be found on the Nalawi islands, except perhaps the flora. It's difficult to tell. What trees have been left are waterlogged, petrified mockeries, it's unclear what they may have looked like while this island still lived. The buildings are all very inorganic, made of processed material and with the obvious aid of machinery. Whoever lived here was actually very proficient with machinery, it seems. Within the buildings, some residential and some commercial, can be found the rusted, now-useless remains of a technologically advanced society. Personal belongings can also be found, waterlogged and largely ruined, and all in an upset as if they had gone through frequent and destructive earthquakes. Still, they can tell the story of mundane, day-to-day lives here for anyone who cares to look.

Food is going to be a little tricky to come by unless you're a fan of seafood; fishing will be possible for anyone who opts to brave the edge of the storm, and of course there are the bizarre delicacies so thoughtfully raised up from the seafloor, dead among the streets and buildings. Recruits would do well to be careful with those, though. There is a particular kind of seaweed that, while it looks perfectly innocuous, will cause vivid hallucinations an hour after ingesting, for 10 minutes to three hours, depending on how much was ingested.

Above all else, though, is the eerie silence. The storm rages on, but although it completely surrounds the island, it keeps to the perimeter. Even the rain stays off of the island, though the sun is obscured by the heavy, ominous clouds. Thunder rumbles now and then, punctuated by lightning flashes, but there isn't a single sound on this gray, dreary, dead island that wasn't made by an ALASTAIR recruit.

OOC INFO

Recruits will ICly be here for one week, and OOCly the log will last for two. The storm will prevent any travel off of the island. Should anyone feel brave enough to try risking a trip into it, they will find it still possesses that ability to literally sweep recruits off their feet. It might also be due to this mysterious storm that no one on the island can seem to reach out to anyone on the Nalawi islands via jewelry network, nor to any of the NPC recruits they'd met at Oska.

Players who signed up for plot slots will be receiving additional information, which we ask they share with the rest of the characters. You may sign up here for information that can be found while exploring the island, as well. Please direct any questions to the OOC write up.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Not bad. [ He appreciates that gross and twitchy heap a lot, honestly. It's one less bunch of claws and pincers reaching for him. ] And I think I'll get a little height here myself, if I could bother you for some cover.

[ He doesn't spend long waiting for agreement, just a few seconds more judging his current crowd. Then he sidesteps the next closest one and breaks into a dash for a bit of equipment that looks at least fairly climbable to someone at his skill level (which is about as low as it gets).

He tucks his staffs away again, leaps, and just snatches a hold of one of the lower bars of the thing. He's not quite going to be quick enough to pull his feet up out of range, though, and could really use some more of those bullets. Which is apparently something he trusts Jason to handle, as he works as quickly as he can manage but doesn't look all that worried. ]

[You're putting so much faith in his as-of-yet-untested sense of fair play, Ashraf. That's cute. But the guy's probably earned a couple bullets, even at a premium, so he obliges without complaint. Snipes the first creature out of the way when it tries to purse after Ashraf makes the jump and...eventually pulls himself out of the way. Well. It could be worse.

Helpfully—]

I like a good narrow escape as much as the next guy, but go on and feel free to put some hustle in it, sometime.

[Never mind, that's not actually "without complaint" or "helpful" at all. Slightly more helpfully, he pulls the trigger on another creature when it tries to use the corpse of its fallen buddy as a platform to snap at Ashraf's ankles as he starts to pull out of reach.]

When's the last time you did a couple chin-ups?

[For such a fit looking guy, you're lagging a little, bud. Your technique could use some work.]

[ Ashraf has just enough breath from this exertion (and yes, exertion is running across a floor and pulling himself up onto machinery) for a sigh. With his magic, he wouldn't even have needed to run. ]

That's a good question.

[ He finally pulls himself up fully out of reach, one arm wrapped around a beam to steady himself. ]

I'd have to go with never. [ He glances toward Jason with a wry, vaguely apologetic smile. ] I should have mentioned earlier that you may have run into the most useless recruit here. Sorry about that.

[Good job, friend, you climbed the thing. Amazing. Jason hisses a long breath out through his teeth, raps his knuckles against his knee where he's crouched. Useless. Well, at least he's not overselling himself.]

Okay. Great. Super. In that case I'd be much obliged if his Uselessness could sit pretty for a while until the coast is clear. It would be a real shame if someone else had to pick up the title because you undid all your hard work.

[Easier than having to keep track of him or letting him bite off more than he can chew. Shouldn't be too hard, considering. They've cleared out the bulk of the infestation, it's just picking off stragglers. Or finding a way out without getting noticed by them. The creatures are mean, but not particularly bright. With the two of them out of line of sight, they're falling out of mind, too. Jason paces his way quietly down the rafters while the few remaining crabs start to mill back out and pick at the remains of their fellows. Gross.]

[ Despite his own self-depreciation, it's a little frustrating to hear it from someone else. Completely justified, of course, but frustrating. He'd give a lot to have just a fraction of his abilities back right now.

Jason is right, though, and while Ashraf may lack a healthy sense of self-preservation, he's at least not stupid. He sits tight, keeping an eye on Jason, on the creatures below, eyeing the resources around them...

His eyes fall onto a cistern, then the nozzle of it. It's pointed toward the floor at large where the bulk of them have gathered to pick at their brethren. Ashraf points with a small frown, wishing he could investigate it for himself. ]

Is that full? [ And with what? If it's anything heavy or entrapping, that would be a nice bit of luck. ]

[At least you're still pretty, Ashraf.

Jason doesn't risk voicing an answer, because scattering the crab things out from their nice concentrated lump would make things much less convenient. Instead, he shows he understands by heading that way, hopping down a level toward the cistern so he can reach the tap.

The lever's rusted into stubbornness, of course. But there's evidence of some dark, tarry substance crusted around the bolts. Promising.

Trying it quietly's a bust. To hell with it. He throws his whole weight into it, startling the creatures into looking up, clicking their claws in agitation at the noise coming from above them. The lever moves with an unfortunate shrieking sound of unhappy metal. But it does move.]

[ Promising, very promising. Some of the creatures had begun to wander, pulling them out of that very convenient clump of them. So Ashraf shifts a little lower, pulling one of his golden staffs free again to bang the length of it against one of the metal struts underfoot. Eyes swivel in his direction from peering toward Jason, and those pointed legs begin to pull the clump back together again. He ceases the sound shortly, once they're mostly in position, and fastens his attention with high hopes on Jason's end of things. Come on, be something useful in there... ]

[The rusted lever turns, and the tap opens, giving way to a thick, tarry substance in an odd greenish color. It pours out like molasses, at first. Crawling out of the tap slowly while Ashraf leads the crab-things back underneath, gathering in a gob and clinging to the metal of the nozzle in suspense until it's finally heavy enough to drop.

Like breaking a seal, the pitch spatters down on top of the remaining monsters in a torrent; heavy and sticky. They try to scatter, but blind and panicked and singleminded as they are, it only serves to spread the source around. Soon enough, the ground is covered beneath the tap, and the monsters are clumped together, struggling fruitlessly to free themselves from the thick and drying substance like flies on paper. It would be cruel if they had enough brains to feel pain.

The tap runs out, slowing from a thick stream into scattered and heavy drips. Now that the sound has settled and the suspense has played out—]

Nice call.

[His Uselessness isn't totally useless after all, maybe. Just, y'know, mostly. Jason takes the time to start descending the side of the cistern on the opposite of the business end. Assuming the monsters are well and truly stuck, they won't be able to reach him if they try. Moment of truth.]

[ Ashraf doesn't descend immediately, taking a few seconds first to oversee the field of gross, trapped, sticky monsters. He doesn't have any pity for them, this sort of thing is the fate of monsters that attack humans, but that doesn't make it any more pleasant. ]

A little inelegant and gross, but whatever it takes.

[ He manages a weak smile, the swings himself (slowly and carefully) back down to the ground. He brushes his robes off with one eye on the shelled monsters, just in case. ]

I'm Ashraf, by the way. High priest, usually magically inclined.

[Jason's got boots on the ground way before Ashraf does, long enough to confirm that the monsters are well and truly stuck before looking up to watch him descend. Dryly—]

Everyone's a critic.

[They can't all be cool Superhero landings and Cinematic Explosions. As Ashraf bushes himself off, Jason skims the room. The door they'd intended to escape through has the crane wreckage pinning it down. But that's okay, he wasn't done here, anyway. Catching up on the introductions—]

You're sure dressed for the part, so I guess I'll take your word for it. If it makes you feel better, you're not the only one I've run into with a bad case of prestidigital disfunction.

[Thought that's probably not news. Most people are dealing with some kind of nerfing. Lucky him, he's never had to rely on superpowers or sorcery to begin with. And, as if in afterthought—]

Jason.

[No high anything, priest or otherwise.]

[ Please, don't make him talk about the general fading of magic, he's so sick of that topic. Sick of living that topic. So he purses his lips a little and lets it go without comment, preferring instead -- ]

Nice to meet you, Jason. I could have done without some of your friends along.

[ The sticky guys over there. Ha, he's hilarious. He's also finally starting to take a wider look around for himself, some study going to their surroundings. ]

Find anything good in here? Or another door, maybe?

[Look, you brought it up, bud. As for anything good—]

Nothing yet. But hell, I'm an optimist. Things might be looking up, now.

[Hah. He tips his head to the north before crossing the distance toward the wall. There's a short corridor leading to a stairway. Leading up.]

What d'you reckon?

[Coming?]

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EVENT ★ GILLIGAN'S ISLAND

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