EVENT ★ LOST IN TRANSLATION

[futurologists]

RETURN TO OSKA Upon arrival in Oska, new and returning recruits alike will find that something strange is going on. Any attempts to communicate with someone who doesn't speak the same language as you will be just that -- like you don't speak the same language. Let's hope everyone is good at charades, because you're going to be out of luck for a full day. On the second day, a text comes across -- surprisingly intelligible to everyone. Is it over? Well . . . crowley: Hello, Audentes. We are currently experiencing magitek difficulties, as you may have guessed already. Temporal insects have arrived with our latest arrivals, and as you may imagine, we have had our paws full. cherenkov: We are working out how to mitigate the pest problem for good. For now, please put your unpleasantly huge feet to use and stomp them out. Or other such methods. crowley: We have created a quick patch to facilitate text-based communications, but verbal translation will continue to be down until the insects are exterminated. Thank you for your patience. It's not over. TEMPORAL INSECTS This invasive species has worked its way in through the rifts along with the newest batch of arrivals, and information on them is available in the library (provided you can read the language it's written in!). It seems they behave like locusts, living quietly within the space between rifts for many years until their numbers suddenly balloon and they begin to swarm in search of food. These bugs move fast and pack a nasty bite, but are unarmored and easily squished. Each one is about the size of a football, and leaves a little tell-tale slime trail that makes it easy to track. They can cling to any surface, and won't hesitate to leap onto attackers and bite if they feel threatened. One can take a decently sized but non-lethal bite out of someone, but a number of them together will pose a real danger. If punctured or squished they tend to explode into moderately acidic goo that can cause caustic burns if not immediately washed off. They are attracted to any area of high temporal energy, which can be literally any surface, corner, or point on or within the castle and its grounds. As they begin to feed they cause temporal distortion in the area. This manifests as the immediate area seeming to flicker backwards and forwards through time. An insect gnawing at a table leg in the dining area, for example, might cause the area to stutter between years and years of dinner parties, ghostly attendants of all fashions and species appearing and disappearing as they enter and leave the affected area. An onlooker can't interact with temporal distortions directly, but if the insect is left to its own devices, it will eventually eat through all of the temporal energy and render the immediate area gray, frozen, and completely inert. It's highly recommended you kill or otherwise chase off an insect before it manages this, as it can do irreversible damage to a world. For affected Oska locations, please see this post. OOC NOTES The translation errors will continue through the rest of the month. For more information or to ask questions, please check the plotting post here! New bounties are available in Oska! Please remember to fill out your squidge success form before August 31, 23:59 UTC! Filling the form out is mandatory, even if you do not have the 3 squidge threads. You will not pass AC if you do not fill out the form. Characters who have been accepted on August 20th are exempt. Please direct questions relating to the success form here.

Comments

[ex_adept136]

[Haise answers with a short nod]

Right. You're the first I've seen here, other than myself.

[As his senior back home, even if he isn't here, Haise easily falls into the old pattern of deferring to Arima's judgement in this matter. Though they aren't facing ghouls, they are facing an enemy of some sort, and there isn't any question as to which of them is the more experienced]

[prodigism]

And no known ghouls have been spotted here?

[ Something they definitely need to keep an eye out for. ]

Keeping those that are here safe is one of the first priorities. [ Which speaking of which... ]

How are you getting your nutrition? [ A pointed look at the other for a response to that question. ]

[ex_adept136]

Just myself... Others here don't know ghouls as we do.

[Haise is naturally inclined to agree that keeping those here safe is a priority. He's relieved that this is a point on which they agree, though he isn't surprised by the fact.

Investigators protected civilians from ghouls; it's a simple reality.

He stiffens however under such pointed attention, regardless of the fact that he hasn't anything to hide where this subject is concerned]

ALASTAIR provides...rations... [If he should call it that] The higher-ups appear to be aware of my circumstances, though other recruits were not.

[Past tense, because a select few do know now]

[prodigism]

Rations... [ It's mostly said to himself but he can only guess where Alastair is pulling them from. It's honestly a thing he wants to find out, but he'll just move on from it. ]

As long as there's no problems, then I guess everything is settled in those regards. I wonder how they found out all this information on us.

[ He's curious as to what sorts of powers these higher ups wield if they know everything about them. ]

[ex_adept136]

I've wondered about that, myself.

[More than once, in point of fact. Haise has doubted that calculations alone are sufficient to predict or determine fates or outcomes, but ALASTAIR seems to have rather accurate information about them as individuals...

Not to mention, they can return people to their original point in time as though nothing ever occurred]

But I suppose if they have technology that can extrapolate events across the Timeline, finding those details might be elementary by comparison.