EVENT ★ THE FRACKING FIELDS

[futurologists]

THE EARTHQUAKE One day, early in the morning before the mechanical rooster at Amos Zephyr's farm even crows, there's a sudden rumble in the distance. Perdition's Rest shakes and the ground roils, knocking things off shelves and startling the mechanical horses in their pen. Look out the window and you'll see Qorral locals blearily stepping out into the street, murmuring anxiously amongst themselves: Earthquake. Ever since the argecite mines started to dry up, the Qorral colonists have been turning to fracking in order to pull all available argecite out of the planet as quickly as possible. The technique has caused more and more earthquakes to shake the planet, though the fracking fields are far enough away from the town that damage is minimal. However, the fields and mines aren't as lucky. The mayor rushes out into the street, his assistant and Sheriff Holladay flanking him, and asks for any willing heroes and adventurers (that means you!) to venture out to the fracking fields and assess the damages. Though the tunnels aren't being actively mined, there were likely miners and other workmen inside, so there will be rescue needed as well. Get your provisions ready and hop on the train: you're going to work. THE FRACKING FIELDS The fracking fields are a wide open swath of land peppered with looming, iron machines going on for miles. These machines are the Qorral's final attempt at scraping the last remnants of argecite from the planet before abandoning the colony and moving on for good. This destructive practice is causing obvious instability to the planet, but they don't seem to care. This is what their species does: seeks out argecite, mines it, and moves on. The fields are dry and dead, with no plants around -- and now, after the earthquake, there are sinkholes. The iron machines are falling into the sinkholes, slowly being swallowed by the planet, with desperate workers trying to pull them back out. They could use the help -- but be sure not to fall in yourself. Grotesque alien birds circle overhead, searching for the dead or the dying, workers caught in the collapsing earth. Save them before they're swallowed by the earth or swallowed by carrion birds -- and if you're too late, the locals would be happy to have their loved ones returned to them intact. Also found in the fields is the Argecite Refinery, a massive factory filled with machinery meant for the refining of the crystal before it is to be shipped back to the Qorral home planet. The outside of the factory is surrounded by a 610cm (20 ft) tall electric perimeter fence, whose energy shorts out sporadically after the earthquake cracked the service box. If you're quick enough to make it through one of the gaps in electricity, don't relax quite yet -- there are malfunctioning guard drones throughout the facility, the earthquake rattling their sensors and making it impossible for them to tell friend from foe. The drones resemble dogs, though they are capable of folding their legs in for aerodynamic superiority when they take flight. They are equipped with energy lasers to destroy, sticky glue to slow trespassers, and a thin blade in the tail to poison attackers. The poison is quick-acting, causing hallucinations and fever, but it is not deadly. Inside the factory, the machinery has collapsed in on itself from the earthquake; electricity sparks from damaged wires, dangerously nearby spilled oil drums or pools of standing water. Fire can start at any second. There are factory workers here that need rescuing, but also a variety of inanimate objects, including barrels of argecite, machinery parts, files, computers, etc. Anything that isn't bolted down needs to be moved outside of the factory before it explodes. Of course, no one is really keeping track of what's inside... THE MINES The Qorral have been digging in the mines since arriving on this planet 30 years ago, but recent efforts have shifted to fracking after the argecite veins slowly became depleted. The mines are still maintained by a skeleton crew of workers, making sure there is no build-up of dangerously flammable gas and patrolling the tunnels to look out for cave-ins -- which, after the earthquake, have happened in spades. The tunnels are winding and deep, turning in on each other and ending in dead ends or sudden, steep drop-offs into the dark. There are workers trapped within, and some at Perdition's Rest have said that their thrill-seeking relatives -- typically teenagers -- have gone missing. It's possible that they have found themselves trapped in the mine, so it may be a good idea to look out for them as well. And even deeper in the mine, there is a writhing, pale danger: sand worms, blind and hungry, wait in the dark. The earthquake has begun to drive them further up the tunnel, their tooth-lined maws open as they slither through toward the surface. Those focusing on the fields above may find a straggling sand worm or two, thrashing wildly in pain from the unfamiliar heat of the sun. This will definitely put a damper in the rescue and recovery efforts, so take them out as quickly as you can -- with as little damage to the fracking equipment, please. OOC NOTES Please direct all questions pertaining to the mission to the dossier page to keep questions and responses in one place for easy player reference. General game questions should be directed to the FAQ. If you haven't already, make sure you check out the Bounty Board for side missions! Remember you can also request bounty missions or submit player plots at any time.

Comments

[secondnature]

[Between space lions, aliens, heroic spirits, turning into an alien temporarily, dead people who are elves, and everything in between, you'd think Keith wouldn't have a whole lot else to get surprised about, but then—that happens. The lance (which he did grab, at least) slips out of his grip and bounces up against the wall, making enough noise in the process to alert the robodogs as to exactly where they are at the moment.

There's a sharp intake of breath as he freezes, waiting for lasers or anything else to come their way.]

You—that better work! [Yes, Keith's saving grace: being a pushy jerk to act like he didn't just look dumbfounded while alerting their opposition as to where they're hiding.]

[yaomomo]

[She's caught by surprise at the fact that he just gave away their position, eyes wide as if he's the strange one for being shocked, before she pulls out a magazine from her abdomen as well. However, the bullets she uses to fill it up ends up coming from her palms instead as he calls out a demand, an order at this point from the carelessness.]

Raise that shield! They're coming.

[Honestly, she had been doing just fine before this. It's a minor setback, but they'll have to make do.]

[secondnature]

[Keith will tell her later that she should let people know that she's going to take a gun out from inside of her. He stares at her blankly for a moment before passing off the shield to her. The lance stays where it is, as it might only be useful later.]

Cover yourself. I've got my own.

[He extends his right arm, and a holographic shield comes up. It doesn't look solid, but it confirms its stability right away when a dog hovers up overahead and shoots down, leading Keith to cover himself with a shield that then absorbs the impact. There's a sign that the shield isn't impenetrable: like many things like this, it can be worn down, but he's holding it for now.]

[yaomomo]

[She notices, but that only motivates her to work faster as she fixes her equipment. Once done, she takes aim at the dogs, careful at first before she makes sure to shoot right into its mouth, hoping that the impact will toss its head back from the momentum.

The shield, however, she has to drop, due to having to use both arms to shoot. She takes advantage of a position behind Keith though, especially as he was the one taking the impact as she starts shooting the air-borne robots down.]

[secondnature]

[If he had one of those fancy beam swords, he might not need his shield, but he hasn't had the chance to ask Rey where she got hers. For now, he holds his sword at his side, and begins to shuffle forward slowly, ready to drop it down and slash at any of the robots that come closer.

It's slow, but he figures they'll be able to pick up the pace sooner rather than later. They just need to trim down the numbers of their opponents first.]

[yaomomo]

[Alas, she wouldn't know how to produce that for him. For now, she focuses on shooting, clear and precise for the most part, though she does seem to miss from time to time even without the robot moving.

When she runs out of her first set of bullets, two of the flying dogs finally went down. The rest, of course, still waiting to ambush them-- or maybe wary of the foreign weapon.]

Does that work for you?

[secondnature]

Yeah. Steady your aim, though. We don't know what's waiting for us. [It sounds like it's just left of a command, but Keith isn't really a commanding person. Still, her missed shots make him miss working with the other paladins, especially Lance and Hunk. Which ... is a thought he will never mention to them unless forced, because Keith isn't really sure of how to approach that.

And it's not fair to her. Since she's a teammate, too?

Uh.]

Unless ... you can't dig something out with a scope, can you? ["Dig" is probably the wrong word.]

[yaomomo]

I'don't know how to make a scope.

[She says simply, because she's never had to make one before, even for practice. The gun too, but she had been studying up the structure here and simply made the parts from her own memory.]

Sorry, I'll try to aim better.

[She doesn't seem miffed, but then she's not exactly experienced in using a gun and it shows. It was just the most appropriate she can create at the moment. The dogs, sensing this was a dangerous battle, immediately retreat... for now.]

[secondnature]

[Hopefully this doesn't devolve into a stupid conversation so that the dogs return. Unfortunately, with Keith, anything's possible.

That said, as an action-oriented guy, he begins making tenuous strides to get the both of them inside while he's about to ask a really stupid question.]

You ... make stuff by digging into yourself? That's weird. You know that's weird, right?

[yaomomo]

That's not how it works!

[The worst part, probably, is him calling it weird. It makes her a bit self-conscious, because it's one thing she's still getting used to here, people finding it weird and not simply an ability that she had. Of course, it was weird, and some Quirks can be, but she's never had people say it so often until here.]

I-- that is... Look, I'll explain it later. We need to focus on the task at hand.

[secondnature]

[Well, it certainly sounds like how it works, so now he's curious. But later will be better than now, as he glances away from her to see if the dogs have come back for a second run at them. So far, so good—and Keith knows better than to test his (their) luck on this matter.]

All right. Let's get inside.

[A beat.]

Can you store things in you? [Genuine question as he's moving forward.]

[yaomomo]

No, not even close.

[Don't make her Doraemon, gods.]

We'll have to leave behind anything that can't be brought.

[And she self-consciously pulls her clothes closer together, as if somehow that would erase the judgment she just received from this stranger she met. She definitely looks embarrassed, if not a little put-off, by the assessment.]

[secondnature]

Got it.

[If it were one thing or another, Keith might not notice that she was embarrassed. He's not good at this stuff. But the combined appearance of everything seems to give him the clue.]

Uh, sorry. I was just wondering. [He can make his bayard appear out of nowhere, but it doesn't involve any reaching like that.]

[yaomomo]

It's... fine. It's not something to worry about at the moment.

[At least it wasn't her competency he questioned, even as she abandons the lance and keeps the shield, thinking about how to improve the weapon even further.]

What is that thing, anyway?

[The shield he has, that is, from where her eyes trail.]

[secondnature]

Oh, it comes with my bayard. All of the paladins have one when we're ready to go out and fight on our own. Um, where I come from, anyway.

[Paladin is more of a general term, so he realizes that the last bit of clarification might be needed.]

It automatically generates when I need it to.

[yaomomo]

[Given it is neither a man nor a horse, it's probably a proper term for it rather than a common item. Futuristic technology? But what is it made of? She's not sure, but she knows she's itching to learn the intricate mechanisms that form it.]

I see. There's nothing like that back where I'm from, so it's completely foreign to me.

[Though speaking of---]

By the way, I'd like to get one of those dogs to bring back. Destroyed is fine.

[secondnature]

Huh, do you have a reason why? [His curiosity isn't because he thinks it's a bad idea. That sounds like exactly what Pidge would do here. He just wonders what she plans on doing, and if he should tell her about Pidge.]

[yaomomo]

I need to study its material. I want to see if it's something I can replicate.

[It seemed sturdy enough, maybe something they can use to work on better weaponry for their members. Of course, it's an experimental thought, and not one with merit quite yet.]

I need to know the material to create something, after all.

[secondnature]

Oh. [That makes more sense. That would also explain why she couldn't just pull out any old gun.]

That's probably a good idea. If you need to mess with its ... insides, I know someone who might be able to help. [Hunk would be better, but he knows that Pidge knows her way around this stuff, too.] You can find her over the magitek—she's "southpaw" on there. [A beat of realization, in part because Pidge is just as prickly as Keith sometimes.] Uh, tell her Keith sent you. Sometimes she can get weird.

[yaomomo]

[She's a bit surprised at the offer and it shows, since they barely knew each other but...]

Thank you. I'll keep that in mind. For now, let's--

[Oh never mind, dogs are back.]

[secondnature]

Let's take care of them. [That seems like the best thing to finish what she had to say. The dogs come in overhead, but this time, Keith is ready for them. He motions toward her to back him up while he's fighting, and he jumps up to slash at the first one.

At least this will keep them busy for a while longer.]

[ooc: we can wrap it up here!]