epidemiology | EVENT ★ LABYRINTH II

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EVENT ★ LABYRINTH II

DEEPER

Following the marked path near the lake leads Audentes (and George) further into the maze, closer to the goal found at the center. Some other inmates (including Zymandis agent Mavahari) and correctional officers follow along, having picked up on the organized manner of Audentes and figuring it’s their best bet on getting out of here alive.

Unlike the dry stone and sand in the outer ring of the maze, this next section is overflowing with flora. Jungle vines cling to the walls to the point where seeing the stone underneath is a difficult task; trees sprout from between cracked tiles, bearing alien-looking fruit; branches and brambles cross certain parts of the maze, and will need to be hacked through unless you want to find another way around.

Water is more plentiful now as well, since obviously the plants need it to flourish. For the first time since setting foot in the labyrinth, a rain begins to fall, drizzling and gentle. This can be a respite or an annoyance, depending on how you look at it: while it’s soothing and can make collection of fresh, clean water easier, walking around in wet clothes is probably not that pleasant.

Your fellow ALASTAIR recruit George has inexplicably struck up a friendship with the Zymandis agent Mavahari, and they can often be found exploring the maze together, with Mavahari helping him due to his broken arm. They seem to be getting along well enough, but maybe checking in with George is in order.

Otherwise, survival is the name of the game; though the center of the labyrinth is closer, it’s impossible to tell how close, and how long to expect to be here. Collecting water is simple enough, but food is growing scarce. The tree fruits may be a good solution, but it seems as though some have unfortunate reactions to them, ranging from stomach cramps to rashes to fever and temporary blindness.

But an allergic reaction may just be the least of your worries.

LOVE ME LIKE A REPTILE

The monsters seen so infrequently in the outer ring of the maze are now a common nuisance. Giant insects and rats scurry about, hungry for whatever flesh they can find, but they’re easily defeated, particularly if encountered as a group. But with new terrain comes new, adaptive animals, and the labyrinth is no different.

Lizards are now the main threat: enormous and camouflaged, they stalk their prey and take their time, looking for the perfect opportunity to ambush. The lizards are three-headed, with each head containing fangs dripping with venom, capable of rendering its victims paralyzed within five seconds flat. Their blood is also poisonous, capable of burning through metal, not to mention flesh.

If a head is severed, the lizard will retreat back into the jungle, presumably to nurse its wounds but possibly to grow another head -- no lizard will ever be encountered with less than three heads, so it’s possible they have regenerative abilities. The best way to defeat one is to remove all three heads at once, or simply kill it in whatever way possible. The lizards are quick and mean, but not invincible.

Now more than ever, it’s important to take care in exploring the maze. Stray too far from the group or try to make it alone, and you might not survive.

OOC NOTES

Once again, we have a plotting post here and search requests for the next ring of the maze.

Please note: during the labyrinth event, all drops are ICly delayed. What this means is that characters who drop will be handwaved to still be around on auto-pilot until connection with Oska is resumed, at which point they will be transferred to a different team as usual.

If you have any questions about the labyrinth that aren't answered here, please direct them to the Leramzen dossier. If you have questions for any NPCs, please direct them there as well!

Questions about the game in general should be directed to the FAQ and you may submit mission ideas or player plots at any time.

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A. A MONSTER PROBLEM

[Giant multi-headed lizards.

Why not? He doesn’t have time to run the checklist of his rotten luck through his head before this one notices him, two heads more than he’d expected. It’s small, it doesn’t take much to dispatch, one shot, one head and-]

Whoa- [His foot catches on something; a gnarled root sticking out of the ground. His second shot goes wildly past the creature, and it’s turns immediately to flee, bleeding and wounded but certainly not dead. Barreling forward, splattering its poisonous blood and headed right towards another someone stepping out of the foliage.]

Shit, watch out- !

B. A LIFE SKILLS PROBLEM

[The humidity of this place is formidable. A constant drizzle of rain, making the stone paths - when you found them - slippery, the vegetation fat and alive and more than happy to blossom into something so dense you couldn’t go ten feet without having to carve a new path through it. It made it hard to tell where you were going, where you’d come from, and what exactly those sounds from just beyond the foliage might be coming from.

It also made Ratchet miserable.

He didn’t mind water, he didn’t. He’d heard that joke more than once. Ha, ha, he looks like a cat, apparently those hate water. But this was wasn’t water. It was a fine misting rain that never quit, soaking you down to the bone until you were cold and shivering and missing the hot, dry out ring of the labyrinth like nothing else.

He’s crouched next to what might be the saddest looking campfire anyone’s ever attempted. He’d made a campfire exactly once in his whole life, and he was maybe six at the time, and really he had mostly just watched, not retaining any of it.]

So….you know much about camping?

C. AN ATTITUDE PROBLEM

[Machete, or something like it, in hand, Ratchet has to wonder how anyone ever got by with swords. History was unkind to a hundred different species that used this kind of thing as their primary mode of battle. He wouldn’t bother at all except he was currently at war with a particularly thick patch of leaves and brambles, trying desperately to cut a path through. It was slow going at the best of times, hacking and swinging a piece of metal through the leaves, and now...well, now it wasn’t coming back.]

Crap...

[Pulling back hard, it doesn’t budge. It was sunk into some woody branch, looking like it would happily stay there forever. Ratchet, disheveled and tired, and scratched and bruised, makes a frustrated sound, letting his arms drop to his sides.]

I didn’t need that anyway.

D. WILDCARD

[HMU if you'd like to do something different or throw me whatever you're feeling and I will happily roll with it!]

Edited 2017-07-23 07:22 (UTC)

S'cuse me. [He blurts, side stepping with impressive immediacy and a speed that bordered on unnatural. The lizard, more interested in retreating than making a meal of a bunch of bones, continues on its way through the moist underbrush. It leaves a trail of blood in its wake, some of it splattering onto Sans' prison uniform where it promptly began to sizzle.]

Huh. [And, looking up, his sockets fall on the source of the shouted warning. A source that was laying in a puddle of the creature's blood. A source that Sans recognized.

They really had to stop meeting like this.]

Whoa, whoa, hey. [Sans neatly steps around the bloody trail in his hasty approach. Sure, his lack of flesh protected him from any physical harm, but shoes were hard to come by in the maze. The same went for skin grafts, which is why Sans is quick to loop an arm under Ratchet's shoulder and yank him up out of the sizzling puddle.] You picked a helluva place to fall, pal.

Edited 2017-07-24 02:36 (UTC)

[ Ratchet has only a moment to be relieved as Sans' neatly sidesteps out of the lizard's rampaging path before he's being yanked to his feet; that he'd landed in a pool of the corrosive blood hasn't seemed to quite hit him yet, even though it was sizzling through the sleeve of his uniform at an alarming rate. ]

Sorry, I...are you okay? I didn't think it would take off like tha-

[ He cuts off, grabbing his arm with a sharp intake of breath, a burning sensation seeming to spread haphazardly across his forearm and shoulder. ]

Let's put a pin in that.

[The trouble with a jungle was lack of visual on where they were -- or, more specifically, where anything else was. Teleportation might've been fueled by Sans' magic, but it wasn't strictly magic. There were rules. There was math. And no matter how much he wanted to find a stream, he had to know where one was first.

They'd just have to get creative.]

Can you get your shirt off?

[ Ratchet would have made some sarcastic quip about that if he wasn't so preoccupied with the searing pain creeping up his arm. He grits his teeth in another grimace, shifting to pull off his shirt as best he can with one arm. Very slowly when he gets to the injured arm, struggling with the blood soaked fabric. ]

How does it look...?

It's, uh.

[It wasn't exactly a pretty sight. Ratchet's fur crushed with steaming blood painted a disturbing picture of burning flesh. Even the hair looked as if it would fall away entirely with so much as a brush.

No time for small talk. Looking up at one of the large tree-like vines overhead, Sans held a hand until each leaf was wreathed in blue. It rained only just recently... hopefully this would work.]

Just focus on rinsing off, alright?

[Without much more warning than that, Sans hand fanned back and forth. With it, the vine seemed to shake -- dislodging trapped rainfall in a surprisingly heavy shower.]

Edited 2017-07-24 08:14 (UTC)

[ A surprisingly heavy, cold shower. Ratchet jumps in surprise, fat drops of icy water falling down on him and chilling him right to the bone. Lombax fur was about as cold-proof as it was water-proof...that is to say, not at all.

Still, the deluge does the job of flushing away the corrosive blood, cooling and soothing to his burned arm all at once. He holds it out, away from his body, letting the slower drip of water fall on it while he shivers, giving Sans a hard look. A look that's undercut severely by looking a lot like a small, sad cat getting a bath it didn't want. ]

Okay, you could've at least warned me.

[Altruism aside, the real medal Sans deserves is for not bursting into laughter right then and there.]

And miss the look on your face? I don't think so.

[But for all his voice is teasing, the crease between his brow bone remains in place. Ratchet may look like a small, sad cat getting a bath it didn't want -- but he also looked like a small, sad cat with patches of burns. Fur, split and singed from the blood, revealed lobster pink patches of bare skin.]

Speaking of looks... How's the arm feeling, pal?

Great.

[He shakes some of the water from his other arm, holding the injured one very still while he looked at it. It was not great.]

Hurts, but...could have been worse, right?

Could always be worse. [He says while coming closer, jovial enough.] Somebody else could've walked outta those bushes.

[Someone without magic tree gravity powers.]

I dunno much about flesh wounds, buddy, but I think you should probably get that looked at.

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neveroutwrenched - 2017-07-30 02:09 (UTC) - Expand

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skelepun - 2017-07-31 05:53 (UTC) - Expand

[The change in environment is irritating, though the water is a welcome sight. This area of the maze is certainly more beautiful to look at, but the constant wet he could do without. It definitely made looking perfect very difficult. But at least he's looking much better than the not-a-yordle's campfire.

He stops by it, arching a brow at the sad attempt. Someone is clearly not having the best of times in this place, that's for sure.]

Enough to not get killed out here... Did you need any help?

[ Ratchet looks up, shrugging in an exaggerated 'what else' gesture. He must have attempted a half dozen different tried-and-true fire starting methods and hadn't been able to do much more than produce a wispy puff of smoky that had fizzled out when he'd looked at it too hard.

So yeah. ]

You ever start a fire? They make it look so easy in holo-vids.

[YOUR SAVIOR HAS ARRIVED.

Your savior is a 4'6 green girl who remembers that time you "rescued" her from a jewelry store, though she still has doubts about that really being a rescue.]

Allow me. [She pats him on the arm with more than a little condescension and raises her hands, focusing on the metal of the blade.

It... wiggles a little bit.] Um. Just give me a second.

[Ratchet just takes a half step back, hands on his hips, watching her with something between curiosity and amusement.]

What are you trying to do, exactly?

I'm... hnngh- [she waves her arms a bit more] - using my metal powers!

[Ratchet was about to ask what metal powers or better yet, what strange jungle fruit she'd been eating, but...decided against it.]

I, uh...don't think it's working.

I'm, despite my far superior make-up, exhausted from all this trudging through this stupid maze. It's making it difficult to-

[and the machete finally comes flying out, the hilt clocking her right in the face as it does so, knocking her to the ground.

It would be alarming, but she's very obviously not hurt- just humiliated.] Ow...

[If being left blind in such a dangerous place was bad enough, then being blind and running from a monster was even worse. Nyuu didn't know what else to do when she heard someone shout that warning to her, so she ran off to the side with her arms out in front to feel for anything that might get in her way. Unfortunately, it seemed the lizard knew that it had found easier prey and gave chase.

The fact that Nyuu didn't even know what she was running from only made her run faster as her imagine ran wild. She'd heard the others speak of giant lizards with many heads, so in her mind she pictured a creature similar to Orochi from the myths.

Her foot slips on a wet patch of stone, landing her flat on her stomach with a pained grunt.]

[ Ratchet's stomach drops when the lizard doesn't run past the stranger, but right after her. He scrambles to his feet, nearly tripping again over whatever tangle of roots and vines had caught him in the first place. Sprinting after the trail of corrosive blood, grumbling something under his breath about needing a vacation.

He catches up just in time to see the girl slipping and falling (painfully it looks like) - and their new acquaintance closing in behind her. ]

Hey...keep down!

[ Without thinking Ratchet raises his gun to fire another round at one of the lizard's heads above her. ]

[Nyuu doesn't have to be told twice. Still lying on her stomach, she puts her hands over her head and tenses as she hears the monster's heavy breathing. Breathing...

Ice runs down her spine at the realization that the lizard's mouth must be very close for her to feel its breath, and--she felt something hot against her skin?]

Ow!

[She releases her head in favor of clapping her right hand onto the burning spot on her left arm. Over the beating of her own heart, she can hear something sizzling. It's the stone beneath her. Nyuu hasn't learned about the poisonous blood, but the pain in her arm and the sizzling sounds are enough to make her understand that she should move away from the lizard.

She rolls away just before she hears the shot make contact with the lizard.]

[ This time the shot connects more squarely, two of the lizard's heads shrieking in pain or anger or something else entirely; the third twisting and bleeding, a shower of blood that makes Ratchet freeze. He hadn't thought through that the thing would be raining corrosive blood down onto the person below it.

Growling and hissing, the thing starts its retreat again, more of scrambling shuffle than anything else, backing away from them both. Ratchet raises the gun but doesn't fire, giving it a wide berth and running over to the girl. ]

Hey, you okay?

[Nyuu feels more of the burning sensation on other parts of her body. She'd been curled up into a ball on her side when she stopped rolling, so most of the pain is concentrated on the side of her body that's facing the sky, all the way from the lateral side of her shoulder down to her ankle, creating holes in her prison jumpsuit.]

I-I don't know. Something's burning my skin.

[She grits her teeth as tears peak out of the corners of her eyes.]

Uh...crap, you probably shouldn't move.

[ To his credit, Ratchet's voice is much calmer than he feels, dropping down to kneel next to her. The sizzle of the blood singing clothing and skin tell enough of a story, but it's not a pretty sight either.

Reaching into his bag he digs out the supplies he'd found earlier; mostly first aid things he didn't know how to use. His hand closes around the bottle of isopropyl alcohol, which he...kind of knows how to use. He'd heard about it anyway. Seen it on tv.]

I have something to rinse off the blood, but...I'm pretty sure it's gonna sting, okay?

[ Not that it could be much worse than the actual burning. ]

O-Okay...

[It might be a good thing that Nyuu is temporarily blind, or else she would have been frightened by all the little red spots appearing where she'd been burned.]

What is this anyway? I can't see what's happening.

[If he was to look at Nyuu's eyes, he'd see that they were moving around erratically, unable to focus on anything.]

[ Ratchet has questions; wants to ask her if she's blind or if something else happened or what, but...it doesn't really seem like the top priority right this second. ]

It's the lizard...you got some of its blood on you and I guess it's acidic or something...real fun stuff, right?

[ He looks over the burns, unscrewing the cap on the bottle while he talks. ]

I'm just going to pour some alcohol over it to rinse it away...should stop it from getting worse at least. Just, take a deep breath, it'll be quick.

[ Without any counting or real warning he carefully tips the clear fluid over the areas that looked like they were actively burning, moving it carefully to flush away the corrosive blood. ]

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scarredhorns - 2017-07-30 09:07 (UTC) - Expand

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EVENT ★ LABYRINTH II

RATCHET | OTA

A! you better believe you've got a monster problem

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