lifeaftr | October Event: Crystal Clear

OCTOBER EVENT: CRYSTAL CLEAR

Who: Everyone!
What: Your exploration takes a turn.
When: October 20th - 26th
Where: The caverns situated underneath Ensō
Warnings: Character death, body horror, descriptions of illness. Please mark any additional warnings as needed!

Part I: Attack, Attack!
Congratulations! You've successfully gone where no Storyteller has gone or can go, and woken up in the network of subterranean caves buried beneath the island's mass, along with your designated supplies: a miner's cap, a week's worth of food, and both your knapsacks and their collective contents. And the further along you go, the vaster and more sprawling these almost labyrinthian tunnels seem to get. There’s certainly evidence that civilization once thrived here - old buildings hewed from the rock of the cave walls may very well contain old tools, or even salvageable supplies. Careful examination of structures and cavern walls alike will reveal sigils resembling those carved on the doors, each of which will need to be destroyed entirely at the Storyteller's behest. Whatever was down here was advanced enough to dwell without sunlight. But that raises a rather pertinent question...

If there were once people here, where did they all go?

Fortunately, one will soon discover that there's plenty of natural light underground, exhibited by the crystalline growths on the walls. None of them appear to be dangerous, and those attracted to shiny things might even find them useful for picking up or chipping away in order to better light their way. The crystal has about the thickness and hardness of quartz, and bathes its surroundings in a luminous green glow.

The closer you come to the center of the mass, however, the denser the crystalline growths seem to become, until one has to be quite ingenious in navigating them. Eventually, they'll simply be too dense to be squeezed through, even by the smallest and most agile of your number.

That’s when they it will start to become apparent.

Something in the crystal is moving.

Huge chunks of crystal are starting to detach from the center and move slowly, inexorably, toward those unfortunate enough to have explored the caverns. Unmistakably humanoid silhouettes, distorted by awful crystalline growths, most of which have completely swallowed any recognizable features.

...most.

The good news is that the creatures can be shattered, and beaten back. The bad news? Well...

Part II: Retreat, Retreat!
Those who get close enough to the crystalized beasts to get a good look at them will soon make a horrifying discovery - the fact that, underneath those thick layers of luminescent quartz, there was once something that might have been recognizable as human. These quartz monsters aren't native to this region, or indeed, to any region of the island at all. They were formed.

Formed out of the very crystal that you explorers have been touching, picking up, sleeping on, and just generally remaining in prolonged contact with ever since you set foot down here.

Indeed, anyone who has been in contact with the crystal for extended periods of time - sleeping on it or getting dealt a swipe from one of the crystalized monsters, for example - will find that tiny, quartz-like growths have started to sprout on their skin as well. Once the virus has taken root, it will spread rapidly until it has swallowed you whole. Indeed, the unpleasant symptoms will reveal themselves within twenty-four hours of the initial exposure: in addition to clusters of crystalline growths pocking the affected areas, the inflicted will begin to experience intense stabbing pains all over as the crystal begins to grow - both inside and out.

The transformation is slow and arduous and painful, and vocalization tends to be one of the first things to go once the crystals sprout in the mouth and throat. Within the span of about three days since the initial exposure, the transformation will have sheathed most of the physical body in crystal entirely, sealing the victim in a humanoid cast of glasslike green.

It has not been confirmed if the inflicted are sentient and aware of their state of being once they are completely consumed. Whatever their intentions, those are easily overridden by the virus's innate desire to spread to as many organisms as possible.

As this is an event with a high risk of death, the Storyteller will impose death penalties for one week only. Additionally, deaths succumbed during the event count towards the character's total. There is no known cure to the virus, but that doesn't mean characters can't or shouldn't try!

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] October 20th: Spelunking begins. Points of interest will be provided.
[ ♆ ] October 22nd: The Quartzalcoatl make their presence known.
[ ♆ ] October 24th: The final sigils are broken, and the Storyteller will return all uninfected to the Islets.
[ ♆ ] October 26th: All deceased will be returned at midday, suffering from a reduced death penalty.

Event Specifics

[ ♆ ] If your character perishes in this event, please let us know!
[ ♆ ] For those who opted out, please see the top-level below!
[ ♆ ] Item claims can be found on the OOC plotting post here!

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Inevitably things will go badly down here. That's just the nature of this kind of mission, something that Shepard after two or so years of fighting and struggling back home understands innately. But things haven't taken a turn for the worst yet and thus there is still time for some fun.

And it seems Kidwun here has the best idea of all.]

A bomb, huh? Where did you get that?

I believe the correct term is bombs. Plural. [They nod towards their pack, smile...perhaps a little too excited, considering the topic.] The Storyteller was kind enough to allocate them to me upon request- admittedly, I had other ideas for them.

[But this works just as well.]

[Bombs. Plural. Lord have mercy.]

Were those original plans a low-budget fireworks show back on the main island?

[She's torn between wanting to leap right into this with reckless abandon and needing to be a good role model seeing as she's Commander Shepard. So she compromises.]

Do you know how to safely arm them so you don't lose a limb?

I was considering attempting the blow the doors open from this side. It seemed like a rather useless endeavor.

[A pause, as they consider her question- then a shrug. They seem far too relaxed about their answer.]

I've watched someone else put them together.

[As far as proper instruction goes, that counts, right?]

Hm. Blow up this side and see if we can get to the other. Fun. I guess this works out in the Storyteller’s favor however.

[It’ll be easier to destroy the sigils with some good firepower rather than senselessly punching them like she has been doing for a little while.

She eyes them for another moment, looking back at the charges.]

Were they a demolitions expert, or were you around some pyromaniacs back home?

I'm more confident in my ability to blow away some marks on a wall then entire doors, ma'am.

[Plus, in a rather irritating fashion, camps had been set up too close for them to take action safely. They could blow open the doors- or they could take out most of the people who had been working on making a safe encampment.

Despite everything, they aren't that cruel- nor was Frisk in enough danger to warrant sacrifices.

Their snort at the question is probably the most childish sound she's heard from them.]

He was an insufferable know-it-all with an ego far too large for an island of this size. His only good quality was being so proud of his knowledge that he saw little reason not to show it off.

[So there's that.]

[It's a fair assessment, all things considered.]

Any idea that these sigils won't need some kind of magic mumbo jumbo to get them off first? It'd be a shame to waste this fire power and not have it work.

[She wishes, once again, that Liara or Traynor or EDI was here- they were incredibly smart, capable people and she's sure they would have gotten something out of this already, and the best way to dispose of them.

The snort is a bit of a suprise to here from them, since they are usually so intent on being so rigid in their presentation, but it's a welcome one. She doesn't comment on it, but a quick quirk of her lips up and then back down to her neutral look is all that betrays her.]

Sounds like a right old as- jerk.

[A quick deflection, one that wasn't entirely graceful, but Shepard thinks she did pretty well, over all. She really needs to stop almost cursing in front of kids.]

Reminds me of someone I knew back home. His name was Javik. He had a lot of issues, and a lot of them gave him some well-earned anger, but at the end of the day, there's only so much anyone can put up with being called a "primitive" before fights start breaking out in the cargo bay.

[THAT had been a fun call to get from Joker. "Hey Commander, btw, Liara and Javik are about to duke it out in the lower decks, can you please come stop them before they blow each other to bits with their biotic abilities and potentially take out an entire bulkhead?"]

From what I've seen, physical damage seems to be just as effective as anything else others have attempted. A bomb should do nicely.

[Their brow quirks at her slip of tongue-]

Asshole covers it.

[Before they blow her self-restraint out of the water. You did try, Shepard, but they already know that term.]

Personally, I would have chosen prick, but semantics.

[Javik, on the other hand, certainly sounds like an as-jerk. A unimpressed exhale, and Chara resumes building their bomb, shoulders jerking into a shrug.]

Every world has one, apparently.

[Curses!!! Who taught this kid the word asshole???

...though it is strangely relieving to know they're not only ok with it but didn't really learn it from her.]

Prick is also a good word. Nice and succinct.

[Javik was an as-jerk, but he was one of Shepard's as-jerks, and therefore she was apparently willing to fight for the fellow. And die for him, but that's not important now.]

Pretty sure every world is required to have one, else something gets unbalanced somewhere else. Like that "beating of butterfly wings" or whatever that's called.

[She's a soldier, no philosopher.]

[Well, Shepard, once upon a time

Chara went to school. You'd be amazed what kids know these days.]

I fear attempting to delve deeper than that would take us several hours. [So succinct works. They huff out a laugh at her attempt at metaphorical speech, correcting her with a grin.] Butterfly effect.

[Man, if she knew that she would learn curse words in class, maybe she wouldn't have skipped so often as kid. She appreciates the correction and nods.]

Yeah. Butterfly effect. Like a domino effect, but bigger.

[She nods to the wall that Chara is aiming to explode.]

Much like this could become a domino effect. You got any plans for retreat if your explosion starts a cave-in here?

[Her tone, once again, is not admonishing or even trying to stop them; It's more inquiring if they are prepared for the worst.]

October Event: Crystal Clear

10/21 because Boom

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