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redshiftlogs2020-07-02 11:18 pm
modblob) wrote in redshiftlogs2020-07-02 11:18 pm
july 2020. welcome to the void.
Who: Everyone in Anchor.
What: Monthly Mingle
When: The Month of July 2020
Where: Around and outside the city.
Warnings: Please add any warnings in the subject lines.
What: Monthly Mingle
When: The Month of July 2020
Where: Around and outside the city.
Warnings: Please add any warnings in the subject lines.
Redshift: Welcome to the v͖͕̺̲̘̱̜͎o̴̦̣̠̦̘̹͞i̯̖d̛̪̬͈̱̦̝͍̕.
Click here to read what characters will experience when arriving in Anchor.
a. the quake.
It starts with a rumble that builds to a roar, as the interdimensional cruise ship still hovering over Anchor lifts and repositions itself. The ground shakes as it pulls into the air. Shakes as the ship rumbles its way to a spot off toward the other side of the city.
As the ship falls still, the ground...keeps shaking?
Triggered perhaps by the movement of the ship, an earthquake rocks Anchor and its environs, a violent bucking thing that gives Anchor a violent shake, causing a few cracks in the walls at the higher levels. But it isn't just the structure of the upper city that suffers...the shaking opens a massive sinkhole out in the desolate plains beyond the colony. It's not a long trip to get there, with a radiation suit and one of the all-terrain vehicles. It's even close enough to be walked if you've got the time on your hands. (Still need that radiation suit, though.)
As the ship falls still, the ground...keeps shaking?
Triggered perhaps by the movement of the ship, an earthquake rocks Anchor and its environs, a violent bucking thing that gives Anchor a violent shake, causing a few cracks in the walls at the higher levels. But it isn't just the structure of the upper city that suffers...the shaking opens a massive sinkhole out in the desolate plains beyond the colony. It's not a long trip to get there, with a radiation suit and one of the all-terrain vehicles. It's even close enough to be walked if you've got the time on your hands. (Still need that radiation suit, though.)
b. the sinkhole.
The pit isn't a uniform hole going straight down into the ground. From the observation windows in the upper levels of the city, anyone looking hard enough or using a set of binoculars can vaguely make out the chunks of stone and dirt collapsed unevenly into a cavern, creating a sloping path into the recesses below. It isn't just a sinkhole with a finite ending - the sinkhole opens up into a natural set of caverns, one that goes deep into the planet. Both strange and familiar crystals dot the cavern walls, glowing faintly at first but slightly brighter as the tunnel darkens - a few more turns into the caves and you wouldn't be able to see without them. Their glow is soft, dusky, not enough to disturb nocturnal creatures.
And creatures there are, though many of them aren't hostile. Giant bat-things, sheltering eggs they seem to have somehow cemented to the ceilings. Little salamander-like creatures that seem to feed on the crystals in the walls. Even nocturnal or cave-dwelling creatures that characters might recognize from home.
Of course, the place isn't without its dangers. There are sand worms here, too, albeit much smaller ones than those that guard the sand-covered city. These are a mere six feet long, the mouths not yet full of teeth. It’s almost like they're babies. And is that...an egg, in that corner? A cluster of them, really, with squirming shapes inside.
Hopefully you don't run into anything bigger than an adolescent.
As you travel deeper into the caves, the radiation starts to rise and the glow of the crystals grows weaker. Saltwater ponds in the caverns here boil with heat and gases that will probably kill you if you fall in, though there's no harm in getting a sample of that water or the plume of noxious green gas that just bubbled out of it. Maybe it can tell you something interesting once you analyze it back at the lab in Anchor.
And creatures there are, though many of them aren't hostile. Giant bat-things, sheltering eggs they seem to have somehow cemented to the ceilings. Little salamander-like creatures that seem to feed on the crystals in the walls. Even nocturnal or cave-dwelling creatures that characters might recognize from home.
Of course, the place isn't without its dangers. There are sand worms here, too, albeit much smaller ones than those that guard the sand-covered city. These are a mere six feet long, the mouths not yet full of teeth. It’s almost like they're babies. And is that...an egg, in that corner? A cluster of them, really, with squirming shapes inside.
Hopefully you don't run into anything bigger than an adolescent.
As you travel deeper into the caves, the radiation starts to rise and the glow of the crystals grows weaker. Saltwater ponds in the caverns here boil with heat and gases that will probably kill you if you fall in, though there's no harm in getting a sample of that water or the plume of noxious green gas that just bubbled out of it. Maybe it can tell you something interesting once you analyze it back at the lab in Anchor.
c. what lies beneath.
It's when the lights go out and characters need artificial illumination to go on that things start to get weird. The walls here and there are unnaturally flat, like they've been planed smooth in preparation for building and then left untouched in the dark. The walls and ceilings of the caverns seem to clink occasionally, making sounds like rain on a tin roof heard from very far away.
And then the caverns end.
There's no warning, no change in the appearance of the cavern walls, nothing to indicate that this is where things stop. You just find yourself looking at a smooth, slightly curved wall that bisects the caverns no matter how far you follow it. It shines without illuminating its surroundings. Touch it, and you'll feel a faint hum, the origin of which can't quite be identified. Digging downward will make it clear that the humming wall goes deep, sloping gently. Like a shell, almost, in its roundness - a very large shell.
It’s not breakable, however. Not nearly that fragile. And there's no question of its artificiality. There is nothing natural about the smooth, curved shape of this...whatever it is. The surface is smooth and unmarked, and will remain so, no matter what kind of damage characters try to inflict, whether attempting to break through or to take a sample of the material. Any scans simply show that the material is unknown. A big question mark.
Well. This is awkward?
And then the caverns end.
There's no warning, no change in the appearance of the cavern walls, nothing to indicate that this is where things stop. You just find yourself looking at a smooth, slightly curved wall that bisects the caverns no matter how far you follow it. It shines without illuminating its surroundings. Touch it, and you'll feel a faint hum, the origin of which can't quite be identified. Digging downward will make it clear that the humming wall goes deep, sloping gently. Like a shell, almost, in its roundness - a very large shell.
It’s not breakable, however. Not nearly that fragile. And there's no question of its artificiality. There is nothing natural about the smooth, curved shape of this...whatever it is. The surface is smooth and unmarked, and will remain so, no matter what kind of damage characters try to inflict, whether attempting to break through or to take a sample of the material. Any scans simply show that the material is unknown. A big question mark.
Well. This is awkward?