open | no need to be afraid there —

[realists]

WHO: ANYONE ( outside the sim )
WHERE: New Magellan
WHEN: During Phase Two
WHAT: Cassius Rescue Mission!
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Violence, monsters, possible death, etc

--

> WELCOME TO NEW MAGELLAN

The mission is simple: get Cassius before Johann can delete him. Simple.

The Displaced slip between cities through the gates, arriving in New Magellan with ease and moving on to the laboratory where Cassius is located. It's frigid, the southern tip of the South American peninsula a collection of dry, cold islands, and creeping wintery chills, the temperature as unfriendly as the mission they're moving toward.

Cassius's map leads them on a road outside the city which brings them to the laboratory quickly enough and they're able to get into the facility itself with little trouble.

It's not until they're inside that the trouble begins.

> WHO KNOWS WHAT MAY BE LURKING

The laboratory is devoid of people, seemingly abandoned, and it's not hard to see why. Once they get inside, the monsters set upon them. Some are the same golden-eyed creatures that have become strangely familiar to the Displaced, all sorts of creatures just slightly off in some way, their DNA altered, modified, spliced, warped.

◉ A large snake, except that it also has four small legs (two near the front of its body, two near the back) which allow it to skitter around rather than slither, making it much faster than any snake has a right to be. It's large and strong enough to strangle its victim, making it difficult to remove by a single person. Don't let it unhinge its jaw, it's got way too many teeth.
◉ A hyena-creature with impressive amounts of agility, due to the fact that it seems like almost all of its joints are double-jointed. It can turn its head almost completely around as well, making it an extremely skilled hunter. Its fangs protrude from the top of its mouth in rows of three like a shark. Even if it's disemboweled or it loses a limb, this creature will still continue to attack in a frenzy.
◉ A stag beetle, except that it's the size of a medium-sized dog. It's still able to fly and its pincers can do damage if it's allowed to get too close. Worse than that, they tend to move in swarms of three or four. Beneath the hard shell are human-like eyes with dilated pupils that follow shadows and light.
◉ A humanoid creature that stands on two legs. Its eyes glow in the dark, catching bits of light from a distance. Upon closer inspection, the creature has snake-scale skin, a long, flickering tail, and claws for hands. These scales are incandescent in nature, shimmering whenever they're underneath enough light.
◉A sloth-like mimic that cries from a distance for help from hidden, high places. Once it hears a voice, it can mimic it, drawing someone in toward it due to it sounding like another Displaced. Getting too close will leave them within reach of the creature that's all arms and little else, leaving a toxic and poisonous trap to weaken its prey. Its hiding places include the rafters, where it may drop on those looking for their friends. Under certain lights, the slothly creature's eyes are humanoid in appearance, sharp and aware — yet still gold.
◉ Humanoid creatures that give off a thick, putrid smell of decay. Not unlike zombies, they move sluggishly, but upon closer inspection, it appears that something is off about these people. They have claws, sharp rows of teeth, and skin that flakes off with every shuffle of their feet. Potentially some early or later stage experiment of the snake-skinned humanoids. They're highly aggressive and will follow someone with the intention of attacking until they're incapacitated.
◉ A cross-breed insect that looks like a mix of a wasp and a mosquito, but is only the size of a dime. Its sting can draw out a large amount of blood, sedating the individual. The toxin that they inject will leave large, red welts, depending on the efficiency of the immune system. They're blotchy and painful. Once they have found a target, they will swarm around that individual all at once.
◉ A naked creature resembling a dog with a reptile's body, with patches of hair. This creature has long rows of crooked fangs protruding from its lips, mouth and tongue, with a large, dilated eye. It has sharp scales on its back to keep it from being touched, but it has a thirst for blood. This creature will attempt to surprise its prey from around corners, jumping onto someone's shoulders with hopes of sticking to them and drawing blood like a reptilian tick.

In addition to the type of monsters seen previously in the research facility outside New Amsterdam, there is an even more horrifying threat, a new monster:

◉ An overwhelming brand of eyeless, bipedal creatures with large rows of teeth that are 7-to-8 feet tall. They're both incredibly aggressive and violent, ready to tear apart anything that comes close to them with open jaws. It'll almost seem like they're inflicted with an insatiable hunger. They're fast, strong, and merciless. And they are not an easy kill.

All of the monsters, both new and old models, will rapidly regenerate and continue to fight even with mortal injuries, unless they are taken out with a killing blow (a head taken out, their heart located and removed, or they're burnt to a crisp). No matter how physically unsettling it may be.

Hopefully someone brought a flamethrower.

> OOC NOTES

This is part of the SAVE CASSIUS PLOT and so it's located outside the simulation, but everyone that has since been woken up by Gabriel and Tony and brought out of New Amsterdam can also participate. For more details, please see the mod write up HERE. This is just for the infiltration/monster fighting, the success or failure of the mission will be addressed in the aftermath post.

Comments

[realists]

Doesn't count as showing off if I didn't know I could do it.

[ SO THERE. jyn makes a face at him, thinking they probably shouldn't banter during battle because they need to be good influences or something, but it obviously doesn't stop her. too bad she is very comfortable in battle.

in the brief pause, jyn steps over to him. dying isn't on her agenda today, she has too much other stuff to do, but just in case... ]

Kiss for good luck?

[evasives]

[ they always end up bantering during battle, it's not either one of them's fault that battle is second nature, that watching each other's backs occasionally slips into simply watching them fight. he ducks in to kiss her without hesitation as soon as she asks, barely giving himself time to process that they're technically in public and she wanted it anyway. ]

I am not sure you need luck. [ because she is excellent! look at that desiccated corpse! ]

[ there's a screech, from something he hasn't look at yet but probably should, but at least he steps away from her, ready again. there are more of those seven foot tall eyeless monsters scattered around, but at the moment three of the stag beetles are flying through the air straight at them. ]

Two out of three wins?

[ they each get one, first person to kill the third comes out on top. sounds about right. ]

[realists]

The luck is for you.

[ an exaggerated wink because she is... like that, smile spreading across her features. the exhilaration of battle burning away most of her anxieties. the past fortnight has been exhausting but at least here jyn knows what she is doing. the surety of her ability in combat and knowing cassian has her back, that he will always have her back, and the lingering feel of his kiss is grounding. ]

You're on.

[ she darts away from him, intent on splitting the group, and sweeps her hand back in an arch like she had done in the water in new honolulu, like she is gathering up and cradling the water not yet visible around her. except when she does thrust her hand forward it isn't water that shoots out toward the beetles, but an arch of icy earth, ripped out from the ground in front of her and hurled at the insects. it has none of the finesse and expertise of cassian's skill with his own power -- it is messy and slipshod and rough, but it does the trick to blow one of the beetles back a few meters.

despite wearing his ring since january, jyn hasn't really tried to see if she had any access to cassian's power.

apparently she does. ]

[evasives]

Not sure I need it either. [ is it because he's got very useful powers or because he's pulling a chirrut?? he doesn't need luck, he has jyn. ]

[ he is momentarily distracted (again) when what jyn does isn't aquatic - it's his. it's jerky and new and it's clear she's never pulled it off before, but he suspects it's because of the ring. there isn't much time to theorize though, as one of the beetles makes a sudden dive bomb at him. ]

[ without thinking, cassian pulls up the earth like a shield, and the creature slams into it, bouncing backward. he pulls up the wall higher, then breaks off the top half, sending the rock through the air to capsize over the beetle. a five foot fly swatter. he rushes forward, peering over the makeshift barrier to make sure he crushed it. ]

[ the pincers are the only thing visible from underneath the beetle's new tombstone. one down, jyn!! get moving! ]

[realists]

[ distracted by her own power not leaping out at her command -- why! how! she knows she is fairly calm, grounded by the fact that cassian has her back and she knows they are the best team, but her power is as second nature to her as the anger that is always settled in her heart. why has it failed her now? -- jyn simply gapes at the evidence of what she'd just done, shaken by this surprise use of cassian's power.

until the beetle moves again and jyn instinctively reacts in the same exact way. this time the water comes freely, shooting out and hurling the beetle back with such force it tumbles across the permafrost and slams into the front of the building with a sound like a crunch.

jyn leaps forward, hurdling the mess she had made of the ground to shoot another pressurized jet at the third beetle. should she take care of hers first? probably. but it's motionless for now so she can stun this one before cassian takes it out. ]