meadowlarklogs | EVENT #010.1

Entry tags:

EVENT #010.1

WHO: Anyone who signed up to go to Antarctica!
WHERE: The Drake Passage, Adelaide Island, and surrounding areas.
WHEN: In the days leading up to May 21, 2512.
WHAT: Trip to Antarctica, as well as an event prelude!
NOTES OR WARNINGS: Seismic activity, weird biological creatures, and sea sickness. Please look at our additional notes down below!

> EVENT #010.1 PRELUDE

Heading through the gate and into New Magellan is the easy part – it's just a hop, skip and a jump from the New Amsterdam gate. It's early in the morning, and the sun is barely peeking over the horizon when a group of mismatched, highly unlikely, unseasoned scrubs make their way to the lowermost point on the globe. They're led by Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, the First of Her Name, and they're heading on an expedition to Antarctica in search of abnormal creatures whose existence has almost been lost among passing mentions. The scientific community does seem to remember, though, as do those interested enough to fund this little haphazardly put together expedition.

They're equipped with heavy coats and supplies, dragging what they need between the two gates. There's no need to be particularly punctual, as the research team that's meeting them is already on Deception Island. When they get to New Magellan's southern port, it's cold. The wind, harsh and dry, makes for pink noses and cheeks, biting at any bare skin that's left to its devices. It's only the first leg of the trip, and conditions are about to get worse from there. There's no train through the Drake Passage, and every step further is colder, more treacherous, and more demanding.

> GETTING TO ADELAIDE ISLAND

Getting to this island via boat is going to be treacherous for all of the characters on their way! While scientific enhancements in medication (High Quality Dramamine!) and boats will help, the characters will be taking The Drake Passage over to Adelaide. What does this mean for them? A miserable time ahead, all things considered. They'll have to battle nausea while dealing with terrible currents. This is the most unpleasant body of water in the world. Global warming caused things to change, but not enough to make travel much easier.

Anyone taking the trip will be given dramamine to deal with the motion sickness, but it'll be up to them to take it. Even then, there's a high chance that it won't work. The people navigating the boat across The Passage will be used to their passengers getting violently ill. It's a part of the rite of passage for this kind of trip.

(For some extra info from our science consultant on The Drake Passage, go here!)

> ARRIVAL/RESEARCH TIME

Needless to say, upon arrival it is very cold. Everyone will need to have specific cold weather gear, and anyone who seems ill-equipped to handle it will be kept indoors and forced to bag and record any samples collected. In addition, anyone who doesn't pick up on how to take and handle samples before they're brought indoors will also be relegated to that. There won't be a lot of need for muscle on this trip. Overall, it's largely going to be a peaceful endeavor, albeit with a lot of signs that things could have turned for the worse at some point.

As for research, characters will be working on both Adelaide Island and taking a short boat trip to Deception Island. The team there will explain that there used to be facilities located on Deception Island, but after they got destroyed several times over throughout the centuries, all samples from there were taken back to Adelaide Island for analysis. Field research time.

> WILDLIFE AND SAMPLES

In this region, most of the more "common" creatures that have made it are the following:

◉ Nototheniodei fish
◉ Leopard seals
◉ Antarctic octopuses with sub-zero venom

In addition, the surface area is very spiky and unusual, albeit lacking in any color. It's extremely monochrome.

This research trip will not be focused on these more typical creatures, albeit the researchers and Displaced could still take samples to see if any of them have evolved in unusual ways (especially given the unusual reptilian creatures found here before).

Other than these more common creatures, anything else the Displaced might find will be uniquely mummified due to the lack of humidity in the area (AKA it's extremely dry). Characters will be able to find the following (again, mummified):

◉ Reptilian creatures with exoskeletons like the one we referred to above (some of these are gator-like, while others are snake-like)
◉ Thick-furred walrus-like creatures, taking up massive amounts of real estate (so to speak) in the ice
◉ Featherless birds with retractable claws for talons
◉ Unusual mollusks with thick, spiky shells and legs that extend from them (these in particular are venomous, so they will need to be careful when extracting them—even breathing in their vicinity could be dangerous)

> HACKING INTERLUDE

William's skill set will also be relegated to the indoors, but that means he'll be able to dig into the servers there via the local connection to see what's what. This particular research facility has been around for a long while, with some of its most unusual findings starting around 200 years ago. At the time, thanks to the large amount of ice that was melting, they found (equally mummified) bodies that were buried on Deception Island. Most of the clothing would be carbon-dated to the early 1800s. No one really knows how these people got here, but several of them had scarification and tattoos of various geometric symbols. Otherwise, these samples were passed off to labs elsewhere, as human remains aren't really in their wheelhouse. For what it's worth, none of these humans came up as unique in any way (in terms of biology) in the findings by those other labs.

Otherwise, William will learn that the laboratory is doing its best to publish its findings there, especially as they've found more and more unique creatures in the past year. Despite its best efforts, they've been running into roadblock after roadblock. There have been questions of integrity around their findings, and several attempts to pull funding from the area. None of these attempts seem as if they're intended to go through. On the contrary, they're clearly meant as scare tactics to keep the researchers there working but never getting any information out. They'll see this current expedition as an opportunity to bypass that process to get their news about these weird evolutionary formations out into the world.

> TROUBLE LURKS (EARTHQUAKE AND MORE)

After a few days of research, the ground will begin to rumble right before a massive earthquake occurs, causing massive damage in the area and sending shocks through the world. Knowing about the risk of the volcanic activity, the researchers will advise everyone to get moving. While the volcano won't be erupting yet, there will be a risk of a tsunami on the horizon, so they will need to move. The Richter scale of this earthquake will be around an 8.2, causing a great deal of damage and likely costing the lives of a few valuable NPCs (as they won't make it back to a mediunit in time).

> FINAL OOC NOTES

Elsewhere, this will have an impact on the megacities, as there will be rolling brownouts. The mods will be detailing this in the Arrival Log (which goes up on July 11, 2020), so please don't post about this earthquake until then! As an equally important note, anyone who's on the Antarctica trip will not be present for the arrival log. We promise there will be cool stuff in New Amsterdam for the Arrival Log, however!

In addition, we suggest that the characters have at least four glowing relics on hand so they can make a makeshift gate to get out of there. This gate will probably be destroyed due to the damage in Antarctica following their escape.

Please see this link for the full player plot here!

> NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

the boat (aka hell)

[Kyna's never heard any of the infamous stories about the Drake Passage, but she was warned before they left. Of course she brushed those warnings off—how bad can a boat get, really?—and now she's absolutely eating every flippant word she'd said. She hasn't puked (yet), but she is decidedly paler than usual, clinging to the railing as the boat cuts through the waves.

The choppy water doesn't scare her, necessarily, but she's very quickly discovered that if there's such a thing as inherent sea legs, she definitely does not have them. She's stumbled and lost her balance more than once, embarrassingly.

Despite her ambivalence towards this whole boat thing, she hasn't left the railing to retreat to her cabin like some of the passengers have. Her eyes are locked on the water. Apparently she's on a mission.]

Hey, there's supposed to be whales out here, right?

samples

[Even hundreds of years later, Antarctica is still freezing. Winters in New York City don't really compare, and so for once Kyna has ditched her shorts for pants, and she's crammed an oversized sweater—clearly not hers—underneath her coat. For the past day or so, she's been complaining to everyone who will listen about how much Antarctica sucks, actually, but now they've found something, and she's shut up.

They've tripped over some kind of walrus, its skin desiccated and frozen solid, just barely peeking out of the ice. One massive tusk has been revealed by some combination of wind and shifting ice, but besides that and half its head, the rest slowly disappears under the snow. What little they can see is enough to know it's terrifyingly huge, though, and Kyna is crouched down next to it, face lit up in open fascination and delight.

She reaches out to poke at the tusk and instantly gets her hand swatted away by an impatient scientist. Somehow she doesn't look offended or even chastened.]

Holy shit, there is no way this thing is normal.

closed to Ian

[The rest of the trip goes mostly uneventfully after the discovery of the strange new creatures. The scientists are on cloud nine, but Kyna's excitement wanes when she realizes that the wonders of scientific discovery actually mean a lot of cataloguing samples, taking notes, and listening to technobabble that bores the hell out of her about "taxonomic classifications" or "phylogenetics" or whatever.

Today, she's inside with Ian. Somehow they got stuck recording and organizing the samples the teams have brought back, and she's starting to go stir crazy. Even in here she can't seem to get warm.]

You know, I was kinda hoping for more "Indiana Jones" and less "high school science lab".

[She squints down at the little chunk of tissue she's bagging and wrinkles her nose as she holds it up. This one definitely was not from one of the mummies.]

How do people do this all the time?

[ It's actually kind of nice for Ian, it feels like reaching back into the archives of his memories to what he considered normal. Pre-future, pre-alien, back when he'd pop into labs or work on projects. Methodical, consistent, something he feels like he actually knows how to do as opposed to...

Everything else that's happened since the goddamn end of the world.

He holds a hand out to her for another label, the steady system they've worked out to get through this efficiently. ]

It's soothing.

[ He defends mildly, obviously in his element. ]

Welcome to the reality, Ky Nye the science guy. Every major breakthrough's gone a little something like this. Stickin' stuff in other stuff and then lookin' at that stuff through the thing that makes stuff look bigger.

Soothing.

[Once the label is on, Kyna sets the sample safely aside and promptly picks up an empty bag to swat him with. Despite her complaining, she is taking the actual work seriously.]

This shit is why I didn't go to college.

[ He huffs out a laugh, snatching the empty bag from her for the next sample. ]

Just that? There are a whole world of non-label-bagging majors out there. They're not as cool, but. They're out there.

[ He's cross-legged on the floor despite the plenty of acceptable chairs around the place. Just easier to reach into those big tubs, and he's also just... a floor person, sometimes. ]

I still say trade school's your sweet spot.

Those big ass lecture halls are boring, too. Well, okay, yours probably aren't...

[She plops down beside him, her knee knocking into his, and watches him bag the sample absently.]

But I guess a trade school could work.

[But there's still something about using all that knowledge and instinct she gleaned from her magic for something else entirely that... feels oddly like giving up.]

Oh, mine were super boring.

[ He corrects brightly, flashing her a wide smile.

Really, that's subjective. He lectures with passion and incredible interest, but if you don't care about the subject matter there's really no way to fix that. ]

If you--

[ A sudden bump cuts him off. It's sort of like hitting a pothole in a car, except it's the entire damn room around them. Buildings should not hit potholes. A mug gets jolted off a nearby desk, hits the floor and breaks into two or three ceramic pieces. That might be the only way he knows for sure he isn't nuts.

And then the familiarity sets in. ]

Oh shit. Come here.

[ Pretty calm, all things considered, for a guy who's randomly tugging a desk chair out of the way while still on his knees.

There's almost always one little warning before the real thing starts. ]

[She's about to shoot back that at least she'd have someone pretty to look at when the shaking starts, and Kyna, east coast city girl that she is, freezes up instantly. It's somehow nothing like the way she'd always expected an earthquake to feel, but when Ian tells her to move, she follows his instructions instinctively, grabbing onto his sleeve.]

What the fuck. Are there earthquakes in—

[She's cut off by one of the mugs on the desk smashing to the floor, cold tea puddling on the tile. Ian is going to have to take charge here, because she's quickly realizing her earthquake safety knowledge ends at "don't stand under a chandelier".]

[ Yeah, he's got her, don't worry Kyna. Her grip on his sleeve becomes him grabbing her wrist, tugging the two of them into the small leg space underneath that metal desk. ]

C'mere, it's alright--

[ A murmur that might seem absent if it weren't so hurried. You usually only get a few seconds after the warning jolt before shit goes down properly. He has almost exactly enough time to tug her between his legs back to chest before it starts. Right arm around her chest, left hand gripping the edge of the desk, left foot braced hard against the side panel for even the slightest semblance of stability.

It's practically nothing.

The whole fucking place starts shaking. It's a hell of a lot worse than the moderate ones they get in Berkeley, the kind that disrupt your day and send your chachkies smashing on your floor.

This is bad. It's a good thing they're on the lowest floor (as far as he knows, fuck, don't let this place have a hidden basement) or else he'd worry about collapse beneath them.

The entire place shakes. The desk almost goes skidding until he braces harder, but all the contents are scattered.

And then the light bulbs crack and spark. The foundation groans, and the first bits of plaster crack from the ceiling, falling to the floor a few feet away from them.

Oh, fuck this is really not good. ]

Edited 2020-07-11 01:28 (UTC)

[It's terrifying. Kyna barely registers that he's literally shielding her with own body, although that's the main thing that will stick in her head later.

She hunches down, arm wrapping over his as she grips his hand. She doesn't even think about the fact that her bare skin on his will give him a front row seat to her desperate attempt to wrestle down her panic. Monsters and demons and attempted possessions, she can deal with. This is utterly, inescapably out of her control, and this thin metal and pressboard desk feels like a complete joke.

Very rapidly, the quake starts to shake apart everything around them. An expensive looking microscope crashes down a few feet away, cracking the cheap tile, and Kyna flinches.]

We can't stay here!

[Can they? She has no idea. She just knows she has to half yell to be heard over the rumbling and shattering, and she's suddenly very aware of the possibility of the two of them being buried alive.]

[ Her wild panic makes his steady determination falter for just a second until he realizes what it is, and then he forces that down with his own background noise fear. It's all practical first, logical, rational. It's a coping mechanism, really. Everything emotional goes to the background, and his mind starts sharply turning trying to figure out patterns or solutions or be vigilant to new threats, or or or. It's so full of adrenaline that it seems to make things run in almost slow motion, and he's floating a little outside of his own body to keep from being overwhelmed.

He can barely hear her over the sound of the entire facility shaking, but when he does his arm clamps down more tightly. It's not anger, but there is sharp authority in his voice. ]

Don't move.

[ Some people have that old wives' tale in their heads about needing to be under a doorway, but that's utter bullshit. The framing of a doorway isn't some magical structural marvel just because you see them standing after fires or some quakes. More often than not they'll wind up collapsing one way or the other in the end from uneven weight distribution. ]

This desk is the only thing keeping your skull in tact right now!

[ Spoken loudly enough by her ear that hopefully she picks it all up.

A piece of plaster, something knocked off the walls, a light fixture, any of that cracking into their heads is more likely to kill them than being buried under rubble beneath this desk.

Christ, being buried under rubble at all is a possibility, just without the shelter. ]

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boatings

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samples

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