Intro Log: The Big Bang

[atlasmods]

THE BIG BANG LAST WAKE UP CALL. As the eclipse comes to an end the last of the remaining pods for this area open. If you’re one of the stragglers, your pod opens not far from a group (or two, or many) of people not so dissimilar to yourself. The planet, meanwhile, is hot and dusty and void of life or resources. Now's the perfect time to pick through a few more rations, scavenge one last round of spare parts or scrap metal...but make it quick, because there’s not much time before-- BOOM. Maybe you shouldn't have tampered with that last pod. Or maybe it was a neighbor who decided to take theirs apart in an effort to build something from your meager resources. It's unclear which pod explodes first - or even how many people were ultimately responsible - but soon enough it doesn't matter. The first compromised pod explodes violently. Metal fragments lance through the air almost too quickly to be seen, cutting through suit, rock, and other pods alike. That last part is the real problem, though. Because the first pod sets off a couple more, and those set off a couple more in turn, until the valley seems to rock physically with the deafening noise. Were you caught in the crossfire? Far enough away to see the damage but not be harmed? Or one damned lucky soul? The explosions are asymmetrical, so it's possible to be right next to a pod and come out unharmed, with a little luck. If luck is what you call being next to a piece of alien tech as it combusts. An uneasy silence settles over the valley as the last explosion fades to nothing. A moment to catch one's breath, or patch a few wounds. LANDSLIDE BROUGHT YOU DOWN Despite the explosions having passed, the valley walls continue to shiver distantly. A few pebbles and trails of sand trickle down at first. Then the trickle becomes a stream, and then a torrent. Before long, half an entire valley wall sloughs off and cascades down towards the unfortunate travelers below. Larger chunks of rock rain down at slightly less alarming intervals. Between them and the projections that were present already, there are islands of larger rock amid the sea of stones that can be clung to for relative safety. If you can make it to them in time, anyway. The rubble leaves the valley utterly wrecked. Supplies lost during the landslide or the explosions cannot be salvaged. So there isn't much, but if everyone pools their gathered rations together, then the interlopers will have approximately five days of food and water per person...but the shifting rocks that now drown the valley make establishing shelter in this location much more difficult. The sun continues to beat down as intensely as it did the prior to the eclipse. Fortunately, the new terrain gradient provides an easy path to climb up and over the side of the valley to the rest of Kharas... NOTHING LEFT BUT THE BONES Interlopers cresting the valley ridge can see dim shapes in the distance: massive skeletal remains. Roughly about a day's walk from their location, these massive bones jut out from the sand like bleached white pillars. An enormous rib cage easily the size of an olympic swimming pool dominates the collection of bones, each curving to over three meters in height. Other ripples in the sand indicate the outline of a spinal column equally grand in scale lurking just beneath the surface of the planet. But the largest out of all of them is a great skull. Half the size of the ribs all by itself, the skull is an ovoid shape dotted with four eyes on each side. Each empty eye hole is large enough for the average human to put their whole body through it. Two things stand out immediately: these bones are ancient, but not fossilized. And all of them bear claw marks identical to the ones that damaged your pods. Anyone with the know-how will be able to tell the gouges were clearly made while this massive creature was still alive (though, perhaps, not for long). With the valley all but collapsed, the bones are the closest available shelter. The ribs are slanted at just the right angle to allow small, consistent patches of shadow that offer relief from the desert sun. And you can access the interior of the skull via the eyeholes, presuming that your body isn't too large to fit through. But be careful when contacting the bones with metal or rock: they tend to spark when struck in just the wrong (or right) way. There isn't much else in the immediate area other than the remains. "Coral" fauna is ubiquitous, but the limited plant life encountered in the previous area (a.k.a that one plant that tried to drown and eat you) is noticeably absent. Which will probably be a relief at this point. There's still no water to be found, but hey: at least you have some rations and a place to escape the heat, right?
OOC	IC days 01 - 04 (Oct 17th - 22nd)
This log continues directly where the TDM leaves off with no time delay between. Players are free to keep their previous arrival scenarios & CR, or redo them if desired! Please remember that unless a character has been apped into the game from the TDM, their interactions and events are not counted as having happened. Characters are free to make open posts or prompts for any day during this event's duration. Characters who have yet to intro may intro at any location in this post. Their pods can be found at any point between the top of the valley and the skeletal remains. There are no broken pods left to scavenge. As of this post Tier 3 Discoveries are now available, and our Calendar has been updated with this month's schedule. Please direct any and all questions to our FAQ.