THE SWARM: STAY
PRELUDE.
Five days have passed since you, The First, woke on the strange and barren planet of Kharas. Four days since the pods housing you exploded when tampered with, and Three since the strange Trilobite-like sand crabs began hesitantly crawling their way into and around the boneyard. At first there was only a few brave specimens to be found, keeping mostly to the shadows and scuttling this way and that. Now, however, at least a hundred of them can be found in and around the boneyard in various placed, commonly grouped together in batches of two or three, sometimes even four.
Notably they do not interact much with one another despite their groups and are much more interested in scouting out their surroundings for fibrous materials. On the odd chance that they manage to obtain any scraps they will begin to wander back towards the tracks your
counterparts began following earlier. Odd, isn't it?
As the softer morning sun overhead slowly begins to heat up with the encroaching afternoon more of the Trilobites begin to fill the area. Only unlike their predecessors these ones do not wander around aimlessly, and instead beeline their way to any Coral stalks that remain in the area. They bury into the sand beneath them to avoid their harsh shells and attack the roots until they topple and collapse under their own weight. Once this happens they practically swarm, working to segment it into pieces with their mandibles. When the Coral's shell cracks the Trilobites pry all vegetable matter from within and begin dragging it into the desert.
And that's not all: these new Trilobites seem
much braver and more interested in you than their predecessors. They will openly wander up to characters and gnaw uselessly at their ankles or feet, chittering and chattering. If enough of them happen to get together around an individual they will form a tiny ankle-gnawing mob intent on clambering all over you.
As the daily eclipse nears their numbers will begin to grow even further. Odd tremors can be felt beneath the ground, even in spite of all the sand, but characters won't get much of a chance to look into the matter before their wrist communicators begin to emit that same strange static from the mist.
...Only there's none to be seen in
any direction whatsoever.
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PRELUDE
Inui | OTA
[ This is...weird. It's weird, right?? I mean it was funny when Lance's face got bitten by Darcy and went numb but that was before so many of his cohorts began to show up. Now they're all over the place and Inui has to make a conscious effort to make sure he doesn't step on any when he moves around.
And what's worse: ]
...They're eating all the food. Has anyone else noticed they're eating all the food?
[ Seriously. Look at those things go, it's like they're perfectly adapted to taking these suckers down or something. They kill the plant first and completely avoid the stinging part. ]
B: Stop telephonin me
[ No seriously, the static coming out of his wrist communicator is starting to creep him out. Since the first message there's been nothing, and the only other time static happened was when that strange mist around and now it is definitely absent why is it making noise. ]
...Wow. If this isn't ominous I dunno what is. It's like they timed it for the exact moment most of us left.
[ Still, just in case? He'll peer around for any signs that maybe mist is hiding somewhere before coming up empty-handed, and turning his gaze back down to the inactive-looking communicator. Which is still spewing static everywhere. ]
C: Tremors
[ And then? After all that? The damn ground is starting to rumble and it's about at that moment that Inui decides nope, he's out and he starts waving his arms to get everyone's attention. ]
Okay, I'm calling it! This is creepy and weird and I don't think we should be here anymore--who's all for following those guys out into the desert?? [ ANYONE? ]
ota
But things get a little testy when he finds himself defending the plants from the insect things. He didn't like the plants or even think they were all that tasty, but damned if he was going to let their salads be taken away. He had previously managed to make himself a good club-like weapon by jamming a twisted metal pole into a skull-sized stone. It wasn't elegant, but it made dealing with these oversized bugs a bit like a game of hockey.
As the swarm intensified, it came down to simply crushing them instead. But this was by no means something any of them could keep up indefinitely.]
They just keep coming. We can't keep this up forever!
no subject
Tell me something I don't know! [ Unlike Luke, Lance is already visibly struggling, patently glad for the protection. He hangs close. ] Just try not to get bitten, okay?
no subject
Pull back. I have an idea.