The Swarm: Stay

[atlasmods]

Who: These Interlopers
When: IC Day 5.5-6
Where: The Boneyard
What: The Swarm Event

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.
OOC	IC Days 5.5 - 6 (Oct 26th - 28th)
This log starts during the afternoon of IC day 5.5 and continues on until the morning of day 6 (with the rest of that day being the aftermath/conclusion). There will be a time-sensitive event which will run for 24 hours starting on the 27th at 8:00AM EST. It will conclude on the 28th at 8:00AM EST. This time-sensitive event cannot be "failed" by running out of time and will affect the lore of the game. Please direct any and all questions about this event here.

Comments

[falsesmile]

[ That showing of practical thinking mellows the rudeness in Vestara's voice a little. ]

It won't be hard to track the group that left. [ Her eyes flick off in that direction, considering the type of trail a group that size would have left, and how close she'd have to get before she could track them by their Force presences as well as physical signs of passage. ] But most of you can't move fast enough to catch up. [ Well, that's her assessment of the non-combatant faction of their group, anyway. Ves has done half-day treks through the jungle in worse condition than this. ]

[ex_bossily211]

[That earns a dry laugh, because Clara thinks that even if they could move fast enough to catch up, they may not like what they find up ahead. If they were swarmed, there's no telling what happened to the others. ]

That's assuming they're even still alive.

[Sighing, she pokes at her numb leg, scowling when she can't feel a thing.]

I can make my way around just fine. I think you're underestimating me. It's the height, isn't it. Everyone thinks that someone with legs this short can't possibly keep up with everyone else.

[Sarcasm and acting like she's not hurt are the only ways she's going to get through this at this point. She does, however, attempt to push herself up to stand. Just to show that she's perfectly fine and can keep on going.]

[falsesmile]

[ It's a gesture that shows spirit... but not the ability to run quarry to ground. Even that that quarry would be limited to the pace of its weaker members. ]

But you don't just need to "keep up" -- you need to go faster than group that left and catch up to them.

[ A beat. ]

If, as you noted, they're even alive.

[ex_bossily211]

They left so long ago that it'd be near impossible to go that fast, unless you have some sort of special power.

[Which, after that fight, she wasn't sure she wanted anyone using. Their energy supply must be so low, and Clara wouldn't support them stretching themselves too thin.]

We can head that way, hope some have turned back. We might meet them halfway.

[falsesmile]

Less "special power," [ although she has plenty of that, ] and more training.

Someone like you would only slow me down, and you wouldn't be helpful in a fight.

[ It's ninety percent practical assessment based on Clara's leg and the fact that she didn't demonstrate any particular combat skills against the trilobites, and ten percent snotty teenager. ]

[ex_bossily211]

Someone's usefulness isn't limited to how many things they can kill in a situation like this.

[She points it out gently, smiling a little. She's used to dealing with snotty teenagers all day teaching, so it's not something that bothers her too much.]

If you'd like to forge on ahead to find the others and let them know we're looking for them, I doubt anyone would try and hold you back. But it might make more sense to stick together, so you don't have to go about doing it alone.