Intro Log: The Forgotten City

[atlasmods]

GOOD MORNING NEW ARRIVALS This time for real! WAKEY WAKEY. As the storm finally peters out and characters can once again move above ground it becomes abundantly clear that the landscape has changed. Where vast expanses of sand dunes once laid is now the half-buried remnants of what looks like some sort of...city? Full of structures. It stretches so far it's really hard to tell. But there is one thing characters will notice: There are more stasis pods. Revealed by the sandstorm, a whole new flurry of pods can be found scattered on the way to the city (curiously though, not in it. Hurry and wake those guys up! SPREAD THE LOVE. OR ACID. With the departure of the storm there's even more new arrivals to be found besides those fellow travelers of yours! The "Seedlings" and "Cactus" are now both available, the former blown in by the storm and the former uncovered. The Seedlings are generally pretty harmless. They like to burrow into the sand so only their "Leaves" plant-like leaves remain above ground, and they're quite happy to stay that way until surprised. Then they pop up and trip over themselves a little, before slowing down and wandering aimlessly. When they find a patch of sand that looks comfy they begin burrowing back down. Pull or yank on their leaves though and you'll find yourself with a face full of pollen that makes you want to just tell everyone how super-cool they are. It lasts a while, and then you get a fever and vomit for two hours. Good times. The Cacti are much less harmless and just...why would you eat them? Everything about this plant is poisonous, and cracking it open causes a corrosive acid-like substance to spill out. It'll eat through everything but...dirt, oddly. Metals and flesh are like hot oil on plastic. DON'T GET LOST And last but not least: The Forgotten City. Maybe you want to check out the Hull first for some loot, but maybe that's not such a cool idea anymore? Although it looks like the ship's definitely more powered after draining the suits of whoever went in, now it's started to spread and fill the sinkhole the ship's in. Suits can go from 100% to 0% in just ten minutes--not good! Lucky for everyone else, it looks like finally there's some sort of civilization up ahead. Go on and check it out! OR DO. THAT'S OKAY TOO. Go nuts, have fun, and enjoy! (This is the wildcard option) OOC The Flora, Fauna & Resources page has been updated with information on the seedlings, cacti, and crystals! These items are now all available for Discovery, and The Forgotten City will be available indefinitely from now on! Characters can take this time to settle & build up a foundation for themselves, explore the area, and of course, harass those poor little seedlings. We encourage players to make their own open posts for this setting--you don't need to stick to just this intro log! But make sure to make our newbies feel welcome!

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PASSING OUT LIKE A MAROON

[cortexual]

[ This is what happens when you let the inexperienced run around in the unknown! Humanoids passing out like idiots on a hostile planet. But after years of enduring idiocy, nothing surprises McCoy anymore. Common sense is not everyone's forte despite how, you know, common it should be; if it was? Honestly? He would likely be out of a job.

So, calmly and efficiently, McCoy checks for a pulse. It's thready and falling fast. He keeps track of it with one hand while the other does its best to resuit this lumbering mountain of muscle. And then with expert precision takes the meaty side of his fist and slams it into the horned man's sternum. If all goes well it should create a instinctive reaction in him, sucking in air like a vacuum. If not, McCoy will have to resort to rescue breaths. ]

[ex_broach530]

[ Qunari physiology isn't all that alien, and at the fist to his bare chest Bull pulls in a sharp gasp of breath, the noise it makes jagged and wheezing. The lower half of his suit valiently tries to help him, as does his excessively hardy constitution, and his body manages to force a breath out again, and then a couple of hiccuped smaller ones, like someone in the middle of an asthma attack. He'll probably come 'round in a second, dizzy and weak. ]

[cortexual]

[ No kiss of life for the Bull today. McCoy keeps two fingers at the man's neck in precaution and counts the best he can without a standard reference of time. Be nice if he has his goddamn tricorder, but... ]

Welcome back. [ His hands urge him to roll over on his side in case his stomach makes the decision to throw everything up. ] Just focus on breathing for right now.

[ex_broach530]

[ Roll over? Did you mean, try to sit up? Because that's what's happening now. The Iron Bull half rolls onto an elbow and tries to use it to leverage himself upwards. He's fine! Really!

He seems calm, but it's a bullshit facade, because his growing inability to pull breath into his burning lungs is terrifying, and the worst part is he has no clue what's wrong with him. Is it the sun? The air? The atmosphere? No-one else seems to be affected. Each pull of oxygen feels like it's being dragged over gravel; if he had a potion he would be swigging it right now. Instead he can't even catch his breath long enough to talk. ]

[cortexual]

[ Really? Did he say try and get up? No, he sure as hell did not. Why does everything with a pair of balls have to pull out the bravado card at times like these?

Instead of trying to push him back down, McCoy let's him pretend he has control for a bit because only one of two things are ultimately going to happen. ] Either you lay back down and let me do my job, or keep staggering around like a newborn calf and see where that gets you.

[ Passed out again that's what! Then he can easily finish what he started without being interrupted. ]

[ex_broach530]

Easy, tiger.

[ Okay, so it's not the calming drawl he'd like it to be. Actually more of a wheeze. He coughs convulsively, and then makes a growly frustrated noise and thumps his own bare chest, like that'll get it to work. ]

Piece of crap...

[ So he's not going anywhere. Shit. Finally he acknowledges McCoy properly, glances him over, as best he can when his eye is watering, the other one burning like it wants to do the same. ]

You know how to fix this?

[cortexual]

[ Right. McCoy's the one that should calm down. That makes sense. But he does appreciate that he's got the man smacking himself so McCoy doesn't have to do it. That's nice. ]

'Course I do. [ He gestures up and down with one very impatient hand. ] Put your damn suit on.

[ex_broach530]

[ Jaw drops aren't really a thing that happens outside cartoons, but the Bull's expression gives the impression he'll have to look for his on the floor. ]

You're shitting me.

[ Bull, put the damn suit on. He does, after a second, realize what a dumbass he's being, and unknots it, pulling it back up and struggling his arms into the sleeves. ]

[cortexual]

[ No, No. McCoy will wait with his arms crossed over his chest. And, to be honest, he's a little curious to see if this beast of a man can actually put his tree trunk arms back into the suit. ]

[ex_broach530]

[ It's a lightweight, stretchy fabric, and Bull is surprisingly flexible — all that AOE swinging, maybe. Anyway, tragically the slab of scarred muscle does actually end up covered, and he even zips the front up.

Almost immediately, he feels better. Not perfect by any means, but breathing no longer feels like razors, and the suit is working hard to cool him and help heal the damage he did to his lungs and skin. He still feels like he's suffering under the worst hangover he's ever had in his life. Bull runs a hand over his face (remembers he doesn't have the eyepatch, winces, lets it go, in a surprisingly visible succession of emotions.) ]

Well. Thanks.

[cortexual]

You're welcome. [ He may be crotchety, but there's still manners in him at the right times. Of course McCoy isn't down with this long-horned dummy. He's there again to check his pulse and watch the dilation of his eyes—Eye. ]

That happen here?

[ It's certainly old scar tissue, but McCoy can't be certain of time in this place. ]

[ex_broach530]

Ha. Nooo.

[ He makes an aborted motion like he was going to reach up and touch but thought better of it, then shakes his head. ]

Lost it in a bar fight. The fingers,

[ He holds up his left hand, where the last two fingers stop abruptly above the first knuckle. ]

Were before even that, in a shitshow of a sortie. You wanna go through all my scars? We might be here a while.

[cortexual]

[ Christ, what kind of barbaric backwater planet do you come from? Seriously, the look on McCoy's face is a little appalled by how little attention these serious injuries were given. ]

No need. You're hard to kill, I get it. That's good. [ Because he would rather not have to revive your ass again so soon. Or ever. ]

[ex_broach530]

Damn right.

[ He's pretty proud of how hardy he is, how much he's survived. Also, now that he's feeling better, he's really looking at McCoy properly for the first time. ]

And you're some kind of healer around here?

[ Because Thedas straight up doesn't have doctors. ]

[cortexual]

A doctor, yeah. [ Although not much of one without his medpouch or tricorder. ] And you're... what are you?

[ex_broach530]

I'm a mercenary.

[ Wry; he knows exactly what this guy was really asking. ]

My people are called the qunari. I defected from the qun, but most people would still call me a qunari, 'cause we don't really have any other word for our... species.

[cortexual]

Huh. [ Yup, that's all he has to say about that. Actually, he's more curious about the Qunari's profession than his species right now. ] And what exactly do people pay you to do?

[ In his time currency is obsolete, and mercenaries are nothing more than holomovie fodder. ]

[ex_broach530]

Kill shit, mostly.

[ He scratches his stubbly chin. ]

I pulled together a company of guys, kind of a mixed bag but they're good at what they do, and they're all loyal as shit. Someone pays us enough, not much we won't do. Well. For a good cause.

[ He's not out getting paid to murder kids or anything. ]

[cortexual]

[ Ha, McCoy is scoffing and snorting at that footnote. ] Can't say killing's ever been for a good cause.

[ex_broach530]

You don't think so?

[ Bull's eye narrows. Shouldn't surprise him that a healer is a pacifist — reminds him of Solas with all his men with lives and families crap. ]

What about if they poison a school full of children? Get possessed by an actual demon? Blow a big shitting hole in the sky that'll probably kill everyone?

sorry for lateness... pokemon happened

[cortexual]

Well, then I'd say you're no better than them. [ He says it like he's reading off a speech he's memorized fifty times. Honestly, the answer is the same no matter what examples the other person gives. McCoy's seen horror and destruction. He's seen the lowest depths humanity can sink, and he's seen how high they can rise as well. It never changes his answer, though. ] Fighting fire with fire turns everything into one big damn fire. Killing might be easiest, but it's not the only way to stop someone or something.

[ Of course, McCoy has the luxury of technology on his side to make that approach a lot more feasible. ]

np friend

[ex_broach530]

[ The Iron Bull makes a low disapproving hum of a noise, eye narrowing. ]

Respectfully, I gotta disagree. I just spent a year fighting to stop some mad asshole tearing a whole in the sky and killing just about everyone. If we'd tried for peace we'd be corpses.

[cortexual]

I'm not saying it always works. Before I got dropped on this backwater planet, I had my own mad man to deal with. He's trying to spread a plague through the ventilation system of a space station and obliterate every living thing on it! Or was. Hope someone stopped him.

Anyway, I don't expect to change minds exactly. Just to think before you act. [ Then his eyes drift up and down Bull to make their point. ] Like when you decide to take off your survival suit willy nilly. That's all.

[ex_broach530]

Hey, how was I s'posed to know it was a survival suit?

[ It's only a mild objection, kind of friendly self-deprecation in his tone, since he doesn't really want to argue, is content to just be thought of as a giant friendly dumbass instead of a cunning killing machine. ]

Not like it came with a manual.

[ And yet, Bull, notice how nobody else has passed out trying to do something moronic... >