THE MARK OF THE ATLAS
Into the heart of the city you go.Down below the lowest levels of the city, somewhere beyond the twisty maze of passages, several of the paths converge in a huge underground cavern. Here the air is blissfully cool compared to the desert above. A single shaft of light shines down from somewhere on the surface; motes of sand drift lazily as if suspended in the light. Elsewhere, the cave is lit by small clusters of glowing fungus that live off the moisture collected down here. Dim but navigable for most.
But perhaps the most striking items in the area are the
monoliths. Great fragments of stone over three meters long, too smooth to be natural but too jagged to be whole either. Several of them glow from the pulse of energy running through them. Others, while dark, have recessed notches large enough for a person’s hand. And still another group seems nearly shattered, a larger fragment surrounded by smaller ones. All of them react when the interlopers draw close enough...
LIGHT
Upon closer inspection, the lit monoliths have a curious pattern worked into the tone. The symbols are rather arcane, but perhaps they make sense if one tilts one’s head and squints. This one has strokes that resemble tongues of flame. That one is covered in cascading, fluid lines. Another … well, that look more like a
warning sign than anything else.
Interacting with these monoliths results in a warning crackle and the scent of ozone before the monolith
opens. Something comes pouring out of it in response. Gushing water is the most common, matching up with the cascade monoliths; others open to flame or greenery or other odd things. And one
definitely opens up into a vacuum. Careful with that unless you want to have something sucked out into space.
Whatever connection they make is brief and non-traversable, but whatever comes through stays on this side.
DARK
The unlit monoliths aren’t nearly as flashy as their glowing brethren, but they have their own stories to tell. With the help of a little light (and the suit), the interlopers will find that these monoliths are covered from top to bottom in alien script. Most have at least one solid crack or chunk in them - at the juiciest parts! - but there may be enough left to be intelligible, given a little luck.
VISION
The last set hum with an ominous energy that belies their dilapidated appearance. Interlopers who approach these monoliths trigger strange images that float in the air. No two visions are alike, though they all share common themes. Silhouettes descending to the surface of the planet and spreading out across it. Exploring and interacting with an alien environment. There’s something deeply familiar about these shadows despite the variety of body types represented by them. The shape of their clothing is reminiscent of your own suit...
Other snippets are set in space. Here the silhouettes are a darker patch of black against the darkness of space. The mood in these images is strangely pensive, somewhat tense. These figures are searching very desperately for something.
There is one, though, that’s different from all the others. No silhouettes, no searching, no space. Only a shaft of light starting from a point beyond this planet’s moon. At first it’s a too-bright star; then, a solid beam stretching down to the planet itself. The light increases in intensity and breadth exponentially until it impacts physically with the surface of the planet itself. The eruption kicks up huge clouds of dust that race towards the city with all the heat and speed of a pyroclastic explosion. It rises up like a wave...and then crashes down, burying the city.
Eventually, each of the images go dark once again.
BROKEN
Amidst the myriad of strange monoliths and now-flowing water? Is some sort of chassis. The ruined frame of an old robot of some kind, easily as large as a cement mixer's chamber and just as tall. Most of it lies buried beneath the sand, stuck near the far end of one particularly large chamber within the caves' network. It takes a bit of walking to get there, but there's a reward to be had for those who find it:
The room is not empty.Standing in the exact middle is a strange, hulking figure. It stands at eight feet at least, a massive frame encased in black. Whether it's carapace or suit is impossible to tell, and whether or not it's
alive is another story altogether. It stands perfectly motionless, skull-like face staring ahead at the robot's husk as water pools in through cracks and recesses, giving the ground a glass-like appearance through which
tiny grass-like eels can be seen rising from tiny holes in the sand.
For all intents and purposes the figure seems nothing more than a statue.
Eerie.
OOC
There will be an
24-hour event encounter which runs from
Nov 26th at 8:00am EST to
Nov 27th at 8:00am EST. Feel free to let characters toy around & thread in the innermost areas of the city before the main event! Sections will go up in this entry and will be linked here when they are ready.
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no subject
She peers at Clara when the woman approaches, then turns her attention back to the monoliths. ]
If we could only decipher one and start putting together an explanation.
no subject
[He's the key to figuring out so much of this, but Clara wants to solve things in her own right. But it feels like dealing with the writings here have her mind in a jumble, like she's a child trying to learn something confusing in primary school.]
no subject
[ There doesn't seem to be a consistent pattern that Allura can spot in the writing, but language was never her top skill, though she learned plenty of languages when dealing with other planets. ]
None of this makes any sense.
no subject
[The fact that nothing here works the way it should and they never can settle for long before another disaster or new things to get used to pop up has her mind on edge. It feels like no matter how hard they work to come up with a solution for the language, it keeps everyone from figuring it out completely.]
I feel like we should be making more progress than we have.
no subject
This is better than what we knew when we arrived, but you're right. I wonder if something is deliberately keeping us back.
no subject
[Which was very concerning to her. But it feels like no matter how many steps forward their group takes, something happens to keep them from getting too far or feeling too comfortable.]
I'm still convinced someone's watching us. If we figure out who and where they might be, maybe we'll be able to get some of the answers we need.
[It's a ridiculous, silly idea. But it still makes her smile anyway, because it's something that's nice to hope for.]
no subject
Silly and ridiculous is easy. Which is why she grins in return. ]
I've got a map, and we'll start filling it in, maybe that will help us figure this out.
[ ... which: ] Do you have the map, by any chance? If not, I can transfer a copy to you.
no subject
[Clara can't help but smile and eagerly nod in response to whether or not she wants it.]
I'd love a copy. Where did you get it?
no subject
[ Allura holds out her hand for Clara's wrist. ] Lance, maybe you've seen him around? He found it and passed it on to me. Not helpful yet, but it's something.
no subject
[She sounds surprised at first, but then laughs as she rests her wrist in Allura's hold.]
Course, that makes sense, given the size of our group. Did he happen to mention where it was he picked it up from?
no subject
Lance and I were acquainted before we ended up here. He was one of the people who woke me up. [ So it's not just the size of their group. ] He didn't mention, but possibly from the hull?