open | event | All Shook Up!

[ironwood]

Characters: Teams Alpha, Beta, and Charlie; also, everyone!
Date: February 17th (through 28th)
Location: Tu Vishan's shell damaged areas (multiple locations), sewers
Situation: There are a number of damaged sections of Tu Vishan's shell and the kedan are working at repairs and, where the turtle's flesh itself has been damaged, healing. There are many convoluted sewer passages now open that Foreigners technically could access, if they can make it past the police that have been stationed around each exposed area.
Warnings/Rating: Medical examinations, blood & gore references, sewage; to be updated as needed.


Exposed Areas
The damages sustained during the dive event are not excessive in number, but are plentiful enough to require work groups of kedan to be deployed in a twenty-four/seven repair schedule. They are signed into each area through one of Evandau's direct reports and their numbers are counted throughout the day to enforce strict controls over those that have access to Tu Vishan, their most precious resource.

Those making it past the checkpoints or sneaking through gaps in the sentries find that the Emperor did not lie about the damages done. There are scars near each damaged bit of shell that shift into spider webbed stress lines and end with the jagged edging of broken shell. Kedan workers are busy trying to clear away broken shell and install metal-and-wood framing that will hold these pieces back in place when they are done.

Beneath the surface, some are working at dams and blockages in what appears to be an ancient sewer system. The walls are smooth and indicative of architecture done in concert with the natural growth of the turtle. Lanterns provide some pinpoints of light where dark mosses have grown over the bioluminescent shell itself, but the further one goes from the work sites, the more one must rely upon the natural lighting of the shell in order to proceed.

At the core of each operation are the best healers that the kedan population has to offer. They can be seen tending torn and blooded flesh of a momentous scale, mending the damages done directly to the turtle to the best measure that they can. These areas are the most stringently guarded, for Tu Vishan is most vulnerable beneath the armoured layer of its shell.

Sewage meets most that enter the tunnels rather than skulking about the sites, with an unpleasant smell lingering in the nose and mouth the longer that one stays there -- oh, and in the clothes, which may make a stealthy exit more difficult if one is not downwind. The tunnels twist and turn aplenty, crossing one another with a design more evolutionary than engineered. Those that wander in are at risk of becoming lost beneath the surface, with only a few doors and small closet-like rooms to be found where tools were stored once upon a time.

Be wary, Foreigners! There are many a kedan patrolling these areas and they will give chase in an unauthorised party is found. Evandau briefed a number of the teams himself, advising that Foreigners are all considered unauthorised. Parties subject to arrest are to be brought to the surface and handed over to either the police or, once it's in place, Raylan's civilian team for eventual escort to the palace prison.

OOC: Thread headers (and starters for the teams) are provided in the comments area of this post!

Comments

[cmdreffingshepard]

Shepard shrugs a little, still ignoring Iorveth for the most part, because seriously, now is not the time to have petty arguments. And while she's not sure if she could trust the prejudiced - whatever he is - not to just shoot her with that - bow and arrow? - the other two seem reasonable enough, so she'll go with it.

She keeps her gun at the ready, though, and nods to the others. "We should move - there might still be patrols at this level, there's no information on the kedan security here."

[alpha_squad_leader]

"No. The insult's just been hurled my way before," Victor replies, still giving Iorveth an annoyed look.

He lets it go though. Since Shepard doesn't seem all that annoyed by things, Victor looks to Leo and shrugs. He'll walk alongside his fellow green dude.

"Yeah, let's get going. We don't need to run into either the Kedan or that Marshall," Victor remarks as he starts walking.

[aenseidhe]

There's a snort from Iorveth, and he glances over to Shepard pointedly as he says the next bit. "By a human, am I right?" No, he's not done being twelve. And back to Victor, a nod of sympathy. "I've been called much worse. I wouldn't press it on another undeserving."

And he's turning to take point as he'd said, arrow notched in bow at the ready. And yeah, it's not a gun, but lbr, he's had a century with that thing - he's pretty much elven Hawkeye. "Agreed. Forward."

[duelkatana]

Even though he doesn't chime in on the conversation, Leo knows all too well the feeling Iorveth and Victor are talking about - freak, monster, he's heard it all. It almost makes him wonder about Iorveth's world in particular; Leo and Victor are very obviously different, but he looks almost identical to a human. Then again, humans always did split hairs about any differences they could find.

For now, though, he sets all of that aside and follows along with his fellow green guy as they press forward through the tunnels. It doesn't take long until the passageways begin to arborize, spreading out like the branches of a tree, and Leo finds his hand reaching up to wrap firmly around a katana hilt, eyes darting from one darkened tunnel opening to the next.

"Keep your eyes open for an ambush," he warns quietly.

[cmdreffingshepard]

Shepard just lets them talk - they obviously come from worlds quite different from hers. In her world - humans face as much prejudice and discrimination as they give to others.

Besides, she has no beef with these guys - not even Iorveth, who seems to have taken such offense to her existence. Hatred is easy - understanding is tougher, but more rewarding in the long run, she's found.

She just quietly takes up her position, fine with not being the leader for once. Bringing up the rear, her eyes and ears are peeled not just for attack from behind them, but she's also got a good eye on the situation as a whole - the four of them, working their way down the tunnel, other tunnels branching out to other sides.

"Or a booby trap," she adds, her own voice barely above a murmur. Who knows what kinds of things the kedan could have set up down here to keep people away from their secrets?

[alpha_squad_leader]

"Technically it was a hologram but it was of a human bigot," Victor remarks idly. Shrugging, he keeps walking. He was a little curious about Iorveth's world too but he'd save his questions for after they were out of the tunnels.

When they come to branching tunnels, Victor frowns. He's got no weapon but his claws are ready for if they're needed.

"Which way?" he asks, eyes quickly scanning the ground for anything that might be a trap.

[aenseidhe]

"Unsurprising." What the fuck is a hologram. Whatever, his point is pretty much made, and he's letting it drop in favor of making his way through the tunnels, practically silent even with the puddles and scum over the area. Scoia'tael often are.

A pause when they get to the fork and the elf glances one way, and to the other. Hm. "I can identify traps. Stay a ways behind." After a hundred years of setting them, he really should.

And considering one tunnel is nearly identical to the next and it makes no difference, he branches off to the one on the right. He seems to remember that direction leading more towards the heart of the city. Digging into a pouch, he pulls out a handful of walnut sized nuts and tosses them out on the ground in front, looking for anything they might set off. A sword is pulled from his hip and he makes a point to overturn any pile of rubble or sewer gunk they pass near, checking. "Try to walk in each others' footsteps."

[duelkatana]

When the group lapses into silence, Leo finds that he almost misses the chatter. Carefully picking their way through the tunnels, with nothing but the dull, echoing sound of dripping water and the footsteps behind him, he has time to remember that he's inside another turtle's hollowed-out shell. It makes his skin crawl and his spine ache with unease.

But he can't show that here. Can't let it distract him. Not behind enemy lines.

So he follows behind quietly, his feet noiselessly sinking into the soft prints Iorveth leaves in the mud and moss dotting the tunnel floor. He doesn't know the reasoning for the path they're taking, if there is one at all, but that isn't his job; for now, he simply watches the dark corners and cracks, eyes and ears peeled for signs of life other than their own.

[cmdreffingshepard]

The smell is really pungent this far in, and Shepard can't help but wrinkle her nose a bit as they move forward. They're in what seems to be a very intricate, maze-like setup, but she dutifully follows her companions, careful to stay within their footprints (though the turtle's are a bit different shape than a human's).

After a while, though, there's less muck underfoot, and the smell starts fading a bit. It's kind of a relief. "Any change up there?" she asks, her voice little more than a whisper.

[alpha_squad_leader]

Victor is right there with Leo in the missing the chatter department. Silence when he was sneaking around solo was one thing but walking in a group like this without some kind of chatter or banter was weird and a little unnerving. He's careful with his steps, matching the footprints left in the muck. He's tempted to just hop up onto a wall and walk along it instead but he's not sure he was to touch what's up there unless he has to.

"Man, worse than the Asteroid," he mutters about the smell. He falls otherwise silent as they go. When the smell fades, he nods a little and glances back at Shephard when she speaks. He wants to hear the answer too but he's not going to repeat the question.

[aenseidhe]

He is so not even bothered by the quiet. But Iorveth tends to be intensely serious on outings like this, finding talk to be distracting, so it suits. But they meet pretty much nothing in the way of traps, and after a few more tunnels taken, he's about to answer the question with 'nothing', until a glance to the side reveals something abnormal in the continuous smoothness of the wall. Huh. "Wait--"

Cautiously, he slows, a hand reaching up to feel along the wall until it meets a crevice. Down the indent and-- "A door."

He'd yet to see any kind of separate room aside from tunnels here, so it's definitely interesting, but barging right in would be stupid. "Does anyone have a torch?"

[duelkatana]

Leo halts when Iorveth pauses in front of him, silently watching the man's dark silhouette feel along the tunnel walls. He's found something. A door, as it turns out, and then Iorveth's asking for a light source.

Quietly Leo slips his hand into his belt and pulls out a miniature pocket flashlight. He still remembers giving his brother a hard time for insisting this one be part of their regular gear - what use did ninja have for flashlights? - but they were young, and he's long since wised up. Hopefully the battery still works despite the whole "pulled out of the ocean" thing...

It snaps on when he twists it, the light flickering and popping faintly before steadying into a low beam of light. Leo shines it onto the crevice, revealing exactly what Iorveth had said - a door carved into the tunnel walls, jagged at the edges unlike the water-smoothed bone they've seen up until now.

[cmdreffingshepard]

Shepard glances at the door, then turns to scan their six again, making sure no one is sneaking up behind them or anything.

She draws her pistol, checking the thermal clip on it. "Hear anything? Is it locked?" She can probably shoot a lock off, but she'd like to have some reasonable certainty that if there's someone - or something - on the other side of that door, they'll be able to maintain the element of surprise, at least.

[alpha_squad_leader]

"If it's unlocked, let me take point," Victor speaks up. "I can get in and out without being seen so we can get the drop on anyone in there," he says.

[aenseidhe]

A dagger is out, and Iorveth is prying open the door as they speak behind him, under the light Leo offered. He works it enough for a low creak to signal the door coming free. The framing and door itself is old.

He steps away, allowing Victor to be the one to open and enter first.

[duelkatana]

The moment he hears that creak sounding through the air, Leo draws away and snaps his light off with another twist of the flashlight. As they hang in dark silence for a moment, Leo strains to hear any movement from beyond the door.

Several seconds pass with no signs of life from within. He glances at Shepard to make sure their six is still clear, and then turns to give Victor a short nod.

[cmdreffingshepard]

Shepard nods at the others, to indicate they're clear - at least from behind, for the moment. What awaits them in the room, remains to be seen, and she's already gathering her energy to prepare a biotic attack, just in case.

There's a faint blue glow around her hands, as she braces herself.

[alpha_squad_leader]

Victor nods back to Leo and fades right out of sight, camouflaging up. Unseen, he pulls open the door just enough to slip inside and does so. He's in there for a short while before the door opens again and Victor slowly becomes visible once more.

"There's no one in here. We're clear to poke around."

[aenseidhe]

That is... a neat trick. Iorveth quirks an eyebrow at it as Vic comes visible again, but gives a curt not after. Slipping in behind Vic, a hand behind helps to hold the door open for those following, and he's squinting in the darkness of the area, searching.

"We may require your magelight again." Because wtf is modern technology and flashlights, clearly magic tbh.

[duelkatana]

So that's Victor's ability? Interesting. And handy. Leo slides through the door after Iorveth, settling into the deep blackness of the room. This kind of stark darkness is like a security veil for him - so much, in fact, that it nearly doesn't occur to him to switch his light back on until Iorveth makes mention of it. Leo twists the handle, and a beam of light instantly floods through the lens, washing the stained floor in a warm, yellowish glow. He raises the light and sweeps it across their surroundings.

The first thing he sees are metal tables, dull and glinting, peeking back at them from the dark bowels of the room. And scattered atop them, the hulking silhouettes of scientific-looking equipment.

Leo's blood runs cold.

[cmdreffingshepard]

Victor's little trick doesn't faze or impress Shepard at all - she's familiar with personal cloaking devices, though she doesn't use one herself. Kasumi would often use hers on the Normandy for eavesdropping on juicy ship gossip.

And it often came in handy during fights.

"Mordin would have something to say about this," she says quietly as she looks around, thinking of the salarian doctor who'd become her friend. They didn't always see eye to eye about... well, the genophage, but she knows he has a strong sense of ethics, regardless.

Moving forward carefully, she starts inspecting some of the machinery, looking for clues as to what it might have been used for - or on whom.

She spots a glint of something, and leans over to inspect it. "Hey, I might have something here," she calls to the others.

[alpha_squad_leader]

Victor would normally not reveal his trick but they needed it so he let the others know. When they head into the dark room, Victor joins Leo in the 'blood running cold' corner. Lab equipment in some secret underground room is never a good thing. He starts inspecting some of the machines and wishing Beast or Prodigy were with them.

When Shepard calls to them, Victor heads her way. "What is it?"

[aenseidhe]

Iorveth isn't quite as phased by what's inside the room as Victor and Leo, and, in fact, gives a snort upon spotting the blood slides. Someone's been up to something down here. "By the looks of it, it's been abandoned for some time."

Upon Shepard's comment, he glances up, pacing over to peer at whatever she's found. There, among a few machinery parts and beneath some debris and dust, is an old looking book, dusty and slightly rough around the edges. He reaches out a gloved hand to sweep some grime and dust from the cover, revealing a title written in a language he's never seen. "Can anyone read it?"

[duelkatana]

An old, abandoned lab hidden in a series of underground tunnels is definitely never a good thing. The last one Leo found had been experimenting on people, turning them into mutants and using them as slaves. And Leo sort of takes issue with experimentation on people in general.

For that reason, the glinting blood slides send a chill down his spine. He wishes Don were here - to Leo, the slides are nothing but a symbol of any dark horrors that might have taken place here. Maybe his genius brother could have viewed them as something more.

At Iorveth's question, Leo breaks away from the slides to glance at the book, relieved to focus on something else. He holds the flashlight up over their heads, shining it down like an overhead lamp, and traces the title with a slight frown. He gingerly opens the tome, its spine creaking at the disturbance. Leo's frown deepens as he flips through the first couple pages. He's usually pretty good with languages, but...

He shakes his head. "I've seen a bit of the written kedan language, but I don't recognize any of these words."

[cmdreffingshepard]

Shepard is frowning deeply - now she really wishes Mordin were here. He'd probably be able to make some kind of sense of all this, weird book or not. Still, there's no use standing around staring at the thing like it'll magically jump up and start reading itself to them in English.

She moves, carefully grabbing up the slides in one gloved hand - it looks old, but there might be evidence on them, regardless. "It's not safe to stay here. I say we grab this stuff and get out, see if we can find someone to help us with it when we're back up top. Anybody friends with a scientist?"