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

[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?"

[alpha_squad_leader]

Victor looks down at the book as the light is focused on it and lets out a little sigh. He was wishing whatever translated their languages worked on writing as well.

"I don't know any scientists here but I know some people that light be able to help figure out the book if I can take it with me."

[aenseidhe]

"A book keeper within the city may be of some help."

Though he hadn't seen any resembling this in any of the stores. Still, the Kedan are more likely to know than them.

[duelkatana]

"I'm not so sure we should let this get around to the kedan," Leo says, flipping through several sketches of piping schematics. Whatever this room is, it was obviously never meant to be discovered by outsiders. The last thing they need is the Emperor catching wind of this and deciding she should probably kill them all.

Leo glances back at Victor. "Are they Foreigners?"

Surely there must be some who have become familiar with the kedan language.