open | event | Thanks to the Rolling Sea

[ironwood]

Characters: Team Echo, Foxtrot; also, everyone!
Date: February 24th (through 28th)
Location: Underwater; beneath the turtle
Situation: The barrier that has kept Foreigners from diving directly beneath the turtle have shifted and something there awaits discovery.
Warnings/Rating: Squids; to be updated as needed.

OOC Note: This is the third and final phase the three phase February metaplot event! What Team Echo finds beneath the turtle will have far-reaching impact on the game, therefore it is recommended that everyone read the write-up under the below cut!

Underwater | Beneath Tu Vishan

Overview
The repair work on the surface of the turtle is completed and all major wounds have been tended by the kedan. Each shell break has been patched up with the strongest materials they have access to, with many buildings in the Metal Sector having been scavanged fo provide the resources necessary to complete this work. Whole sections of shell have been stabilised with metal support structures and there are teams of kedan drafting long-term plans to monitor the natural healing of Tu Vishan.

Each worksite has been shut down, cleaned up, and the police presence dismissed as life appears to return to normal in Keeliai. All prisoners rounded up and held on trespassing chargers will be released over the course of the day.

Meanwhile, as routine takes hold once more, three teams of kedan are moving quietly to the edge of the shell and lowering large parcels of equipment and supplies into the water. They are then taking on aquatic forms and moving the work to damage beneath Tu Vishan's shell unmentioned by Eshai on the grounds of out-of-sight, out-of-mind. Questions asked of these teams as they depart Keeliai are answered as heading out to routine surveying and one applying too much pressure is apt to draw the attention of an officer for obstructing a workorder -- a grave offence in the city's legal code.

Characters that can survive in water are welcome to explore beneath the turtle, discovering that the barrier that usually "disables" their bodies in the area directly beneath where Keeliai stands surfaceside has faded and they can freely roam the area. Be warned, though! Many, many kedan are patrolling the area in a variety of aquartic forms, from hybrids to replication of natural seafaring creatures. These kedan will not ask questions or arrest, but are ordered to outright attack any that enter this perimeter. They may appear initially shocked at a Foreigner accessing this supposedly protected space, but that will not detract them for long.

Team Echo:
This team will be discovering a cloning facility established beneath the turtle and it is here that their bodies are created and prepared for the arrival of their souls via Eshai's magic. Depending on the actions of Team Echo, this facility may be destroyed. An OOC post on the community will be forthcoming in the next week to explain the impacts, if any, of this find and the changes it may bring to the game..

Additionally: Until this information ICly hits the network, these details are ICly limited to Team Echo and anyone they subsequently mention it to in a thread. It will likely be a Team Echo member that posts about it and it likely will not be long before this information is spread, just please keep that detail in mind.

Team Foxtrot:
The details of this team's findings are outlined in the thread header provided in this post. However, how does everyone feel about calamari? 8D

OOC: As with all previous logs, headers have been provided for questions, the two teams, and any random divers that wish to explore! And a reminder: An OOC post on the community will be forthcoming in the next week to explain the impacts, if any, of this find and the changes it may bring to the game

Comments

OOC: QUESTIONS

[ironwood]

Have any questions about how this portion of the event is run? Feel free to ask here!

HEY ECHO TEAM

[littlecousin]

I'm just going to stick this here since idk if anyone's got the plotting post tracked: logistics planning to get everyone in the same place.

TEAM ECHO

[ironwood]

[The very center of Tu Vishan's undershell is well-guarded, as Team Echo will discover, and there is good reason. This is the very source of newcomers to the turtle, though the methods are contrary to the spiel the Foreigners have been fed by the surface kedan. Here there are tanks reminiscent of light bulbs that have been screwed into the underside of the shell, with a variety of monitoring equipment and personnel assigned to each.

These tanks contain the bodies of what appear to be Foreigners held in a suspended state. Perfect duplicates of each, with a sequence of numbers etched in a plate at the connecting point to the turtle. Echo can and will find themselves in these tubes, along with some spare duplicates of Foreigners more apt to die and need a new body during their stay.

The experienced or paranoid eye will recognise these as cloned forms and, had they the time, might realise that their own body is a sophisticated recreation of the one they had back home, but be warned! Any tampering with the tanks will trigger a widespread self-destruct sequence that will destroy all tanks and the bodies within them.

Any kedan that confront the exploring Foreigners and then flee are also a risk, for they are ordered to activate this same self-destruct should the operation be discovered.]

TEAM ECHO are slow planners /cough

[littlecousin]

[Nearly dying in the Earth Sector fire had taught Nita a modicum of caution, so when the kedan in aquatic forms start splashing into water the above her with Suspicious Equipment, she hesitates. It is her native element, and with sea around her constantly replenishing her strength, she knows she's a match for any dozen kedan, but...

She's capable of exercising the better part of valor, and so she turns and darts away from the action, skimming unseen until she can surface somewhere out of sight--and then make for the city like a shot.

The list of people she knows who can survive underwater is short. Superman, Green Lantern, Kara, Arthur, Mera, Kaldur. Maybe Santo, but she bets he sinks like, well, a rock. Most of them are, unsurprisingly, in Water Sector, but a straight line back to Keeliai puts her over Fire Sector first, and she dips into the residential section.

Then yells.]

Kara! Kara, are you around?

[notdreaming]

[ Kara is out the door of her building in less than a second. She's really mastered the art of not breaking doors while moving at super-speed. And the shouting is just unnecessary, she would have heard even if Nita had whispered her name. ]

Nita? Nita, what's wrong?

[littlecousin]

[Well, that was prompt. Nita has no idea about super-hearing beyond the "normal" kind she has, and she wouldn't have heard a whisper.]

There are some kedan diving off the shell edge [she jerks her thumb over her shoulder to indicate where] with a bunch of crates and some stuff that looks like scientific equipment. They are acting all kinds of shady. You up for looking into why?

[Nita has every intention of proceeding to Water and picking up the Atlanteans if Kara doesn't want to go, but she's not wasting much time by asking first.]

[notdreaming]

[ Suspicious? Scientific equipment? This is completely up her alley, even excluding her membership with the BPRD. ]

Let me change.

[ She's gone for a second, and then another second later she's back, wearing her graduation suit. It's 100% more waterproof than her other clothes. ]

How long ago did you see them?

[littlecousin]

Ten, fifteen minutes.

[Nita's in her scaly green swimsuit. Pose for a half-page panel, because this crossover is on.]

[notdreaming]

[ That's a good quarter page of leg, but Kara gets the sense of urgency. ]

Should we tell someone where we're going?

[littlecousin]

We could flag a message for Arthur? He's the one best qualified to follow up if we don't come back.

[This "planning ahead" thing is hard.]

[notdreaming]

That would work. [ She should let Kal know, but... well she figures he can hear her anyway. If not, she can always scream if they get in trouble. ]

[littlecousin]

'Kay. From your console? You're way faster. I can wait.

[Look, what your older, more powerful, overprotective cousin doesn't know about, he can't stop you from doing.]

[notdreaming]

[ That also. She nods, and in a moment she's gone.

She takes just long enough to leave the message and then she rejoins Nita. No need to start a conversation. ]

Done. Lead the way.

TEAM FOXTROT

[ironwood]

[Patrolling beneath the shell exists a creature that has escaped notice by skill, stealth, and the barrier which has kept all Foreigners from inspecting the underside of Tu Vishan too closely. Those from Earth would associate with a giant squid, though it has many more tentacles and is far more aggressive.

Upon spotting Team Foxtrot, the squid will ink the water and close in, aiming to snare and crush all trespassers. It is a formidable creature, greater in age and skill than the other kedan that defend the underwater areas, and will keep fighting until or if it is killed.]

OOC: The squid in this thread will be controlled by the mods via the account wickerwood. Once the team spots the squid (or the squid spots it), then the games shall begin!

[demon_brat]

[In a rather typical bat fashion, Damian's been spending most of his time of attempting not to think (or feel) by giving extra patrols. Which is how he knows that the group of kedan heading out to the shell's edge is... not typical.]

[Not gang-sponsored, either. And they are leaving now, albeit not in particularly slow vehicles.]

[He mentally reviews the status of the rest of the bats, because - he really hasn't left Keeliai since the resurfacing while any of them has been on their own (that he knew of), and it seems that it's Brown who is - mostly staying in her suite, at this time. The rest are keeping an eye on each other, but one cannot expect Father to have to do all. Or approve of heading on some clue without at least some sort of a backup.]

[Which is how Steph gets a Robin sneaking through her window. (Unexpected twist of events, there.)(Not a bedroom window, either.)]

Batgirl. [Voice low, but clear.] Unexpected activity probably worth investigating heading out to the shell.

Get ready.

[controlledvariable]

[You know what? She's just-

Not even going to comment on Damian appearing in her suite. She heard him as soon as he was at the window, and is now simply standing up and heading into her bedroom, speaking loud enough that he'll hear:]

What kind of activity?

[She wants to know what she needs to pack, as she starts getting changed into her Batgirl suit, despite the fact she probably shouldn't be doing anything of the sort right now. But if Damian came to get her, it's important enough that she can ignore her feelings.]

[demon_brat]

Shell's edge.

[Close to the water. At the very least.]

Carting supplies of some sort... that do not originate with the gangs. But there is nothing on the road they left on but shell and then the ocean.

[What better way to deal with feelings than do something useful?!]

[controlledvariable]

[By the time he's finished explaining, she's dressed and ready to go, walking back into the living room with her rebreather in hand.]

You think I'll need this?

[If there's nothing but shell and ocean, well, the ocean is the more interesting part.

She's just going to focus on this mission, whatever it is, and try not to think about Brandon. And... hope that they don't get into a fight, because she's not sure how well she'll do at holding herself back.]

[demon_brat]

Probably.

[Come on, not like she can doubt who'll be pushing her back to get into the fray if there does happen to be a fight, anyway. She'll be safe. Or, rather, innocent baddies will be safe.]

I was more concerned to track the origin of the items to the gangs to ascertain, but there may have been waterproof packaging.

[controlledvariable]

Wonderful.

[She doesn't even attempt to keep the sarcasm out of her voice as she slips the rebreather into one of the pouches on her thigh belt. The zombies had left her a little shaken, and she's not looking forward to diving into the ocean when that's apparently where they came from.]

Kinda funny how the Emperor didn't mention this little work party.

[It's said as she moves to the window, quietly slipping out and heading to her bike, with the assumption that Damian will follow.]

[demon_brat]

[Yes, yes, he is coming. And going to climb behind her on the bike as though it was his rightful spot. Yep.]

Or perhaps the 'funny' part was the warning that she did give. Insufficient information sounds more like her.

[And they are left to figure things out for themselves. The important things, that is.]

[controlledvariable]

[Steph doesn't even think twice about it, starting her bike and heading towards the shell's edge, speaking loud enough to be heard over the wind.]

Maybe she wanted us to go poking around.

[She's not sure why. Maybe so they could get caught and arrested, which might help her figure out who's the type to disobey orders, if she didn't already know.]

[demon_brat]

It seems that way. Perhaps something is going on down there that she wanted to blame the foreigners for.

[As another option. It is difficult to judge the reasoning of somebody they still know so little about.]

[controlledvariable]

[For a long time, she's silent, focusing on getting them quickly and silently through the back streets to avoid unwanted attention. It isn't until they're out of the city that she speaks anger.]

I'm so sick of having to speculate with her. I just want the fucking truth.

[She's sick of a lot of things, but right now the Emperor can have her anger, instead of Brandon.]

OTHER DIVERS

[ironwood]

[Characters capable of surviving underwater that dive beneath the surface are apt to encounter the occasional unfriendly kedan, with an increase in those numbers found the closer they stray towards the center of the undershell. Should they turn back, these kedan will let them depart without harm.]