Event | Satellite | Spectres!

[ironwood]

Characters: Any and all!
Date: May 23 - 26, 2013
Location: Keeliai, turtleside, ARSHEPHELIOS cluster remains
Situation: Repairs and salvage operations operating innocently have triggered an invasion of spectres that possess and wreak havoc upon all they see.
Warnings/Rating: Please put CW in your subject lines

Satellite Crash Event

Crash Landing | Salvage Party | Shocking Spectres


Questions | Keeliai | ARSHEPHELIOS


Salvage is sweet, but not all is well on board the ARSHEPHELIOS cluster. The seamless cylinders salvaged from debris and the cluster, now being frequently traded, turn out to be pods the first time one is penetrated or cracked open. Each breached pod releases a flood of energy-based apparitions hellbent on world domination -- or, more accurately, person domination (and it's not the fun kind).

These apparitions -- spectres, if you will -- are driven by a need to protect the technology of the satellite cluster that their pods are associated with. They will stop at nothing to see this through. Each is immune to physical attacks, but seem to be injured or dissipated entirely by things like electrical shock or other energy-based projections. If people touch them, there is also a brief window of vulnerability, but it acts also like a door that swings both way. Through contact, these spectres can and will invade one's psyche, take over their body and cause them to attack friend or foe alike! Should the possessed body be subjected to sufficient electrical shock, the possession should fade. Strong natural will can also drive the spectres out, but it is no walk in the park to do so. Possession is not the only tool in the arsenal, for these spectres use electricity as their main offensive weapon. They'll leave deep-tissue burns on anyone they fight, and show no degree of fatigue after constant use of it.

Ten thousand of these creatures will be freed from pods, resulting in a veritable flood of Keeliai, the turtleside, and the satellite cluster. With such a driven enemy, it comes down to killing or being killed.

Meanwhile, those taking shelter indoors may notice that the spectres will get into the biomechanical functions of Keeliai. Consoles will be malfunctioning during this time, with lines of mysterious code and strange, ghostly images. One might hear people screaming for help or hours of patchy radio static.

Comments

[fatedchaos]

Vanessa slaps a hand over her mouth when Leo pulls back, suddenly on fire. Right, that happens. Oops. She doesn't know whether to laugh or try to help him. Except Percy's on that, and...

And...

Her eyes widen in mild horror because oh. Oh, there are people here, and how could she have just forgotten that in one brief second? See, this is what happens when you let yourself go, Vanessa. Her face goes bright red, and she makes a sort of strangled noise of embarrassment as she ducks her head. This is exactly why she doesn't let herself go crazy.

"So!" She flounders for words before scrambling to her feet, grinning awkwardly at everyone. "Great job, huh. Awesome." Someone kill me.

[fotia]

The splash of cold water over his head snaps Leo back to reality and he curses, first in Spanish and then in Greek, which are all translated into pretty nasty things thanks to the turtle's magic. He gives Percy a glare before quickly realizing what just happened, when everyone gathers together.

It's Vanessa who gets up first, and he kind of stares at her dumbly for a while before turning red. (Hopefully he won't set himself on fire this time around, though.)

"R-Right!" And he follows her lead, pushing himself off the ground in a not-that-really composed manner. He scratches the back of his head, eyes darting everywhere except at Vanessa and the other demigods. "Uh. So. Congratulations, I guess!"

[kelpful]

Percy hisses when Annabeth hits him, more out of expectation than it actually hurting. He has the good grace to look a little sheepish at least, and a quick hand gesture has him pulling the rest of the water away from Leo apologetically, leaving him dry. "Sorry, Vanessa." She's the one who actually gets the apology though, because she looks like she's about to expire.

He catches sight of Jason hiding a grin, and teeters on the edge of bitterness for a second. Here Percy is getting electrocuted and flopping about uselessly, while Jason was pretty much tailor made to deal with the situation.

But that was the point, right? His arm tightens around Annabeth a little, the only sign of his having an issue right now. Neither Percy nor Jason were suited to doing everything themselves. This was just...a situation where Jason had been able to take the lead over him.

Besides, Annabeth had been doing all the hard work, anyway. He catches Jason's eye and smiles a little, nodding. "Hey, you did good out there, man." And then looking at the rest of them. "Actually, you were all a pretty awesome team. Sorry for, you know. Getting electrocuted."

[ozones]

He almost wants to laugh, when Percy says that. He doesn’t feel like he’s done very good—it was Annabeth’s plan, he spent most of it as bait—but he has the grace to nod, accept the compliment. (And yes I used grace in a sentence about Jason leave me alone with my puns.)

As for the rest of it, though, he can only shake his head. He may have been smiling a minute ago, but now he’s serious again, scanning the skyline and the forest for signs of more kedan and spectres.

“I don’t think we’re out of the woods just yet.” (Oh now Jason’s punning, too. My apologies.) “There’s no way that was the last of them.”

[sophos]

She glances at Percy when he squeezes her shoulders, and she instinctively tightens her grip at his waist. There's a subtle look in her eyes that means she's going to ask him what's up later, even if she already has a vague idea. "You stopped it from happening to me and Leo first."

Truth be told, she's pleased her plan worked as well as it did, and she knows they wouldn't necessarily be breathing a little easier right now without it. Annabeth's self-confidence nearly always bleeds out the ears. But it was impossible to pull off alone, and she knows that, too. "We all did good," and yes, that all was enunciated with specific intent towards her boyfriend, though everyone else too. She peers around, scanning the area herself. "But Jason's right. We shouldn't stay here long, and we need to recover - if these things came from the wreckage, there's bound to be more, with how much of it fell. There's no way how much commotion we made went unnoticed either."

[fatedchaos]

Vanessa crosses her arms over chest, squinting into the trees, but she gives Percy a nod and a slight smile. "You were also helping Annabeth out with directions. Annabeth's right. We all did good."

Team encouragement, yay. She stills for a moment, though, staring at the ground. She was part of a team again. That's a nice feeling. Better than nice, actually. It's been a long time since she's worked as a team. Since... before Nefandus, before Tianna's death.

"They came from the pods," she says after a moment. "The pods in the wreckage." But recovery sounds nice. She could use a nap. Also her shoes, because she doesn't exactly like the idea of walking around this place with all the wreckage in her bare feet. "Where do we go?"

[fotia]

Leo's just relieved that the attention is off him, and a wide grin forms on his face. "Yeah, I think we all need some sort of reward for clearing this place and rescuing all that kedan and stuff. I mean, we kind of electrocuted them in the process but at least they didn't die, right?"

Though honestly, he's still pretty pissed that his fire powers didn't work. Sure, it's a gift and not a curse, whatever, but he kind of really wants it to actually act like one, for once. Like Jason's thunderbolts, or Vanessa's invisibility, or Annabeth's intelligence, or hell, even Percy's water control that saved Leo and Annabeth from the initial spectre attack.

But no one needs to know what he's thinking. So Leo claps his hands together, the smile still there, unwavering. "So! My place? Who wants some taco sandwiches?"