May IC Intro Post

[subnauticmods]

≡U.R.S.U.L.A. NAVIGATION

_ PREMISE & NAVIGATION ✦ RULES ✦ MOD CONTACT TAKEN ✦ RESERVES ✦ APPLICATIONS ✦ HIATUS & DROPS FAQ ✦ BASE ✦ BIOMES ✦ URSULA ✦ URSULA CONTACT

Arrival!

THE AURORA was once a sight to see. An impressive mining ship, home to many, it could travel across great interstellar distances while providing all the comforts necessary to those within. Its star-sailing days are over now, as it now is a terrible wreckage, with salvage and dangers for those who come near.

It’s also exactly where the new crew members just showed up. URSULA will be immediately sending the on-base crew towards the Aurora, while those who have just arrived have some time to explore. The Aurora, however, isn’t the safest place to be. There are some large creatures in the water, and they may not be friendly towards the crew…

Below is a timeline of events as they unfold, with some further information!

Timeline

1000: THE AURORA
While the new crew may have arrived anywhere throughout the ship, many will have found themselves in the common rooms, surrounded by the comforts of those who once lived here. Those who choose to wander further may find many rooms throughout, often in varying states of decay. While there are smaller predators on the Aurora and the danger of a wrecked vessel, an unsettling peace pervades the crashed ship. For now, they are safe.

1030: THE BASE
At 10:30 in the morning, URSULA reaches out to all crew members with an urgent message:

”All crew members please report in immediately! Life signs detected on the Aurora! Please stop all other activities and begin rescue mission. Gather any supplies you need, use the vehicles and help any survivors you find. Devices are near the entrance to track life signals once you're on the Aurora. If they're safe, please remember we need to salvage what we can from the Aurora as well. The supplies will benefit any survivors as well.”

Get cracking, crew! Base and Biome have information on what kind of weapons and defenses your fellow crew have had.

1100: THE AURORA
Thanks to the transportation they had built, the base’s crew is able to arrive in record time. They can help seek out their new crew members, take the opportunity to explore more of the Aurora, or just sulk in the transporter. URSULA reminds everyone that salvaging is a key part of their mission, and they should gather what they can before returning to base.

1200: THE AURORA
The crew however only gets an hour to enjoy itself (?) in the wreckage. At noon, URSULA broadcasts to all present, new and old:

”Attention! Dire warning! Reaper Leviathans! According to what I've salvaged of my database, they're apex predators from the westernmost region of the ocean. One signal coming from the west, two others coming out of the Void from deep below the ship!”

The crew may try to evacuate, but it is probably better to prepare for battle or hiding instead. They won’t get enough time to get out of the way before…

1210: THE AURORA
The Reapers are here. Peering out one of the Aurora's entrances will reveal that they are already circling around the vessel, as if they realize something is inside. One even beaches, its entire, 160 foot body soaring through the air before slamming down into the water. It almost feels like a warning. A threat.

URSULA urges the crew to stay inside where it is safe, but if anyone does insist on charging forward, she advises them to split into teams and take on as many Reapers at once as possible to avoid any group being teamed-up on by multiple Leviathans.

NOTE: To fight a Reaper Leviathan, comment under the REAPER FIGHT THREAD comment below! We ask that you work in teams of two or three for the battle to keep threads organized and minimize the number of fight threads the mods will need to work through. Be mindful that these are extremely fierce, dangerous, fast, giant apex predators, and they are very likely to do damage against those who fight them! By tagging in, you are agreeing to put your characters at risk of injury from the Reapers. As URSULA advised, those who don't want to get hurt should hold back and wait.

1300: EVACUATION
Things are looking grim. While the crew's teams make a good fight of it, these Reapers are durable, and they just keep coming back for more. It seems they're on a mission, to stop the crew, no matter how battered they become.

That's when the bellowing starts. Coming from everywhere, a song like that of the cavalry that disorients the Reapers as a large pod of Reefbacks swim in. Several put themselves between the ship and the Reapers, allowing anyone on aboard to safely get into the transports and into the water.

Others begin to fight. The use the concentrated power of their songs to knock back attacks from the front, powerfully lashing their tentacles like whips to crack against the Reapers. In battle they're surprisingly agile, able to spin around in a moment's notice to alternate between confusing and attacking the Reapers.

But any crew members watching can see the toll it takes on the Reefbacks. One Reefback in particular chooses to guide the crew back to the base by swimming along aside them. Thick, dark blood trails in the water behind it but it beats off any curious smaller predators like Stalkers. But its shell is cracked, its 'face' smashed in, and it gets no further than the Kelp Forest before it settles into a dense patch of creepvines for a final rest. It sends out a final cry that somehow feels like a wish for the crew to keep going on to the base, away from the continuing battle.

The rest of the pod manages to drive the Reapers back, though they too have their casualties. Still, the Aurora and the crew are safe for now.

Perhaps that was their only wish.

Direct any questions and plotting to the OOC post and have fun!

BASED ON CODE BY TESSISAMESS AND SUPERSUITS

Comments

Dirk Strider

[splinten]

[1000 Hours: The Aurora]

[And that's when the sylladex spat out everything in it.

It is not a nice pile. There is a terrible sord that is somehow covered in bad jpeg artefacts. There are a dozen of various kinds of orange soda bottles. A spare shoe, a Game Bro magazine, a skateboard? a Hello Kitty plushie, one of these horrors, a grenade, and a baseball bat. (Some of them may have gone flying. Sorry.)

Dirk is standing in the middle of all of this. Completely expressionless.]

Okay.

So this is basically bullshit.

[1100: THE AURORA]

[Dirk has taken URSULA's message to heart and wandered off salvaging. He hates being stuck at sea, but he knows the rules. You find any even remotely useful debris, and you make sure you grab it. This goal is, however, hindered by his sylladex being limited to ten items, and most of these items needing to rhyme.

That is why Dirk is sitting in the middle of the floor in one of the bedrooms, surrounded by a pile of junk that includes some nice medical supplies, robot scrap parts, and a little toy horse. Muttering under his breath, trying to work out..]

Toy horse, horse toy, small pony, equine, equestrian... Nah, bro. [Without turning to look, Dirk grabs his sword and spears it straight through a cave crawler that was approaching. Nope. None of that. He is busy here in rhyming hell.]

Fuck it. I'm naming this thing Canta. Fanta, Canta, we're done. [The toy horse (to be henceforth known as Canta) vanishes into the hammer space of his sylladex.

Now there's just the rest of this.]

[1300: EVACUATION]

[Once the Reefbacks take the frontline, Dirk forces himself to pull back from the fight. He really, really, really wants to keep stabbing things with the sword, but the message is pretty clear: there are too many people around here who need to get to safety.

He flies down to anyone who looks like they need a hand moving from the Aurora's dangerous exits, made more hazardous by the rocking of the waves, to the transportation. He holds a hand out.] Here, come on. We've got to move.

1000

[parodeity]

[ Dave isn't expressionless for the moment, if only because he was standing near enough to get hit in the head with one of those orange soda bottles. He'd been turned away looking at something and hadn't expected Dirk to DROP FUCKING EVERYTHING. ]

Wh - OW.

[ At least he didn't get beaned in the head with a grenade, but cue Dave putting a hand to his head and looking over his shoulder at Dirk. His shades have been knocked askew enough to reveal his eyes for the moment. ]

Dude. [ Are you thirteen???????? What was that - oh, orange soda, Dave goes to pick it up but freezes. That sure is a smuppet down there and he half expects 5 zillion more to fall out of the sky. After a pause he picks up the fanta while avoiding the puppet, before straightening back up. ] Yo, are you tryin' to even us up on the head score or what? 'Cause - holy fuck is that a Sord.

[ Whatever aborted decapitation joke he was about to make was probably going to be Too Soon. It's too soon even for Dave but that's hardly ever stopped him from bringing things up before. He got worse on the meteor. There's actual genuine delight at the shitty jpeg sord, though...

Dave. Dave, no. ]

[splinten]

[Well, this sure has gone completely pear-shaped.

There is a vague hint of a wince made visible by the curving of his brows. Sorry for getting you on the head, bro. This turns into some concern as Dave notices the smuppet. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Fuuuuck.

While Dave examines the Sord, Dirk does a quick flashstep to pick up the smuppet and just shove it right back into the now-empty sylladex. SMUPPET? HAHAH WHAT SMUPPET. Out of sight, out of mind?

To prevent any post-traumatic puppet disorder moments, Dirk zones in on the Sord. Also, because he loves talking about his Bro's work. You chose to open that can of affection, Dave.]

Yeah, it's one of the weird, shitty three dimensional jpeg artefacts you made in my universe, like the Statues of Liberty. They're insanely durable. That one made it through re-entry into our atmosphere after a couple centuries in space.

[parodeity]

[ Dirk, did you just force yourself into rhyming with puppets or are you gonna fix that later... ]

Haha, shit, I remember making that. [ In his own session, he means. ] ...We should probably find you a weapon that doesn't fucking suck, cool though it would be to fight with that thing. It's kinda hard to hold, right?

[ He holds out the orange soda DIRK CRUELLY THREW AT HIM (no) to his brother, before kind of. Nudging the Sord with his foot. ]

Also I'm not sure it can even give people paper cuts. Or if it's just capped to nothing worse than that? [ this close to picking it up and testing it on himself... ]

1300

[upcard]

[Aaaaaaa aaaaaaaaah.

That's about the tall and short of what's going through Mai's mind when those reapers show up. She was proud of herself for a bit there, even--she'd managed to conquer her fears and join the others on the rescue mission, and, she thinks, even make a bit of a difference.

But with the battle in full swing and Mai absolutely useless, she's immediately tucked back into a corner, hands over her head, cringing away.

So she only looks up when he speaks, wide eyes looking at the hand offered to her, before she tentatively takes it, still shaky.]

I-- um...! A-are those...monsters still there? [Someone help this child.]

[splinten]

The cavalry is taking care of them right now. They're giving us the chance to get out of here.

[In a move that is so goddamned anime it hurts, he pulls Mai into his arms.] Hold on. [That suggestion is important, because Dirk will be flying up to move out of the broken, half-burning framework of the Aurora. Don't let go!

This will also provide an unsettling aerial view of the battle at hand, including all the blood in the water.]

[upcard]

[That's...that's so anime, Dirk, damn. She squeaks her startled surprise when he scoops her up and then they're flying and she's absolutely clutching to his shirt because aaaaaaaaaaaaah.]

W-wha--

[Nope, words are beyond her... this person is flying and now she's flying too and this is all too much for her brain. And honestly, she should not look down, but it's human nature to look--and when she does, she can see the battle in all of its terrible glory, and she pales.]

No... no, this is terrible...!

1100

[octoroom]

... What is it you're doing?

[He saw that... toy pony disappear but isn't certain what to make of it. Fukami is lingering in the doorway, several of his tentacles holding what looks to be supplies he's been picking up here or there.

Dirk seems to be another one of the 'survivors' URSULA indicated but he doesn't seem distressed, so.

(really, where did that toy go what is hammerspace)]

[splinten]

[Dirk looks at Fukami and it's... Yeah it's an octodude. (Octodude. Octodad? Dirk makes a note to himself to ask Roxy to check the video game piles for that.)

Okay, octodude. Honestly? Not the weirdest thing. Dirk is just going to accept that.]

Organizing.

[...It's not a great answer to the question. He tried, though.]

[octoroom]

[Not octodad. He has no octobabies, okay? So not an octodad, probably forever.]

Organizing what?

[Yep. MORE INFO please.]

1100

[grimdeity]

[ Ah, nothing like sylladex issues. What are they supposed to do once they captchalogue ten items, anyway? Carry things with their hands? How uncouth. ]

Good to see that, despite everything, none of us can bear to have a fetch modus that makes our harrowing lives easier. Did you consider pony, orange sea? With an accompanying sonnet, for good measure.

[ She says, as if tree fetch modus isn't stupid in it's own special way. ]

[splinten]

[It's terribly uncivilized, and this is coming from a boy raised in a world where civilization is over.

The glasses don't reveal much change, but there's a little twist of the mouth. Yeah, he isn't amused by their situation either. He gives 'pony, orange sea' a moment of thought.]

Not so much for a sonnet, but I could work with that. 'Orange Crush' ends up being pretty versatile, so I'm keeping that where it is, but I could swap out on the Fanta and redo that row. [And there it goes: Fanta, the toy horse named Canta, and the Sord ('dropped over Atlanta').]

Thanks.

[Despite everything, Dirk almost looks like he's enjoying himself, in that bizarre, impassive way of his. Like making himself leap through these stupid hoops to fit things into their sylladex is a nice challenge.]

Turning to subjects that actually matter, are you getting anything helpful about our situation? [Seer of Light powers etc etc.]

[grimdeity]

[ Who would know better than a boy like that? No one.

Rose is used to looking "beyond the shades" for reactions, though in comparison Dave is a lot less stoic than Dirk. So far, anyway, but. Dirk exudes a certain level of stoicism that Dave doesn't. ]

Who would have thought orange soft drinks would be useful for anything. And, anytime. [ Why do the Striders have such specific drink tastes seriously why what does it symbolize. Wait, it's probably daddy/bro issues, what is she talking about.. ]

Hmm. [ She takes a moment to contemplate before answering. ] Dave will do something stupid, if he isn't already. Then something unfortunate will occur. ... That's not using my powers, that's just the way things usually go. Other than that, so far all I've gathered is that we're on an abandoned ship-- which, like Dave's stupid thing, is obvious.

1100

[imsorey]

[Sorey didn't waste any time in heading straight for the Aurora to see who was there and what could be salvaged, and by this time he's already exploring the rooms to see what people are there. He's not sure what to expect, so when he pokes his head in through the bedroom door and sees Canta vanish into thin air, he's doing his best to roll with it.]

--What was that?

[Vanishing toys is still a new one though.]

[splinten]

[He answers the part this was clearly about.]

Some kind of plastic horse toy. Someone on the crew left it behind.

[Guess which room had a corpse in it until recently?]

[imsorey]

I sort of meant the...vanishing...

[He trails off and lets it go, though.]

I take it you're not from the original crew, then?

1100

[tyrian]

[There are a lot of things she could address, here, like that this boy sitting on the floor is surrounded by things that URSULA would be glad for him to bring back, or that he's trying to put items into a piece of technology she recognizes from home and hasn't seen here at all before this guy showed up with it.

However, there's something more important that she needs to ask.] Have you found any aquatic hoofbeast toys?

[splinten]

[Dirk's head turns sharply because 'aquatic hoofbeast' and—

Yes. Yes it is. Yes, it is a troll.

He squints a little. She seems kinda familiar? But... no. He's definitely never seen that face before. Strange.

Dirk shakes off the deja vu and answers the troll.]

Sorry, not yet. There could be a few in the toybox.

[tyrian]

Then let's look for them! [Feferi hurries over to help him out. Or make more of a mess. Mostly just to make more of a mess.] There have to be at least a few.

1300

[tentaculled]

[ He doesn't like fighting; his body is made to protect and defend, not attack anything. But that doesn't change the fact that he's been given great strength, and it's his responsibility to use it for good. Normally, in a situation like this, he'd be out there fighting, too. Normally.

But this fight is taking place underwater, where his speed is gone, and that makes him essentially useless. The best he can do right now is try to help people out of the Aurora and back to safety - leaving himself for last, naturally. When Dirk shows up, he's quick to take his hand with one of his tentacles... although he has the situation backwards. Clearly, this boy needs his help getting back. Even though Korosensei can barely swim. ]

T -- That's right! What are you still doing here?! It's dangerous!

[splinten]

[Okay, Fukami wasn't Octodad. But this is definitely Octodad. So Dirk just reaches over in an effort to straight-up pick Octodad up into his arms.]

I'm getting you to the transport. Hold on; I'll fly you there.

[tentaculled]

[ it is. welcome to dadliest catch. ]

Eh? What? What?! Fly?

[ he's not sensing any sort of bloodlust from him at the moment, so he lets him try to grab him, but... well, he may not be as heavy as he looks, but he probably still weighs a little bit less than an average adult man. If Dirk can lift that, he'll have one slippery and confused tentacle monster (he's not used to being the one ferried around.) ]

1100

[logdate]

[ Peridot is doing her best to look for survivors/new arrivals, even if she'd much rather be back inside. Orders are orders, right? She walks right past the door and then has to backpedal to take a look inside. ]

Are you one of the idiots that I've been sent out here to find?

[ Peridot is surprisingly nonplussed by being sent out into the middle of a death zone, at least this time. She's had a long month, maybe she just can't be bothered anymore. Maybe she's finally getting used to this crazy place. Maybe she's snapped. She squints at Dirk for a moment. ]

How did you de-materialize that object?

[splinten]

I didn't de-materialize it. I just captchalogued it.

[There's a clear difference. Dirk glances over this kid and his brain immediately supplies him with 'alien.' Obviously not a troll or a Carapacian, but definitely an alien. What kind? He can find out later.]

Which idiots were you sent out here to find?

[logdate]

What's a 'captchalogue'?

[ The term is unfamiliar and she's definitely interested in finding out what means, especially if involves making things just vanish into thin air like that. ]

You, apparently. [ Her reply is flat. ]

All I know is that there were suddenly "survivors" all the way out here and we got told to come find you.