Day 196 : Start of the "Sickness Inside" plot

[bastionpc]

Who: Nathaniel (NPC) and everyone else who wants to be involved
Open: Open
When: Day 196
Where: Near the monument --> Out on the Skyway
What: Nathaniel needs a radio tower. He's enlisting the help of others to get said radio tower
Format: any
Warnings: Dead body discovery in the radio tower threads. Mentions of throw-up when Zulf joins the Okumura group.

This is the post for everything related to Day 196 of this particular event. The starter is in the comments, and important threads will be linked here as they are made.

Important threads:

START: by the monument

At the radio tower and the surrounding area

Regrouping

Meanwhile, at the Bastion...

Comments

The radio tower + surrounding areas

[bastionpc]

[Just as Nathaniel had said, the trip out to the site is mostly uneventful. With the group of people going, the land easily rises up beneath their feet to form a land bridge over to the floating chunk of land separate from the rest of the Skyway.

Interestingly enough, there are some Peckers around, but they are mostly sticking to one area, back behind the small building. They seem to be mostly ignoring the group of new arrivals.]

Alright, those of you who are going to help me put up sensors, let's get to work. The rest of you, can you scout out the area and make sure it's safe? If you find anything useful you can toss it into the grass at the base of the tower, and it'll go back to the Bastion along with the tower.

the radio tower

[bastionpc]

[For everyone staying and helping around the tower, do that stuff in here. Nathaniel will be around, setting up sensors and turning them on.

For anyone climbing up to the higher points, it does get pretty windy up there. Be careful not to fall off!]

Re: the radio tower

[freedom_engineer]

Hey, Nathan, before we start with the sensors, I'm gonna check and make sure that this tower is functional and structurally sound. It'd be a shame for us to drag something back to the Bastion and have it fall apart enroute.

[Colin looks up at the tower, and he nods to himself.]

This is just one of those reasons why I always carry rope in the field...

/+1, hope this is okay

[spiria]

[ She hadn't been there for the initial conversation about this whole thing, but she'd run into Rin as Rin was coming back to tell her brother and boyfriend about things and got the information about what was happening from her. She'd decided from there that she wanted to help.

So, here she was.

Kohaku wasn't exactly as prepared as her companions for the Skyway, but she also hadn't been on the Skyway since after her arrival here. She had Elrond out, though, and was keeping a lookout for anything dangerous.

She looked to Nathan and Colin as they started doing things. ]

Is there anything I can help you guys with?

[ Technology was way beyond her, but surely there was something she could help with ... ]

definitely okay! |Db

[bastionpc]

Alright, go for it. We'll get the sensors ready to go while you do that.

[While Colin is checking it, Nathaniel pulls Kohaku aside to show her how to turn on the sensors.]

See the big red flashy part here? You twist it counter-clockwise until it clicks, then press it in. It'll pop back up, and the light inside will start blinking. That's how you know it's good to go.

The shards inside will power them for about two hours, so we can turn them on now and attach them to the tower when Colin is done checking it.

Kohaku has joined the party!

[freedom_engineer]

Yeah, though I imagine it shouldn't take too long.

If you can keep your eyes open for any creatures that might harass me up there, I'd appreciate it.

[Colin's busily preparing the rope for his climb, and he grins at Nathan.]

You ever been up on a scaffold for a repair job, yet? Or a tower like this?

[bastionpc]

Are you kidding? You saw some of the stuff the Mancers used to build, any Mancer worth their weight can scurry up half-built inventions with ease.

LATER~

[doctor_dragoon]

[[The group at the radio tower is at work for a little while before someone else comes to join them. Sort of.

Yukio's jogging down the path toward the tower, his long coat trailing behind him. Strange that he's rushing about without anything chasing him, but stranger than that is that he's alone. Isn't he supposed to be off with Rin and Zulf?]

Colin-san! Nathaniel-san!

[bastionpc]

[He was, and that makes Nathaniel worry. He sets down the sensor he had been working on (by now they're all turned on, and he's been working on attaching a few to the base of the tower, because he's pretty sure Colin will say it's good to go) to go over and talk to him.]

What's wrong? Where are Rin and Zulf?

[doctor_dragoon]

They're still back at the building.

[He starts talking before he even makes it to Nathaniel, stopping to pull in a few quick breaths when he finally does.]

We found people. Bodies. All in different stages of decomposition, but they all look to have died of some kind of plague. Zulf-san seemed to recognize the symptoms. He was adamant that I come find you.

If there's sickness here, we need to leave.

[freedom_engineer]

[Colin's practically at the top of the tower. He's looking down at Nathan and Yukio curiously, Yukio looks like something's going on, but damn if he can hear anything other than catching his name being shouted with Nathan's.]

What's going on?!

[He can't help but shout, it's the only way he'll be heard from that high up.]

[bastionpc]

What?

[Oh right, Colin won't be able to hear anything up there. Nathaniel pauses for a moment to wave him down, signaling that he should climb down here.]

Are you absolutely certain? I mean, this is the Skyway, people could have died in any number of ways.

[People could have died from any number of causes: starvation, dehydration, infected wounds, anything. Disease is definitely a possibility, but Nathaniel wants to make sure that's what has happened here. Because quarantining people who went into that building will not be easy, especially if Rin is one of them.]

The building

[bastionpc]

[For anyone exploring the building, thread it out here.

Strangely enough, the power seems to be working inside. The hallways are lit up, but many of the rooms are dark. Anyone who goes in will be able to smell the scent of rotting, though it is a touch different than the usual smell of decomposition that has been found in other parts of the Skyway.

What do you do?]

[hellpyre]

[Well that sure is a disgusting scent hitting Rin right in the face the second she steps inside.

She recoils two steps in, bumping right in to Yukio behind her. Arm over her nose, she lets out a repulsed noise, shaking her head.]

What the hell is that? It's horrible!

[doctor_dragoon]

[Yukio grunts a bit, lifting a hand to press Rin away, but he doesn't bother chastising her.

That smell... it must be much worse for Rin with her heightened senses, but even for Yukio, it's still pretty bad. He doesn't cover his nose, but he doesn't bother hiding his revulsion either.]

Something's rotting...

[hellpyre]

[Considering yourself lucky, Yukio. It's so bad for her that she's honestly having to choke back the desire to throw up.]

A lotta somethin'... should I even try to light this place up? I'm kinda afraid of what we're gonna find.

[bastionpc]

[Yukio might be more familiar with this stench than Rin. It's the stench of rot, of something dying slowly and gruesomely.

Whatever happened in here, it was not pretty. Will you risk searching for the source?]

Behind the building

[bastionpc]

[HMM WHAT COULD THOSE BIRDS BE INTERESTED IN?

THIS ISN'T AN OBVIOUS PLOT HOOK OR ANYTHING NOPE]

[notduchess]

[ OBVIOUS PLOT HOOK? Sure, Duke will bite.

Peckers are a bit annoying, but hopefully Duke can just yell a little bit and get them to scat. ]

I'm going around, to see if I can get the Peckers to leave. [ Because if they swarmed someone climbing, that would be shitty.

And now that Duke has alerted the others, off the knight goes. ]

[bastionpc]

[Duke can easily find where the Peckers are congregating.

Duke can easily smell why the Peckers are congregating, too.

Peckers normally aren't scavengers, they prefer their food to be fresh. But there is something recently-dead back there in some brush, and with food pretty scarce out on this little island, they're not being picky.]

[yinyangfox]

Ah, Duke-san. [ Seimei called, rounding the corner to join the other and gesturing vaguely. Far easier than bothering with gender relative pronouns. ]

I was just over there and Yata and the Peckers are having a conversation about some sort of food surplus. It smells absolutely rancid over here - have you seen anything? The birds are being belligerent, full as they are, evidently.

[ Raising a hand in the air, the onmyoji called his bird back, the fat little shing taking its time getting to them. ]

[notduchess]

As bad as it smells, it really doesn't smell like a squirt or one of their relatives. And it has to be rather large - they aren't really fighting over it?

[ Which is why the knight is slowly scooting closer, shooing at the birds when they give nasty looks. ]

I don't want to eat it, I just want a look. Wouldn't you be happier eating when we aren't all about?

[yinyangfox]

[ With no particular technologically advanced knowledge of his own and not being terribly well dressed for exceptional climbing Seimei found himself rather at a loss for being useful. He had offered his services, more than anything, as a capable means of offensive or defensive tactics, but the trip had been so quiet he wasn't sure he was relevant in the least. Fortunately not one to have his feelings hurt by anything so trivial, he decided to take the opportunity to look around and perhaps acquaint himself with the local Pecker population.

He did like talking to the natives, after all, and chose to send Yata ahead of him as a sort of envoy, the plump bird flapping along grumpily to introduce itself and its wingless companion because Seimei insisted on being polite to everyone and everything, when the situation was favorable enough to do so. While the bird chirped and croaked and made its noises the onmyoji made his own way around the building, keeping an eye out for anything of interest or potential value, if he could recognize it as such. ]

[bastionpc]

[The Peckers are largely more interested in eating, as they have a fresh source of food nearby. So the hungry ones will mostly ignore Seimei, while the full ones will explain that to him.

Duke is also in the area, so Seimei can either join up with her to investigate or go it alone.]

other

[bastionpc]

[If you want your character to investigate anywhere else, do it in here. Just specify where they are looking.]