Asphodel Expedition Plot!

[reunified]

UPDATE: Trip has now been capped. ICly the reason will be that the shuttle simply isn't that huge, and Altman will only be bringing characters who either a) have a legit reason to be down there b) manage to wheedle their way in via personal connections. There will be other trips down to the planet, but a few things to keep in mind:
• The planet isn't that hospitable ('The atmosphere is toxic and there is not enough oxygen to keep an ordinary human alive without some kind of filtering system or personal supply of air.', for example), and honestly there isn't a lot down there unless you like huge scary worms and sand.
• Shuttles down to the planet are available to characters. You can always organize your own little jaunt down, should you feel so inclined. Hypatia only gets prissy if you're down there more than a few days at a stretch--quick day trips to look around are quite feasible for the general public (assuming they pull together the necessary survival equipment).

There will be a post from Altman tomorrow explaining the IC reason for the cap, as well as a chance for characters to plead their cases to tag along. Sorry about this, but it got a pretty huge pretty quick, and we'll be stretched rather thin running NPCs and keeping an eye on things as this goes down. Since certain NPCs are played by certain mods, the fewer characters interacting with them at a time the more of an in-depth experience we can provide. Fewer people = better NPC relations.

For those who are confirmed to go, please reply here and let us know what your character will be doing. Even if they're just wandering the tunnels uneventfully for a few hours, we'd like to keep track of where everyone is while they're down on the planet.

Hey! As you might have noticed, Altman is planning a little jaunt down to the planet. Only the little jaunt has a fair few number of people tagging along (and there's room for more, if you'd like to throw your character at his post), and I figure we should have a bit of a pow-wow about what's going to happen!

ICly Altman will be organizing the trip to happen in a couple days. In the meantime, he's going to be gathering supplies, organizing a shuttle, that sort of thing--he's also going to be making sure each child (under 18) going will be paired off with a 'responsible' adult. What does that mean for you? A chance to generate new CR! Altman will be randomly pairing people off, so this is the list of who I have so far;

UPDATED LIST;

• Altman & Aradia
• Zaeed & Kanaya
• Shockwave & CNC!Soundwave & Skyfire
• Ashley & Jin
• Isaac & Sollux

If anyone else wants to pair off for whatever reason, or has an issue with these groupings, let me know. Altman likes the idea of the buddy system. Characters are free to protest this IC, but Altman isn't letting any kids come along if they don't consent to adult supervision. Also they all get tasers and whistles.

Of course, even the best laid plans of mice and men go up in smoke from time to time. An outing of this size heading down is just asking for trouble, and there's any number of things that can go wrong. Since everyone seems to be going for their own reason, splitting up is bound to occur, and we have a few potential random encounters for characters to have:

• Magmaworms. Attracted to sound/vibration. Generally large and horribly dangerous unpleasant.
• Insurgents. Could be a good encounter, could be bad, depends how well you can talk yourself out of a corner.
• Natural dangers. Shit, is that tunnel caving in? Or a sudden, unexpected drop-off? Be careful in those tunnels, kiddos.
• ??? Think of something else? Let us know!

This is a good chance for characters to meet the insurgency, and if that's your goal let us know! This post is mostly to coordinate what various characters will be doing on the planet, and letting us know where NPCs will be needed and when.

Comments

[reunified]

SO UH. Altman and Isaac are going to be running afoul of some magmaworm cultists and getting their asses kidnapped. Someone is already lined up to save their sorry asses, but that's a ~surprise~.

[arisen]

SCREAM ALTMAN WHY...

[parasomnist]

SO I WAS ON HIATUS BECAUSE OF A CON

I STILL AM

so I couldn't tag the IC post

but I kind of still want to be part of this? Is that cool?

And i'm still not sure which character to use I WILL ASK PLURK

[reunified]

WE CAN JUST handwave whoever you want to throw into this as having spoken to Altman in his post and getting added to the list! Just lemme know who.

[supernova1006]

Insurgents yes please yes yes yes

[allshock_notalk]

SOUNDWAVE IS UNHAPPY NO MATTER WHAT.

But he will be everyone's guide. Particularly, he will be spending the trip decked out in his armor, and he will be on this trip under a different voice and will tell everyone to refer to him as "Zimmer", no questions ask.

[reunified]

Soundwave you need to keep an eye on people while Altman and Isaac are busy revisiting the crazy cultist scene ok.

[notsoloyal]

/holds hand the whole time

/asks for child watching tips

[lithp]

altman if you lose sollux's girlfriend YOU ARE GETTING ON HIS HACKERY SHITLIST!!!

also maybe sollux will go on this expedition. maybe with isaac? idk? would that be ok? because i think thatd be fun.

[reunified]

Can do! And lmfkfjgfg what if Aradia and Sollux end up alone in the tunnels after Altman and Isaac get kidnapped....

[notyourchauffeur]

Sky would want to stick close to Soundwave, Shockwave and/or Altman if at all possibleh

[reunified]

skyfire you can hold soundwave's hand ok

[notthatbuffy]

John (derpbert) can go with any grown-up, he just wants to explore.

BUFFY, on the other hand, really should run into some insurgents. She can provide them with shiny video and bugging equipment? :D? OR SOMETHING. Mostly because it would amuse me.

[needs_answers]

-_-

[notsoloyal]

oh oh. also since shocks is going down looking for the people that kept soundwave for so long, could he actually run into one or some of them? he is not attempting murder this time around

[reunified]

That can be arranged! Just ping Lainie or I on plurk (or both of us, probably) and we'll sort something out c:

[soddingmonkeys]

ooh magmaworms

wait they don't burn very easily do they :|a

[soddingmonkeys]

Also yes, Goggles is definitely going. He won't probably do much, just wander around checking out the tunnels.

[arisen]

do the magmaworms show up in the tunnels or on the surface? also how volatile are they?

[reunified]

Both!

Magmaworms are attracted to light, noise, vibrations, and energy fields. They often come to the surface during lightning storms and some have been known to track swifter vehicles for miles, slowly catching up. Although they feed ala baleen whales, sifting through rocks and dirt for minerals, they will quite literally eat anything that can fit into their gaping maws. Between their size and their armored hide, they are incredibly difficult to kill and are a constant menace to any kind of drone operation on Asphodel.

They aren't directly harmful unless you enrage one, in which case they spit a rather awful acid, but they won't hesitate to eat a character if they get in the way. They just sort of blunder along like horrible rock-chewing steamrollers of durr.

[astrometry]

oooooh yes I would like Jade to run into some insurgents. Mainly because she's tired of Hypatia but also because lol she would give them all the fancy weapons.

[reunified]

It's worth noting that the resistance actually has rather advanced technology at their disposal, right down to giant mechanized scorpion mounts. They might not be all that impressed with what people offer them.

[cloverdaleboy]

Aww...Missed. And I had so been hoping for Scott to go down there. Bleh. Well, have fun. /will watch for this awesome log

[reunified]

There will definitely be other chances for characters to visit the planet--they're free to organize their own trips at any time, and if you give mods a heads up we can throw the locals at any visitors!

[rebuildscience]

I'm not totally sure Ashley *does* have a legit reason to be there beyond "you guys need someone who can shoot straight." :|a

[reunified]

If she lets Altman know that she's military she has a good shot at being invited to go. Right now most of the confirmed slots are people Altman knows have legit reasons to be there/tugged at his heart strings to go with him, so having a bit more firepower along is always a bonus.

[astrometry]

Also Carolina, I'm really sorry that you got stuck with the child that loves to run off on a whim.

AND JADE IS going to be collecting samples of rock and soil to take back with her, primarily for the purpose of seeing if new plants could be bred to the living specifications of Asphodel. She'll also do a fair amount of exploring, most likely.

[supernova1006]

CAN JIN DEFINITELY GO PLEASE

I can take Gamzee our, he has no real reason to be down there other than wanting to hang with his Altbro.

[supernova1006]

oh durr okay Jin will be taking soil samples, scanning for lifeforms, investigating magmaworms, running tests on the atmosphere and seeing if he can remote access his rift scanner from Asphodel. He'll also be looking for any noticeable effects the rift has had on the planet proper. Mostly he'll be hanging out in magmaworm tunnels, but it'd be awesome if he could run into insurgents or something :3

[justamobster]

WELP. This is what I get for being busy with my silly cat and not paying attention.

I'll unvolunteer Ladon, then. He can go some other time.

[notyourutopian]

Eleanor is going, and going with 'Keanu Reeves' is fine!

[reunified]

She'll have to convince Altman first, unfortunately. Sorry about this!

[whatever_it_takes]

HEY I would really like Caroliona to do this, and she's got a pretty convincing argument, IMHO :3

I had planned on changing her back soon, so while she is still a pony for the reply, she won't be for the mission (not that she knows that, but it's just going to make her want to sell herself even more).