Survivalist Plot: The Envy of Eden

[meat_mooks]

Day One

Stacy calls Cedric Diggory, Diana Ladris, Guru Clef, Howard Bassem, Karis Needleteeth, The Master and Maxine Hunkel to the deck.

Planet Designation: Eden
Status: Terrestrial, H-class.
Non-sentient life: Sparse levels of flora, no natural fauna
Semi-Sentient Life: None
Sentient Life: Small human colonies created to mine Eden's limited precious elements. As of last Eden 'year', population 300. Settlers do not typically make permanent stays.
Water: 75.6% of the planet's surface.
Climate: Dry and moderate during the day. At nights temperatures drop to below 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Infrequent rains, risks of flash floods.
Landscape: Desert and sedimentary rock mountains. Most water is retrieved by wells or from cargo ships. Sparse vegetation.
Air: Type I (breathable)
Sky: Grey
Warnings: Electrical storms may interfere with omnicomm function.
Mission: Investigate source of distress signal picked up on Stacy's sensors.

For the most part the trip down to the atmosphere goes uneventfully, even if it is a little cramped in the shuttle, but as soon as they get within a few thousand feet of the ground things start to go wrong. Communication with Stacy cuts off; Stacy herself is cut off mid-sentence while warning the crew to use iodine in any tap water they find. The omnicomms go similarly blank. The shuttle lurches through the sky and tilts sideways. One of the engines blows. The automatic seatbelts unlock. A section of the shuttle's roof rips off, letting in thin, hardly-breathable air.

More terrifying still, the superpowered members of this crew may have time to notice that they no longer have their abilities.

About thirty feet above the ground the shuttle tips into a barrel roll, the autopilot fritzing out as it tries to right things, and the crew goes tumbling out and scatters amongst the town moments before the shuttle crashes into a far cliffside.

[OOC: Tag into your designated subthreads! In a little, once we've established what's going on a bit more, while I'll put up a thread for them all to reconvene. I will be NPCing monsters in these threads, so please drop me a line if you want the monsters to do anything specific or if I'm being slow on a tag.]

Comments

[meat_mooks]

The monster dodges the blow from the axe but doesn't move fast enough to avoid running into Karis. It bowls into her legs, trying to chomp at her with its teeth but slowed down by the struggling weight in its belly. With a squeal it thrashes at Karis' feet, spitting up pink foam and oozing blood from its stomach.

[teethofneedles]

Karis stumbles back and tries to keep her feet. She's not the heaviest person around, but fortunately for her she's wearing armor on her legs and the teeth scrape off. As it starts to thrash around, she regains her footing and hacks down on its head with all of her might, cursing all the while.

"Just... stay... dead... you stupid... bastard!"

[meat_mooks]

The axe cleaves right through the creature's head. It shudders, twitches a final time, and stops moving entirely.

[bequiet_hescreamed]

There. The stomach of the beast finally ripped open far enough for Clef to squeeze his way out of it, followed by a rush of liquid which could only be described as "chunky". He drew himself up as it pooled around his feet, but then looked over in Karis's direction and realized that it is very difficult to maintain any semblance of dignity while covered in the contents of another creature's guts.

No matter! He smiled at her, noting her handiwork with the battle ax.

"Let's go find that way out you mentioned."

[teethofneedles]

He was like a rabid gnome, only a bit larger. And deadlier with a piece of steel. Or just crazy. Karis snorted and wiped the gore off of the blade of her axe before hefting it and sliding it back into place on her hip.

"...you're covered in guts. You know that, right?"

She shook her head and gestured toward the edge of the quarry, "Looks like a ramp over that way. Let's get the hell out of here."

[bequiet_hescreamed]

Clef nodded once and followed in the direction of the ramp.

"I'm trying not to think about it, to tell you the truth," He said, brushing some of the very guts that he was trying not to think about off of his clothing. When covered in guts, it was important to take life one moment at a time. This moment stunk. Perhaps leaving the quarry would eventually bring other, less stinky moments to pass.

[meat_mooks]

Once they exit the quarry they'll be able to see the city, a small colony of houses that look as if they were plucked straight from a 1980's Earth suburb. There's no sign of life. Some telephone wires have been knocked over; empty cars litter the streets. Many houses have broken windows no one's bothered to repair. A thick layer of dust has settled over everything.

There are dead bodies on the ground, chests ripped open, filled with fist-sized, flesh-colored creatures that look like leeches.

[bequiet_hescreamed]

Clef's gaze swept over the scene with a mixture of disgust and awe. Whatever happened here had been sudden, thorough, and recent as well as undignified.

"The briefing said that this place had no natural fauna," he said, turning to Karis. "Didn't it?"

[teethofneedles]

"I wasn't paying attention," Karis admitted, "But this doesn't exactly look like normal life for these poor bastards."

In fact, it reminded her far too much of home a decade or so back.

"Let's keep movin'. Maybe the others are out here somewhere."