[OPEN] Mission 155

[soul_mods]

Characters: Open to those who signed up here.
Location: An unmarked cavern system outside Death City.
Rating: Various.
Time: March 18th, sunrise.
Description: Shibusen agents brave underwater caverns to take out the first of three Madness emitters.

Missiongoers pile out of the mirrors early in the morning, just as the first hints of sun start to color the walls of the sandstone canyon red and purple; it'll be the last bits of real light they'll see for at least a few hours. The atmosphere is electric -- there're quite a few new (and old) arrivals who're eager to see some action, but just as many people who're feeling rather more apprehensive… And for good reason.

The only way to their destination is blocked by a few hundred yards of sunken tunnels. Luckily they've been provided with mouthpieces, breathing apparatuses with enough oxygen to last about ten minutes: more than enough time, provided that the guests don't lose their way in the dimly-lit, twisted caverns. It's as easy as following the person in front of them, right?

Upon emerging safely from the pool onto mostly-dry land, they'll find themselves in an immense cavern, illuminated by countless, blue fungi clinging to the walls and ceiling, looking like stars dotting a night sky. Already the first signs of the way Madness has been corrupting the wildlife are evident: the mushrooms exude strange spores that make some people's head pound the same way the increasingly noticeable Madness wavelength does.

As they travel further into the watery caves and explore its many branches, they'll begin to encounter creatures twisted by Madness: moles, snakes, beetles, centipedes, all grown to monstrous proportions, some with a venomous bite that quickly turns their victim feverish and delirious. The more daring fighters can easily dispatch those and delve even deeper, and it's near the source of the Madness, in the chamber housing the emitter itself, that they'll encounter the kishin eggs.

There're dozens of them-- eyeless, white, vaguely human-shaped things, but despite their blindness they have no problem finding their quarry, fighting with claws and exuding their own Madness wavelength. If the missiongoers can stand strong against the kishin eggs and the ever-present wavelength given off by the Madness emitter, Shibusen's specialists will have enough time to shut the machine down for good.


OOC NOTES.
- The event summary post containing all relevant links is located here.
- Make your own threads, but please indicate in your subject line [CHARACTER(S) | LOCATION | OPEN/CLOSED] and, if applicable, if you need a kishin egg NPC!
- The locations are the sunken tunnels, the medics area, the cave system, and the emitter chamber, but only the medics will have their designated sub-thread.
- If you have any further questions, the mod thread on the coordination post is here!

Comments

[Dirk Strider | Cave System | OPEN]

[splinterstrider]

Swimming through the tunnels and entering the caves were a very odd experience for Dirk. It was darker than he was used to, even on Derse, to the point where he had to remove his sunglasses for a bit, although he eventually dropped them back on after he exited the sunken tunnels. At his back was a sheathed katana, which Shibusen had been so kind as to provide. He was pretty sure it wasn't as good as his old one, but he'd practiced with it enough at morning training to get used to it.

He noticed something was off very quickly after they left the tunnels and entered the cave system. He feels a dull pain that he's certain is the Madness Wavelength, but he tunes it out, even as he travels closer to the Emitter. Eventually, he finds himself at what basically constitutes the end of the line for him and at the same time gets his first good look at what the Madness Wavelength is capable of doing to things constantly exposed to it. As he puts a hand to the weapon at his back, he notes to nobody but himself that he's pretty sure he's seen uglier before.

An oversized snake lunges towards him. He's not as fast as he was before BREW got its claws in him, but this thing might as well be moving in slow motion. The blade given to him by Shibusen slides free from its sheath in one motion, then in one more, he slashes into the snake's neck. He leaps back, keeping mindful of the other creatures. He knows he's not the only one here, but he's not about to let his guard down, either way.

Here he was, acting all careful about fighting what basically constituted the scrubs that guarded the rest of the scrubs. Geez. Well, gotta start somewhere. That's what he told himself as he engaged another of the animals, anyway.

[divide_by_zero]

One advantage about being a robot? Not needing to breathe. Zero eschewed the scuba gear to run his way through the underwater tunnel. He did take a borrowed sword with him and it proved handy for trying to slice apart wildlife.

Concentrating on killer monsters was better than listening to Sigma's ugly laugh trying to echo into his brain. He saw someone else engaging in combat and ran to help them out. "You all right?" he asked.

[splinterstrider]

Dirk spun when he heard someone approaching, bringing his sword up in uncomfortably close proximity to Zero's face. When he realized it was another person from the city and not a creature, he pulled his weapon back.

"Jesus dude, don't just jump out at me like that," he said as he turned back, making sure nobody had gotten the idea to sneak up on him. "Yeah. I'm doin' peachy," he said as he wiped some sweat from his brow with one arm. "How about you?"

[divide_by_zero]

Zero started, not moving when the sword came really close to slicing into his helmet. "All right. Anything really large running along here?"

[this_is_keron]

Giroro recognized the signs of Maddness. Even without the Black Blood incident, it wasn't hard to notice it.

Unlike with the Black Blood, though, Giroro was ready this time. He grit his teeth and pushed forward with everyone else. As much as he would have preferred some kind of firearm, a hunting knife was a better choice. Bullets, after all, could ricochet off the cave walls and hit his allies.

He decapitated a snake and landed in a crouch near some kid with a sword. Giroro spared him a brief nod.

[splinterstrider]

Dirk's head was constantly on a swivel, given the amount of creatures in the caves. They all moved too slowly to hit him head-on, but he still had to be careful that he didn't get caught from behind. For one thing, they were all freaking huge. For another, he didn't know what would happen if he came into contact with creatures saturated so thoroughly by the Madness Wavelength. He turned his gaze towards a giant snake that was lunging towards him. He raised his sword up --

Just to drop it right back to his sides as someone else shot by, decapitating the thing in one swing. Given a closer look, he realized it was...a frog wielding a hunting knife.

...'Kay.'

He gave the frog a thumbs up. "Nice one." A caterpillar had noticed the fallen snake and was rearing up on them - Dirk acted quickly, darting past the frog and slashing into the giant insect's torso. "Guessing you're unpartnered too, huh?" He asked. Not like he couldn't talk and fight at the same time.

[this_is_keron]

If Giroro could read minds he'd tell Dirk that he's not a frog damn it. But seeing as he can't all he said was, "Hn." Which was as close to a "thank you" Giroro was going to give for the compliment. Still...this kid wasn't half-bad and Giroro said as much.

"You're not too bad yourself."

Fighting and talking at the same time was easy. He wasn't going to be outdone by some Pekoponian kid.

While Dirk had the caterpillar occupied, Giroro was fending off a giant beetle that thought it could sneak up on them. "Yeah." He cut off one of the bug's legs, "Meister or Weapon?"