Final: Red and Orange

[voidtreckermods]

Orange: Clustering

Luckily for those in the facility, with help of some Terran friends they have managed to restore the lights inside the laboratory. It gives them reprise at least.

The night of the sixth day (G10) they will notice a large amount of creatures outside. Away from the light of the facility, but as close as they can be. Surrounding the place. More each hour. Some even get closer, clambering up onto the roof.

A few try to break the glass, but whatever this facility is made out of is tough enough to withstand it. They seem to have learned something these last few nights, sneaking through the shadows, avoiding the beam of light. Others go for the lights themselves, trying to smash those. For the most part they are unsuccessful as well, though a few of the roof lights go dark, creating more shadows for monsters to swarm.

A Discovery: Red.

Following the map on their SCA’s takes them to not far from the laboratory where Orange team are currently holed up. Perhaps an hour or two walk away. Provided they make good progress in daylight hours they will come to the place on the map by mid morning of the seventh day (G11). There, in a sand dune, is a giant orb. Larger than any they have seen. About five meters in diameter. Apart from that it seems much the same as the others, silver, eerie and beautiful.

It floats in the air. There are other orbs around it, normal sized. A great cluster. As if they have been drawn here.

Preparations: Orange

The alarm has been sounding more every night and the line growing larger. It seems whatever is approaching is close.

More immediate by the seventh day (G11) perhaps is the now many orbs surrounding the facility and floating just off the roof. Knowing what they do about them they might not want this many close once night falls.

They also may wish to fix the broken lights and maybe find some way to create more light, position some of the spotlights found in the laboratory perhaps. Whatever is coming, whatever Red had found, they will most likely need light to deal with it if it is related to these creatures.

And of course, those that wish to can move towards where red team have found themselves. They may need the help.

Nightfall: Red

Night falls. The orbs melt away, all of them sinking to the floor, monsters rising in their place. In the centre of the monster group the large orb melts away to reveal a large silver creature. Silver limbs push off the floor as it begins to move, slowly and steadily in the direction of the facility. It has, like the smaller creatures black gem-like eyes, four pairs even. But watching the creature for more than a moment will reveal that it has a defence the smaller creatures do not: eyelids. It blinks slowly as it moves.

Comments

Creature Fight

[voidtreckermods]

Many of the smaller creatures rush off ahead, towards the facility. Others, especially the slightly tougher monsters stay close, as if protecting this huge creature as it begins its journey.

(OOC: For this part please all reply in one single thread. Each round will be marked by an NPC tag and then each character may tag once before the next round begins. If you are late joining or miss a round don’t worry! Just tag into the most recent round and either assume your character was always there or got caught up with smaller monsters!)

[rieper]

47 ignored the smaller prey for the larger beast. They could sweep the rest later when the big threat was eliminated. He set up with his laser rifle, checking the amount of ammo he had first. It had been a long week and the best weapon he had were the laser weapons. His SCA was a last ditch grappling method, and one he'd rather not use on a large creature that could probably crush him before he could...really do anything.

Low on ammo but he had enough to start this fight. He'd make do until then. He could always play decoy while the others used what they had. For now, he went with one of his favorite tactics while working with others: sniping.

Ai Haibara | Orange Team

[deage]

[ Clustering, Night 10 ]

Haibara had chosen to come along with the Orange Team on their mission because it was a simple investigation, and it seemed safe. But things never went as planned, and now she was in the middle of some sci-fi action-slash-horror film.

She wasn't about to try and be a hero. She doubted many people would expect her to be, seeing as how she appeared to be a small child. So she stuck to the safety of the interior spaces of the lab, checking the equipment - the lights, mainly, but also the doors, the glass, the walls, even the lab equipment, seeing what was in good working order and what might be a liability.

"This is not what I signed up for," she grumbles audibly in a very un-child-like complaint.

Comfort the small child from the sound of monsters prowling around outside, deal with her complaining, or help her check on their defenses. She's honestly unnerved, and she could use the distraction no matter what it is.


[ Preparations, Day 11 ]

Is Haibara an electrical engineer? No. But she works with machines enough that she's confident she can fix the lights. Her small hands are actually an asset when working with smaller parts, she's learned.

Something was coming, which was not the best thing to learn when monsters had already been attacking. She's racking her brain as she works. "We need more lights... there are spotlights outside, but maybe we should widen the angle? We could make a basic refactor out of some glass from the lab." She grabs another tool and begins the process of fixing the interior of the light she's working on.

She's talking to herself, but maybe this would work better if she had somebody to bounce ideas back and forth with. Or she could just use some help with these light repairs. Whatever.

Preparations

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin is an electrical engineer, but he's self-taught. He's also a metal smith and a gem-cutter, and he can work with many materials. He is also working on the problem of the lights around and on the building.

He nods when Ai Haibara speculates on the angle of the lights. "I agree. A single light with a wider angle could protect more area. Want me to collect some glass and then we can try heating it with the gas torch, see if we can make a refractor?"

Clustering - up for some minor monster mayhem?

[mtsilver_conquor]

"I don't think any of us did," Eva says simply as she (and Princess, faintly glowing with a Flash) fall into place beside the child as the windows are checked. There's an appraising look - and a stray though the child's more mature than she seems, but then it's pushed to the side.

Now's not the time to think about that. They have work to do and Eva's so very, very wrapped in the mantle of a competent leader - a Champion- who's used to doing things like as quickly and thoroughly as possible. "But we will get through this- or I'll make sure you do at least."

She will yeet you to safety if she must, Haibara.

clustering

[longforgottenpromise]

Taiki had also been watching the gathering monsters with rising trepidation throughout the night whilst trying to throw himself into helping prepare as best as they can.

He is useless at so much of the missions so when he finds areas to be helpful he tries his best.

He spots her and smiles softly. She is very young. "Are you alright?" He approached her as she was checking some lab equipment. "Do you need any help?"

Little One | Red Team

[knifewithnoname]

A Discovery. Alternatively: A Nap.

It's been a tough few days but she has kept up well. Fought every night and helped rescue giant aliens, trudged along a desert following the map. She had gotten better at fighting the creatures, better at aiming light in their eyes, better at backing up the magic users.

She may have never gotten to go to the temple but she felt like this was good practice for being a Warrior. It was hard but there was a thrill in fighting, in making sure nothing got close to the person she was guarding. Satisfying when she bought someone enough time for them to destroy the stupid monsters.

They finally came to the sand dune and her mouth dropped open at the shear size of the orb before them.

"Uh. That do no be being good."

There would be a big fight come nightfall. She can figure that out. If the others want to go poke the orb they can, but she knows she needs to be ready for night time. She drops her pack at the edge of the sand dune and sits down, leaning on her bag and closing her eyes. She probably shouldn't sleep, not out in the open. But she also needs to be ready for when darkness fell.

Nightfall

There are so many monsters, most are trying to get past them, running onward presumably towards the facility. She just hoped the orange team could fight them off. Not really her problem.

The monsters still here were. She gritted her teeth, flashing her SCA light, hurling herself at their legs to try and physically knock them down, get their faces closer to the ground, so she could aim the light in their eyes.

She doesn't have enough light to fight the big monster, she knows when she is outmatched. But she circles around, protecting those who are fighting.

no nap!! (open to others in red?)

[blitzcheer]

"Oh come on."

It was big. Tidus hated it. Its very existence and the confirmation of it as not an illusion of a waking nightmare just meant a trouble Tidus didn't want to think about. Was this always here, or did it grow from something? Were there more of them around? They'd been seeing the bigger fiends already, and if those were it or there was some change happening--

ugh. It sucked. He wasn't meant to be thinking about it, 'cause either way this was going to be a problem the next night and the night after that and for the rest of his life.

"We really need a way to take this things down for good," he grumbles out loud, mainly to himself, but then finds a distraction when he notices the kid starting to just...curl up to sleep? Or rest, anyway.

"Isn't that lab meant to be close by? We should get Spider to send us all over and rest up there."

Nightfall

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin is busy fighting the monsters and keeping them from getting to the lab. He suddenly notices Little One tackling the creatures on the edges of the melee, and doing it very effectively. He's never seen her fight before, but somehow, he's not surprised.

"Good going, Little One!" he calls, giving her a big smile. He stabs another monster.

A nap!

[hashtagparkerluck]

Peter's still exhausted. Rationed food is not good for him and he might have already lost a bit of weight. Whoops. Still though, he keeps going at night, his Spidey sense has gotten a little weaker and even less reliable and several of the bruising he's gotten over the week still hasn't gone away-but that's okay-the mission is almost over and he'll be able to crash and eat everything in the pantry when he gets back on the train. Just a little longer.

He stares up at the large orb and can't help the nervous swallow. Yeah, well that's... a lot bigger than he was expecting. His attention is caught by Buttercup decides it's nap time and he decides she has the right idea.

He plops down next to her, pulls a blanket out his own pack drapes it over them both before nestling into his own pack for a nap as well.

Curufin | Orange Team

[so_dark_a_road]

Clustering of the monsters (the night of Mission day 6, Grasshopper 10):

Curufin has been watching the creatures and seeing them clustering closer to the lab, shrinking from the light most of the time, but now emboldened, sneaking up to the building and reaching up to pound on the windows in attempt to smash the glass. They also succeed in clambering up the sides of the building and getting onto the roof. Up there, they try to break the glass ceiling, though they don't succeed there either. They do succeed in smashing some of the roof lights.

Curufin goes out into the night and attacks the creatures with his vision-casting sorcery, imposing his vision of a brilliant beam of sunlight shining directly into their eyes. They can't distinguish between this vision and reality, and neither can their bodies. They flail and shatter into nothingness.

"Good riddance!" Curufin exclaims, and then takes on the next wave of creatures.


Preparations (Morning, Mission Day 7, Grasshopper 11):

Curufin hold his ears as the alarm sounds, again, and looks out the windows from the top floor. He sees the orbs surrounding the building on the outside, at roof level.

"Oh hell," he mutters. "Got to fix those lights." He goes off to grab the spotlights they discovered in the labs when they were searching for more lights. He collects some cables and his tool kit, and totes it all up to the roof and starts removing the broken lights and wiring in the new lights.


Going to help Red Team (very late afternoon and on to nightfall, Mission Day 7, Grasshopper 11):

In response to the information that Red Team is only an hour or two away, Curufin takes his weapons and heads out. He's strong, agile, and tireless, so he covers ground very quickly. He arrives at the sand dune in time to witness the giant orb with its surrounding smaller orbs melting, falling to the sand, converting to monsters. And. . . that largest orb turning into a big silver monster with four evil black eyes.

"What the hell is that? The granddaddy of them all?" he mutters. He turns to whoever has come with him or is already there because a member of Red Team. "I think it's coming to the lab. Shall we try to kill it?" He grins maniacally.

red team ayyyee

[blitzcheer]

"Try? I want you to burn light into that thing's head so bad it doesn't ever get up again."

There would be a more of a joke to that if Tidus wasn't so done with these things, running now on spite and Done With This. He's given off his blade to someone else, swapped it with a pipe if he really needs to get up close or knock anything back, his actual weapon his left hand currently softly glowing in preparation for the magic he'll be casting.

"You think you can do that? 'Cause if you need to get up close, I know Light's got a ride."

But heck, Tidus will make Curufin a path personally. Or they both will, by that blade and Curufin's own abilities.

Reno | Black Squad / Orange --> Red Team

[theturksway]

I. Clusterfucking : Orange Team

After spending a day with Purple Team healing up civilians and team members alike, Reno had eventually made his way to Orange Team's location by way of friendly teleporting spider. He was prepared to spend another day healing but it turned out the other people who had transferred over from Red Team already had it covered and so he'd taken a break. Then he had gotten into the rote of defending people at night while they barricaded themselves in for the monster attacks and napping during the day as they tried to fix the lights.

It felt like there was little more to do here than there had been with Red Team. The monsters were being destroyed but more just took their place the next night. It all seemed rather pointless without a goal in sight.

By the sixth day of the mission Reno was getting a little cranky from lack of proper sleep and the continuous fighting without purpose. He tired to sleep during the day but he felt restless despite his exhaustion. By nightfall he was wandering around and he watched the monsters swarm around and over the building. At least they couldn't get in. Maybe he should try sleeping some more...

II. Nightfall : Red Team

He was grateful for the extra sleep that night though it was still a restless kind of sleep what with the creatures roaming around outside and making everything uneasy. But by the morning he was ready for some more action despite the fact that during the day there was much less to do without the fighting taking place.

A decent plan to clear out the area of orbs started getting underway. Reno, however, stepped outside and discovered that Red Team wasn't that far away anymore. He did some quick calculations in his head and realized this was close to where the SCA update had sent Red Team to find its new target. The redhead didn't even hesitate; he skipped out of helping Orange Team and went straight for the real action by following on Red Team's heels.

He arrived late evening and noticed the large amount of silvery orbs surrounding this area, too. And then there was the big motherfucker in the middle. Reno whistled at the sight of it. "Damn. This is gonna be one hell of a monster fight."

That was the least of it. Once night fell again, all hell broke lose it seemed. Many of the smaller creatures tried to make a run for it and Reno dashed in to grab their attention with his electricity and then hit them with a bright flash of lightning to the face. He had always been a good shot with his Electro-Mag Rod and now it showed.

He was good at dispatching the small ones and distracting the larger monsters. But what he really wanted to get his angry hands on was the big one. He was slowly making his way there as he worked through the smaller monsters.

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin was just getting ready to exit the building and kill some more monsters. He slung his sword, then turned to Reno and said, "You look exhausted. Want to go and take a nap?"

[blue_ice]

building a big light

Kaiba knows he's not a fighter and he's not going to try. He's worn out and still recovering from injuries from the smaller creatures...but there's still something he needs to do.

He's huddled in a lab next to pieces of a large floodlight---it's coming together, but needs to be done faster. He sighs and continues, yanking on another wire.

a big move

When it's finally complete, he flips it on, and an absolutely blinding light streams outside. Hopefully it was only monsters standing out there. Great. It works.

But now there's the problem of getting the giant, heavy thing moved outside. He grunts. "A teleporter would be fantastic right now."

building

[iamnotgod]

Webmind is not human, meaning he could work without stopping and while the others are taking much-needed rest if need be.

"Do you need me to take point, Kaiba?" Webmind asks, popping in from around the doorway.

"I understand time is running out, but that means it is more important we avoid tiring ourselves out in the process."

Humans have fragile health!

after the comms message. A big move

[longforgottenpromise]

Um... Do you need help Kaiba-san?

[He sounds nervous but mostly just exhausted. The bloodsickness had risen throughout the week and he was slightly feverish. But he couldn't let people face this alone and he knew he would be useless once the fighting started, so he wished to be as helpful as possible before hand.]

a big move

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin has come back inside for a moment, and he comes to the lab where Kaiba is working.

"No teleporter machine in this lab, but here's your favorite Nolderin Elf if you need a pair of strong arms!" He flexes his biceps and grins.

Peter Parker | Temporarily Red Team

[hashtagparkerluck]

{ Day Time. That sure is a big Orb. ]

[ Yeah, okay this... isn't really what he expected. He's not sure what that might have been but it certainly wasn't this. And he's so tired. Everything hurts, his bruises haven't healed up and his senses aren't as strong as normal. It's probably from malnutrition so it should be temporary. He hopes. ]

Please tell me this is the final boss and not just a Mini. [ Exhausted or not, he's still Peter Parker and he's still gonna crack jokes. ]

[blitzcheer]

These things don't do final anything. They do 'come back as an orb and do it all over the next night'.

[ Which is worse. ]

And last I heard, we still don't know how to stop them from doing that.

Discovery

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Curufin has come out of the lab and walked to where Red Team members are gawking at the giant orb that floats over the sand dune, surrounded by smaller orbs. He's just reconnoitering at the moment. He'll go back to the lab soon. ]

Hey, Peter! [ He lifts a hand in greeting, with a smile. ] I don't know what it is. We haven't seen an orb this size before. Is the damned thing going to turn into a giant monster?

[ He's got sandwiches in his rucksack, and he pulls a couple of of them out and offers one to Peter. ] Want some breakfast?

Samata Mahto | Orange

[les_magique]

-Clustering-

This was absolutely fucking terrifying! Monsters were supposed to stay on the outskirts of civilization! They definitely weren't supposed to be stalking you through the window!

Samata was a twitchy mess by now, with bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep, but she was still gamely pushing forwards. Every few minutes, a magic missile would streak into the darkness and send one of the monsters tumbling back, giving Samata a few moments to get further into the light.

-Preparations-

During the day, Samata worked on creating teleport traps. Sigils and runes written on the floor in intricate patterns and marked with a sign that said "DO NOT STEP HERE". She figured the monsters PROBABLY couldn't read. Anyone who DID step on them would find themselves instantly moved to one of the labs deeper in the facility. Samata had moved as many lights as they could spare into that lab so that anything that appeared there would be blinded from every direction.

It was a pretty nasty surprise for monster that feared light, and she was pretty proud of it.

Of course, it would only work for a few of them. Each trap only worked once. But it would be a good first line of defense.

Preparations

[so_dark_a_road]

Curuifn came bounding into the lab, carrying a heap of equipment from the storerooms, intending to try assembling it. He wasn't looking where he was going. Oops! He stepped on one of those patterns of runes and sigils, not seeing the warning sign.

Instant teleport! He found himself on one of the lower levels, surrounded by blinding lights.

"What the hell???"

preparation

[blitzcheer]

It's not that a sign saying DO NOT STEP HERE makes it tempting to do the opposite of what it says, but they are curious to Tidus, them and the sigils, and... ... okay maybe he wants to step on them a little just to know what they do. But when that can include "explode", he knows to resist.

But also, he really wants to know.

So maybe he's found a plastic cup from the drink dispenser, and he's getting ready to aim one...straight for one of mysterious traps!

Masumi Sera | Purple > Orange

[tactlesstantei]

Standing Watch

[Masumi knew that they needed all the strength they could get out there, knew that she was better suited out there than for staying in the lab to keep the lights on.

But she couldn’t leave due to having to stay with Haibara. She didn’t want to think of what might happen if the lights went out again, so there she was, keeping an eye) on the windows for any sign of the creatures outside. She wasn’t familiar with electrical work, so just keeping watch was the best she could do for now.]