Event | Console Crash Chaos | April 17-30, 2014

[ironwood]

This is part ONE of a two-part event here in Keeliai! The second half of the OOC planning post will go up in a week's time. The below plotting is part of a larger scheme at work, so please keep that in mind as you read.

April 17th-23rd | BLACKOUT;

Malicant has had a foothold, however tenuous, for some months now. And like the asshole he is, he's decided to start ruining people's days! From the 17th-23rd, in all his technopathic glory, he's going to shut down the entire communications grid in Keeliai.

What this means:

No consoles will function during this time.

This means no network posts, no private console notifications, nothing. Think of Malicant like the raptors in Jurassic Park – he's testing the fences, but never in the same spot twice! However, this only affects Keeliai's Biotech and character technology that functions independently of the city will not be affected.

Simultaneously, bombs are going to go off in high-populace areas of the city.

This means hospitals, markets and the like. There are numerous targets, so feel free to invent locations if you'd like your character to be near one. That said, foreigner housing will NOT be targeted. This will not be ICly known, but it's to give people a 'safe zone' OOCly if they don't want their character exposed to or involved in the chaos.

Known food and water supplies will be poisoned or destroyed.

That means that any known stockpile – say, grocery stores – will be rendered inedible unless characters can come up with some way to neutralize the poison or divert the bombs. This will not affect personal food storages (he's not going after your pantries! Yet.) nor will it plunge characters into the rationing of last year, but it will ensure that food and sanitary drinking water is somewhat more of a luxury.

Have any questions? Please refer to the QUESTIONS section of the comments and ask away! We will answer them in as timely a method as possible. Otherwise, feel free to use this post to plot what your character(s) may be up to during this portion of the event!

ETA: Since this is as good a place as any to note it, we now have an active game plurk @ tushan if you want to follow that for reminder links, etc.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[ironwood]

Do you have any questions about the event? Feel free to post them here and a mod will reply ASAP!

QUESTIONS

[demon_brat]

Quick one - if the hydroponic garden has been kept going even after Bruce left, would that have been targeted?

Re: QUESTIONS

[ironwood]

Yes, it would definitely be targeted if it's still in use and/or has food stocked/stored there.

QUESTIONS

[demon_brat]

Thank you!

Re: QUESTIONS

[everylittlegirl]

As it was Annabeth and Bruce's, I believe Annabeth is still running it?

(now in the right place)

Re: QUESTIONS

[sophos]

it's pretty self sufficient at this point, but still running! i imagine it's primarily kedan operated now.

[looksfine]

If characters with the ability to do so attempted to scan any of the downed Network consoles, what would those readings indicate?

[jirk]

Absolutely nothing. They are completely offlined, nothing to indicate a power source or any of the usual biomechanics at work! o/

[looksfine]

That's all I need to know.

Thank you~ /salute

[asoothingvoice]

Just doublechecking- so Eshai Memorial Hospital can/will be a target, correct?

painfully ironic journal to reply from aside...

[denyamenti]

Yes, it would be a fairly high-priority target insofar as disrupting order within the city.

[asoothingvoice]

Awesome! Just wanted to double check.

...Bakura might want to keep his head low afterwards.

[wherethestoryis]

Hi, mods, got a question from me and land-of-hiatus Al. We came up with two options and thought we should ask if you have a preference:

1) Radio gets targeted due to being a way to connect people; not bomb because it's in a PC-living area, but definitely sabotage to keep them from broadcasting.
2) The radio isn't targeted. Being non-Keeliai tech, it's not affected. This kind of circumvents the network being down in that radio broadcasts would reach anyone who owns a radio, and Lois make an announcement opening it to people using it if they need to make an emergency broadcast and use it to keep people up-to-date on information, etc.

We're good with either, but given that it is a non-Keeliai connection network, we weren't sure how you'd feel about them.

[ironwood]

HMMMM let us scheme and get back to you ASAP on this.

[wintershepherd]

After discussion, we are perfectly fine with option #2! The radio can keep functioning normally and be used for broadcast.

[survival_isnt_living]

Another question, this time for Septimus.

I've only ever used his preternatural intuition for instinctively knowing things about people, and with full permission of the players, but I haven't touched the canonical occasional precognition.

Given that he'll be working on sending people out to help with injuries as a result of the bombs, would it be okay if he is accidentally sending people to scout for victims/help at one location near the next incident such that the paramedics end up there right after (just remarkably good timing) or, in the case of the couple who've got other skills (I'm thinking, for example, of Raine's magic shield and Sep's ability to toss up some earth as a shield) right before? So they're there, get the somewhat traumatic experience of the bomb without being unable to actually stop it and probably not enough warning to clear the area or anything*, but don't take too much damage and then are on hand to help victims?

I don't know, it's just one of those little things that looks like surprisingly good luck and which he won't personally notice as happening, and which doesn't affect incidents much. But it's the kind of thing he's got an unconscious knack for.

I've been sad at not getting to exercise his precog, but as it's firmly in god-mod mode, I need to check.

*Unless he gets extremely lucky, if you all want.

[wintershepherd]

We've reached the agreement that while it is a canonical power for Sep, given the nature of this particular plot, we feel it's a little heavy-handed for what we were looking for. That being said, we're not enforcing a blanket restriction on the power in general, we just would prefer it not play a factor in this aspect of the plot.

QUESTIONS

[akito]

1. Will the bombs be all ground-based, or will some/all be dropped a la air raid?
1a. If yes to air drops, will characters be allowed to intercept some and try exploding them before they reach their intended target - still causing damage, but less catastrophic?

2. What sort of poison will be in the food/water? As in, what sort of side-effects are there when ingested and in what amount of ingestion equals what severity of side-effect?

Re: QUESTIONS

[ironwood]

1. They won't be dropped air or otherwise, as they've been already placed at their intended targets at some point before they begin going off.

2. The poison causes severe reactions in anyone who ingests it: shakes, fever, vomiting, the whole works. Like every bad flu you've ever had. It's not immediately fatal but it IS cumulative. So eating a few bites won't kill you but if you drank like a gallon of the water, you'd be in pretty bad shape.

Re: QUESTIONS

[ruinsprofessor]

Some things I really should have asked earlier.

a) Some of Raine's healing techs (Recover and Restore) can in-game cure poison, with the latter granting temporary immunity from more poison. Would these apply to the effects of the spores on people? I'm guessing they would, but hoping for confirmation.

b) Regarding the tainted water stores/sources-- there's precedent for Raine doing quite impressive purification and restoration type things with the unicorn horn, the spell Resurrection, and the assistance of a summon spirit of the relevant element. (The example that springs immediately to mind is restoring fallow ground to health, as well as the half-dead tree that grew within it.) Would it be possible to substitute perhaps an Avatar (for waterbending and/or firebending, as that's what kills spores?) or Septimus or some other similarly highly elementally gifted person for the summon spirit, and purify at least one water source that way? It'd be a large effort, naturally, and there'd have to be a lot of investigating to even get to that point, but it could be something to aim at down the line, if it's an acceptable solution.

Re: QUESTIONS

[ironwood]

1) Raine's magic would be able to cure the spore poison, yes. But she'd have to do the healing one individuals and not like... a roomful at a time.

2) That would be fine! Just bear in mind that the purified water won't gain any immunity to the spores so it could be re-tainted if it's exposed to the spores again.

Re: QUESTIONS

[gathersnomoss]

Can I assume mundane methods to purify water work? Will bringing the water to boiling destroy the poison/spores*, or do you actually need to collect the vapor and condense it?

I'd assume that boiling it would kill the spores but wouldn't remove any existing rotting stuff and poison from the water.

* since you mentioned heat killed the things.

Re: QUESTIONS

[wintershepherd]

Correct!

Re: QUESTIONS

[mightythinice]

Ellie is infected with a fungus from her world, and so she doesn't tend to take spores as seriously as other TLOU characters. Any advice on how that fungus and this new one should interact?

Re: QUESTIONS

[ironwood]

The mist spores will latch onto the infection already present within her and will adopt the behaviour of the fungal one's symptoms, agitating it back into an active state (if it was dormant) or increasing the symptoms (if they were already present).