the little one stops to shut the gate :: [OPEN]

[baedalites.livejournal.com]

Who: A whole lot of ants and YOU!
What: Exploring houses overrun by giant ants! Interacting with ants!
Where: Three specific ant hive houses have cropped up in Baedal.
When: The ants become visible late Sukkardi, so any time after Shundi will do.
Notes: To organize expeditions into the ant hives and to see what your characters will find there, please see the OOC post. NPCs, general GMing, and mod guidance are all available upon request.
Warnings: Bugs! Possible horror. Will update as needed.

When the ants come out of the ground it happens very quietly and it happens at night. Baedal wakes up to chitinous sound of insect labour. At first there is some panic - memories of strange creatures emerging from below to attack the city fresh in everyone's mind - but it is soon evident that the ants, while curious, pose no immediate threat to the City. They seem content to work and live inside the houses they have occupied; houses no one has noticed or cared about for years.

Soon, the ant-occupied houses begin to change. The ants are building something on the rooftops, something like towers, stretching towards the heavens. Birds that fly too close to the buildings quickly disappear.

Comments

[edsidlemirth.livejournal.com]

Appearances are good enough for now. This is all way too much fun. Eddie lets the pocket knife he's been holding onto fall back into his pocket, and fishes around for a little box of matches, instead.

He produces this about at the same time Mike does. That's amusing. "Want to let me know what else you're carrying around, or are you content to be mysterious and useful?" He lifts a shoulder to rustle his backpack, which produces a faint sloshing sound from bottles in there. "I brought vinegar, in case I needed to throw off any ants. Not quite as useful for urban exploration. However..." He strikes one of his matches and lights the candle he picked.

And then pauses a moment, because suddenly, there is a door. "My my," he says. "Someone invested in a little light security."

[seal_clubs_you]

"The usual soldier and medic stuff--" He frowns and tries to follow Eddie's gaze, but all he sees is wall. His flashlight, played over that spot, reveals nothing. "Pun intended?"

He sets the flashlight to the side and lights himself a candle of his own.

"...Oh. Damn, I can think of a lot of people who'd pay big bucks for that trick back home."

[edsidlemirth.livejournal.com]

"It's all pun and games," Eddie says idly, as Mike lights another candle. He steps forward and examines the newly appeared door, giving it a good look-over before rapping on it, then rattling the handle, tentatively. Once he's satisfied, he stands beside the door and not in front of it, and pulls it open a crack.

"Mm. We'll want to find out how much people pay for this, here. I'd like to know how often I can expect to encounter it."

[seal_clubs_you]

"Often enough that people can leave boxfuls of them lying around in abandoned houses..." Mike's switched off his flashlight for now and holstered it again, and now he joins Eddie by the door, standing on the other side from him. Which makes them almost look like they're in a cop show, albeit a really really weird one.

As a matter of fact, just in case, Mike pulls his gun and holds it loosely at his side. Not threateningly, but just in case some of the monkeys from the last invasion have been hanging out behind the door.

[edsidlemirth.livejournal.com]

"Rarely enough that people who hang out in abandoned houses can leave them lying around and call that hidden?" Eddie smirks, but stays up against the wall, waiting for Mike and his gun to decide things are All Clear on the random-things-jumping-out-to-attack front. "I'm going in."

[seal_clubs_you]

"I get the feeling they left in a hurry when the ladies arrived."

Well, shoot. He wanted to go in first. Ya snooze, ya lose, Mikey!

"Got you covered."

He can't see much into the rooms beyond yet, but he's not picking up any movement. It's a shame he doesn't have the suppressor and laser sighting kit on his handgun right now, but that would give rise to way too many difficult questions.

[edsidlemirth.livejournal.com]

"The ants aren't giving us any trouble," he says, and slips past the doorway. "So that would have some interesting implications about the ants. Makes it all festive, doesn't it?" His voice becomes singsong and giddy. "Wonder what we'll find!"