Network - Audio

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

Who: John Sheppard
Username: Pegasus
Warnings: Blood, injuries, violence, guns, cruelty/violence to sea animals, explosions, will add to list if anything else comes up


So apparently there’s a river of blood in Dogtown.

Me and McKay went in the southwest entrance and there’s this blood river there…which is apparently a thing that just happens…with what looks like something big living in it.

Anyway, there’s a building on the other side—has anyone been there? Do you know what it is? We haven’t been that far in so I don’t know if there’s another way around. If there’s not, we might have to figure out a way to take out whatever’s swimming around in there.

By the way, I really don’t recommend going in the way we did. If you have to, don’t make any noise for about a quarter of a mile—then wear earplugs.

Comments

audio

[aelwyn_aberration]

A river of blood...

[That tidbit makes her audibly very interested. The building is unimportant for now.]

Under no circumstances should you touch it. Following along might be an idea, though... Especially considering this world seems to have some familiarity with the River Styx. [Is that what this place is? Just a weird fucking domain in the topmost layer of Hell? She can't even rule it out... It would explain so much.]

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

What happens if you touch it? I was thinking of bringing back a sample.

[So maybe he’ll ask Rodney to build some kind of robot that can do it.

Or at the very least, wear gloves.]

…on a good day I’d say that was ridiculous, but it’s not a good day. There’s some weird crap going on around the riverbanks—someone or something was shooting at us if we made noise, then there were these birds that drive you crazy—

[aelwyn_aberration]

The River Styx, also known as the River of Blood, is a never-ending river of blood that travels through Hell, the Abyss... Hades - which I believe you call the Underworld? And a few other realms that I don't believe Earth has any equivalent to.

When you drink or touch the liquid, it erases your memories and sense of self, permanently. You become a moldable puppet for the owner of the realm to use and reshape into whatever they want. A demon, normally.

[She considers... a domain in Hell or the Abyss or Hades or whatever isn't outside of the realm of possibilities, but perhaps more likely and more pressingly.]

If the River bled into Dogtown, there might be a hellgate nearby...

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

Somehow that doesn’t surprise me. At all.

[His tone is very dry. He’d been jokingly suspecting that there was something hellish about this place but now that someone has actually suggested it too…]

Where I come from a lot of things from what we considered legends and mythology are real—-built by who we call Ancients. If there really is a real River Styx, Hades, or Underworld, I wouldn’t be surprised. In most cases it would have been an actual planet that you could get to. Rodney would know better than me about anything more than that, like if we’ve got alternate dimensions involved.

I want to cross that river, though. Preferably without becoming a demon.

[aelwyn_aberration]

You can get to them in our world, but you need a special kind of transportation ship. [Although she does faintly remember hearing about some elaborate theory that all the planes are just different planets. It's unlikely, she thinks it might have even been disproven, but who knows.] There are adventurers that tend to travel between them for various reasons, and adventurers are the highest export in the country I've lived in for the past ten or so years.

You can cross, I'm fairly sure. You just need to do it without touching it. A makeshift bridge should work, provided you're extra careful.

audio

[musicdied]

What kind of something? Did it try to attack, or was it just there and big?

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

I know it sounds ridiculous but it honestly looked like a sea serpent.

Didn’t get close enough for it to see me, anyway, so I don’t know how primed it is to attack.

From what we saw, it was just swimming.

[musicdied]

Nessie's larger cousin was in the bay a couple of months ago, so it doesn't sound that ridiculous.

Were there zombies?

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

I would have liked to have seen that, I think.

No, didn’t see any zombies. Heard a lot of birds for some reason, but never saw ‘em.

[musicdied]

The birds are also probably some old bullshit. It's lucky you didn't see them. They can get violent, and it's very hard to shoot a swarm.

[That she manages to sound matter-of-fact about that probably means she's been in Gloucester for far, far too long.]

You should test if the sea snake attacks anything that goes into the water. If it doesn't, you could probably sneak by if it's distracted. If it does, maybe you can get it to eat a boat full of explosives and blow it up so it stops being anyone's problem.

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

So you've seen 'em before? Couldn't find the damn things, but I certainly heard them.

[This is both encouraging and terrifying.

Also. Yelena, buddy, he loves this suggestion.]

I'll try and see what happens. I couldn't even really tell how big it is from what I could see, but if we can figure out what it eats, or even if we don't, we can set up a bait boat and go to town.

[musicdied]

They tried to peck my patrol partner to death a few months ago.

[She's just. Leaving out the fact that Peter had been trying to climb up and capture one of them at the time. He's not here to defend himself, so it only seems fair.]

Worst case scenario, you still get an interesting fireworks show out of the explosion.

audio | un: badgirlcoven

[edalyn]

How big's the river? [Not that she's thinking of just flying over it. Eda, break the rules? Never.] And did you get any kind of look at the thing in there? [She's definitely reminded of the submarine experience, even if that seemed like an ocean.]

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

Pretty huge. I couldn’t swim across, that’s for sure. I was thinking of getting a boat, or maybe some decoy boats to lead the critter away.

It looked—well, honestly like a sea serpent. Because this world is just like that, I guess.

[edalyn]

Sure is. We had one of those a little while back, some mermaids made of trash were harassing him into causing a flood.

But you're probably dealing with something smaller if it fits in a river.

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

...mermaids made of trash?

...

...I'm not sure I wanna know but okay.

Yeah, I mean--it could be that thing's kid. Maybe.

[edalyn]

You don't, I hated those guys. The sea serpents could be related, though, yeah. Did this one actually try and attack anyone?

audio

[friendsfordinner]

Ignore Little Miss Paranoid, you should absolutely touch the river of blood.

[ fuck yourself up and let him watch! ]

Sure it could be something from her world. But you know what's more likely? One of the entities fucking with you—the sort of thing that always happens here. What's the one that's meat? Flesh, yeah? It's probably blood as well.

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

Which means I definitely should not touch the river of blood.

[rip]

In that case it's probably still pretty hazardous to our health. I don't think a meat entity is really all that altruistic.

[friendsfordinner]

So what, your plan is to just ignore it? That's certainly not going to bite you in the ass later.

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

I'm not ignoring it, I just think we should go about this sensibly.

I wanna see what's on the other side of that river.

[friendsfordinner]

[ hell yes he does. ]

We should find a boat or a little raft.

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

That’s what I wanna do. Thing is, there’s some kind of sea serpent thing swimming around. I wanna see how nasty it is. Might have to get a few decoy boats or just…go fishing. Aggressively.

[Thanks, Yelena.]

[friendsfordinner]

You don't need decoy boats. All you need is a distraction. Someone causes a ruckus on one end, attracts that thing's attention, you cross the blood river at that point.

audio

[setthetone]

I mean, you kinda ruined my day at blood river already but I'll bite.

Why shouldn't we make any noise for about a quarter of a mile.

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

What, don't you like relaxing blood river cruises?

Because you'll get shot at by who knows what. I didn't see who or what was shooting at us, but it was coming from all directions and would only stop if you were completely quiet.

[setthetone]

Pass, thanks. ... Wait, you got shot at?

[John, next time maybe lead with that!]

Are you okay? Any injuries?

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

Yeah, we did.

Some.

[In case that's too cryptic, he continues.]

It's mostly grazes and stuff. We're not actively bleeding out, if that's what you're worried about.

[setthetone]

["Some."

Carter tilts his head back towards the ceiling for a moment, glad he isn't on video. Lord, give him strength.]

You'd be a terrible EMT.

[He tries to imagine it, the radio at the reception desk crowing. County, we're bringing in two guys. They have been sorta shot at, some. Grazes and stuff.]

Where exactly are you injured? Do you have enough supplies? I can have a medical team on standby at the exit.

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

I’d be the guy driving the ambulance or firetruck.

[Just don’t ask him to radio in anything detailed.]

We’re probably good for a little while.

[Then again, this is John Sheppard making the assessment.

Good for a little while could mean mortally injured but still alive for the next five minutes.]

Couldn’t hurt.

[Translation: you’re gonna have your work cut out for you when they get out of here.]

[setthetone]

Great.

[Granted, he hasn't known the man that long. But after a shared dreamscape and sharing living quarters - plus a lifelong career with difficult patients - he thinks he can translate what's being said here just fine.]

I'll get on that then. Feel free to fill me in on your injuries anytime.

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

I will. I'll let you know if it's bad.

[As if it's probably not bad enough already.]

I might try to get a sample of the blood from the blood river, though.

[setthetone]

Keep in mind that you still have to be alive to be able to inform me.

[Yeah. He's got a feeling what this guy's baseline for bad is.]

Great. Can't wait to see it.

[He could. He could wait forever to see it, actually.]

[abrightboy]

Could the blood be from the Something Big? Maybe it just looks like the river is made of blood because the thing has bled in it so much.

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

It's possible. I still wanna get a sample and maybe that'll help tell if the river is all blood or if it's just water mixed with it.

[abrightboy]

What if it is all blood? Maybe we should follow it to its source.

[failedpromise]

Well, that isn't incredibly disturbing!

(By which means it is, in fact, incredibly disturbing. Also, ew.)

How far did you have to go to reach the river? Can it be seen from the entrance?

[ferriswheelsandfootball]

It was super creepy.

Not quite from the entrance, but about a quarter mile in you can see it. But it was a little difficult to worry about nearer to the entrance since we were taking heavy fire as soon as we got closer. Didn’t get a chance to really look at it until we got out of that area and were further in.

[failedpromise]

Great, so we've got enemy combatants hiding in the woods, too. Anything else we need to watch out for?