(this journal was recovered at an abandoned encampment on the surface of the planet now known as Fearmurderswiftdeathouch. We publish it now for your education and amusement.) Day 0 We have managed to navigate through a crevasse we located from a visual scan of the sole planet around the star XnD2L1-4. We attempted a vertical landing, but we got caught up in what appear to be some sort of extremely tall trees. Our pilot, Captain Rowe, maneuvered as best she could, and we're lucky to have lost only one skid. Still, it will take a few weeks to make the necessary repairs to the spacecraft. No matter, we had planned to be here several weeks anyway... I just hope the repairs don't interfere with my work. Good news though; we've found life! It appears that the desolate plated black “surface” of this planet is not the surface at all. It is a canopy of xeno-flora that shoot up like trees in a rain forest and block out nearly all the light delivered to the planet by its star. The atmosphere is human-breatheable, but the air stinks of rot and methane. There is a layer of decaying bio-matter that seems to rain down from the trees above, even though our weather satellite indicates that there should be little precipitation today. I've included a photo out the window of our craft (sorry, flash was on): Day 3 Today we lost Dr. George. RIP. He went off into the forest to relieve himself. The toilet facilities in our ship were torn to bits by the worms that seem to swarm around these parts, feeding off of refuse. We knew he'd been having a problem with regularity, but after a good hour, I went to investigate. Something horrible had happened. He was skewered alive on one of these trees. We couldn't figure out what had happened. At first, we thought that there were hostile natives, but even if that were true, how could they possibly have pushed his body along the entire length of one of these trees? Then we saw it. An entire tree lifted out of the ground and replanted itself 10 meters away. We will all take extra care now to look out above. Two photos enclosed: one of these odd worms, and poor Dr. George: Day 5 We keep losing men. It's only me and Captain Rowe now. We lost our entire security detail when we went out to put down some nearby egg clutches that have been hatching those horrid worms that have wrought havoc on our food supplies. It turns out that the clutches have a self defense mechanism. Security blew the crap out of the clutch, but not before it claimed the life of Dr. Carnage. A few of the worms hatched anyway and tore his remains to shreds. On the way back to camp, we encountered another odd creature. This time, the security officers opened fire immediately. They each unloaded an entire extended-clip into it... to no effect. The captain and I ran as fast as we could back to camp. Here is a picture of the clutch. Also, I snapped a quick picture as we ran from the Stilt-Walker: Day 6 (Final Entry) It's all coming together. There are only two species on the surface of this planet, and one of them is us. The eggs, the larva, the three legged stilt-walkers... even the trees... they're all one animal at various stages of life. I first had a hunch when the stilt-walker speared Captain Rowe through her heart, killing her instantly. How interesting! The feet were one big spike, just like what I've been calling the “trees.” But then, when it ate her still twitching body, I had my real breakthrough. I saw the beast grow 100 meters high before my very eyes. Those aren't giant trees that uproot themselves; they are the legs of great beasts, jostling for position in the sun. Surely I will go down in the history books for this discovery. Since then, instead of fighting these beasts, I've been throwing them a bit of food whenever they approach the camp. It's been working well, and so long as I stay here, I should be safe. I'm running low on food reserves, but surely someone will send a rescue party soon. Right? [Enclosed is an annotated photo that was pinned to the inside cover of the author's journal.]
Great idea! Black fog (thicker on the right). I thought maybe the angler-lights could shine through, so the player could at least have a chance:
Yeah, I phoned that part in. I admit it. =) I just threw something simple together to replace the happy-sunshine background in the base screenshot. The terrain is lust a hue-shift of grassland too.
