Search Requests

SEARCH REQUESTS

At game start, the map is completely unexplored and covered by a "fog of war" obscuring its features. New characters will be randomly dropped onto the island's shores; from there, to uncover tiles on the map and figure out more about where they are, search requests are required to document movement, attempt to uncover hidden materials and passages, discover or confront dangers, find old ruins and create new settlements, and potentially, solve puzzles related to the mystery of the island itself.

RULES AND GUIDELINES

Search requests are a required mechanic of this game. A search request for the current AC cycle must be submitted in order to pass AC without a strike.
Mistakes in search requests will never be penalized. Don't be afraid to eyeball a distance or make an approximate guess; if the math doesn't quite match up, or the path doesn't exist, I will offer alternate destinations and work with you in order to decide how the search request will resolve.
Search requests will rarely be immediately fatal. Unless your character is doing something intentionally reckless, I will do my best to offer paths of escape for any sudden dangers that arise.
You can be as precise or as vague as you want. If you want to exactly plot out the squares your character will travel through and search every IC day, that is totally fine. It's also fine to simply report that your character is staying in one place all month, or to give a starting point and a desired destination, with a general request to search a wide area. Just note that, the more vague you are in your request, the more I will extrapolate to fill in the blanks.
Retroactive/backdated search requests are allowed. They just can't be used for the current month's AC if they fall outside of the current month's AC period, or overwrite a previously submitted search request. Forward-dated search requests are also allowed as long as they fall within the same IC day that the request was posted (for example, if you post a search request on IC Day 30 morning, you can make that search request last for the entirety of IC day 30, not just the morning of).
Thoroughly searching a square, rather than just traveling through it, halves movement through that square. So if you choose to search every square along a path, you'll only travel half as far as someone moving with purpose to a destination. Remember that simply traveling through a square will still fully reveal it.
IC Days are split into three 8-hour increments. Each of these corresponds to one OOC day. Morning is from 4AM -> 11:59AM, Day is from 12PM -> 7:59PM, and Night is 8PM -> 3:59AM.
Several examples of search requests are provided below to help illustrate how they work. If you still have questions, please ask them in the FAQ (or in your search request!).

MAP REFERENCE/TRAVEL CONDITIONS

TRAVEL CONDITIONS | IC DAYS 15 → 17

MORNING

DAY

NIGHT

BEACH

OCEAN*

JUNGLE

FOOTHILLS

MOUNTAINS

4 squares/hour
(32 total)
3 square visibility

4 squares/hour
(32 total)
5 square visibility

4 squares/hour
(32 total)
1 square visibility

2 squares/hour
(16 total)
3 square visibility

2 squares/hour
(16 total)
5 square visibility

2 squares/hour
(16 total)
1 square visibility

1 square/hour
(8 total)
0 square visibility

2 squares/hour
(16 total)
2 square visibility

2 squares/hour
(16 total)
3 square visibility

1 square/hour
(8 total)
1 square visibility

1 square/hour
(8 total)
5 square visibility

1 square/hour
(8 total)
7 square visibility

1 square/hour
(8 total)
3 square visibility

*The average human can only tread water for three hours

LEGEND

- Preexisting Structure

- Ocean

- Reef

- Deep Water

- River

- Natural Landmark

- Beach

- Jungle

- Mangroves

- Character-Made Landmark

- Foothills

- Mountain

Click on any of the map tiles for details.

III

VII

VIII

XII

XIII

XIV

XVI

SUBMISSIONS

# | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
All new characters will be given a toplevel to this post. To submit a search request, fill out the below form and copy/paste it as a response to your toplevel.

IC DATES: The IC dates the search request covers (I would also recommend putting this in the subject line to make it easier to keyword search later). You can use whole days, partial days, or a combination of either. To verify what IC days line up with real-world days and events, consult the Calendar.

STARTING SQUARE: The square your character is starting their search request on, format TILE.COLUMN.ROW. This should line up with your previous search request, or your starting location if newly arrived/revived.

ENDING SQUARE: The square your character is ending their search request on. If you're not sure where they'll end up (the area is unexplored/your character has a vague idea of where they want to go/you're not sure on the math/etc.), you can give a more rough answer here. Something like "they want to make it to Tile II," or "as close to II.AA.3 as possible" are perfectly valid answers.

DETAILS: The meat of your request. This is where you describe:

The path your character is taking,
The squares you want them to search,
Any special actions your character is taking during this period of time (or inaction), and
Any other special notes or questions you might have about this request.

Again, you can provide as much or as little information as you want; saying that your character is simply moving from point A to point B without searching anything is 100% acceptable.

NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If Squalo wants to dislodge this, he's going to need a lot of levers. It's more the debris inside the plane - and the fragmented, broken nature of the floors - that make it especially precarious to try and climb around in.

Night 004
Hour 1 - 7: VI.EE.29 (resting)
Hour 8: VI.EE.29 (dead rodent - species indeterminant; does not look fresh)

It's now the start of Morning 005.

GORGEOUS ART THANK YOU <3

Okay, so basically the danger is less that the whole thing might come crashing down with him inside, and more that everything on the interior that could be used as foothold could break without warning, did I get that correctly?

Also... eugh, he will not be eating the dead rodent.

He's going to move toward the maybe-caldera, still careful just in case some volcano-worshipping locals are laying in ambush... or, like, the ground gives or something. Speaking of which, if the ground starts looking suspicious, he'll use the blunt end of his spear-stick to check it as he walks.

He's going to press on until it's too hot/dangerous to continue, or he can get a proper look at the caldera -- mostly he's interested whether the volcano appears active or not, but he's also keeping an eye out for anything useful as usual.

That's the gist of it, yes!

Morning 005
Hour 1 - 2: VI.EE.29 -> VI.EE.30 (eight clumps of meadow sage)
Hour 3 - 4: VI.EE.30 -> VI.EE.31 (eight clumps of wood sorrel)

What Squalo encounters when he peeks over the crest of the central mountain is, indeed, a caldera, but based on the lake filling the center of the crater, it probably hasn't been active in quite some time. The exposed sides of the caldera are steep in some places and grown over with hardy trees and brush in others, and the edges of the lake are died technicolor from minerals and the layers of bacterial mats gorging on them.

Squalo has 4 hours remaining before Day 005.

He'll pocket some sage and eat some sorrel (what has the world come to, eating grass, fr fr.)

Is there a safe-looking path to get closer to the lake? Anything else he might notice about it - does it smell like anything, is there any sign of fish or other animals around? Traces of researchers or anyone else?

He'll also try to walk around the caldera and use the high elevation of the area to try to get a look in all directions - any natural or manmade landmarks he might see?

There are some spots around the lake that look like the slope is less steep than others, or there are more trees for him to grab onto on the way down in case he slips, but Squalo's initial glance over the caldera doesn't give him a whole lot of insights about where the best way to get to the bottom is, or if there are other landmarks within the landmark to investigate. An acrid, earthy smell, like a bottle of stale mineral water, permeates the air.

Morning 005
Hour 5 - 6: VI.EE.31 -> VI.EE.32 (eight handfuls of barberries)
Hour 7 - 8: VI.EE.32 -> VI.FF.32 (chunk of quartz)

While passing an area with a more delicate slope to the bottom, Squalo's keen eye picks up on a small trail winding through the foliage. It's nothing super overt - no stepping stones or stairs or anything like that - just a desire path, possibly from the local wildlife making their way to the lake.

Day 005
Hour 1 - 2: VI.FF.32 -> VI.FF.31 (a climbing piton)

From here, Squalo can just barely see the plane fuselage to the northwest, as well as two separate river springs to the immediate south. There's also pretty clearly a man-made structure to the northeast - something small, square, with the glint of solar panels on its roof.

Squalo has 6 hours remaining before Night 005.

He'll pick up all of those items and try a berry, trying to determine if it's safe to eat. If it doesn't seem immediately suspicious, he'll scoop some handfuls into his jeans-turned-bag. His coat has probably also become one at this point.

He'll try following the animal path, since if they're trying to get to the lake, it probably means it's drinkable, right? If he does that, does there seem to be a relatively safe (for an athletic person) way into the caldera and back? He wants to touch that water, damn it.

If not, he'll head down south to the closer river spring to get some water into his bottle and into himself, then head toward the man-made structure to the northeast, keeping an eye out for danger or anything suspicious as usual.

The berries taste vaguely sweet with a distinct, sour aftertaste. Nothing terrible happens to Squalo immediately after he eats them.

Day 005
Hour 3 - 4: VI.FF.31 -> VI.FF.32 ()

As long as Squalo is careful about it and sticks to the worn-out patches of dirt on the makeshift path, he can descend to the lake's edge easily enough, and get back up without too much extra trouble. The water is very warm and has an odd, almost artificial blue tint to it when bottled.

Squalo has 4 hours remaining before Night 005.

He'll touch it, then if it doesn't burn his finger try to taste it. Anything he might notice? And yeah, he's using the bottle to get some volcano water in that case!

After that he'll still stick to the same path as detailed earlier, go to the spring to actually drink some water (keeping the volcano water in the bottle though!) then head toward the earlier spotted structure to the northeast. If he can't make it there before it gets dark, he'll be looking for a safe looking tree or hole between rocks to rest in and continue onward in the morning.

The water doesn't burn him to touch or to drink. It has a slightly earthy, but ultimately smooth taste, although it does smell sharply like sulfur when it gets close to his nose.

Day 005
Hour 4: VI.FF.32 -> X.FF.1
Hour 5: X.FF.1 -> X.EE.3
Hour 6: X.EE.3 -> X.DD.5 (getting some spring water)

Now that Squalo is down from the mountaintop, he should be able to make a path around the worst of the mountain ridges if he circles the peak east to the strange building he saw.

Hour 7: X.DD.5 -> X.FF.5
Hour 8: X.FF.5 (finding a place to rest)

It's now the start of Night 005.

He'll rest for about seven hours or so, then set out toward the possible-building to the northeast again!

As usual, he's still wary of an ambush and keeping an eye out for anything that looks like food or weapon.

Night 005
Hour 1 - 7: X.FF.5 (resting)
Hour 8: X.FF.5 -> XI.A.5 (small section of twine)

Morning 006
Hour 1: XI.A.5 -> XI.C.5
Hour 2: XI.C.5 -> XI.E.3 (sharp chunk of granite)
Hour 3: XI.E.3 -> XI.G.1 (makeshift leather glove)
Hour 4: XI.G.1 -> VII.I.32 (a handful of elderberries)
Hour 5: VII.I.32 -> VII.K.30 (degraded plastic container - has two sections)

It looks like a small campsite was set up here some time ago, complete with the remnants of a campfire, next to a small mountain stream. It's easy enough to cross here.

Squalo has 3 hours remaining before Day 006.

Taking the twine, granite, and glove.

He'll stop at the campsite, drink some water, and wash up in the stream (quickly and still keeping his axe on hand, obviously).

Then he'll continue toward his best estimation of the structure he saw earlier (I assume that's the one in VII.C.25), circling around especially steep cliffs if he runs into some.

Morning 006
Hour 6: VII.K.30 (pit stop)
Hour 7: VII.K.30 -> VII.M.28 (plastic folder divider, opaque orange)
Hour 8: VII.M.28 -> VII.O.27

Day 006
Hour 1: VII.O.27 -> VII.N.25 (lump of charcoal)
Hour 2: VII.N.25 -> VII.L.25 (small black snake)
Hour 3: VII.L.25 -> VII.J.24 (tuft of soft white fur, which turns almost completely translucent when held up in direct sunlight)
Hour 4: VII.J.24 -> VII.H.22 (belt buckle, but no belt)

Right as Squalo turns the corner of a particularly perilous-looking stretch of cliffside, he spots a small group of travelers only a kilometer downhill in square VII.G.21, moving quite slowly towards a clear mountain river.

Squalo has 4 hours remaining until Night 006.

Taking the divider, charcoal, fur and buckle.

He considers going after the travelers but ultimately decides to continue his mission and look for the building he saw earlier first.

Day 006
Hour 5: VII.H.22 -> VII.F.24 (two elderberries)

He can see it now, further into the small valley - a little concrete structure poking through the trees and nestled into the surrounding cliffs. This is definitely what he saw from the mountaintop.

Hour 6: VII.F.24 -> VII.D.25 (a strip of cloth, olive green)
Hour 7: VII.D.25 -> VII.C.25

Squalo comes upon the concrete structure as the sun is close to the horizon, and it's obvious that someone has had their way with this place recently. The singular front door sits permanently ajar, clearly broken, with a multitude of debris strewn around the dark interior. A desk is visible in the center of the room and is covered in scrap. All three of the cells along one wall are open, and in various states of disarray. Only two of the three pedestals on the opposite wall has a drone on it, with what was presumably the other one also broken apart across the floor and in one of the cells. The two remaining drones are clearly broken - one smashed into several pieces, the other simply unresponsive. All lights are off except for an extremely dim overhead LED strip through the center of the room.

Squalo has 1 hour remaining until Night 006.

He'll take the cloth!

He'll enter the room and have a look around, steering clear of the cells. How big are the drones and drone pieces? Could he feasibly carry the mostly-intact drone by himself, or would it be too heavy?

Do any of the smashed up pieces on the floor look like it might be the middle part, or contain some sort of processor/"brain"? He's probably seen his team work with (smaller) drones before so he should have some basic/vague knowledge which part does what, even if he definitely can't fix or program one himself.

What about the scrap on the desk, does anything stand out or look useful?

The drones could theoretically be carried away, but they're pretty cumbersome at four feet long apiece. The pieces of drone are much more manageable and surprisingly lightweight; if Squalo dedicates something to carrying them, like a bag, he could haul one off without becoming over-encumbered.

The drone bits on the floor are pretty thoroughly dismembered and unidentifiable, thanks to the one doing the dismembering. At least the bits are vaguely organized by type, if not by location. But someone with Jet's knowledge of electronics should be able to recognize that the parts that are present are also almost universally trashed.

The scrap on the desk is more recognizable as something that probably used to be a desktop computer of some sort. The parts revealed are surprisingly intense, technologically speaking, resembling what would be considered top-of-the-line modern Earth electronics mixed with stuff that looks completely alien in design. Most of a plastic case, six bundles of wires, two handfuls of electronics salvage, and a keyboard can all be found within the pile and are still relatively intact.

It's now the start of Night 006.

He's going to scoop up the electronics salvage and the wires, and take his chances with the intact drone, as the separate pieces look too trashed to be useful despite being easier to carry.

He's going to thoroughly check it for signs of life, make sure all the rotors are non-functional, and look for any "doors"/openings in the casing where some sort of a weapon (like an electric prod) might come out. Then he'll be wrapping and tying the jeans he has found around the middle to prevent any such compartments from opening without a warning, then remove the belt from his coat to fashion a sort of handle over it, so he can carry the thing on his back in relative comfort.

Then he's bailing, because he doesn't trust the building to stay the night in. First night of no sleeping! He'll try to largely follow the path he took to reach here and simply retrace his steps, minus the sidetrack to the volcano. He's got the axe on hand and he's ready to drop the drone if anything suspicious happens, but otherwise, he's aiming for that makeshift camp in VII.K.30 he found on the way here.

Night 006
Hour 1: VII.C.25 (observations/arts and crafts)

The drone Squalo investigates looks well and truly deceased. Even days after it happened he can catch the faint whiff of electrical smoke when he gets near it, and see the scorch marks on the underside of the drone and the top of the plinth it sits on where it pretty violently shorted out. The underside of the drone is basically just one big hatch that slides open - Squalo can figure this out by simply flipping it over, as the two doors limply slide apart and a large, claw-like structure slumps out. He can stuff it back inside while tying the drone up.

Hour 2: VII.C.25 -> VII.D.25
Hour 3: VII.D.25 -> VII.E.25
Hour 4: VII.E.25 -> VII.F.24
Hour 5: VII.F.24 -> VII.G.23
Hour 6: VII.G.23 -> VII.H.22

Squalo can see what looks like the glow of a campfire in square VII.G.20, but it's pretty far away and hard to tell what's really going on from this distance.

Hour 7: VII.H.22 -> VII.I.23 (a strip of gauze, stained)
Hour 8: VII.I.23 -> VII.J.24

Morning 007
Hour 1: VII.J.24 -> VII.L.25 (three elderberries)
Hour 2: VII.L.25 -> VII.N.25
Hour 3: VII.N.25 -> VII.O.27 (a chunk of flint)
Hour 4: VII.O.27 -> VII.M.28 (a chunk of copper ore)
Hour 5: VII.M.28 -> VII.K.30

The makeshift camp is still there, the same as Squalo left it.

Squalo has 3 hours remaining until Day 007.

He picks up the flint and the copper ore! He also eats his remaining (now probably wilty) cucumbers and some barberries, and drinks some water from the stream before continuing on.

He'll be trying to retrace his steps all the way to the VI tile; he's fairly good with directions though he may not end up taking the exact same path (up to you!)

Once there, he'll still be headed backwards the best he can remember, and try to pass by the squares VI.L.29 and VI.T.30 to pick up the (chunk of sulfur) and (chunk of copper ore) that he left behind earlier (he's been informed that rocks are useful).

He'll be moving until it gets dark, then he'll once again look for some relatively safe location like a big tree or a nook/cranny between rocks to rest.

Morning 007
Hour 6: VII.K.30 (refreshments)
Hour 7: VII.K.30 -> VII.I.32 (a crude ring made of roughly-shaped iron, flecked with bits of rust and polished to a faint shine)
Hour 8: VII.I.32 -> XI.G.1 (three bundles of yarrow)

Day 007
Hour 1: XI.G.1 -> XI.E.3 (a small corn snake)
Hour 2: XI.E.3 -> XI.C.5
Hour 3: XI.C.5 -> XI.A.5 (three chanterelle mushrooms)
Hour 4: XI.A.5 -> X.EE.5

Around now would be when Squalo would divert north towards the caldera, but if he wants to take the path of least resistance (and less risk), continuing to circle the mountain west would be the way to go.

Hour 5: X.EE.5 -> X.CC.4
Hour 6: X.CC.4 -> X.AA.4 (small bag of dried, assorted insects, unlabeled)
Hour 7: X.AA.4 -> X.Y.6 (fake plastic log, 2 feet long)

Squalo crosses the small stream that was spawned from the spring further west, and based on how it cuts through the mountain to the west, he'll probably have to cross it again on the other side.

Hour 8: X.Y.6 -> X.W.8 (boar's hoof, thoroughly chewed)

Squalo has gambled on a place to sleep, but unfortunately this gamble has not paid off for him today. The sun sets on a bare hillside with only small trees and shrubs, forcing Squalo to either settle down in the open or try to travel in the dark until he finds something better.

It's now the start of Night 007.

Taking the ring, yarrow, mushrooms and the... log? Dafuq? What is this doing in a real jungle? Maybe Team Science will have some thoughts.

Also damn. He'll swear about his luck for a bit then continue on moving, slow and careful, until he finds a place suitable for rest.

EDIT: is the plastic log hollow?

Edited 2023-06-15 00:17 (UTC)

The plastic log is hollow, yes. It has holes in the top, bottom, and in a little artificial knot in the center. Wear patters around all three of these openings suggest that animals have been scooting around in there for some time.

Night 007
Hour 1 - 2: X.W.8 -> X.V.8 (employee badge - picture and most identifying markers have been faded away, but some writing is still faintly visible as saying, in English, ZOO)
Hour 3 - 4: X.V.8 -> X.U.7 (large, partially-chewed seed, resembling a mango's)

Squalo finally finds a suitable rocky outcrop to collapse under for what remains of the evening.

Squalo has 4 hours remaining before Morning 008.

Yeah he'll take it just because of how weird it is but definitely try to shake critters out of it beforehand! Also picking up the badge for his oddities collection.

Yay sleep. He'll do his best not to pass out completely and probably wake up every now and then to check his surroundings, but he'll most likely sleep 3-4 hours into the morning.

Then he'll continue heading toward VI.T.30 via the path of least resistance.

Morning 008
Hour 1 - 4: X.U.7 (sleeping)
Hour 5: X.U.7 -> X.V.5 (tube sock, white)

Squalo runs back into the river he found the source for yesterday. Now that it's carved its way through the slice of mountains to the east, it's picked up a surprising amount of water and speed. This is probably one of the last places Squalo can cross before the currents get too sketchy to wade through easily.

Hour 6: X.V.5 -> X.X.3
Hour 7: X.X.3 -> X.Y.1
Hour 8: X.Y.1 -> VI.Z.31

Squalo can see the airplane fuselage a couple of kilometers north, which means that he's back on-track!

Day 008
Hour 1: VI.Z.31 -> VI.X.30 (seven shoots of yarrow)
Hour 2: VI.X.30 -> VI.V.30 (two chunks of unrefined blue apatite)
Hour 3: VI.V.30 -> VI.T.30

Squalo, already keeping an eye out for it, quickly locates the chunk of copper ore he left behind here.

Squalo has 5 hours remaining before Night 008.

Search Requests

SEARCH REQUESTS

RULES AND GUIDELINES

MAP REFERENCE/TRAVEL CONDITIONS

SUBMISSIONS

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