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route666rp2025-03-06 05:39 pm
monstertruckers) wrote in route666rp2025-03-06 05:39 pm
Entry tags:
MARCH EVENT LOG
After weeks in the forest, the trees begin to fade out in favor of grass; miles of it with every shade of green you’ve ever seen, covering rolling hills. The weather tends to be mild, with scattered clouds blown on gentle winds… But the nights somehow seem just as ominous as those in the forest, with the moon uncovered and glaring down balefully like a broken eye. And wide open as they are, the grasslands have their own share of danger and weirdness.
01: MESSAGES
The grasslands are dotted with abandoned electrical poles and power pylons. Ruined electric cables hand off these towers… But along with that are kites and balloons tied to the structures. If a Drifter gets close enough to grab one, they can find a message tied to the tail end. It’s printed with a memory or a phrase that is distinctly from their home, and their past.
If a Drifter holds onto the message, it might just remind them of home and help them resist any changes. Or even pull them back out of a monster transformation! Or it might just haunt their senses instead, and almost make them visualize and hear where they heard that phrase for the first time. Try not to get lost in those visions. Drifters can potentially carry one other message for another character, if need be; especially if they need to revert someone else from a painful transformation. Be advised that doing so will result in haunted senses.
Drifters are advised not to grip the old electric wires too tightly. They might get voices from the past of this world, all crowding their mind; old talk shows, sports games, and news reports on the moon. It’s enough to leave them with a serious headache if you hang on for too long, if not knocking them out completely.
If a Drifter holds onto the message, it might just remind them of home and help them resist any changes. Or even pull them back out of a monster transformation! Or it might just haunt their senses instead, and almost make them visualize and hear where they heard that phrase for the first time. Try not to get lost in those visions. Drifters can potentially carry one other message for another character, if need be; especially if they need to revert someone else from a painful transformation. Be advised that doing so will result in haunted senses.
Drifters are advised not to grip the old electric wires too tightly. They might get voices from the past of this world, all crowding their mind; old talk shows, sports games, and news reports on the moon. It’s enough to leave them with a serious headache if you hang on for too long, if not knocking them out completely.
02: TRANSMITTER
Out on the road, Drifters glimpse buildings, which are unnervingly empty. Equally unnerving are strange forms lining the roads, the closer the Convoy gets to the broken buildings. All of them look vaguely humanoid, but half melted and coated in something metallic. Clearly the Husks weren’t limited to the forest, with how many litter the landscape. Some Husks become violent, breaking open as strange ostritch-bird and reptilian monsters claw their way out. Such creatures can be easily dispatched, but still harry Drifters.
Other, inert Husks give off an odd metallic hum. Getting close enough to touch the Husks makes the hum louder, and can trigger behavior changes in Drifters. While the inert Husks can’t force transformations, they leave Drifters restless, on edge, and activating psychological monster traits.
When the Convoy makes camp, it is inevitably near Husk clusters. The metallic hum only increases as the sun goes down. But the Convoy has a counter for that. A haunting melody starts to play on the Convoy speakers, and from any phones; taking the sound closer to the Husks causes ghostly forms to rise up and towards the moon. It puts a stop to the odd humming… At least until the next camp.
Other, inert Husks give off an odd metallic hum. Getting close enough to touch the Husks makes the hum louder, and can trigger behavior changes in Drifters. While the inert Husks can’t force transformations, they leave Drifters restless, on edge, and activating psychological monster traits.
When the Convoy makes camp, it is inevitably near Husk clusters. The metallic hum only increases as the sun goes down. But the Convoy has a counter for that. A haunting melody starts to play on the Convoy speakers, and from any phones; taking the sound closer to the Husks causes ghostly forms to rise up and towards the moon. It puts a stop to the odd humming… At least until the next camp.
03: ROUND 'EM UP
Those with sharp eyes will notice something different one morning, on a nearby hill. It appears to be a flock of cattle… Which might well be a welcome sight for those wanting beef for dinner. As the Convoy rolls closer, it swiftly becomes clear these aren’t normal cattle. Their skin is shiny, scale-like and metallic, and their eyes glow. Those hooves also look sharp enough to punch right through a car door.
These are bull gorgons, the guidance computer helpfully notes. And they are capable of exhaling a petrifying mist; one deep breath is enough to make a person slow, two freezes them in place, and three turns them to stone. Luckily the blood of a gorgon bull can also cure the effect. Drifters won’t be able to capture such dangerous beasts for livestock, but they can still try and wrangle them and harvest them for meat! The skin and horns are both tough enough to be turned into tools, as needed.
Tough cars can easily square off with a gorgon bull and come away victorious. Other cars are advised to try lassoing from a distance, and wearing the animals down before moving in for the kill.
These are bull gorgons, the guidance computer helpfully notes. And they are capable of exhaling a petrifying mist; one deep breath is enough to make a person slow, two freezes them in place, and three turns them to stone. Luckily the blood of a gorgon bull can also cure the effect. Drifters won’t be able to capture such dangerous beasts for livestock, but they can still try and wrangle them and harvest them for meat! The skin and horns are both tough enough to be turned into tools, as needed.
Tough cars can easily square off with a gorgon bull and come away victorious. Other cars are advised to try lassoing from a distance, and wearing the animals down before moving in for the kill.
04: BUILDING THUNDER
There’s dark clouds boiling up in the sky. Those who shelter in the Convoy will be spared the worst of the storm… Though the winds have a way of screaming, trying to call Drifters out into the storm. And flecks of metal and glowing moonshard stone have a way of replacing rain and intensifying the storm.
If exposed to the storm outside the forcefield, Drifters experience the following:
Gale Force: Drifters are swept up by the winds and tossed about, and even thrown skyward. Drifters damaged by the wind will find themselves inflicted with temporary Harpy traits. These traits become more intense as Drifters experience hunger or violence.
Deluge: Drifters exposed to rain are at risk of almost drowning, along with shards of Husk metal and moon shards slicing down. Drifters damaged from rain will find themselves inflicted with temporary Naga traits. These traits grow worse as Drifters lie, omit truths, or tell falsehoods.
These traits last as long as the weather remains stormy; the symptoms ease as the skies clear, only to flare back up as storms return, and will remain that way as long as the Convoy remains in the grasslands.
If exposed to the storm outside the forcefield, Drifters experience the following:
Gale Force: Drifters are swept up by the winds and tossed about, and even thrown skyward. Drifters damaged by the wind will find themselves inflicted with temporary Harpy traits. These traits become more intense as Drifters experience hunger or violence.
Deluge: Drifters exposed to rain are at risk of almost drowning, along with shards of Husk metal and moon shards slicing down. Drifters damaged from rain will find themselves inflicted with temporary Naga traits. These traits grow worse as Drifters lie, omit truths, or tell falsehoods.
These traits last as long as the weather remains stormy; the symptoms ease as the skies clear, only to flare back up as storms return, and will remain that way as long as the Convoy remains in the grasslands.
04: MONSTER SHIFT, NAGA
This month, Drifters will have access to the serpentine Naga. On top of all Naga species traits being available, the following occurs:
+Cold Blooded: the rain and storms can potentially make Naga slow and sluggish, or inclined to sleep or seek out other heat sources to gain energy; this includes basking in body heat from others!
+Water Divert: With their water shaping, Naga can divert falling rain and even ground saturation to make the area or other Drifters more dry. They can also concentrate water into different areas, and can also change water into mist or ice.
+Blue shift: the scales of Naga become more vibrantly blue, or a strange mottled combination of blue and stormy gray, the more intense the rains become. These scale colors can also reflect their moods.
+Extra arms that are painful and disorienting to grow, and can result in coordination issues.
+Scale Pains: Pain and discomfort when scales grow in, as well as fangs or talons!
+Water glide: during floods from the rains, Naga find they can easily traverse deep water as though they were simply walking (or slithering) across it.
+Thermal vision, making it easy to track others in the middle of storms. Vision may also become disorienting, and eyes become slitted.
+Cold Blooded: the rain and storms can potentially make Naga slow and sluggish, or inclined to sleep or seek out other heat sources to gain energy; this includes basking in body heat from others!
+Water Divert: With their water shaping, Naga can divert falling rain and even ground saturation to make the area or other Drifters more dry. They can also concentrate water into different areas, and can also change water into mist or ice.
+Blue shift: the scales of Naga become more vibrantly blue, or a strange mottled combination of blue and stormy gray, the more intense the rains become. These scale colors can also reflect their moods.
+Extra arms that are painful and disorienting to grow, and can result in coordination issues.
+Scale Pains: Pain and discomfort when scales grow in, as well as fangs or talons!
+Water glide: during floods from the rains, Naga find they can easily traverse deep water as though they were simply walking (or slithering) across it.
+Thermal vision, making it easy to track others in the middle of storms. Vision may also become disorienting, and eyes become slitted.
04: MONSTER SHIFT, HARPY
The storm will bring a second monster this month, in the form of Harpy. On top of all Harpy species traits being active, the following occurs:
+Storm Rider: high agility and capable of flying through the storm winds without hindrance. Even tornadoes can be mastered!
+Feather pains: itching, or full pain when growing feathers or wings. Talons may also be painful when growing from fingers or from feet.
+Wind Affinity: able to shape wind, including diverting the worst of the storm winds, or summon and focus wind into razors.
+Warbling Voice: words may waver and slip into something more songlike, or even a damaging sonic scream if emotions are heightened.
+Height Call: a need to get higher into the air, whether through perching on buildings or the convoy, or through flight. A sense of euphoria as they go higher.
+Nest Building: a compulsion to create a nest out of spare and soft objects, and feeling more safe inside that space.
+Heightened vision like a bird of prey, able to pick out details even at great distance. This may be disorienting at first, as vision becomes telescopic.
+Storm Rider: high agility and capable of flying through the storm winds without hindrance. Even tornadoes can be mastered!
+Feather pains: itching, or full pain when growing feathers or wings. Talons may also be painful when growing from fingers or from feet.
+Wind Affinity: able to shape wind, including diverting the worst of the storm winds, or summon and focus wind into razors.
+Warbling Voice: words may waver and slip into something more songlike, or even a damaging sonic scream if emotions are heightened.
+Height Call: a need to get higher into the air, whether through perching on buildings or the convoy, or through flight. A sense of euphoria as they go higher.
+Nest Building: a compulsion to create a nest out of spare and soft objects, and feeling more safe inside that space.
+Heightened vision like a bird of prey, able to pick out details even at great distance. This may be disorienting at first, as vision becomes telescopic.
05: ZOLOM HUNT
As the Convoy travels into marshy points in the grasslands, it becomes clear something is following. Something is hunting the Convoy, disturbing the boggy ground in waves and humps as it travels. It’s hard to say what exactly the monster is, just that it’s BIG and feeling out the Convoy, seeing if it can find prey.
Drifters who try attacking as it hunts will see the shape sink into marshy ground and shrink away, before returning. After about an hour of building tension, it finally strikes. The ground erupts in a spray of water, as a thirty foot serpent called a Zolom rises out of the ground.
Going by the hissing surrounding the Convoy, it’s clear there isn’t just one. The Zoloms go for any who attacked them while hunting, identifying those as the biggest threat, followed by whatever looks like the best prey.
In the aftermath, Zoloms can be harvested. Their fangs are sharp, their scales are tough and can make good leather, and their blood, while corrosive, can still be contained in vials for poisons or anti-venom study by the more medically inclined. And the meat may taste a bit gamey and oddly spicey, but it’s still edible. But first, Drifters need to survive the onslaught.
Drifters who try attacking as it hunts will see the shape sink into marshy ground and shrink away, before returning. After about an hour of building tension, it finally strikes. The ground erupts in a spray of water, as a thirty foot serpent called a Zolom rises out of the ground.
Going by the hissing surrounding the Convoy, it’s clear there isn’t just one. The Zoloms go for any who attacked them while hunting, identifying those as the biggest threat, followed by whatever looks like the best prey.
In the aftermath, Zoloms can be harvested. Their fangs are sharp, their scales are tough and can make good leather, and their blood, while corrosive, can still be contained in vials for poisons or anti-venom study by the more medically inclined. And the meat may taste a bit gamey and oddly spicey, but it’s still edible. But first, Drifters need to survive the onslaught.
05-A: ZOLOM ATTACK
Constrictor: The lead Zolom constricts the Convoy trailers to try and crack them open and spill any Drifters out. Other Zoloms target vehicles, trying to get at the Drifters driving them. Tough cars can stand up to the coils and ram into the Zoloms enough to disorient them. Fast cars can easily outpace the Zolom, and if needed lead serpents away from the Convoy before doubling back.
Beta and Venom: There's more danger after Zoloms take wounds. Their blood steams as it hits the ground, burning grass and earth and steaming the water. Zolom blood is laced with venom that either burns Drifters bodies… Or burns their thoughts, inflicting them with a berserk frenzy. The Zoloms also super heat the air in a circle and spit out venom as fire. Cars can protect from the firestorm, though only the Toughest of the bunch will be able to drive away without serious damage.
Death Rattle: With enough tenacity, Drifters are capable of defeating the Zoloms or driving them away. (Spiking them on the top of a nearby tree is optional.) At the end of combat, the Zoloms have a parting gift as they lash, writhe, and snap.
MICRO ENCOUNTERS:
PLEASE NOTE! These are small bits of set dressing for players to include in threads if they wish, rather than full fledged prompts or events. You may handwave your exploration of these areas, or thread them out.
Ruined Buildings: Grow more numerous, encountering one or two a day. Usually in the form of residences, or farms. Many of them have been gutted from both time, elements, and moon warps. But a handful still hold basic supplies; medical kits, canned food, etc. They also hold hastily scrawled maps that show the surrounding area… And a parched looking area surrounding the grasslands. It looks as though the Convoy is heading right towards it.
Farmlands: Occasionally interrupt the rolling grasslands. They look scraggly and overgrown, with sparse crops available. The handful of food in such areas is edible with no ill affects, but the taste profile is confused: apples taste like watermelons, corn tastes like avocados, etc.
Wind Turbines: A few lonely wind turbines still dot the landscape, spinning even without anyone to maintain them. They give a lonely whistle as they turn, perhaps even sounding a little like a whisper… And one trying to mimic the message Drifters may have received on the power lines.
Wildcard
When Yang is done, she goes to collect her partner.
"Okay, I know it's grown on you, but trust me; your van just officially became one of the coolest vehicles in the Convoy. Are you ready for this?" Are you, Blake. Are you ready for this.
(You are not, but it's done.)
no subject
Hey, she might even be able to make it go just a little bit faster, enough so that Blake isn't constantly stuck at the back of the convoy. That'd be amazing.
While Yang was busy, Blake had gone off to explore their surroundings. Most of what's around is grass plains, leaving little to explore in the way of flora, but a few dilapidated houses are lining the left side of the road. She'd found damaged books inside, and trying to make out even a few sentences has kept her busy -- it's not much of a distraction from the hunger gnawing at her veins, or how cold her skin feels, or how her hands are shaking, but it's something.
She just does her best to look cool and collected as Yang comes to get her. "Cool? I thought you were just going to fix the windows or whatever," Blake says, eyebrows knit. How exactly does a campervan become cool?
sliiiiiiiight nsfw for semi-nudity
"—was nothing short of magic."
Yang has spent the last several hours carefully and painstakingly applying a painted mosiac to the side panels of the van. Some sort of cosmic backdrop of moons and galaxies while in the foreground two figures are locked in an intense bout of...fighting.
They're both women, that much is plainly obvious from how little clothing they're both wearing, and by how voluptuous their figures are, with artistically flowing hair that has nothing to do with the physics of the battle they're currently engaged in. One woman in what might generously be termed a bikini (coloured silver, with a small matching cape with purple lining), thigh high, glitzy high-heeled boots and nothing else appears to be casting some sort of cosmic fireball at her opponent, who judging by her half-face mask is intended to be some sort of ninja(?), albeit one in a dark purple bustier and choker. Her modesty is (barely) preserved by a thong and artistically torn fishnet stockings and toeless socks for some reason as she readies a shuriken to hurl at her opponent while her other hand grips some sort of scroll inscribed with an ancient prayer brimming with power. In addition to their...generous...proportions, Yang has paid special attention to make sure they have well-developed musculature, that even glistens in places with sweat from...from how hard they're both exerting herself.
Yang stands next to the image, arms folded across her chest in the tacky green and black swim trunks, crocs, and oversized t-shirt that serves as her current outfit while her road leathers get repaired, grinning from ear to ear.
"Right? Is this not the most metal design you've ever seen?!"
god it's so perfect
All of her internal ruminations cease when they pass a vehicle, the campervan comes into view, and Blake gets an eyeful of Yang's masterpiece.
She stops still, flabbergasted. There's an incredibly breasty, muscular wizard in something that can barely be called a cape, fighting an equally breasty, muscular ninja in gear that could only generously be described as stealth gear, set against a backdrop of suitably cosmic planets and trails of stars. The detail is actually incredible -- there's a drop of sweat beading on the wizard's ample bicep, a hole torn in the ninja's fishnets is exquisitely rendered. Altogether, it gives a strong impression of those dodgy vans that always have a really strong smell of weed and a disco ball in the back.
Blake has absolutely no idea what to say.
"Yang, people are going to think I'm selling shrooms out of the back of it," she winds up saying, a laugh bubbling up. "This is-- I'm-- huh. Okay."
She tilts her head, impressed despite herself.
"I never knew you were such a good artist. This is... amazing, actually."
no subject
It's true, her art skills aren't something she's had much cause to bust out of late. "Yeah, I haven't really had time lately to indulge, but I'm glad to see I'm not too rusty. There's not a lot to do on Patch, and drawing was something I could do that I could put down and pick up again easily." Yang had taken on a lot of extra responsibility from a young age. Her hobby needed to be flexible.
"I...kinda didn't know where I was taking it when I started, other than it should be something really heavy metal." She admits. "I just sort turned my brain off and let my instincts guide me." And her instincts said "busty women wearing very little clothing", apparently. "I'm glad you like it."
no subject
Does that mean--
Is Yang--
Okay, so Blake doesn't know if Yang likes women. She thinks she might -- she'd goggled at Jinn the exact same way that Blake had, after all -- but she's mostly just been hoping she does. Because if she does, then... Blake's feelings that she's largely not admitting to might not be entirely hopeless?
The art really is incredible, though. Blake's going to have to keep an eye out for art supplies to scavenge. If it's something Yang wants to indulge, Blake can maybe help with that. And then Yang can draw all the hot women that she likes!
"Maybe I should show you some of my favourite book covers for inspiration," she teases.
no subject
Look, Yang wasn't naive. Growing up on Patch, attending the local combat school, and looking after Ruby during the period that their dad was...away (in his head, at least), Yang had come to understand that she was supposed to start noticing boys more. And she did! Sort of. How well they fought, how their grades matched up to hers, but nothing ever seemed to really click the way she thought it was supposed to. She wasn't opposed to the idea of boys, but none of them ever really seemed to stand out to her that way. The girls on the other hand...well, she found them generally more interesting but there was so much to do getting ready for Beacon's entry exams, being there as Taiyang pulled himself back together, and still looking out for Ruby because that took time, so there wasn't any moment where Yang could properly engage with that. Besides, there'd be lots of people her own age at Beacon, once she got there. It would sort itself out there, she was sure.
The first night when everyone camped out in the main hall, she'd even tried to jumpstart it a little. Maybe if she acted interested, and there were plenty of young guys with excellent physiques walking around shirtless or in shorts that night to go around, she could sort of, go "oh yeah, actually, that is doing it for me now that I'm really looking."
And it worked, sort of! One attempt at a wolf-whistle at some of those young men with excellent physiques going around bare-chested had caused a definite physical reaction; a full body shudder she was just able to barely avoid reacting too much to, but it was definitely there. She'd tried to make herself interested in boys and her entire body went "No thank you" in response.
...And then there was this girl with raven hair with a cute bow in it (though Yang would come to realize she looked so much better without it) and striking yellow eyes sitting by herself off to one side quietly reading, and the next thing Yang knew she was dragging Ruby over to her, because obviously her little sister needed to make some friends of her own, and Yang couldn't just walk over there and just be like "Hey. 8D" on her own because that would be weird, but if it was for Ruby's sake, that would be fine, but...
Forget it. This girl's a lost cause.
Yang was extremely grateful to have been very wrong about that, and yeah, Jinn had been...uh, wow, but.
Yang likes Blake. No, that's not right; that's not true enough. Yang cannot actually imagine her life without Blake in it anymore. But that's true of the rest of the team, obviously. Ruby is her sister, Weiss is as good as a sister to her, but Blake...Yang struggles to assign that same term to Blake. Blake is her partner, and they've been through a lot together. During their first team-building exercise, Blake had given Yang time to look away if she'd wanted to, to not meet her eyes and be locked in by Ozpin's rule, but...there was something so striking about that shade of yellow. And right from the start fighting alongside that "lost cause" had felt so easy and natural that it just made sense for their eyes to meet and for them to lock in. Something about the two of them just seemed to click. When Blake started losing it trying to dig up information on Torchwick's operation, trying to get ahead of him and the White Fang even at the cost of her own health, while Ruby and Blake worried, Yang understood. And because she understood that all-consuming drive, she sat Blake down and managed to get through to her that it wasn't that she shouldn't pursue it, but she couldn't let it control her. And she'd made good on her promise; she saved a dance for Blake and that had been...really good. Turns out they were about as in sync on the dance floor as they were on the battlefield.
But so much had happened since then, for both of them. Yeah, Yang was glad to have Blake back, glad they were here together because Blake keeps her grounded, but still...they were still dealing with so much. Adam was still hanging over everything, as Yang's little episode back in the forest proved, still managing to get inside her head even when he didn't share a world with them. And then there was Salem and the very real possibility there was no happy ending in store for anyone if she got all the Relics and summoned the Brothers back to a disunited world.
And most of all it felt like...a cliff. And if Yang did it, she'd just...
Fall. And that scared her.
Blake is important to her, and Blake is here. So that's all Yang needs. Focus on that, and just get through the rest of this road trip crap, and you can deal with anything that comes her way.
"Oh yeah?" Yang asks, turning to Blake with knowing grin, equally teasing of her own. "Have you found any Ninjas of Love volumes here?"
no subject
"No, but-- I've got them all on my Scroll anyway," she replies, mildly shamefaced.
Her only consolation prize is hoping that Yang hasn't read them, and that she doesn't know how smutty they are. She can only hope that Yang just thinks they're boring, gratuitous romance novels. Please, gods, let Yang be ignorant.
"I did find some other books, though," she adds, swerving into a topic that's a lot safer. "Some of the houses on the side of the road had them. They're pretty badly decomposed, so we might not be able to make much out, but it's something, at least."
no subject
Besides, with how good Blake's fanfics are, there's gotta be something to this series. If Yang didn't know for certain that asking to check out the copies on Blake's scroll would cause Blake to kill everyone in the Convoy, starting with Yang, and then herself, she might actually ask to read them. She's found a few snippets of the series, and well...the love scenes (and there are a lot of love scenes) are quite intense.
She goes with the swerve, getting the conversation away from ninja women who (frequently) love other ninja women into safer, less mortifying territory. "Probably not as reading material, but if the covers are kinda intact I bet I can work with them. Show me what you found?"
It might actually be nice to use the downtime of this road trip to get back into the swing of things and start drawing again regularly. If the women she painted now are this good, how much better will the ones she draws after she's gotten some more practice under her belt be?
Maybe she'll try to use Jinn as a reference. Or would that be kind of blasphemous?
no subject
"Some of the other books I found were pretty badly burned. It looked like it had been done deliberately," Blake offers, thoughtful. "These ones are mostly like fairy tales. A couple other ones were fiction, but I couldn't make much out."
Needless to say, as far as reading material goes, they're not great. It looks like she'll be sticking with her ebooks for a while longer.
"A couple of the covers are intact, though." Blake finds another book with a mermaid in deep ocean on the cover. Another, with a centaur man galloping through a field of arrows. "Nothing as evocative as your mural, though," she teases.
no subject
"Well, what could be?" She asks, flashing Blake a smile. "But...actually, this is really good." She's looking specifically at the mermaid picture in question, though she likes the action of the centaur in motion too. "Mermaids and centaurs...kind of like what's happening to us. Caught between two worlds, right?" Assuming the books were even from Revan. It seemed like a lot of media from other worlds had somehow found its way here.
"I wonder if maybe this monster stuff used to be more controllable for the people who lived here." It's pure speculation, but the mermaid and centaur on the covers has got Yang thinking. "Like people could do it for recreation. Spend an afternoon at the beach as a mermaid, or turn into a part horse and go for a run. And then somehow it just...all went wrong." Went very wrong.