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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.
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It slips over the side, intending to land on its feet as proof - but that intention is foiled when its boots hit the ground and then one knee just... buckles beneath it, failing to take its weight and forcing it to smack a knee and palm against the ground to keep from planting over in it entirely. Way to look like an idiot, Murderbot.]
Fuck. [It comes out more emotionally than it intends, in its surprise - more a frustrated yelp than a grim mutter, the buzzing effect on its words pitching up towards a whine.]
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It's obvious there's some kind of injury to SecUnit's leg. Something that needs to be fixed.
Once again, Serph raises his wings to provide some shelter from the pelting rain. But this time he feels energy coursing through his hands, a glow beginning to emanate from his palms. Briefly closing his eyes, he senses a new magic within his reach, like a mantra unlocking and clicking into place, the powers conveyed slotting into his being as if they had always existed.]
Show me your injury.
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It hasn't gotten as far as putting any weight on the leg, because even straightening it is resulting in an ominous sort of grinding noise coming from its knee, and it's being forced to stand by partially hauling itself upright on the pile of debris behind it.
The glow is what makes it stop, staring warily towards Serph's hands.]
What are you doing.
[There's a tear in its pant leg a few inches long leading from the back of its thigh to the side of the knee - no sparking, but the SecUnit's leg seems to be more metal than flesh, some other synthetic material covering the surface of the limb cleaved through and wet with some fluid that's not quite blood, not yet washed away by rainwater.
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SecUnit is a construct, so... human neural tissue integrated with technology. But while there's certainly metal, SecUnit also has parts that at least look look like flesh and blood. Observing what he can see of SecUnit's leg in the stormy atmosphere, there's still some bits that are fleshy and bleeding something that doesn't look or smell like blood. Maybe...]
Healing magic works on organic tissue. It might work on you.
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It turns to look towards Serph at that, though, with a flat, incredulous:]
Healing magic. [.7 seconds of pause.] Sure. Whatever.
[It doesn't sound at all like it believes it'll work, but as far as it's concerned, Serph can try whatever the fuck he calls healing magic, then it can prove that it can walk just fine even with the inconvenience of something fucked up in its joint and the inability to turn down its pain sensors.]
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It requires contact.
[Serph isn't one to ask for permission while on the field though, so he doesn't wait for a reply before placing one hand on SecUnit's knee. If he's allowed to do so, Serph's hair and eyes -- including the one hidden beneath his fringe -- glow in otherworldly light as the magic spreads from the point of contact on SecUnit's leg.]
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It still doubts that anything being described as magic is going to work, but at the glow it jolts in place, going even more still, if that's even possible. Even more so when the torn flesh starts, slowly, to knit itself back together.
It's quiet for a whole five seconds as it watches this happen, processes this.]
This place makes no sense.
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Try moving your-
[A sudden wave of dizziness hits him harder than a punch from Heat and he pitches forward, a hand reflexively reaching out to grab the nearest thing (most likely SecUnit).]
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Status.
[Yes, its pain sensors are no longer screaming at it, but the torn flesh isn't important right now since something is clearly up with Serph now.]
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It takes him a beat longer to respond to SecUnit's query.]
Symptoms of vertigo. Unclear how long it will persist.
[Serph straightens so he isn't leaning so heavily on SecUnit, but he's still swaying slightly.]
Not a usual side effect of using magic.
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Okay.
[They're both still, miserably, out in the pouring rain, with the thunder occasionally crackling overhead and the wind howling, and it doesn't look ready to let up any time soon. SecUnit tests its leg, deems it fit to hold its weight, and reaches out to help balance Serph.
Can it even lift him? It surveys the length of snake body, and determines that even if it wasn't weirdly weak since being kidnapped to this stupid planet, the sheer mass of Serph's form would make that impractical.]
We need to get into the building.
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Unfortunately he can't even limp when he doesn't have legs, so this is proving to be a rather awkward turn of events. But at least the building is close by and if he uses the walls to steady himself and walks -- slithers? -- slowly, it shouldn't be that difficult to get inside.]
Can you get us entry?
[It's not really breaking an entering if there hasn't been anyone living there for a long time, right?]
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[Kicking down doors after its leg just got fucked up seems like a bad idea, but there are enough poorly-latched doors and windows that a punch or even leaning its shoulder against it in the right way would do the trick. First, though, it keeps pace with Serph's efforts to slither along, ensuring that there's something there, wall or SecUnit, to catch him if he starts to list too far.
When it shoves open a sliding door and steps into the building, the space proves to be something closer to a barn or shed than a proper house - there's a lack of walls that means the wind slips through the gaps, but at least there's no rain.
Once they're inside, SecUnit goes to shove the door closed, then yanks off its helmet. The mottling and grey-blue scales are blotched across its face and neck, too - not to mention removing its helmet doesn't stop the weird buzz that echoes its voice, now.]
I need to ask you something.
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He quietly observes SecUnit's changes -- albeit with a squint -- now that it has its helmet off. Since turning his head to nod would make the dizziness worse, Serph says--]
What is it?
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When he's more or less settled himself into a defensible spot with his pile of snake body and cocooned with his wings, it sits down against the wall a meter away, out of touching distance but close enough to be within the 'sitting with' radius. It shoves up its sleeves, dragging newly taloned hands over the place where its gun ports are, testing the interference there with morbid fascination, its attention shying away from the mottled coloring every so often.]
The - magic. [That's not a question, Murderbot.] That's a thing?
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It is here it seems. In the worlds I came from, only demons could use it.
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Even after you became human? [Gained a physical body, got implanted in a soldier, whatever it was that took Serph from being just an AI in whatever digital testing environment he got created in to standing before SecUnit.
Somehow 'God turned my Data into a physical body' isn't the first explanation that comes to its mind.]How does it work?
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How does magic work? Serph considers his response for a long moment. He suspects SecUnit wouldn't be satisfied with a response along the lines of, it just does.]
Magic is a function of these forms. Like moving a limb, your will makes it manifest if it's within your form's capabilities.
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[It is trying not to sound like it's complaining, but - it really is doing that, isn't it? Glaring at the wall and complaining. At least it doesn't sound like the weird alien hive-mind shit.]
Shooting my energy weapons isn't magic and that's 'within my form's capabilities.'
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Isn't it? There's nothing like your energy weapons where I'm from.
[Just guns loaded with anti-demon ammunition.]
Magic is energy transformed into another form. [If he were to guess...] Energy is transformed by your weapon into a projectile. [In a manner of speaking.] With magic, the transformation mechanism is our bodies.
[So really, given that SecUnit's guns are in its arms, he doesn't really see much difference between its energy weapons and combat magic. More importantly...]
What's a serial?
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And when you put it like that, eating food is magic.
[Which is obviously stupid! Besides, if SecUnit's energy weapons are magic then you might as well call it magic too, and it doesn't have the Feed access it needs to refute something so obviously wrong. It can't wait to report back to its humans on this and watch the biologists lose their minds.
-- But no, Serph is right, that last part is more important.]
Episodic entertainment media. Humans make it for distraction and emotional processing aids. Sometimes it's about real things - those are documentaries- but sometimes they're fictional and purposefully unrealistic.
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What is episodic entertainment media, though...?]
How does it help with emotional processing?
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It definitely hasn't forgotten about this argument, and will in fact be continuing it sooner or later - but it's put on pause for a very simple reason.]
It'd be easier to show you.
[It glances at Serph, sidelong - it hasn't seen any sign of interface or Feed access on him, but with its own access cut it can't just ping to confirm, so it'll have to give an actual explanation, too.]
Good entertainment media is made to make you feel things, so watching media is trying to feel things on purpose. Usually it's human actors accompanied by camera framing and musical cues or lighting to enhance and codify the emotions that are being portrayed. [It gives Serph a half-second to process that, before it adds,] Sometimes it's bad and you don't actually feel whatever they're trying to make you feel, though.
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And these serials have magic? It's something 'unrealistic' in your world?
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[Beat.]
They're not always that creative.
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