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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.
4
It's not the open side that catches its attention first, but the buzzing sound of the rattle, there and gone again, that has it stop and look - and freeze momentarily in place.
Warily, it takes a moment to shove back its sleeves so that the gun ports aren't covered, then deliberately lets its next step grind against the dirt.]
Hey.
[If this is a monster - it's braced and ready for something to come winding out of there.]
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Arcade, for his part, is really just hoping that voice wasn't as close as it seemed. Or directed at him. Of course, plausible deniability is going to end the second SecUnit takes another pointed step toward the vehicle, because he's hardly invisible, even slouched behind the front seats. The fact that he is very obviously attached to the pale-scaled tail coiled in the cab is also a problem, but one that he is putting equal effort into pretending will just disappear on its own. ]
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At least it doesn't prod at the tail itself.]
Is anyone being... digested or something.
[Okay stupid question, but the weird transformations make it second guess these things.]
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Arcade does his best not to sigh audibly, but one glimpse of his face is enough to read the same emotion in it. Preemptively, he levers himself up on his arms (all awkward four of them), so that he can at least peer over the seat backs in his current state of disheveled discontent. ]
Regrettably, no. It's just me in here.
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It would love to let Arcade get back to that, but the whole snake tail and four arms thing does actually require some degree of checking in. Starting with...]
Are you stuck?
[It doesn't really see a way for Arcade to actually get out of the vehicle again, unless he wants to do a lot of undignified wiggling around. ]
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[ The undignified wiggling around is compulsory, at this point, whether he wedges himself somewhere too narrow to escape from or not. Which he hasn't, yet. But maybe somewhere underneath all of the horror and disgust and snake scales, he appreciates the check-in, at least. ]
I just thought I'd have better chances of not being noticed... or seen by anyone, if I stayed out here.
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If anyone tries to shoot you they'd have to get past me.
[Never mind that it was considering the necessity of doing that immediately before - it knows this probably isn't what actually has Arcade curled up in his (?) vehicle, but doing so would require an invitation to talk about emotions and that's probably the last thing either of them want.]
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[ He's being sarcastic, of course, but only so much. Underneath the obvious, low-hanging fruit in that retort, there is a kernel of genuine surprise. ]
You can sit up here, if you want. [ He offers, after a moment, carefully drawing his tail back across the seats, until it's only the end draped across the passenger side, rattle safely tucked into the footwell. ]
We don't even have to talk.
[ About emotions or otherwise. ]
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Like the offer is somehow a profound upsetting of the status quo that it isn't quite sure what to do with. But it does, after a moment, take the offer of the chair, conscientious of keeping itself from brushing up against the coiled tail, settling back into the tank's chair a bit like it thinks the offer is going to turn out to be a joke.
That's only compounded by the slight hesitance in its voice when it asks;]
Do you want to? Talk about it.
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[ Arcade is reclined against the hard metal shell of the truck cab, one set of arms crossed over his chest - the other, scaled and poking out from under the rumpled hem of his shirt, twisting together anxiously just below them. He only glances at SecUnit, the tired, sarcastic sliver of a smile crossing his face. ]
I'd prefer to ignore it until it goes away. It's never worked for me before, but I have a good feeling about it, this time.
[ He does not. And he knows, of course, that eventually, realistically, he'll have to suffer through figuring out how to function like this.
But for now, he's allowed a moment to process his new, horrid existence, he thinks. That's fair. ]
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(It's been doing great at ignoring the possibility of sending itself into shutdown with flashbacks and so far it's gone... well. It's due to fall off a building because of them, but so far the rain hasn't caught up with it yet.)
It's being careful about not glancing towards the snake body, even if it does occasionally angle its head almost in Arcade's direction.]
Some of them go away. [The sleeve of its jacket got torn by its arm turning to a scythe, the patched fabric slightly mismatched in color where Jack mended it - but the limb is just a normal hand.]
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[ Arcade glances at it over the seats again, curious mostly but also almost hopeful. None of the small changes Arcade has experienced, so far, have reversed - even now, there are patches of scales down the backs of his real arms, the should-be ordinary set. He has no reason to believe he'll simply return to normal, but he won't turn one away. ]
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My arm changed the first night, into a [Well it was already a weapon, but] claw. Blade. Thing.
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[ He isn't being sincere, of course, that flat, sarcastic affectation the same as ever. But Arcade's expression flinches, softening, once the words are out. ]
Sorry. That's... pretty scary to think about. I can't imagine what it was like to live it.
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[Yes it knows how deeply weird most people would find that, but it's always had the guns. Also - terse, because it's not scared of the tranformations, it's just getting performance reliability drops and finds them freaky. That's not from being scared that's just a normal reaction to weird shit.
Its shoulders have hiked up further.]
The point is it went away. [For now.]
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[ It's not wildly reassuring, but it's... something. Which is more than he had to hang his hopes of not being permanently stuck like this one, before.
After a long moment of quiet, he offers a carefully nonchalant, ]
Thanks.
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[It's not helping or anything.
And... Leaving would be awkward now that it's sitting here, right? So it'll just. Keep sitting. Which is fine, because sitting is great, and so is not accidentally touching Arcade's snake tail if it tries to climb out again.]
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And Arcade is being very careful about not letting his loosely coiled tail drape any further over the long bench seat in the front of the truck. He doesn't want to box SecUnit out, but it also does make it a lot easier to ignore if he doesn't have to acknowledge it by apologizing for it. He'd simply crowd himself into the empty space behind the seatbacks, but honestly - even the tepid sun that's returned after the storm is pleasantly warm. It's the only other thing that's making him feel even passably decent, right now. ]
...You know, if you spend a lot of time out here on your own, you're welcome to - keep an eye on things from up here, whenever you want.
[ Because that's definitely what it's doing, right? Just security things. ]
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There's a prickle of suspicion in the back of its mind about this, the same way it would have when it was sure the Preservation team was talking about it. Back then it could just rewind its footage and be excruciatingly embarrassed in private while it heard the past versions of them talk about 'Meeting it where it's at' and 'Not pushing it too hard.' On the other - it's also a bit like the time they set up a security system for it.]
... What the fuck is this thing, anyway.
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[ Not that he has to reach far for that assumption. He saw trucks just like this, when he was a child - and occasionally still does, broken down in centuries of disrepair on the sides of the equally broken down highways that still serve as paths between small knots of civilization. ]
The trailer should be covered - the army would stick a bunch of troops in the back, to get them from point a to point b. Probably wasn't anybody's favorite way to travel.
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At least a cubicle doesn't rattle around. Or have people in it.
[Moving right the fuck on from that.]
... Maybe if you cover the trailer again. Right now the Convoy is more defensible.
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[ Neither of which he's found in abundance. But rather than dismissive, he sounds vaguely intrigued. It's not something he's considered, prior to now - but he doesn't really have anything to lug around that doesn't fit on his person. Why secure the extra space?
Still, it could be worthwhile. If not to make the trailer any safer, then at least to make it more functional. ]
What's a cubicle? I'm guessing you don't mean the kind found in an office.
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[The cubicle will sound worse if it calls it a repair cubicle, probably. That makes it sound even more like a bot than the whole gun arms thing already makes it seem.]
Can put out a notice in case anyone finds some.
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Oh. Sure. I guess that makes the most sense.
[ And if someone else is willing to talk to people for him, far be it for Arcade to stop it. ]
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And, just as abruptly, it seems to reach the end of some reserve - it starts to get to its feet again, attention still fixated forward.]
... Do you need anything else.
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