APRIL EVENT LOG

[monstertruckers]

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The grassland gives way to rougher terrain, green fading to cracked red earth with scraggly sharp-edged plants dotting the landscape. With no trees, the sky overhead feels massive, and almost oppressive with how the sun and moon shine down. It’s entirely at odds with the biting wind that often whips across the flatlands. The ground occasionally breaks open into crevasses or rolls along in arid hills, but it remains stark thorn brush for as far as the eye can see… Save for one strange, ominous tower on the horizon.

01:TOWER OF TRANSFORMATION

The tower looks like a giant fang, trying to bite the sky. A strange pressure emits from it and rests on the skin. Drifters can get closer to the tower, but the terrain is covered with puncturing spikes and sharp thorn brush. It will take a TOUGH vehicle to get close without getting cut. Anyone who bleeds within sight of the tower discovers their cuts are transformed; a monster’s form waits under their skin, and transforms them one injury at a time.

It takes several days to get close to the tower via Convoy, with how the road snakes and winds towards it. Drifters won’t be able to reach it without offroad vehicles until April 15th. Getting close to the tower reveals that it is formed out of a strange metal much like the Husks… And that numerous creatures have been melded into the tower’s surface. A strange red ichor seeps out from these forms. Coming into contact with it heals wounds and can revert one transformation.

Drifters can take some of the fluid with them, if they have means to carry it… But only one extra dose; any more makes the fluid unstable and neutralizes the effect entirely.

01-A: TWISTED MONSTERS

The land here is still littered with Husks, ready to break open to fight… But these monsters are more twisted than usual, and seem to be composed of multiple organisms. Prowling cat-centaur esque brutes called panthera protectors, ungainly catoblepas, reptile energy draining bloodhound dogs, and flying lion-bird anzu are all ready to attack with tooth and claw, to make Drifters all the more like them.

Given the influence of the tower, Drifters can feel their forms twisting, the more wounds they take, and the more the moon begins to form into something almost whole. By April 15th the wounds and moon are almost impossible to resist without either vials or message mementos. And those wounds are determined to drag a change out of Drifters. (Of note, Drifters who took on Harpy or Naga traits last month will find those changes can come back to them unnervingly easily, and blend with other creature changes to become a true chimera.)

These changes grow worse until the moon glow and shards reach their absolute peak on April 20th. At this point Twisted Land occurs.

02: ROAD ATTACK

A week into the thorn brush, chaos starts at sunset. The first warning is a metallic howl echoing down from the hills, followed by a rumble that could almost be thunder… If not for the fact that the sunset stained sky is completely clear. A swarm of metal sweeps over the hills, heading straight at the Convoy.

Running at the lead are more of those canine robots. The Convoy database again identifies them as ‘chromehounds’ and these are clearly in better repair; their fangs and claws are all razor sharp, and they are swiftly closing the distance. Close behind the hounds is a scattered assortment of scrap metal vehicles. The creatures driving aren’t quite human but also aren’t quite monsters; instead they are mechanical forms with just a few remnants of flesh on them. Robot riders and raiders, determined to harry the Convoy.

The goal of the raiders is to crash their vehicles into the Convoy, to slow or halt them. Drifters will need to either fight at a distance… Or hope that their monster side is tough enough for close and bloody combat!

02-A: ATTACK AND AFTERMATH

The attack patterns of the raiders depends on who they are targeting and how transformed the Drifters are. More monstrous Drifters earn full fury, and the vehicles blare with static and a patchy message: “…Purge… Corruption… By steel.” The raiders are determined to kill monsters, even at the cost of their own lives.

By contrast, less transformed Drifters may be overlooked, or only looked at suspicion. But if examined long enough, the raiders will eventually conclude less changed Drifters as still corrupt and attack them, especially if they are associated with the more monstrous!

Afterwards, mechanical salvage can be found to bolster the Convoy vehicles. The machines display a moon stabbed by a sword. It is the same as the symbols on the trap cars from February. Several raiders also carry odd talismans that resemble a rosary formed of tiny computer screens. Many of the screens are broken, but a few carry flickering text: “Your charge: To hunt the Warped. To purify the broken land, purge all sickness that twists us. Only then can Nirvana be opened, and the world reborn without corruption.”

03: OASIS

Just off the road are scattered oases, shining like blue gems in a red wasteland. The waters run surprisingly deep, with monstrous statues submerged in the depths. These statues resemble all 13 types of monsters, some of them even coloring the water depths into shades of green, purple, and red.

The oasis waters can’t fix or restore physical transformations. But it can cure any heat exhaustion with just a few sips, and restore lost strength. Red water can heal wounds, green restores magic fatigue, and purple can stabilize mental exhaustion and strain.

The statues also create a strange resonance on Drifters’ Sigil marks, particularly when Drifters submerge in the water. The statue resonance can’t completely revert transformations but they CAN spread out the transformation between two Drifters and lessen the potency.

04: MONSTER SHIFT, CHIMERA

Peculiar flowers bloom along some of the thorn brush. Drifters who bleed from the thorns will find that their cuts turn into Traits belonging to either Chimera or Unicorns. Chimeras typically appear from red flowered plants, and become increasingly tougher as they gain more traits. The following is also available:
+Tower focus: if growing extra eyes or heads, vision becomes disorienting. Focusing on the tower will help sharpen vision and provide clarity.
+Thermal flight on new wings, as the hot air coming off the ground helps them soar.
+Territorial hunter vs other fully shifted monsters/enemies.
+Blood taste/frenzy: becomes more savage as blood is shed, whether that is their own or others. If it is their own or an enemy, more aggressive; if it is an ally, more protective.
+An increasingly carnivorous and voracious appetite. Plus a craving for raw meat, and a drive to go hunt it personally; the fresher, the better.
+Tough hide. As 3 or more Chimera traits become active, the skin becomes increasingly tougher and harder for cuts and new transformations to occur.
+A sudden roar that cuts into words, easy for conversations to turn into a shouting match.

04: MONSTER SHIFT, UNICORN

As with Chimera, getting cut and bled by flower bearing thorns will impart unicorn traits on Drifters. This typically comes from thorn plants with white flowers. Unicorns have a knack for stabilizing the more violent changes… And perhaps even stopping transformations from bleeding. The following is also available:
+Horn Resonance, a ringing in the horn or forehead the closer one gets to the tower. Can result in either disorientation, or a boost in healing.
+Shift Healing: At the cost of taking on another unicorn/current monster trait, may heal another Drifter of one active trait. This can only be used once per character.
+An increasingly vegetarian diet, including the flowers off various thorn bushes.
+Increased pain or disorientation in the forehead as horn grows in. May also experience pain in feet (hooves) or back (wings or tail) though healing magic can alleviate pain.
+A compulsion to heal the injured or protect those who can. Similarly, a compulsion to protect the virtuous and aid them.
+Fight or Flight response: more likely to bolt at the sign of trouble with increased speed. If fleeing is not possible (or others are in danger) ready to fight to the death in desperate frenzy.
+Urge to run and be outdoors, gains an almost euphoric sensation when running at full speed.

05: TWISTED LAND

Finally the Convoy draws close to the tower and the moon glows balefully overhead, signaling an imminent Moon Warp. Shards of the tower fall away, exposing something encased in the surface. A chimera monster is pierced and pinned to the tower by swords. Elemental blood streams down, glowing in reaction to the Drifters, and causing the blades to glow in turn.

If Drifters make contact with the swords, they explode in a hail of shards, causing more wounds and damaging the tower. The shed blood twists the landscape. Deserts, forests, and swamps all shift together. With them come the hazards of those environments; quicksand, falling trees or strangling vines, terrible draining heat, all blending and switching without pattern. Such twisting weakens the tower. Further fragments break off and turn into monsters, aggressive and ready to fight. The Convoy braces against the twisting, but warning screens say that the shields are low on power. The shields occasionally waver, letting in the Moon Warp and monsters.

With the damage Drifters inflict in their battles, the environment twisting, and the sword shards, the tower crumbles away. It emits a burst of energy that disperses the land twisting, and ends the bloodshed transformations.

06: SALVE

In the aftermath of the warp, the tower has cracked and broken. A column of wavering light takes its place, reaching thin tendrils up towards the moon.

The red ichor leaks out of the tower in rivers, and any Husk it comes in contact with breaks open without transforming into a monster, instead releasing another glowing shard that travels upwards. Drifters can still harness this ichor to undo one change, though the limits still apply. Submerging in the ichor does not undo more than one change… Though it will stain Drifters with red.

The ichor can also heal wounds, and repair those quite thoroughly, acting as a good salve to mend Drifters from past battles.

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.

Twisted Creatures: Local fauna (flying rabbits, jackalopes, gorgons wandering in from the grasslands, etc) gets caught in the thorn bushes and begins bleeding, and turning into a monster. The process is slow and painful, giving Drifters enough time to get away from the scrub brush and the monster if they wish; or enough time to try and dispatch the creature.

Thorn brush: Clumps of thorn brush line the road. A time or two they even grow over the road and need to be hacked through, in order for the Convoy to proceed. The brush is almost like razor wire, with how sharp the thorns are, and how ready they are to slice up skin.

Watering Hole: Rarely, one can find a small oasis in the bleached land. Unfortunately, many of the twisted creatures want a drink from this place as well; it’s a task to grab water and avoid getting on their bad side.

NAVIGATION

Comments

[soldiernoclass]

Yeah, he can see Sephiroth taking notes in his head. It'd be kind of funny, just another one of his weird little quirks - if this was about anything else. But Zack has already seen what happens when Sephiroth tries to interfere. When both of them do, and still things turned out the way they did. Still he's here, and he's not sure it's their planet they need to get back to, or just the land of the living.

"You don't think we tried everything we could think of?" Maybe not, actually. Zack has to remind himself again that this Sephiroth doesn't really know him, as he shakes his head. "It's not going to be that easy."

[firstsoldier]

That draws the barest twitch of a smile, the tips of sharp teeth briefly visible. "Little worth doing is ever easy."

But it doesn't last, it never does; he returns to door hunting with calculated patience, though this time he's keeping tabs on where Zack is, and isn't moving out of easy range of conversation. "You didn't have the benefit of knowing how events are intended to unfold, presumably. If I must endure these.. afflictions, then at least I can have that in return."

Though whether or not his friends would still see him as a friend when he shows up bearing teeth and claws of a monster at the least was another question. One he's willing to put to the test.

[soldiernoclass]

That gives Zack pause, more so than before. He doesn't just seem to be thinking of a way to avoid the topic, or hoping it gets dropped in the meantime, but actually considering, this time. What he can say, what he can't (you die, too). What might actually help, and not just ensure that things get worse that much faster.

He doesn't look up when he speaks, reluctant and almost sullen.

"Genesis is in Banora. Or... That's where he's going, anyway." And maybe if they'd known that sooner, they'd have found a way to fix things sooner.

[firstsoldier]

Banora is nowhere NEAR where Genesis had gone missing. He knew about Genesis' hometown, but didn't think there were any positive associations with it besides Angeal. There's no mistaking this answer is perplexing, and it's weighed in silence alongside Zack's unhappy reluctance.

There's still missing information. A lot of it. Some of that may well be vital. "..From Wutai?"

His phone should have gotten an out of service response instead of simply ringing endlessly with no answer if Genesis was far enough away. "If it was some variation of Portal materia which brought us here, I may not remember that when we find a way back through, but I will endeavor to do so." The trouble with Portal and why nobody ever used it was the amnesia effect, which would.. make all of this extra obnoxious. Returning to Gaia, still a monster but with no idea how he got that way would surely go terribly. "Causality .. should not interfere, merely spawn an alternate reality." One in which Angeal doesn't die, and Genesis doesn't come to some terrible, unspoken harm.

[soldiernoclass]

"I think so." He can't be certain, and he doesn't pretend - but he knows that's the next bad link in a long chain of them. And it's maybe where things could be prevented from getting much, much worse, if Sephiroth were to get there, first. Before, anyway.

All the Portal talk is just going to make his head start hurting again, so Zack glosses over most of it, but - that last bit catches his attention. His head jerks in an unhappy sort of a nod, as he drops the makeshift ruler in his hands to his side again, tapping it against his leg. "So, that means nothing changes on my end, right? Alternate reality, alternate Zack... There's no saving things for us, too?"

[firstsoldier]

Something in that makes Sephiroth stop, one hand on the door of another vehicle to test for doors. When he turns back to Zack, there's really no mistaking that the other SOLDIER has, for the moment, his complete and undivided attention.

It's not always a comfortable regard. "I don't know. All ideas of timelines, of different worlds and travel between realities is ... nothing but stories until now." Worthy of scorn at best, childish entertainment and escapism, not sharp reality. But this was reality now, and it included different times and different planets. There's no saving things for us sounds a lot like there's no saving us and that didn't bode well for the intervening years.

It sounded like defeat. It all sounded like defeat. That wasn't acceptable. "I won't know until I try. And I intend to."

[soldiernoclass]

He doesn't doubt Sephiroth means it. That's part of what scares him, keeps him from laying it all out right in the open - because he doesn't know how to do any of that without the risk of history repeating itself. Or starting to, sending Sephiroth down the same eventual path to madness and maybe-death.

But it's also the only chance he sees for something to change. Somewhere. Even if there's no hoping of saving himself, or of saving the Angeal, the Genesis, the Cloud, Tifa - everyone that he knows - if there's a chance to save any version of them that might exist, that could, somewhere out there— He wants just as badly to help that happen.

"I know," is all he offers in return, for a moment, meeting Sephiroth's unwavering gaze with an even steadiness. Then, he relents, "Which is why you need to get to Banora - before Genesis, before Shinra, anybody. There's a lot of bad stuff going on, and Professor Hollander is behind too much of it. If you can find a way to stop him, before he makes things worse, then maybe..."

[firstsoldier]

What's a little laser-focused obsession? That can't possibly go wrong. "The assault of Fort Tamblin was to be within hours." And he was clearing behemoths in the meantime so other teams can actually do the rest of the work, a perfectly good way to spend time as it meant he could also search for Genesis in the meantime.. even if it was just listening for a ringtone in the jungle and hoping and dreading to hear it. "How much time does that allow?"

Hollander is an almost ridiculous addition to where he has to go and how quickly he needs to get there, that man was.. insignificant. Less than Hojo, and that took some doing. Hollander is not, however, a high ranked part of Shinra's hierarchy. If he's the problem, then he won't be a problem anymore once Sephiroth found him.

Not with knowing that something terrible happens to Genesis, possibly related to his unhealing wound and Hollander being the 'only one' who could treat it, and Angeal being dead. That leaves one more question as far as he's concerned. It didn't answer everything, didn't answer NEARLY everything, but the rest he could find out when Portal dumped him right where he left to begin with. "...If I stop Hollander, he will not survive the encounter."

He didn't like killing innocents. By all accounts neither did Zack. If Sephiroth's singular means of 'stopping' threats was acceptable, that told him much of what Hollander was capable of.

[soldiernoclass]

"Not much. Angeal's going to desert, too, as soon as the mission's over." Technically before, he supposes, but it doesn't make much difference. Sephiroth might not be able to course correct anything before that, given how complicated escaping such a coordinated mission midway through would be. Especially for someone so important. (So closely monitored.)

Sephiroth's warning does give him pause once more, but it's briefer, again, than before. He doesn't have to weigh his conscience much, on this one, given what he knows. What he's already done, himself, years too late. "If stopping him means saving everyone else, then... I guess it's no worse than what he'll do to himself, if you don't."

Either way, it ends in his death. By Sephiroth's hand, by Zack's, or simply by degradation.

[firstsoldier]

"I see." He seems terribly emotionless about it, as he collects what things he'd scavenged so far, deciding to put a door search aside for now. Not only does Angeal also leave -- (and that idea did require accepting that yes, he couldn't reach Genesis because Genesis had left) but the things that followed would earn this lesser, barely-known Professor a death sentence.

What a scientist can do to themselves is an endless parade of possibilities, all of them ominous when in relation to his friends.

All his life, he'd never found anything worth fighting for. Not really. Orders, certainly, were to be obeyed, but he didn't do it because he really wanted to, it was expected and it was routine. But this? The idea that his friends were in danger, would even die if something didn't change, gave him an intensely personal focus and goal. "Thank you. For telling me."

To those unfamiliar with him, his tone still doesn't really waver, nor does his expression, but it's there. Subtle, but there; this is very important to him indeed, and the thought of losing both of his friends was deeply unsettling. Anxiety could be dealt with in time, worry could be dealt with. Whatever was putting Genesis and Angeal at risk would be dealt with as soon as opportunity arose. "I don't know how I would fare in their absence." Badly. He had no other friends, had never been inclined to try to make more.

On one hand, a potentially terrible future. On the other hand .. hope that it can be altered, and they'd live. Maybe through that, whatever Zack needed saving from too would change. "Temporal mechanics," is the quiet sigh that follows, "Was never a serious subject. Now it is. It's probably too much to hope this planet has a library."