monstertruckers: (Default)
monstertruckers ([personal profile] monstertruckers) wrote in [community profile] route666rp2025-05-06 05:39 pm

MAY EVENT LOG




Out of the thorn brush, the land still looks twisted and broken. And it turns a lot more jagged as rocks burst up and out of the ground like teeth… And keep reaching upwards, in defiance of all the gravity that should be pulling them down. The further up the rock spires reach, the more they splinter until the stones are free floating. The same happens to the threadbare trees, their branches and leaves breaking off and hovering in empty air. The nature of this place becomes clear: reach too high, and eventually gravity gives up.


















01: BATTLE GROUND


The ground grows rougher, pockmarked with craters and rents, like the landscape is scarred. A little further up the road is the source of those wounds. Curious Drifters will find a tangle of rock and metal reaching high up to the sky. It’s a snarl of wrecked vehicles, rock spires… And bodies.

Robotic hunters are half melted into the bones of a giant monster, and the lights have long since gone out of their lens eyes. Many of them still clutch weapons; swords, guns, and bullets by the bag-full. The hunters and weapons remain locked with the corpse of a horn crowned monster with arm length teeth, and it’s clear this tangle is the only thing that keeps the hunters or their weapons from floating off. Drifters can potentially loot the weapons… They just have to be careful about not floating off while they salvage equipment. The footing here is uneven, and the ground looks ready to break with a wrong step.

These hunters also carry prayer screen beads, but the data on them is horribly scrambled. Any attempts to tamper with them cause them to repeat a single message: “I STILL LIVE” before shorting out and shutting down.
02: HEALTH INVERSION
A building grows out of the valley; a hospital that has been turned upside down, and its foundations reach for the sky like weird tree branches. The hallways inside are all sorts of twisted up, and the building can’t seem to decide if Drifters should walk on the ceiling or the floors.

Twisted as the building is, ruins gutted by time and overgrown with vegetation… There is salvage available. Medical supplies, healing potions, healing herbs, all of it is bountiful in the hospital. The hospital is also rife with Husks, but all of them are inert… Or have already been broken apart long ago.

Then there’s the matter of the hospital screens flickering on in the wake of the Drifters. Warning lights try to flicker on, as old electronics try to scan the Drifters. The machines give up flickers of data, declaring Drifters to be “infected.” The old restraining systems of the hospital are still active, as manacles and straps alike shoot out, trying to restrain Drifters. The bonds keep them inert until they can be sedated and enclosed in what look like holding pens for violent patients. Best hope there’s someone around to help break a Drifter out.


03: SHARED THOUGHTS
The valley is overgrown with strange plants that glow with eerie light. Sometimes in camp stray glowing tumbleweeds roll through… And any contact has interesting side effects. Drifters will find they’re more aware and capable of picking up on unsaid things. These powers can the month. Each glow confers different abilities:

Blue Glow: Makes Drifters more empathetic in a psychic sense. They can register the emotions of those nearby, and may start to feel those same emotions.
Green Glow: Makes Drifters capable of projecting their emotions to other people.
Purple Glow: Gives Drifters telepathy, to hear and send thoughts to others.
Orange Glow: Grants Drifters limited psychometry. (Object reading.) Using it in the hospital or the battleground will yield unique visions and messages. Please comment to the mod/NPC thread below if your character wishes to do so!

Drifters can stack these effects, but this can overload their minds and force transformations. Those with Swarm traits will find it easier to handle psionic abilities. Additionally, ALL DRIFTERS who experience psionics will find themselves susceptible to Events 4 and 5.
04: MONSTER SHIFT, HIVE-MIND
Worryingly, extra contact with the glowing plants can not only stack mind abilities, but also force Swarm traits. The more a Drifter is overwhelmed by psionics, the more likely this is. Drifters will have access to all Swarm traits for this event, and the following:
+Psi Hunger. A need to eat psychic energy in the form of dreams, psi-infused objects (like sage brush) or even psychic minds.
+Psi Senses: luckily, Drifters can glimpse heavy psychic energy in the brush through enhanced senses, and pick out strange brain monsters. These are good eating for Swarm monsters… And there’s an unnervingly high number of them.
+Group Mind: compelled to link thoughts with other Drifters, to share emotions, memories, and achieve cohesion.
+An increasing reliance on telepathy/empathy/etc in place of speech.
+Increasing collectivist mindset. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few; this becomes more evident during high stress situations.
+Compelled to spend more time in the wilds, absorbing power from plants and hunting prey in wilderness. May also be compelled to share this prey with others.
+Gravity Affinity: If possessing wings or the ability to wall climb, may freely hunt/traverse corrupted gravity areas.
05: WHAT DREAMS MAY COME
On several nights the wind picks up, and sage brush is uprooted and sent tumbling into camp. The plants trade their prior glow to something more baleful and crimson. With the wind whipping through the camp, it’s almost impossible to avoid unless a Drifter is already secure in the Convoy.

The effects aren’t immediately obvious, until the Convoy sleeps for the night… And that sleep is different. Namely the sleep is connected, showing both memories and dreams from other Drifters.

Memories from their pasts can blend together to form a strange dreamscape, that connected Drifters can travel through. But those dreams can easily turn into nightmares. Those who were exposed to the fear toxin in February will trend towards nightmares and may have their old fears make a reappearance.
If those nightmares are vivid and unsettling enough, they can force a transformation. (This may be either current monster traits, or a Swarm monster!) And then…



06: BRAIN ATTACK
It happens just before dawn, during the blue hour… Or perhaps it might be more apt to call it the red hour, with how the sky is stained crimson. It’s just bright enough to distinguish something moving in the hills. Drifters can pick out a rustling in the brush; something that isn’t wind. There’s something moving, crawling on claw tipped legs… And looking less like sage brush and more like a brain.

The Intellect Devourers numbers in the hundreds. Their claws scour the ground as they race towards the Convoy and smash into the shield. Numbers start to overwhelm the generator, along with the chaos the brain brush has sown with their psychic echoes.

The psychic echoes increase as they swarm the campsite, trying to drive Drifters into a frenzy with nightmares, fears, and strange visions. The brains are also ready to use those long sharp claws to tear anyone disoriented enough into ribbons, and start feasting on them.

06-A: BRAIN BRAWL
Hallucinations: The Intellect Devourers try to whip up more terrifying visions. Anything to disorient the entire Convoy, or drive the Drifters into a madness that leaves them transformed and too wild to easily counterattack. These hallucinations may be past trauma, or something a Drifter fears happening; the ultimate goal is to leave Drifters panicking, changed, and vulnerable.

Rally: Still, there’s one thing the Devourers didn’t anticipate: and that is how sharing a mental link has given the Drifters an anchor with each other. With all the psychic echoes spreading through the camp, any and all mental links from before can easily flare back up. Drifters who have shared dreams or some form of mental connection may still transform, but their mental link can keep their minds stable and coherent instead of growing feral.

Scars: Whether through brute force battles or mental link resistance, eventually the Convoy is able to shrug off the attack… But there is still some damage done. The shield generator has shorted out, and the Convoy itself has taken a few gashes and gouges. Not to mention any transformed Drifters will still need to be talked down. Luckily the mental links are still in place to help with that, and there’s a truck full of medical supplies to help with patching up any hurts.
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.

Disorientation: When wandering through the brush, Drifters may experience a swarm of disorientation: their thoughts suddenly scramble, they forget where they were going or what they were doing. They may also come to with a set of gashes along their legs, and a sense that they may have seen something in the sage brush move… Or maybe it was just the wind.

Float: Occasionally, parts of the road just give up their hold on the ground and go drifting skywards. Hopefully those chunks of road don’t take Drifters and their vehicles with them. Tough vehicles can likely survive the drop, while Fast vehicles can speed away before they float too far upwards. Drifters caught outside their vehicles will have to hope they have fast reflexes… Or are either good fliers or good jumpers for the leap back down.

Raining Down: On occasion, gravity will flicker and warp oddly… And that means that other odd things can fall where they used to float; rocks, plants, not to mention the odd bit of hardware and buildings. Watch for falling objects of various shapes and sizes!


NAVIGATION











definitionofcrazy: (79)

[personal profile] definitionofcrazy 2025-05-17 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
She knows, logically, that it's not real, knows that reality is playing tricks on her. So when she sees the massive, fur-covered predator coming toward her, her brain immediately starts screaming at her. Monster. Threat. Kill the threat. Kill it and the rest of this goes away.

She knows it's not rational, she knows it's insane, but it's so hard to resist the impulse, to not just lash out at the first tangible enemy she can see, the first monster she can kill.

Fortunately, Yang's mental presence cuts through that and inflicts clarity on her mind by force. A friend, not an enemy.

The fear subsides a little, but she still can't clear the haze of warring impulses, the overwhelming urge at once to flee and to start attacking everything that moves, or maybe both at the same time. Instead, she nods numbly, shrinking back from the brain-like creatures she was ineffectually trying to fight and letting Yang take over.
mytearsaremine: (nervous)

[personal profile] mytearsaremine 2025-05-17 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't know." She looks over her shoulder with a frown. She doesn't like the idea, she's had people live off her mind for way too long, but there's also a potential corroboration: "The thorn plants talked a lot about joining them and changing to survive, and they changed things... or I guess they made them bleed to make them change. I don't actually know how much they knew about bleeding making things change, though. Like I said, they're really stupid. So, I don't know, it's possible but hard to say for sure."
mytearsaremine: (killyou)

[personal profile] mytearsaremine 2025-05-17 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
Jolie eyes him a beat, then squares her shoulders and lines up her shot. She has been practicing, so her aim is not as bad as it could be, but pebbles aren't always perfectly balanced either, so she clips the edge of the first piece of scrap metal on the line, rather than hitting it dead on. She makes a frustrated noise.
mytearsaremine: (thoughtful)

[personal profile] mytearsaremine 2025-05-17 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
"You made this?" Jolie asks, even more amazed by that, actually. It's like Echo's magic sword except it's also technology somehow, apparently, and also Donnie made it. "Like, made it-made it? What's it made of?"
definitionofcrazy: (110)

[personal profile] definitionofcrazy 2025-05-17 03:46 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, sounds pretty screwed up.

[She wishes Angel was here. He'd be better at this sort of thing. Better at the whole pep talk, the saving-people-from-themselves deal. She feels woefully unprepared for it.

But she's what he's got, so she'll have to make it work. She continues slowly moving closer to the two as they talk.]


Thing is, I know a little something about something. About hating yourself. About thinking you're so diseased that the only cure is to let 'em put you down.
definitionofcrazy: (Anger)

[personal profile] definitionofcrazy 2025-05-17 03:48 am (UTC)(link)
[She blinks at the offered bottle, then back up at him.]

You sure? I mean, we got no clue when we're gonna be able to get more, right?
mytearsaremine: (dubious)

[personal profile] mytearsaremine 2025-05-17 03:49 am (UTC)(link)
Faith is actually doing a pretty good job so far. She manages not to make it sound like she's giving any orders, and she shows it as she explains it, and gives reasons behind why things are done. She neatly sidesteps all of Jolie's issues just by being a casual, experienced badass.

Jolie nods along, and mimics her fist once she's made it too. "Like this? How do you keep your wrist steady? Is there a trick to that, too? Because I definitely don't want to break my wrist."
mytearsaremine: (Default)

[personal profile] mytearsaremine 2025-05-17 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't know, I'm kind of getting used to it a little?" Jolie admits. "I mean, not when it changes suddenly and I have to catch myself from falling down between steps, but just seeing things being on the wrong wall."
purplexing: (i know things i wish i didn't)

[personal profile] purplexing 2025-05-17 03:52 am (UTC)(link)
The turtle arches a brow. "Yeah? I literally made it in front of you," he says. "Short, somewhat unsatisfying answer? Magic." He's never thrilled to admit anything is mystical in some way but this is his, so he'll make an exception.

"It's only temporary though, so long as I can hold my focus."
definitionofcrazy: (pic#17735129)

[personal profile] definitionofcrazy 2025-05-17 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
Crossbow, yeah. Frame holds the bolt in place while you aim. Hits just as hard, aim is more accurate.

[Wrist-mounted, though. Wouldn't be her first choice, but still better than a gun.]

Don't get me wrong, I normally like getting up close and personal with the violence, but a gal likes some variety.
androidvictoriam: (gun maintenance)

[personal profile] androidvictoriam 2025-05-17 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
[Though he can't help being on edge about the whole undeath situation, Danse will take backup that freaks him out over no backup at all. There's something that becomes reassuring about those uneven hoofbeats, even, in a way he hasn't anticipated. The sound is distinct and recognizable, and keeps him steadily aware of his ally's location, even when he strays further away. The knee-jerk Brotherhood soldier in him still tells him to be ashamed of finding anything about these mutations useful or interesting, but it's quieter these days.

Danse hasn't seen that hammer in action yet, but there's certainly no better time than this. Though he's brought the manacles on himself with that preemptive attack on the judgmental machinery, he takes no issue with the command, freezing in place until Jayce strikes the offending thing off him. ]


Thanks. That was close.

[ He's seen rocket-powered sledgehammers, ones that store kinetic energy, ones that stun with electricity, but he can't place the way in which this one is out of the ordinary--he wants to ask, but he can hear the sounds of slithering leather and clinking metal coming back for more, and knows now is not the time to talk shop.

The chains are too small to strike either with his rifle or his tire iron, but the wider restraints are enough of a target for his point-blank laser fire, and the straps almost seem to make a keening noise as they curl away and collapse in a heap. As if echoing them, his rifle makes a shrill, low-charge beep like a smoke detector. ]


...damn it, I thought I'd have longer before the cells ran down. You don't have that problem.
undyingcrow: (closed eyes)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-17 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
I wouldn't bother, Faith-san. That isn't me... it's merely a memory of one man's cognition of me.

[Now that he's back on his feet, the damage to his mask mends itself. He locks eyes with his doppelganger, but the doppelganger merely laughs.]

A copy of a copy... Perhaps that's true, but the fact that I reside within your mind only proves the depths of your guilt. Even now, you don't believe you deserve to live.
undyingcrow: (calm)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-17 04:06 am (UTC)(link)
That's my current hypothesis.

[Slowly, his attention drifts toward the sky.]

If we assume this impact was the impact of the shards falling, then it could be the original Moon Warp. Still, that leaves many gaps within the timeline. It may be a bit too presumptuous to try and place these memories relative to this impact, when all we know is what was scrawled into the tower and the few remnants in those books you gathered.
fists_of_funny: (yang150)

[personal profile] fists_of_funny 2025-05-17 04:12 am (UTC)(link)
"Blake?" Yang turns and sees her partner, and suddenly realization sets in. Oh, right. This is a dream. Or a memory. Or a dream of a memory. And Blake is here because that's been going around. Drifters wandering into each other's dreams.

And right now Blake is dropping some pretty big news. Yang is quick to pull the Bottlecap out, and...yeah. There's the scratch, where Blake said it would be, the sort of detail you see but never notice.

"So you dropped this into the sea, and it washes up right in my path? That's..." She runs her mechanical hand through her hair.

"That's the kinda thing you read in stories about." She's fully prepared to believe it, though. After everything, why wouldn't the bottlecap connect them.

She doesn't dwell overmuch on the specific kinds of stories these situations tend to occur in, either.

"I guess fate really was telling me we'd find our way back to each other." She laughs. But the way Blake is fidgeting with the ring calls attention to it; it's not something she ever saw Blake wear at Beacon, only after they reunited at Haven. Yang's never thought too much about it, but she started playing with it right after confirming it was indeed her bottlecap.

"I never did say, but that's a really pretty ring, by the way. Family heirloom?"
definitionofcrazy: (197)

I'm not saying I literally curated this list from episodes Faith was in just for this tag, but-

[personal profile] definitionofcrazy 2025-05-17 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
[She seems genuinely surprised when the music kicks in. It's still not her thing, but she can vibe to it.]

Alright, fair enough.

[She jumps up onto the van- pretty easily, girl's got some hops- to sit beside Blake.]

I dunno, I can jam to whatever, especially if you can dance to it. Guess most of what I listen to is hard rock, heavy metal. Rob Zombie, Curve, Marc Ferrari... you know Spectator Pump? Nobody ever knows 'em, I swear.
undyingcrow: (steepled fingers)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-17 04:32 am (UTC)(link)
"The degree of intelligence may also vary between different plants. Perhaps you and Viktor-san could discuss the matter further; he's certainly interested in cultivating plant life."

Though, she may not know Viktor yet. Even if there are only so many of them, not everyone is particularly social. Viktor himself may not be so quick to reach out.

A ripple of uncertainty passes through the air, but it's calm. Muted, really.

"Regardless, we should remain diligent. It wouldn't be unreasonable for an organism to tempt us with a seemingly beneficial relationship, just to lull us into a vulnerable position later."
definitionofcrazy: (198)

GOD FAITH'S FACIAL EXPRESSIONS IN B3/B4/A1 ARE SO DIFFERENT FROM THE ONES IN A4/S7

[personal profile] definitionofcrazy 2025-05-17 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
The weird white noise flickers through the dream again when he says his name, and she pauses for a tiny, fractional moment, long enough for Jack to see her more clearly. She's definitely not the Faith he knew. Younger, for one thing, clearly still just a teenager. Heavy makeup, flashy attention-grabbing clothing designed to be provocative rather than practical.

And then the pause passes, and her face and voice take on the same arrogant sneer.

"Last guy I played with wasn't so chatty."

She spreads her arms, as if inviting him to attack, as she starts slowly backing away again. When the sneer fades, what he glimpses beneath seems... tense. Twitchy. A totally different beast from the Faith he's familiar with, like she's only barely keeping a handle on something volatile.

"Just try to put up a better fight than he did."
definitionofcrazy: (pic#17735135)

[personal profile] definitionofcrazy 2025-05-17 05:03 am (UTC)(link)
"Couple ways."

She holds up her own hand, open and facing .

"Tell you what, punch my palm, but do it slow, lemme see how you move."

Partly so she can critique the form, partly so she doesn't injure herself if she's sloppy. The kid is clearly coachable, at least. That should help.
definitionofcrazy: (pic#17735176)

[personal profile] definitionofcrazy 2025-05-17 05:15 am (UTC)(link)
['Maybe 'cause it's not about you, jackass.'

Always trying to save her soul, despite her best efforts. Even when she didn't deserve it. God, she wishes he was around now.]


Thing about dying? It's easy. Everybody can do it.

[She stops, just out of arm's reach of the copy.]

That's what the smart guy told me. You wanna get off easy, you die. You vanish. Easiest thing in the world. Ride off into that sunset and let everybody else deal with the damage you left behind.

[She's pointedly not talking to the copy now. She's talking to Akechi, the original.]

You really think you messed up, you gotta be alive to fix it.
faceguy: (you're not alone)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-17 05:38 am (UTC)(link)
[The confusion and anger mix with Leo's own, leaking out of him alongside terror and frustration. He grits his teeth, portaling away another Krang before looking back at the wings.

It's not Donnie. It's not any of his family. But... it's not Krang, so what is it?

Slowly, memories try to reassert themselves. He knows that person. But from where?

Unfortunately, another launched attack from a brain sends him into another tizzy before he can figure it out. But at least he's not attacking Akechi. Rather, he's fighting alongside him.]
faceguy: (a motherfucker)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-17 05:41 am (UTC)(link)
He does look a little scary... but Leo doesn't want to just say that. Levi's cool, as far as he's concerned.

"Anyway..." He turns away and looks over the remnants of the battle from the night before. "We've got a whole mess out here, don't we?"
faceguy: (as your moment disappears)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-17 05:44 am (UTC)(link)
Everything around here just comes back to the moon, huh?

[It seems like this world was absolutely obsessed with it. Leo looks up at it's cracked and ruined surface, before turning his attention back to Blake.]

Was it already like that? Or was it still whole?
faceguy: (living with a laissez-faire)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-17 05:48 am (UTC)(link)
Of course he's not comfortable with it. Donnie's never been a feelings guy, even less so than Leo.

So the pang of rejection Leo feels when Donnie draws under his wings is really unwarranted. It's not Donnie's fault that this is happening.

Leo abruptly gets to his feet, a smile he doesn't feel at all stretching over his face.

"Hey, are you hungry? Because I just realized I'm starving. Must have been that pizza talk."

This is a lie, but it's an easy out.

"I'll go get us some snacks," he says, already opening a portal.
faceguy: (give them applause)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-17 05:57 am (UTC)(link)
Leo stops and looks back at Ruby incredulously.

"...Alright, well, you're definitely not on the egghead list."

Then he keeps walking.

"It means smart people, Rubes."
faceguy: (for a first effort this)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-17 05:59 am (UTC)(link)
...Five-by-five?

[Despite the gross sounds, he's intrigued by new slang.

Also seriously, how is she doing that all by herself? She's like, Raph-strong.]

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