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











bufudine: (don't say that... :|)

[personal profile] bufudine 2025-05-18 01:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Serph shakes his head.

"That at least, is different. Our infection was... instantaneous. Our transformations, immediate and violent."
undyingcrow: (steepled fingers)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-18 02:00 pm (UTC)(link)
"In some regards, I'd almost prefer that." The pristine image of Akechi's human form ripples. Shadows of wings, horns, feathers, and barbs fade in and out of sight, along with a scorpion's tail.

"I'm not fully changed, but now the parts that are entirely human feel out of place."
undyingcrow: (closed eyes)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-18 02:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[It's a lot to take in. So much history, so many clear struggles.

The kind of heroic escapades he once dreamed of as a child... but moreover, it's clear Zero always had someone by his side. Someone he could depend on.

It's rather enviable, really.

Could Akechi have developed something like that with Ren? ...Perhaps it's not too late, if Ren is somewhere in this world. They found each other once already.

But no matter. Akechi approaches the main screen, breathing a quiet sigh.]


That your convictions remain after so much hardship truly is impressive.
undyingcrow: (thinking)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-18 02:16 pm (UTC)(link)
It could be risky to stack too many effects, and yet, that is one way to test how they interact with one another...

[Hmm, given what Donnie said, though...

Akechi pauses, carefully seizing the sheath for his pilfered saber.]


If our common variable is orange, then it stands to reason that it's the cause of the visions. As for green... well, that I'm less certain of.
undyingcrow: (distant)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-18 02:29 pm (UTC)(link)
...He's the only one worthy of the title.

[He stabs one of the brains with a particularly violent thrust.]

But you... I know your voice. This isn't...

[When he draws the sword back, it drips with all kinds of unsightly fluids, but the brain dissipates into the same light as the other Husk monsters, cleansing wounds and replenishing energy.]
solitarysoul: commisioned art (Default)

[personal profile] solitarysoul 2025-05-18 02:34 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah...I'm not one of them, but I can help protect the convoy when the shields aren't working." He'd done so before, and since he has bullets this time it'd be easier.

He looks down at his clawed hands...this form could help too, he supposes.
firstsoldier: (pic#17626944)

[personal profile] firstsoldier 2025-05-18 02:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"The first rule of an unwilling prisoner is to escape." He's just a stranger, clearly a perfectly ordinary denizen of whatever world Leonardo comes from. Or some figment of his own imagination, but why Leo would be conjuring up tall ominous swordsmen is an even stranger question.

Sephiroth's seen despair in others enough to recognize it. Whatever this dream is - or more accurately this nightmare - it's one that comes with a terrible pain he can't quite connect to. He has no family to lose. "Or is there a reason you linger in this hole?"

It's a crater, not a hole.
solitarysoul: commisioned art (omgwtf)

For Natsuhi; cw: PTSD, needles, probable body horror (outside of the normal for this game lol)

[personal profile] solitarysoul 2025-05-18 04:05 pm (UTC)(link)
He wasn't supposed to explore alone, and Levi generally agreed with that one of SecUnit's rules. But he was a combatant, so it didn't exactly apply to him. And he was going deeper into the creepy, gravity-twisting hospital for the purpose of finding others who had ignored that rule and gotten themselves in trouble. (And loot supplies, of course.) He mostly avoided the restraint systems and monsters so far, though being ID'd as "Infected" was really annoying. He didn't need the hospitals telelectroscope whatever the fucks telling him that.

Spotting and avoiding traps on the ground (or whatever surface he was walking on) was something Levi'd gotten good at but he didn't expect them from the ceiling. Even if he should have, because it was the floor right now. A pair of straps shoot out from above and grab an arm. Levi tries to jump aside, dropping his gun to slash at the straps with his claws. The restraints aren't designed to go all the way to the ceiling and back so they don't have the best grip on him and he's able to claw and wiggle his way free quickly.

But not quickly enough, because the second strap held a needle instead of a cuff and it has enough time to inject him before Levi retreats to the next room. He's sweating profusely and some sort of black plates seem to be forming on his arms.
faceguy: (call for desperate measures)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-18 04:20 pm (UTC)(link)
“Uh, yeah, that’s literally impossible.”

Leo eats another chip. He’s fully sitting up now, and even though he’s keeping up his skeptical face, he’s much more relaxed than he was a moment ago.

“You can’t even do a 1440 off the half pipe.”
faceguy: (you'll live forever as a local god)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-18 04:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh, so they know Leo too?

Some kind of clarity is trying to break through. Leo isn’t the Joker this person is looking for, but they’re together here, wherever Here is. Leo has taken responsibility for all these people. That’s all he needs to know, really.]


I’m here to help. [He can say it with confidence now.] Just stick with me.
faceguy: (come round)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-18 04:56 pm (UTC)(link)
“Same here. Maybe we should stick together for now.”

He scans the area. Nothing is attacking right now, but…

“At least where we can hear each other shout.”
solitarysoul: commisioned art (Bone Doggy1)

[personal profile] solitarysoul 2025-05-18 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
He nods. "It seems to be safer during the day, at least." And the sun has begun to rise. "But it wouldn't hurt to check the perimeter."

He taps an ear, "These things at least come with some pretty good hearing."
faceguy: (remember what it's like)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-18 05:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Escape, huh?

For a moment, another voice joins the chorus: saying Leo, we saved you. But it’s quickly drowned out again by the reminder that everyone dies, they all die.

“Well,” he says eventually, “it took a lot of effort to get in here. Seems kind of pointless to leave now.”

Especially as, at present, the damage to his shell makes it difficult to move.
firstsoldier: (pic#17626941)

[personal profile] firstsoldier 2025-05-18 06:11 pm (UTC)(link)
He takes a long, lingering survey of the area, the wreckage, the floating ruins of things he wasn't even sure of at a distance .. and frowns faintly. He only knew as much about turtles as was deemed relevant to killing sahagin, but it didn't really occur to him that Leo's injury might be so severe that moving is simply not an option.

"Do you need to be in here?"

These things may be more complicated than they seem on the surface, and the only way to be sure is to simply ask. But that photograph is still there, and the whisper of a voice gains a second one briefly, a suggestion that all is not quite as it seems. Nightmares aren't always rational.
discolouredwings: (pic#14995654)

Health Inspection

[personal profile] discolouredwings 2025-05-18 08:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[Natsuhi wasn't adventurous. While she'd been learning how to handle a small gun, she wasn't sure if she could defend herself with it yet. So she was keeping to areas that had already been checked for monsters. Just going to collect anything of use and move it to the convoy.

The question made her pause, standing still by the cabinet she'd been looking through, turning to glance at him.]


No. I've only seen the screens flickering.

[Visions?]
purplexing: (myeh)

[personal profile] purplexing 2025-05-18 08:56 pm (UTC)(link)
It more or less matches his own mood, glad that balance has been restored somewhat.

"As I recall, neither could you," Donnie says, smirking as he slips his hand back into the chip bag again.
purplexing: (i can't believe it's not butter)

[personal profile] purplexing 2025-05-18 09:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Donnie frowns, confused at the rain. It's a strange thing, feeling it fall and yet it not...feeling like rain should? He looks down at his own hands as water drips from them.

"A simulation?" He blinks, looking back at Serph. "But...that would imply being plugged into something. If it's entirely virtual, where's the real you?"
purplexing: (i didn't want it to be this way but)

[personal profile] purplexing 2025-05-18 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Probably...

...

But earlier, when you were... [He gestures vaguely.] ...an..gry..? I...felt that.

...it happened with Leo too. I was...experiencing? His emotions.
discolouredwings: (pic#14995656)

PAIN PIT PAIN PIT

[personal profile] discolouredwings 2025-05-18 09:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[She didn't normally dream. Not back home, the medicine she needed to sleep made her pass out. So for a moment she didn't even realise she was dreaming when found herself surrounded by green fog. Then she noticed she was wearing normal clothes and not her night clothes.]

Um...

[If it weren't for how this place was she'd have dismissed it. But considering how many impossible things had happened here, she was going to be careful, even if it was a dream.


...


...Then she promptly yelped and fell down a hole. Rolling down a slope until she reached the drop. Natsuhi grunted upon landing. Winded but somehow unharmed? She peered up, looking at the edge that she was never going to reach.

Guess it was time to look around and see if there was anything else here?]
discolouredwings: (pic#14995652)

Shared Thoughts-Telepathy - because she has thoughts

[personal profile] discolouredwings 2025-05-18 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
For the most part, Natsuhi avoided the infamous titty van. She'd seen it, pulled a face of absolute disgust, turned around and just did not see. She'd just keep to the parts of the convoy she needed.

Except, except as she'd left the main rig she'd spotted the sign. Then she sighed and wandered over to read it.

Well, now she was just annoyed...and disgusted. Urg, it looks like something Rudolf would want.
x2bet: (080)

new reno

[personal profile] x2bet 2025-05-18 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[A smoky, busy shindig of a casino floor like this suits Benny like a sun-warmed rock does a lazy gecko. Basking in the music of The Shark Club, he finds himself lounging like a VIP by the bar as he nurses his top shelf whiskey. Surrounded by the blurry crowd, but spotlit by the cherry-red tip of the smouldering cigar in his hand; it makes sense he’d be here, it's where he belongs. Not in the desert, not on the road. He’s here because -

- because Swank was on his case about finding some new talent, wasn’t he? Something or the other for Torini's acts, as if Benny didn't have better things to do. He'd told Swank to make like a cazador and buzz off, but guess he's circling back around to it now. The opening act is standout - that guy shows a lot of promise, he really knows how to work a crowd. Pretty-faced and young, with a certain “cowpoke” charm - he’ll bet everything he’ll be a hit with the ladies from California. With a little polish, he might have a real diamond on his hands. He keeps an open mind to the next act, but Benny’s got his eyes on the curly-haired singer leaving the cage. He already knows who he's going to poach.

He’s still working out how to approach the angle when the kid turns to him and kicks off the conversation, eyes him all the way down to his wingtip shoes. Yeah, his suit does tend to make an impression on people. With some slight condescension, Benny sizes him up with the kind of sleaze that's rife in New Reno and the assured confidence of any man with deep pockets and an aggravated sense of self-importance who's plenty used to people approaching him, rather than the other way round. Smoke curls from his mouth as he breathes out, lowering the cigar as he gets ready to sell him on a dream. Benny likes a go-getter; let’s see what he wants.]


Well, kid... that's because I ain't from these parts. But the real question is this - why is the star act of tonight's show buying his own drink?

[He pulls out the lure - drawing his hand from his pocket, he scatters a handful of bottlecaps onto the bartop as if tossing dice; enough to cover anything his little heart could want in a rinky-dink Reno venue like this.]

And after a platinum performance like that? That's a travesty, baby.
fists_of_funny: (yang6)

[personal profile] fists_of_funny 2025-05-19 12:51 am (UTC)(link)
No sooner had that thought entered Natsuhi's mind, another, distinctly not her own, follows.

Ugh, yeah, don't get me started about Rudolf, am I right?
Edited 2025-05-19 00:52 (UTC)
taediosum: (pic#17385343)

[personal profile] taediosum 2025-05-19 12:53 am (UTC)(link)
I found that from scavenging. I imagine I'll be able to find more.

[ Hopefully, anyway. But he sees no reason to catastrophize, now. It hasn't been entirely uncommon, to find some extra liquor here and there among the ruins. Why should it suddenly be, now? ]

Besides, if this keeps you from developing some novel infection from playing around with that thing, I'll consider it well worth the sacrifice.
taediosum: (pic#17385342)

[personal profile] taediosum 2025-05-19 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ Arcade stumbles a step at that pat - or maybe it's the joking offer, which prompts a briefly flustered, sarcastic smile. ]

I'm sure I'll manage on my own. Somehow.

[ Ha. Ha.

He leads Jayce toward the elevator, presumably back toward it, for the long ride down to the eerily empty, dark casino floor. There's no one around, dust thick on the slot machines and card tables, and at the front entrance, they have to wait for the automatic locks to disengage.

Outside, though, the Strip is as lively as the 38 is not - drunken soldiers on leave staggering merrily down the street in weaving clots, well-dressed gamblers (whose suits and dresses only look a little too faded and too worn when closely examined) filter in and out of the other casinos, as smiling workers try their best to attract more with their loudly enthusiastic sales pitches. The whole street is lit up bright as the sun, though it's night overhead, and that harsh light casts it all in a weird falsity. As if it's all a stage play, rather than reality. Which it is, really. The walls bordering in the Strip are made from stacked-high sheet metal and old wire fencing, cobbled together and soldered crudely in place. Flashing lights and brightly colored signs distract from the desolate emptiness that yawns beyond them, only imagined, from here.

A securitron rolls past them on its singular treaded tire, stern-faced and silent, as they step out into the cooling night air, Rex on their heels. The trip is a swift blur, a route so familiar Arcade hardly bothers to imagine the details, but out here things swim back into sharper focus. ]
faceguy: (cause baby i'm gifted)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-19 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
"Sweet. Can't say the same about mine..." He gestures at his lack of external ear. "But I'll keep an ear out for you."

He pulls out his katana. "Meet back up in like... thirty minutes?"