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: (pic#17735187)

[personal profile] definitionofcrazy 2025-05-20 04:17 am (UTC)(link)
Hey, maybe you get lucky and the wings stick around.

[Wait.]

Unless you had those already. Guess I shouldn't assume.
mytearsaremine: (determined)

[personal profile] mytearsaremine 2025-05-20 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
"I've been practicing for weeks, you'd think I'd be a little better than that," Jolie grumbles. She has very high expectations for herself, and that frustrated disappointment is leaking out all over her. She lines up another shot.
bufudine: (Default)

[personal profile] bufudine 2025-05-20 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
Vegetation... An image forms in his mind. Plants. Bushes, scrub-like. Trees. Somehow, he knows what those are, despite not having seen them before.

Serph keeps watch while his companion tests the doors. He hadn't seen much else alive. That in of itself is not that unusual to him. But he hadn't expect that trait to be present in whatever land he's found himself in.

"The monsters were humans. They transformed into demons to attack me." Serph thinks about the sword that had simply disappeared. "Are you not the same?"
mytearsaremine: (hopeful)

[personal profile] mytearsaremine 2025-05-20 04:23 am (UTC)(link)
"I mean, I thought maybe you summoned it, brought it from somewhere else or like... another dimension or something," Jolie admits. "So you made it from scratch, right now, just for this? Out of magic?" Okay, so it's still magic and not technology. But it's still pretty cool. "How did you learn to do that?"
undyingcrow: (thinking)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-20 04:24 am (UTC)(link)
True. An impact doesn't necessarily have to be on the surface of a planet...

[He shuts his eyes for a moment, imagining a visual. A beam, a missile, a rocket... Enough speed and precision could certainly damage the moon.]

Truthfully, this entire leg of our journey is especially jarring. The terrain feels as if it's barely holding itself together, ready to vanish into the moon's embrace.
mytearsaremine: (killyou)

[personal profile] mytearsaremine 2025-05-20 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
There's a sneer on her face, but at least she doesn't start running immediately again. "What could you do to help me?" she demands. "You can't fix what's wrong."

Then her expression goes almost covetous, looking him over. "Unless you can give me that body of yours. It's in much better shape than my others..."
purplexing: (unshocked i am)

[personal profile] purplexing 2025-05-20 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
"Hmph."

There's no heat in it; this is their typical banter and things are feeling more...normal. Donnie doesn't want to ruin it by going back to work on things, but it feels kind of nice being able to finally relax himself.

He shifts so he can lean an arm over the edge of the mattress and better steal a few more chips, keeping his wings out of the way. Makes him miss having an actual bed.

"Wonder what the chances of finding any places with pillows or blankets to scavenge," he can't help but wonder aloud as he rests his head in the crook of his arm.
purplexing: (ready to mys-tech your face)

[personal profile] purplexing 2025-05-20 04:32 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh. I guess that's fair. But I'm sure that would've been more instantaneous. I literally build every piece from the inside out." Which...he supposes can be impractical, but that's just the way his mind's always worked. He's still technically oriented, even when employing magic.

"I...don't know, I just...did it?" Donnie admits then, shrugging. "My brothers had learned to sling magic around earlier on by use of magically imbued weapons, but no one could explain how they did it, and it was kind of maddening that they made it seem so easy." So very, very frustrating. "But then later on we found out that we all have some kind of magical ability, that it's something connected to us from our family line. Once I was able to tap into mine, it just came naturally."
mytearsaremine: (determined)

[personal profile] mytearsaremine 2025-05-20 04:32 am (UTC)(link)
As long as it stays at coaching and suggestion rather than direct orders. So far, Faith is doing fine. She looks a little skeptical about punching her, but then, she did just say she had superpowers, and Jolie's in good shape, but not super good.

So she makes the fist Faith showed her, gathers up, and swings into Faith's hand like how she'd seen her brother punch one of their cousins once. The form isn't terrible, she's not going to break anything probably, but it's also wild and untutored.
mytearsaremine: (hopeful)

[personal profile] mytearsaremine 2025-05-20 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
"I think it's the whole valley," Jolie says, a little apologetically, because even if she's doing okay with it, for whatever reason, he clearly isn't. "Between the floating rocks and cars and dead monsters, and now this. So maybe it'll change when we get out of it. It's like different places have different weird magic things going on with them."
undyingcrow: (feral)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-20 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
Portals... Heh. Well, you aren't the only one with tricks up your sleeve.

[He turns on a heel, crying to the heavens.]

Come, Hereward!

[At Akechi's command, his dutiful Persona unleashes a sweeping, magical explosion. Megidolaon may be excessive, but it certainly makes a statement.]
undyingcrow: (distant)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-20 04:39 am (UTC)(link)
It's rather irritating. I'd rather not project my feelings to the rest of the world.

[A grumble of a sigh rolls from his lips.]

...But you couldn't have known, and if the blue sagebrush does make you more receptive to others' emotions, then I suppose it stands to reason that it'd amplify my own effect.
undyingcrow: (wtf)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-20 04:44 am (UTC)(link)
"Something about angering a goddess and a failed ritual." Akechi says it all so nonchalantly, before pivoting the subject over to Viktor. "As for Viktor-san, he's taken to wearing a cloak lately, but it may be easier to find his vehicle. It's... a rather polygonal eyesore."
bufudine: (come with me :|)

[personal profile] bufudine 2025-05-20 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
Serph agrees with a nod. It feels strange to be some kind of human-monster hybrid, even if it does rather reflect his feelings about his existence. But the inconvenience of his wings mildly vexes him whenever they get in the way.

"Like humanity doesn't belong."

Serph gestures to the brand on his face before folding his arms.

"This mark is from the Atma virus. The mark for this transformation," he stretches his wings in demonstration, the feathers bending in an unnatural way, "is elsewhere. The two transformations seem incompatible."

His demon is unchanged from his ravenous, inhuman self, unmoved by the moon warp until his demon's hunger forces to revert.
wereperrito: (lookup)

[personal profile] wereperrito 2025-05-20 04:47 am (UTC)(link)
Ears skewing with embarrassment that he had to be physically moved, Jack steps back to let Serph get up if he wants to, tails lower but still moving restlessly, like always. "It does not seem very, er, Nirvana-like," he offers, tentatively. "It looks kind of... dead."
wereperrito: (lookup)

[personal profile] wereperrito 2025-05-20 04:48 am (UTC)(link)
[Jack zeroes in on that motion, that noise, approaching slowly.]

I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. I probably couldn't even if I wanted to. I don't know how to fight or anything.

[He even left the knife back with the lizard, so he is completely unarmed.]

May I see you?
purplexing: (I didn't want it to be true)

[personal profile] purplexing 2025-05-20 04:53 am (UTC)(link)
Guess I dodged a bullet there. But being on the other end isn't really fun either...

[He lets out a sigh too, rubbing at his arm.]

I think what made it worse was the stacked effect of the vision you reacted to. If they're strong enough I-I think I get swept up in it.
wereperrito: (sneak)

[personal profile] wereperrito 2025-05-20 04:54 am (UTC)(link)
Well. Though he almost doesn't know what he's doing, that immediate acceptance melts through any worry or resistance. He won't hurt his friend, no matter what this is, and if it will help... he's going to try.

His free hand comes up to Serph's cheek, turning his head just a little, and he leans up to kiss him.

The buzzing in his throat fills his mouth, pressing against the back of his lips. It feels like the phantom fire, except inside, not on his fingertips. He doesn't open his mouth to let it out yet-- it depends on whether Serph pushes him off, first.
wereperrito: (confused)

[personal profile] wereperrito 2025-05-20 05:00 am (UTC)(link)
"Er, well, I don't actually know how to fight," he says, pausing at the sight of her, ears skewed in confusion. She looks wrong. She definitely sounds wrong. She still smells like herself, though. Less dead, but still her. "I certainly don't want to fight you. So I don't think I'll put up much fight at all."
definitionofcrazy: (164)

[personal profile] definitionofcrazy 2025-05-20 05:03 am (UTC)(link)
Told you, I know a little something about something.

[More than a little. The penthouse Mayor Wilkins gave her in Sunnydale is the nicest place she's ever lived, to this day.

She smirks, stepping closer to Akechi- and, ever so subtly, positioning herself between him and the double.]


So are we five by five, or do you need me to help you kick this guy's ass? Sorry, this is my first time on this side of a dream intervention, little shaky on it.

[If nothing else, she figures the complete dismissal of that manifested self-loathing should be pretty damn satisfying for him. Or at least funny.]
faceguy: (you were a master shredder)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-20 05:11 am (UTC)(link)
Leo just stares up at the guy like he doesn't get it. Clearly he doesn't. Maybe he's just upset about being stuck here, too, just like Leo is...

Huh. Somehow, he's just now considering that someone else could have gotten stuck here. Another thing to add to his guilt, he supposes.

"Sorry to tell you this, but there's not really anywhere to go. That's the whole point."

The speck is growing closer, though now it's bigger than a speck. Something wearing black, dragon-like armor, around seven or eight feet tall.

"I... if I knew how to get you out of here, I would tell you. I didn't... mean for anyone else to get caught up in this."
faceguy: (my testimony)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-20 05:19 am (UTC)(link)
Oh Levi, he'll help you get a sense of humor soon enough.

Leo gives him a little salute and goes back the other way. There's lots of damage to exam around the convoy, so he'll be back around again soon... It's a little depressing, actually.
faceguy: (with the plan)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-20 05:34 am (UTC)(link)
Leo snorts. "Eh, what do teachers know anyway?"

He's never been to school so it's not like he has any experience.

"You have a dog?"
definitionofcrazy: (147)

Fair assumption!

[personal profile] definitionofcrazy 2025-05-20 05:37 am (UTC)(link)
[The roar seems to make her flinch rather than inspiring her usual cocky defiance, and she stares up at-

Not The Beast. Not exactly. It's all wrong. He never yelled at her, never needed to raise his voice, he simply picked her apart and mocked her. It disrupts the pattern.

Instead, she sees Serph, and there's a dim memory, a recollection. But he's still massive, intimidating, and she can't muster her usual energy.]


I can't-

[She hates it. It's pathetic. It feels pathetic. It's like being back in that alley, desperately lashing out at Angel and begging him to kill her. She seems to shrink away, and it's all she can do not to curl into the fetal position right there.]

I'm sorry. I can't.
faceguy: (them other boys)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-20 05:38 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh? Thinking of converting back to the bedded lifestyle?"

Leo admits that having actual blankets and pillows and not just a bunk mattress would be pretty nice, though. And maybe a sleep mask again... It feels safer in the tank than in the bunkhouse, but there's still too many lights sometimes for him to sleep well.

Oh well. It's fine, he's managing.

"We can look out for that at the next place we go to, too."

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