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











discolouredwings: (pic#14995659)

[personal profile] discolouredwings 2025-05-26 10:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[Well, Natsuhi was very glad she'd not touched him. She hissed as she inhaled as he screamed and turned his leg enough to see in the dim light. The white and rivets of red stood out though.

She'd really gotten lucky with her landing.]


You...you need a doctor.

[Because she might have helped with basic first aid, but this? She wasn't even sure how to stop it from bleeding and the bone didn't look like it could be set.

Natsuhi jerked her head, looking around. Trying to spot if there was a way out within view,]
purplexing: (this face looks the same yet doesn't)

[personal profile] purplexing 2025-05-26 10:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Whoa...


[Donnie keeps moving at least, mostly because he feels like if he stops it'll be hard to start up again.

Once they're through the doors, he lets out a sigh of relief. And then he gives an affronted gasp when he finds the book shoved into his hands before he can give his arms another rub.
]

"Please" - he added, like as to not be heeded. [He looks down at the Bible he'd been handed.]

Pretty hefty reading. Is this what you do in your spare time? ...is anyone else here besides you?

[He looks slightly concerned about that, because that'd kind of suck to be alone with a bunch of human fishsticks.]
winparadise: (135)

[personal profile] winparadise 2025-05-26 11:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[The boy just puffs his cheeks out and takes the book back. He'd listen if it was Rem, but he's not getting weird lectures on human manners from a weird turtle.]

Yeah, it's just me. [He lies, leading him into a corridor. Much like the boy's clothes, the place is sterile and white, evidently designed for function and not much else. He needs to decide what to do with him, but he still doesn't know if he imagined the moving humans... What's the best course of action? Maybe moving him to a low-risk area for now?] I like reading.
discolouredwings: (1)

[personal profile] discolouredwings 2025-05-26 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Natsuhi's own ears were pricked, swinging between his stuttering and back to the hallway. She even turned to look back out the door to see if she could spot what had...and ducking back inside when something moved. Hopefully, the door could keep that out.

Then she rushed back to him, not even thinking as she brought a hand up to rub at his back.

"A needle?"

Was he scared of them or?
taediosum: (pic#12456997)

[personal profile] taediosum 2025-05-27 12:55 am (UTC)(link)
[ Arcade considers this, mulling it over for another moment as he smokes. He could easily outline all of the Legion's crimes in detail, but in all honesty, he'd prefer not to. It's been a relief, in some ways, to know, at the very least, that when the Convoy tops the next rise, they won't be seeing rows of crudely crucified bodies silhouetted by the sunset. He may be turning into something he can't control, here entirely against his will, but there are some small mercies left in the world.

Eventually, he sighs, shaking his head. ]


There are different kinds of torture, different, uh, methods of enslavement. What the Legion does to people is the worst of both.
bufudine: (searching for something lost :|)

[personal profile] bufudine 2025-05-27 01:06 am (UTC)(link)
Serph nods before sitting down on the sandy beach, hand reaching over to gently pet Jack, rubbing a thumb against his furry ears. He doesn't know where the instinct comes from, but it feels right. He hadn't touched the strange cat that seemed to follow him around the Junkyard and Nirvana -- how did that cat exist in the Junkyard and Nirvana? -- but he would the cat even allow him to? It always seemed to look right through him.

"I'm searching for a land without fighting. This feels like what it would be."

Some residents of the Junkyard no longer wanted that, either revelling in bloodshed or simply deciding they preferred to stay. Both are gone. The thought reminds him of the question that had been on his mind since he sat down to watch that serial with SecUnit.

Serph's wings fold forward to wrap around them both. "What do you do when someone dies?"
bufudine: (Default)

[personal profile] bufudine 2025-05-27 01:19 am (UTC)(link)
The last time Jayce had run from the Convoy into the wilderness, he had been driven by an incessant voice in his head. Is that happening again? Serph's concern rises a tick; Jayce had been beset by an onslaught of monsters back then, barely escaping with his aid. Even though Serph has been teaching Jayce to hunt, he's still a long way from what Serph would consider... good at hunting.

"Can you detail your last interaction?" He remembers how concerned Jayce had been about hurting Viktor when feeding from his blood. "Was he hungry?"

Either they go look for corpses or... perhaps they could lure him with some kind of bait?
bufudine: (come with me :|)

[personal profile] bufudine 2025-05-27 01:31 am (UTC)(link)
Serph has never seen the stone disease in action. Does it spread once its taken hold? He doesn't know. Fred's friend had told him that they weren't even sure if people were alive or dead once they had turned to stone...

"The form I fight with is a demon. The Atma virus is what changed me into that monster." Serph lifts his hand to the brand on his left cheek. "This mark is from the virus. I had it before arriving in this world."

So he had been a monster long before gaining his wings.
guidemyway: (Volume9-Ruby-130)

[personal profile] guidemyway 2025-05-27 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
[If there was one thing Ruby was good at, it was being haunted by her past. But this wasn't exactly her past, or at least she wasn't alone in experiencing this. So if there was another thing she was good at, it was comforting and lighting up a dark mood.

She winces a little seeing Blake pinch herself, and well she's glad she doesn't have to do that one.]


Okay. Okay.

I've got an idea.

[And she moves to take on a wide stance. Closes her eyes. And then jumps up and stomps her feet.]

WAKE UP!

[And there is a pause. ...And nothing happens.]

Okay. That didn't work.
bufudine: (shorty :|)

[personal profile] bufudine 2025-05-27 02:03 am (UTC)(link)
Serph can agree with that; demon, AI, dead human... he is more than any one of those things. He is himself. Though he understands intuitively that it's not the type of answer people are looking for when they ask him what he is.

But there's a certain amount of practicality to be had. Because he is a demon, then he must take action to ensure he and his Tribe lived.

"When I was forced to change, I adapted to it. The was no other way to survive." The world influences the person and the person influences the world. "What makes demons uncivilised?"
bufudine: (shorty :|)

[personal profile] bufudine 2025-05-27 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
Although the people of the Junkyard were turned into terrible creatures and humanity turned on each other, Serph can't feel anger at what had been done. They were all fighting for survival, weren't they? Even if many of them were weak and resorted to underhanded methods.

Serph nods. "Maybe your Persona protects you from the Black Sun's rays." It's only a theory, but... "It's your 'true self', correct?"

The similarities to demons were striking. Just no unending, ravenous hunger.
guidemyway: (3769888 (19))

[personal profile] guidemyway 2025-05-27 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
"Listening in?" Okay. That makes sense. The camper didn't exactly have thick walls. But wait- She didn't think she was actually signing out loud. Then the other obvious question.

"What sign?" And her head shifts over toward the mural, which for her part didn't really pay much attention to. Look. She loved her sisters work. And she appreciated her taste. It was just a lot to take in, okay?

But she sees the sign and she sucks in a little breath.

"Oh. Oooooooh." So Yang could read her thoughts.

"Yeah, that could have been placed better." She admits. "But I'm not going to say that wasn't a blast, because it totally was!"
guidemyway: (Volume9-Ruby-170)

[personal profile] guidemyway 2025-05-27 02:37 am (UTC)(link)
So... There are more of the cyborg guys up here, right?

But they're kind melted into the rock and bone.

Looks like they have been for a long time.

So- not really something we have to fight. But- we might be able to nab some materials off them.
guidemyway: (Otherside)

[personal profile] guidemyway 2025-05-27 02:42 am (UTC)(link)
She even has games on it, Leo.

She beams at his response and the frame zooms in a little when he clicks on it.

"He absolutely would be. It's been a couple years since I last saw him. Even before I wound up here. But I hear he's been doing good." It was hard to believe it had been so long since she had left home.

She missed it.
faceguy: (changes hands)

very gross

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-27 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
"...This is crazy," Leo mutters, but his injuries are such that he can't get up. He can only watch as the Krang approaches, this (clearly overconfident) mystery soldier staring it down.

"Hmph. So you have multiplied," notes the Krang, his speech perfectly understandable despite clearly being alien. "Another insignificant gnat to be crushed under my heel."

The Krang seems fully unconcerned by Sephiroth's stature or weapon. The Krang have seen it all, conquered countless worlds; their imprisonment in this dimension was only a setback. He moves suddenly, lightning fast, aiming a punch that packs deadly force directly at the swordsman.
faceguy: (right hand to god)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-27 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, look at that! Leo has to hold back a chuckle.

"Hey, you're plenty comforting looking!" Leo says supportively, despite the fact that he gets where Levi is coming from on this one... "Haven't you heard of therapy dogs? You're basically one of those but you can talk."
faceguy: (you definitely had)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-27 04:07 am (UTC)(link)
The golden light grows as the two of them approach it, warm and buzzing with familiar energy. It isn't a perfect recreation of the real thing, after all; this is Leo's imagination, and not a memory. The lair is just visible through the light, not the shore of Staten Island as it had been in reality, and there's more than just their brothers' faces visible through the film. All the people Leo loves and misses so dearly.

It's not far now.

But the nightmare isn't quite ready to turn into a dream.

"You think you've won," booms a familiar voice from behind them. A red light flashes now, pinning them down, fighting against the gold. "You wretched, little pest!"

Leo whips his head around, breath coming out in short, quick pants. He's coming...!
faceguy: (first in command)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-27 04:28 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh, that looks fun.]

No need to get all gust-ied up!

[Is the terrible pun he says before portaling a few more brains directly in the path of the wind.]
undyingcrow: (wtf)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-27 04:32 am (UTC)(link)
...Was that supposed to be a pun?

[Well, whatever. He'll continue whipping up some blades of compressed air, for a little long-ranged slicing.

Leonardo's just making his job easier.]
purplexing: (dubious leo plans)

[personal profile] purplexing 2025-05-27 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
[Luckily (??), Donnie is the worst at telling when people are lying to his face. But that's a sad revelation and somewhat unsettling. Even when they were trying to live hidden away from humans, they were never alone or isolated...]

Must be thrilling.

[His tone is bland at that, but he follows after the kid. Man, this place is creepy.]

I like reading too. Books are the best. Do you have a library around here?

[Really, what does a kid do otherwise aside from check on frozen people?]
undyingcrow: (smug)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-27 04:38 am (UTC)(link)
Perhaps there are others more familiar with forging weapons who could cover any blind spots.

[Dislodging the sword, he shifts it in his grip. It's in dire need of cleaning, but that can be said for all of the weapons, really.]
faceguy: (choose)

[personal profile] faceguy 2025-05-27 04:42 am (UTC)(link)
[Well, that's a lot of different ways to go.

Some of these look like important and sentimental moments to Zero... but Leo being Leo, he absolutely wants to see what's up with those lava rocks.

Here we go!]
purplexing: (he mad)

[personal profile] purplexing 2025-05-27 04:44 am (UTC)(link)
It's...a little jarring, but then why should Donnie expect things to be as he remembers it? He hadn't been on this end with Leo, and part of him can't help but wonder how the way's opening without him to help Mikey. There's too many things that don't have answers, but Donnie decides not to question it, not when he can get Leo home. Not when-

His breath catches in his throat at that voice, and suddenly they're bathed in that terrible red light. Donnie turns to look too, simultaneously gripped by that icy cold fear and the heat of anger, and there's so much fuel to stoke it.

He did this to his brother, left Leo beaten and bruised, his shell horribly cracked. Donnie had been angry back then when he'd seen that clawed hand reaching, and that was before he'd seen the extent of Leo's injuries. Now he knows, and it fills him with unspeakable rage.

Donnie's grasp tightens around Leo, and he holds out his other hand, forming a tech- of pure mystic energy. He's not letting the Krang have his brother again.
undyingcrow: (melancholy)

[personal profile] undyingcrow 2025-05-27 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, yes. It must be harrowing, to still have a part of your personal autonomy so... vulnerable. Malleable, even.

[Not that Akechi can't understand.

A clouded look overtakes him. Had Ren accepted Maruki's deal, would he not have been "reprogrammed" to better suit an ideal reality? Under the whims of a god, are humans and robots truly so different?

Heh...]


Well, you certainly aren't the only "threat." Another Drifter tried murdering me during the raid. At least you have some restraint, so long as you have control of yourself.
purplexing: (mystic adds flavor)

[personal profile] purplexing 2025-05-27 05:02 am (UTC)(link)
If so, I have no problems with letting them have at it.