MAY EVENT LOG

[monstertruckers]

code

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

Comments

Faith Lehane | Buffyverse | Dullahan (CW for some gore and nightmares. Also very probably smoking)

[definitionofcrazy]

I. Now am I their song,

[Faith will be having run-ins with the glowing tumbleweeds and, as you'd expect, she's going to be having A Time dealing with the aftereffects. She's not big on sharing feelings as a rule, bear with her on this one. At any time, she might be affected by the blue light or the green light.]

(ooc note: If you want Faith to be under the effects of the temporary psychic abilities in the battlefield, the hospital, or the convoy, let me know!)

II. There is no healing of thy bruise; (CW: Dismemberment of a corpse)

[There's nobody to fight, and fighting is Faith's preferred form of therapy, so she's settled for making herself useful: She can be found salvaging useful things from the hospital and the battlefield.

In the hospital, she has no idea what's most valuable, or more than a basic idea of how to use most of it. She's just grabbing as much as she can carry and stuffing it into a cheap duffel bag. When the screens identify her as infected, it has a visible effect on her mood, and she begins idly resting her hand against her pocket or running it over the scarf cinched tightly around her neck. Unfortunately, she's not as fast as she was back home, and while she's mostly adjusted to that here, she's still not able to avoid all the restraints. She might need a rescue. Or, alternatively, she might be the one rescuing you.

On the battlefield, it's mostly weapons- particularly ammo rather than the guns themselves- and the scattered cigarettes she can find. Fortunately, even without her slayer reflexes she's athletic enough to compensate for the gravity shifts and strong enough to help anybody who's not, so don't worry- you're not gonna drift away on her watch. She does seem a little bit cheered up when she picks up a proper sword, and she's actually visibly excited when she finally finds a wrist-mounted crossbow on one of the cyborg corpses... that is, until she realizes that it's not coming off.]

...Figures.

[She seems annoyed rather than upset or disgusted as she pulls out her signature knife and starts unceremoniously sawing the limb off to get at it.]

III. My spirit was troubled to know the dream.

[When the nightmares come to the convoy, Faith will certainly not be immune to them. She has a vast and dizzying catalogue of nightmares to choose from, if one's in the market for fresh horrors. In some, she's being pursued- it might be by a grotesque figure with a disfigured eye, a priest who can't seem to stop mocking and joking, a handsome man (though he might have something wrong with his face), or even a petite blonde who doesn't seem like she should inspire the fear from Faith that she does- she might even be pursued by a younger, more erratic version of herself.

Alternatively, she might be the pursuer, unrelentingly chasing your character for some reason. Other scenarios include falling from the top of a building, a wound from her neck bleeding uncontrollably, being dragged into the water by the corpse of a man in a suit, or making a bed with that same blonde girl when the latter abruptly stabs her in the gut with her own knife.

Or she might wind up in your nightmare instead, or a completely new nightmare altogether! It's a dream, baby, the sky's the limit.]

IV. Trouble and anguish

[Faith likes to be up front and center in case of danger, as a rule. Normally, this is probably a good thing- she seems to have an affinity for killing monsters. (It's almost like it's her destined role or something.) However, when the intellect devourers attack, her being out front and center is more of a hinderance than a harm. It doesn't help that she's under the effects of both blue and green light when it happens- but let's be real, this was always going to hit her where it hurt.

She tries to fight them, she really does, but it takes no time at all for the combination of psychic noise and hallucinations to wear her down, and she's going to collapse hard. If you're lucky, she'll simply go catatonic. If not... well, sometimes she gets stabby when she panics.]

V. Wildcard!

(Don't see anything you like? Have something specific in mind? Feel free to hit me up in DMs or on plurk at yonfellow)

II

[taediosum]

[ The battlefield is a nauseating spectacle to behold, and not one Arcade is particularly drawn to, personally. But - salvage is salvage, and he isn't about to pass up an opportunity to find something useful. The habit is far too engrained.

Most of what he finds on the pieces of somewhat stable ground that he's willing to traverse is not worth the trouble. Spent ammo casings too damaged for even Len to use, rusting and broken weapons, bodies and husks— Mostly. He's tucking a dented pack of cigarettes that taste like who-knows-what into his bag (a leather pack that's obviously new, but made piecemeal from old things), when he overhears a distinctly... unpleasant but familiar sound.

Even when he sees it's Faith, he's a little cautious to approach someone aggressively sawing the arm off a corpse. ]

...You'd, uh, have better luck going through the joint rather than just hacking away at it.

Faith continuing to be a charmer

[definitionofcrazy]

[The sad thing is, this isn't even her first corpse amputation. And he's not wrong- cutting halfway down the forearm like this was a huge pain in the ass.]

I'd just have to cut the rest off anyway. Arm's wicked stuck in there.

[And then she sort of twists, and- with a truly revolting sound- the radius and ulna snap- not that she knows the name of those two bones- and she's able to finish severing the arm. Benefits of super-strength.

For a very dubious definition of 'benefits.']

Got it.

she is a delight

[taediosum]

[ Honestly, it would be weirder if this was her first corpse amputation. He understands looting bodies (because it is often necessity, even if it's unhygienic and unpleasant).

That is a profoundly revolting sound, but sadly, it's not something he finds all that shocking or unfamiliar, either. At least that arm wasn't still attached to someone alive. There really isn't a nice way to remove a limb, regardless. ]

Ah. Where's a tub full of lye when you need one?

[ He's joking, obviously. (Maybe obviously.) ]

When the hell did an entire week happen that's my bad bestie that's on me.

[definitionofcrazy]

[She wasted no time in starting to carefully carve the severed wrist and hand out of the cuff, but she did pause when he said that.]

What, like to dissolve the body?

[Huh.]

Does that actually work? Thought that was just in movies.

IV

[bufudine]

[When the intellect devourers attack, Serph doesn't hesitate in transforming into his demon to cut a bloody swathe through them. But with so many devourers mentally slamming into his head, it's hard to maintain control of Varuna and his eternal hunger, made worse as the devourers' claws find their mark on his limbs.

Serph's normally calm emotional state is anything but, rational thought fighting a losing battle with violent demonic instinct. But when he sees Faith struggling he lets out an unearthly roar before barrelling her way, intent on killing... the devourers menacing her.]

HALLUCINATIONS WHEEEEE

[definitionofcrazy]

[She could definitely use some saving. She's trying to fight them, but she's clearly losing it. Her attacks are clumsy and disoriented, only barely able to keep the little raking claws off of her. There are too many, and she's-

Well, she's struggling just to resist the impulse to curl up in the fetal position right now.

When she sees the massive figure come charging to her rescue, her eyes seem to lack recognition at first, squinting in confusion as he starts carving through the swarming predators.

"This is all you are."

She couldn't even stand. Everything she'd thrown at him, everything she could muster, The Beast had shrugged it off and swatted her like a fly. Untouchable. Like trying to fight a mountain, if a mountain could hit back.

"I was told that the Slayer possessed great power."

She stumbles back from Serph as he charges, eyes widening. She's not even defending herself against the intellect devourers at this point, clearly too distracted by whatever she's seeing now.]

[bufudine]

[ooc: Hope it's okay assuming they exchanged names at some point during their outing killing monsters together!]

[Serph's blades easily cuts through a devourer before it can sink its claws into Faith. But there are plenty more to fend off.

He doesn't have more effective options for bringing someone to their senses and his control over his demon is more tenuous than usual. So when he speaks, it is not with his usual guttural growl but accompanied a loud, animalistic roar that sounds like a demonic beast.]

Faith! Snap out of it! You are a Slayer, are you not!?

[She had only mentioned it once to him, but it struck him as either a title, a being or some other thing she identifies as.]

Fair assumption!

[definitionofcrazy]

[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.

There is no healing of thy bruise

[guidemyway]

[The annoying thing is that Ruby would much rather deal with a fight than skulking around in a creepy hospital. The restraints catch her by surprise and leave her in a position where she can't reach or get at her scythe to cut herself free.

So instead she's kind of left flopping around like a fish out of water. Squirming to try and break out.]

Uh- Hello?

A little help here!?

[definitionofcrazy]

[Faith hasn't yet run into the grasping restraints, but she's been expecting trouble since she got here- so when she hears scuffling and a cry for help, she's quick to run toward it, knife in hand.]

What the-

[Okay, so that wasn't what she had in mind. Usually the monsters they went for were less about the tying up and the tool use. Fortunately, her knife's out, so she's already ready to cut Ruby free.

She might not be aware that the restraints themselves were the threat.]

[guidemyway]

[It was about the last thing Ruby had been expecting as well. Fighting monsters or raider's was right up her alley. It had made her a little less aware that other traps could be hanging around this area.

She feels a wave of relief when she sees Faith come around the corner and she relaxes just a little when she sees the knife.]

Oh, thank the broth-

[And then it hits her.]

Wait- Wait! This room is trapped.

[And unfortunately it's on that queue that more spring into action.]

[definitionofcrazy]

[Trapped?

And then the restraints lash out, and she snaps out a hand to catch one and rip it from the wall with sheer brute strength. Unfortunately, it's far from the only one, and she's forced to back away again.]

Got it. Gimme a sec.

[She flips the knife and goes back in, hacking at the restraints with her knife. Apparently she just needed to know what she was dealing with, because she's certainly not being any more cautious now than she was before.]

II

[solitarysoul]

[Levi currently has moth wings along with his usual dog traits and is flitting around the battle field to loot things. Don't tell him its flitting, he'll insist he's just flying.

He spots Faith getting ready to saw off a raiders hand and moves closer.]

I-if its okay, I have a better tool for that.

[definitionofcrazy]

[Her initial assumption is that the flitting of moth wings means a thread, and so she yanks her knife free of the fresh slice she put into it- gross- and wheels around with it.

Oh. Okay. Clearly not a monster. The knife is lowered.]

Yeah, alright. Pretty sure the bone was gonna jack the blade all up anyway.

[solitarysoul]

[He lands and pulls a curved blade about the size of his forearm out of his satchel.]

It was made for tree branches, I think.

[He eyes the raider for a moment before bringing the blade down on its arm, a few inches above the crossbow, with a much strength as he can muster without falling over. It easily slices through.]

But it works pretty well for other things.

III

[wereperrito]

There's a wolf trotting through the high school in Buffy's hellmouth hometown. A wolf with blue-gray fur streaked with white, and six tails.

He can smell Faith here, but he doesn't know where she is. He keeps stopping, sticking his nose in the air, and scenting deeply. He's not sure if it's safe to call for her, if she's in hiding or not. There's definitely a feel or pursuit and fear to this dream. He's had plenty of those, he knows it well. But if he can find her, maybe he can pull her to a better dream?

He is an eternal and intentional optimist, okay.

You know she's evil in the dream because she's making dog jokes on purpose!

[definitionofcrazy]

There's always something calming about slaying. The stress, the tension, it all melts away. It's just you and a monster that needs to be put down. Like, for instance, a werewolf.

Something inside her nags suddenly, tugs at her, and there's a moment of something like static flickering through the dream.

She remembers laughing dismissively at the werewolf's admission. 'Hey, long as you don't go scratching at me or humping my leg, we're five-by-five.'

She sneers silently, continuing to stalk through the halls of the school. Just another enemy. Just another person the in the boss's way. Just another one of Buffy's friends. The nagging voice in her head shuts up.

And she thinks she sees movement down the hall. Not a wolf she knows, but he'll probably bleed just the same, right?

She considers her approach. Could just go for the open fight. Punching something to death sounds kinda fun right now. Or maybe she could just try to end it quickly, throw the knife, go for the vitals. Or she could toy with him a little.

He's sniffing at the air. Tracking something. He thinks he's hunting her.

Yeah, definitely toy with him.

"Sorry, Fluffy, I'm fresh out of milk bones."

Her voice echoes through the halls around them as she slowly begins backing away toward the library. She knows this school, and she's betting he doesn't. This is gonna be fun.

Come and get her.

Re: You know she's evil in the dream because she's making dog jokes on purpose!

[wereperrito]

Jack's ears perk up and his head turns in the direction of the voice. "Faith?" he calls, not loudly, lest there's actual trouble, but loud enough that she can still hear him. That definitely sounded like Faith, and her smell is everywhere. She had been chagrined the last time she made a dog joke, though... maybe she doesn't know it's him?

He starts padding in her direction, adding, "It's just me. It's Jack."

II; battlefield

[faceguy]

[WHOA OKAY. So she's just taking limbs off. Jeez, Leo knows the cyborg thing is dead, but still...

Leo can't help but stop in what he's doing, letting the worthless metal parts he was examining fall from his hand as he watches what Faith is doing with a mildly judging expression.]

Gross.

Hilariously, Faith is a 90s comic reader, so she SHOULD know him. I'm gonna quietly ignore that.

[definitionofcrazy]

[She stops mid-sawing to look at the speaker. Fortunately, the recent monster changes are freakshow enough that the turtle thing barely even registers as out-of-the-ordinary. However, it actually takes her a few moments to realize what exactly he's referring to.

Right. Dismemberment.]

Don't sweat it, I'll wash the knife before I cut food with it.

[A master of the deadpan comedy, is our Faith. She goes back to sawing.]

haha please do, 4th walling is in my hard nos |'D

[faceguy]

Ugh, and I thought my older brother was gross.

[Eating salami off the ground is somehow still a step above this.]

What's so great about that that you have to hack the whole arm off anyway?

Trouble And Anguish

[fists_of_funny]

While Faith is struggling, Yang is finding the opposite; she's transformed again (RIP to another outfit, but that's why she's been stockpiling anything that even vaguely fits, she can't afford to be picky), but this time, she's in control.

And. It. Is. Awesome.

So when she sees Faith struggling against the Intellect Devourers, a few bounds takes her to the Slayer's side, tearing into a brain monster with her claws. Once Yang's finished, she turns back to Faith.

She can't talk in this form, but her current bout of telepathy helps there.

Don't worry Faith, I got ya. Take a second to catch your breath, I'll keep these things off you.

[definitionofcrazy]

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.

[fists_of_funny]

Yeah, Faith is gonna need a second, Yang can clock that, and not just by looking at her. Her senses have been kicked into overdrive by her transformed state, and Yang can smell the stress emanating off the Slayer.

As Yang tears into the intellect devourers, she's careful to keep herself between them and Faith, acting like a furry shield wall until her friend can get herself together. For the moment, she's handling herself fine; she's enjoying the opportunity to be able to cut completely loose, 100% guilt-free.

I gotta tell you Faith, when I'm in control? Being a werewolf is fun as HELL.

Will a little light banter help put Faith more at ease? She's a banter-y kind of person by nature, after all.