route666rp | MAY EVENT LOG

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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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Leo only stops from stepping through the portal because Donnie looks actually scared of Leo leaving. He doesn't want to scare Donnie, even if he really doesn't want to be around him while his emotions are apparently broadcasting themselves to the world.

"Yeah?" he asks, like everything is totally fine here.

Leo hardly needs to explain anything. It somehow hurts more that he can still act so casually in spite of what they both know is happening here.

...how long has he been doing this?

As their self-proclaimed face-man, it shouldn't be a surprise that Leo's gotten so good at playing it cool, at masking everything else in order to pull off what was needed. But this isn't one of those instances.

Donnie can only tell so much when something might be up with his brothers, but how often has he breezed over things like this?

He hesitates, knowing Leo doesn't want to be here, not wanting to guilt him into staying. But...would it be right to ignore?

"...you're coming back, right..?"

Leo's emotions mix and swirl and stutter at the question. Fear and unease and anxiety, but also a longing. He doesn't really want to be alone, in the end. But he doesn't want to burden Donnie with any of this either. He doesn't want to hurt him.

Wouldn't it be easier on Donnie if he just stayed away until this was all over?

But it's really hard to say that when Donnie is looking at him like that. He doesn't want to hurt him.

Maybe he just... needs to take a few minutes to get his head on straight. Get these dumb emotions out so he can feel like normal Leo for a little bit!

(Too bad Normal Leo is like this pretty much permanently, these days.)

"...Yeah, of course," he finally says, sealing his fate. "I said I'm getting snacks."

"...okay."

He's aware it's a lie and he hates that he knows, that they both know.

...but Donnie understands, and he doesn't hold anything over Leo for it. If it were reversed, wouldn't he do the same? He should be the one to leave. Isn't he the problem?

Leo steps through the portal and lets both it and the smile drop.

He should have portaled into the tank, or the kitchen, but instead he stands on the edge of the convoy, where he parked his motorcycle before.

A little drive couldn't hurt, right? Just a short one. To clear his head.

(It's a lie and Donnie definitely felt it.)

He gets on the bike, feeling like the worst brother in the world. He'll come back... eventually.

It's certainly a record for the longest snack run. Donnie's well aware that it wasn't actually meant to be, but he'd stayed where he was for maybe thirty minutes before admitting to himself that Leo probably wasn't coming back any time soon.

And that hurts, but he can only be mad at his place and those deceptive tumbleweeds.

Eventually he'll be found ensconced within the confines of the Turtle Tank. He needs something to preoccupy himself, so he's working at dismantling the robotic limbs and parts he'd scavenged, sorting things into piles and what few containers he's found. At least he hasn't felt any other wayward sensations, but it's been pretty quiet around the Tank's area, enough that he'd put some music on, the bumping bass spilling out from the open rear hatch of the vehicle.

To Leo's credit, he does bring snacks with him when he finally comes back.

As he enters the back hatch, hours later, the emotions probably reach Donnie before his voice does, especially with the loud music. Regret, shame, sheepishness. Uncertainty. Embarrassment.

Leo sets the snacks down on some part of the tank's dash, away from where Donnie is hard at work dismantling parts. Then he gives a little wave, his smile crooked and unsure.

He knows what he just did was a real jerk move. But he's back.

It's practically an invasion of privacy, those feelings that color his thoughts when he'd blissfully taken refuge in something straightforward, emotionless and practically automatic. Donnie however remains hunched over the arm he's been stripping wires from, not looking over until he actually sees the movement from his brother, catching it out of the corner of his eye.

He brings up his computer screen with a wave of a hand, the music volume lowering with a tap. Lifting his head, Donnie glances over, the past several hours giving him plenty of time to reconstruct his preferred stoicism, and he barely manages to hang onto that mask in the face of his brother trying so hard to hold his own despite the traitorous truth hanging over them.

For a second, Leo is absolutely sure Donnie is about to give him the cold shoulder, and honestly he'd deserve that. After telling Donnie so many times that everything will be okay and he won't leave him, Leo just ran off on his own again.

But then Donnie lowers the volume and looks over, and Leo tries to relax, even though it isn't quite working.

"Uh..." He holds up the bag of various old gas station fair he gathered. It's going to be getting too old to eat, soon. "I got snacks."

It comes out pretty lame even to his own ears. Ugh.

He'd been tempted to, because, turns out? Being abandoned sucks. But knowing why, and knowing that he'd probably only sense the resulting response, keeps Donnie from doing so. What he's getting from Leo is already bad enough, brow furrowing more so for the discomfort than being outright mad, or maybe feeding into that.

"Cool," he says, his own tone flat, unenthusiastic despite knowing a snack break would be beneficial, even if he's not sure he has the appetite for it.

Woof, okay. Leo is used to Donnie's normal flat tone, but this feels worse than usual. Suddenly Leo is wishing he was able to feel Donnie's emotions... or maybe not. Probably not.

Even without the cold shoulder, Leo's shame only grows worse. He really does feel bad about it, even if all he really wants to do now is run away again. But he can't do that. But he's giving Donnie bad feelings just hanging around, too...

Ugh. This sucks.

"Cool," he echoes. He scoots the snacks a little closer with his hand.

Then he turns and goes. Not leaving the tank, but just going over to where his bunk mattress is on the floor and flopping down onto it. Maybe it will be better if he just... stays out of Donnie's way.

As hard as he tries to, Donnie can't keep that flinch from his face when he feels Leo's response then. It's uncomfortable, it makes him want to hide under the Tank or deep underground.

He looks down, not quite sure if it's him or Leo's feelings that are getting to him then. Both?

The snacks are left, and for a brief moment, when Leo turns, Donnie's afraid that his brother's going to leave him again. He'd be justified to do so, no matter how awful it is. It's only a small relief to see that he's only retreated to his mattress, but Donnie still feels terrible for it.

It's maybe a minute or two before he finally moves, reaching over to pick up the snack offering. Donnie looks over to where Leo is, slowly picking himself up before padding over to sit beside the edge of the bed. It's hard to really want to stomach anything when his gut feels like it's twisting in on itself and yet weighted down at the same time, but he pulls his knees up towards his chest as he tears open a candy bar, breaking it in half.

He holds the one end within its wrapper out to Leo, sullenly trying to nibble at the other half.

Leo looks up when Donnie comes over, twisting around so they're facing each other. He's practically holding his breath at first, not sure what's about to happen.

Then Donnie gives him half of a candy bar, and even with all the bad feelings swirling around, there's that fondness and love that rises out of it again. Donnie is trying. Leo appreciates that. Even if he's not sure he deserves it right now.

He reaches over and takes the candy bar, pushing it out of the wrapper and directly into his mouth. He chews and swallows, trying not to stare at Donnie while he does it.

"Thanks," he says after his mouth is empty again. At least he waited for once.

It's a sensation Donnie clings to instantly, hanging on like he could haul Leo out of that pit himself. It's enough to coax the faintest of smiles back into place, a skittish thing, but still genuine in its own right.

He's still working on his own half of the candy bar, but his other hand pokes through the other snacks before setting a bag of chips beside Leo's head.

Leo lets out a little huff of a laugh at that, rolling up onto his shoulder and picking up the bag of chips. He pops it open and eats a few of them, before holding it out Donnie's way.

"You should chip in too," he says, his lips quirking up. Amusement. Yes, he does think his own dumb jokes are funny.

Ah, there it is. It's... Well, Donnie can't really assign what it would be, but it's lighter, funny, in a way, and even if the pun is (as always) hardly that, he still lets slip a brief snort.

"...you are so lame," Donnie says, shaking his head, but he reaches over to grab a few chips between his fingertips, stuffing them into his mouth. Not exactly a gourmet meal, but sweet and salty is always such a good pairing.

Leo gasps and puts his hand to his chest in an exaggerated show of offense, even if it’s still only amusement that results in his actual feelings. This is all part of the bit.

Even if it’s not exactly the nutrition that growing boys need, at least Donnie is eating. He’ll take that win. He even feels a little satisfied about it.

“You’re just jealous you aren’t as cool or funny as me.”

"Scoff!" Donnie responds, upturning his nose. Things are feeling more natural, or at least sounding like it, but that heavy weight has broken up considerably, replaced by that lighter, steadier sensation.

"I think you have that backwards- I've always been the funny one, and arguably, the coolest." Father would back him up on the first one! Maybe.

“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.”

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.

"Hey, maybe I could now! Get me a skateboard and a half pipe and I'll show you."

There is maybe a surprising amount of confidence leaking in at that, even though Leo has never actually successfully pulled the move off. But he is pretty proud of his skateboarding skills (and his basketball skills), if not a lot of other things, these days.

"Oh sure! Let me just pull them out of my stock of skating necessities!"

Donnie kind of wishes he did have such a thing, but skateboarding had been the last thing on his mind around here, and none of the ramps they've built since their first home really compared. Whatever comes off of Leo then is new, but it's also familiar, enough so that Donnie can't help but grin slightly over his shoulder as he looks back at Leo.

...and then tries smacking his face with a flick of his wing.

"-although thinking about it, I could potentially mystic-tech up a decent half-pipe. A mystic-tech skateboard however would probably not work as a very good substitute to a real one, however. The lack of weight would make it difficult to control."

Irritation as he is suddenly smacked in the face. It's not fair that Donnie has additional options for aggravating him now!

While Donnie gives his little monologue about the feasibility of mystic tech skateboards, he fights to get that wing out of his face. If Donnie doesn't move it soon, he'll start biting!

"Can't believe we've never experimented with that before," he notes, or will note, once he no longer has a wing to deal with.

Thankfully Donnie does not try pushing his luck there, catching that break, his own amusement and satisfaction making it easier to separate Leo's feelings from his own then. He fluffs his wings out before folding them in, a smug look on his face.

"Right? Although admittedly it wouldn't have been the foremost thing I would've considered experimenting with. I mean, a skateboard and ramp are pretty lo-tech."

"Yeah, but they're fun."

Leo says this like it's the most important thing. He knows it's not. But he's falling back into his old habits right now.

"And now we don't know, so I hope you've seen the folly of your ways."

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