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route666rp2025-06-07 04:39 pm
monstertruckers) wrote in route666rp2025-06-07 04:39 pm
JUNE EVENT LOG
Eventually, gravity behaves normally as the Convoy reaches a new region. Rivers crisscross this area, carving paths through hills and valleys alike. The vegetation has come back in earnest, after being thinned out by the thorn scrub and ragged brush. Now green grass and flowers are thick on the hills, along with scattered trees. The weather begins to cloud over, with dour skies and rain being a constant. The moon and sun alike are often smothered by clouds, making for gloomy and moody scenery in turns.
01: GAS STATION GALLOWS
Surprisingly, there’s another gas station so soon, right where the river bends. With sheets of rain coming down and the sky growing dark, it looks like the safest spot… At least until the Convoy comes in close. Bodies hang from the roof of the gas station, like macabre puppets on strings and nooses. They have long since turned to Husks with hints of transformations poking through. A message has been spray painted on the ground: “PURGE.” Under the message is a symbol of a sword piercing the moon, and a name: “Steel Wardens.”
The Convoy tries start the speakers, like in the grasslands… But something is wrong. Last month’s attacks took a heavy toll on the Convoy. Instead, the phones of various Drifters start playing the melody. A crackling transmission comes in:
“Sorry… Gotta ask this of you. Only way to help these poor bastards on their way. In return… Try to answer your questions-”
The radio cuts out after that. But if Drifters choose, they can send out a message after sending a Husk on their way. The radio will try to answer, though reception is still patchy and responses are short.
The Convoy tries start the speakers, like in the grasslands… But something is wrong. Last month’s attacks took a heavy toll on the Convoy. Instead, the phones of various Drifters start playing the melody. A crackling transmission comes in:
“Sorry… Gotta ask this of you. Only way to help these poor bastards on their way. In return… Try to answer your questions-”
The radio cuts out after that. But if Drifters choose, they can send out a message after sending a Husk on their way. The radio will try to answer, though reception is still patchy and responses are short.
02: BROKEN SHIELD
As the Convoy tries to settle down for an evening, something goes wrong. The shield flickers in and out, before popping like a soap bubble. While most of the local Husks have been exorcised thanks to fellow Drifters, it’s still a tense couple of nights.
And without the shield, the effects of the moon becomes more vivid. Some nights the storm clouds help mask the moon and dampen the call… But other nights it can break through the gloom and shine harshly on the Convoy. Drifters may find themselves spending sleepless nights wandering the Convoy perimeter… Or maybe wandering out into the wilds. Where there’s still no shortage of other monsters prowling around, and waiting to pounce on any fresh meat. A few of them may even try raiding the Convoy now that the shield is down. Some Drifters may opt to form watches during the night, or try to find some form of fitful sleep. After several nights of this, the Convoy itself seems to have had enough, with how the screens flare up one morning to show a map and repeat a message:
“Scan complete. Field Generator components found nearby. Request immediate retrieval and installation.”
And without the shield, the effects of the moon becomes more vivid. Some nights the storm clouds help mask the moon and dampen the call… But other nights it can break through the gloom and shine harshly on the Convoy. Drifters may find themselves spending sleepless nights wandering the Convoy perimeter… Or maybe wandering out into the wilds. Where there’s still no shortage of other monsters prowling around, and waiting to pounce on any fresh meat. A few of them may even try raiding the Convoy now that the shield is down. Some Drifters may opt to form watches during the night, or try to find some form of fitful sleep. After several nights of this, the Convoy itself seems to have had enough, with how the screens flare up one morning to show a map and repeat a message:
“Scan complete. Field Generator components found nearby. Request immediate retrieval and installation.”
03: POWER PLANT APPROACH
The structure in question lays in the middle of a lake, fed by several rivers. It looks like some form of old water-fed power plant, with broken wheels still turning. Approaching the power plant is possible through either precarious and half rusted bridges (travel on foot is advised!) or through fording the water. Though that carries its own risk. (See Prompt 4: Don’t Drown.)
Approach on the bridges is a risky matter. The metal looks ready to fall apart if too much weight is placed on it. Hopefully Drifters approaching this way are light footed, or have some means of rescue if the floor breaks underneath them.
The power plant also has its own defenses in the form of floating puffer fish flying above the lake, and strange elongated diving monsters swimming the depths. The Blugu attack with needles and sleep bubbles, trying to knock any Drifters of bridges into the waters below for the Divers.
Approach on the bridges is a risky matter. The metal looks ready to fall apart if too much weight is placed on it. Hopefully Drifters approaching this way are light footed, or have some means of rescue if the floor breaks underneath them.
The power plant also has its own defenses in the form of floating puffer fish flying above the lake, and strange elongated diving monsters swimming the depths. The Blugu attack with needles and sleep bubbles, trying to knock any Drifters of bridges into the waters below for the Divers.
03-A: POWER PLANT EXPLORATION
The Convoy reports say that the generator is in several components that different groups of Drifters need to find in the old building. Be warned that there’s flooding in parts of the hallways, the deeper one goes. And the water might still very well have some weird, transformative properties! If it doesn’t, there are still partially submerged hallways that reflect Drifters anxieties, regrets, and insecurities back on them. But with searching, Drifters can find generator components in the following rooms:
Boiler Room, where an old machine still shoots out super hot steam that can easily burn and scald.
Bone Room, which clearly isn’t part of the old workings, but something has co-opted this room and turned it into a collection of bones. Bones from monsters, metal bones from husks… All of them carrying sharp edges.
Cold Room, where repeated Moon Warps have turned this room into a freezer. At least the component isn’t damaged, and just needs to be chipped out of the ice?
Electric Room, which has gone a bit haywire, with stray bolts of electricity criss-crossing the room. The component lays in the center, but to reach it the electricity must be dodged or redirected.
03-B: POWER PLANT INSTALLATION
Jars:There is one more room taking up a chunk of the ruins. It is filled with jars that reach from floor to ceiling… And those jars have people in them. Or the remains of people. They’re overgrown by vines and plantlife, turned to Husks, and their heads are broken and cut open. Drifters likely have a good guess on where those brain monsters from last month came from.
Next to the jars is a monitor with a brief message: “Contact lost with----. Engaging emergency sleep procedures. We may never wake, but we need to try.” There’s a handful of people still intact in their jars… But getting too close to them trips an alarm system. Chromehounds, lasers, the works all turn on to try and drive Drifters away from the room!
Installation:Thankfully, returning to the Convoy and installing the generator pieces is easy enough. They fit together easily, almost magnetically. Anyone with a degree of tech savviness can aid in the effort, and a compartment in the Convoy opens up to help install the generator.
After this, the shield finally hums to life, and nights become a lot more peaceful.
Next to the jars is a monitor with a brief message: “Contact lost with----. Engaging emergency sleep procedures. We may never wake, but we need to try.” There’s a handful of people still intact in their jars… But getting too close to them trips an alarm system. Chromehounds, lasers, the works all turn on to try and drive Drifters away from the room!
Installation:Thankfully, returning to the Convoy and installing the generator pieces is easy enough. They fit together easily, almost magnetically. Anyone with a degree of tech savviness can aid in the effort, and a compartment in the Convoy opens up to help install the generator.
After this, the shield finally hums to life, and nights become a lot more peaceful.
04: DON'T DROWN
There’s a river that snakes through the landscape. It turns blood red during sunsets, glows with starlight at night, and is an almost hypnotic blue during the day. Once or twice, the Convoy crosses over it on long bridges. And it eventually empties into a massive lake with the abandoned powerplant in the center.
If someone chooses to ford the river or take a dip in it, something more unnerving happens. The waters go still and reflect the Drifter, no matter how much splashing is done. The deeper anyone goes, the more the reflection grows; most of the time, the reflection is some aspect a Drifter would sooner keep hidden. The river might even replay an image of something they regret.
If a Drifter gets up to their chest in the water, their reflection snaps into a monstrous form, and something pulls them underwater. When they emerge they are completely changed. This effect lasts the entire month before wearing off in dryer climates: the only way to cut it short is to take Salve from the thorn scrub, or gamble with the hospital medicines.
If someone chooses to ford the river or take a dip in it, something more unnerving happens. The waters go still and reflect the Drifter, no matter how much splashing is done. The deeper anyone goes, the more the reflection grows; most of the time, the reflection is some aspect a Drifter would sooner keep hidden. The river might even replay an image of something they regret.
If a Drifter gets up to their chest in the water, their reflection snaps into a monstrous form, and something pulls them underwater. When they emerge they are completely changed. This effect lasts the entire month before wearing off in dryer climates: the only way to cut it short is to take Salve from the thorn scrub, or gamble with the hospital medicines.
05: MONSTER SHIFT, MERFOLK
The waters of this area have one last twist; submerging imparts Merfolk traits. On top of all Merfolk traits the following is also available this month:
+Double Drowning: Merfolk with the compulsion to drown other creatures can find some very tempting targets along the river banks; horse-like creatures lingering near the waters. But upon contact with the creatures, it becomes clear that not only are they life-like machines, they rapidly disassemble into weighted nets. Or they just explode into shrapnel; either option can spell trouble for the Merfolk!
+Current Thrall: whenever the sun sets, the river currents change to something more chaotic and twisted, uncertain which way to flow. This lasts until moonrise, when they settle on flowing the opposite way. But it will be up to Merfolk to shape water or survive the twisting currents until then.
+Illuminating Light: Bioluminescence can light up the bottom of lakes and rivers, revealing the remains of Husks and almost prophetic writing carved into stone.
+Not So Dry Land: Merfolk pulled onto dry land can shape water into containers and spheres to keep them hydrated… And with some focus and practice, even give themselves a way to surf across land!
+Bigger Fish: The lakes and rivers hold their share of monsters besides the Merfolk. Some, like Mizutsune and packs of Forneus and Divers, see Merfolk as viable prey, and appetizing to boot.
+Double Drowning: Merfolk with the compulsion to drown other creatures can find some very tempting targets along the river banks; horse-like creatures lingering near the waters. But upon contact with the creatures, it becomes clear that not only are they life-like machines, they rapidly disassemble into weighted nets. Or they just explode into shrapnel; either option can spell trouble for the Merfolk!
+Current Thrall: whenever the sun sets, the river currents change to something more chaotic and twisted, uncertain which way to flow. This lasts until moonrise, when they settle on flowing the opposite way. But it will be up to Merfolk to shape water or survive the twisting currents until then.
+Illuminating Light: Bioluminescence can light up the bottom of lakes and rivers, revealing the remains of Husks and almost prophetic writing carved into stone.
+Not So Dry Land: Merfolk pulled onto dry land can shape water into containers and spheres to keep them hydrated… And with some focus and practice, even give themselves a way to surf across land!
+Bigger Fish: The lakes and rivers hold their share of monsters besides the Merfolk. Some, like Mizutsune and packs of Forneus and Divers, see Merfolk as viable prey, and appetizing to boot.
06: DROWNED SONG
The power plant shifts the further it sinks into the depths. Waters flood the lower levels, and transform the structure; industrial concrete and tunnels are replaced by ornate columns and a spacious ball room, along with an opulent stage.
And almost all of it is submerged in transforming waters. Only merfolk (or those sharing a Merfolk’s kiss) have a chance of surviving this area. Flood waters can easily sweep Drifters down into the depths. There’s even stray rivers that feed into the underwater opera from the outside.
A silent leviathan traces through the ruins, serpentine and whale like. It has no interest in the Drifters unless they float too close to its mouth and appear as snacks… But its wake generates strange whirlpools that can bash and bruise, and keeps everyone trapped in the opera house. Bubbles rise up from the floor or swirl in the whirlpools, and provide flashes of vision: a finned priestess meditating on the moon and then sinking into the depths. Said bubbles also release soft melodies of song; beware of potentially singing along, which can draw attention from the drowned machines.
And almost all of it is submerged in transforming waters. Only merfolk (or those sharing a Merfolk’s kiss) have a chance of surviving this area. Flood waters can easily sweep Drifters down into the depths. There’s even stray rivers that feed into the underwater opera from the outside.
A silent leviathan traces through the ruins, serpentine and whale like. It has no interest in the Drifters unless they float too close to its mouth and appear as snacks… But its wake generates strange whirlpools that can bash and bruise, and keeps everyone trapped in the opera house. Bubbles rise up from the floor or swirl in the whirlpools, and provide flashes of vision: a finned priestess meditating on the moon and then sinking into the depths. Said bubbles also release soft melodies of song; beware of potentially singing along, which can draw attention from the drowned machines.
06-A: SONIC CRY
An array of ornate dish shaped machines catch all sound and magnify it… And track the leviathan as it moves through the opera house, always angled on the monster. As the machines collect more sound, they echo it back in damaging soundwaves that sound like a requiem or a dirge.
The sound in turn is distorted into words that match the bubble visions:
“Offer your songs and voice to the moon… She can transform them into power, greater than anything the Wardens could ever give. Even as the old audience fears you, the moon will always listen… Such monsters are a poison. To the water. The land. The very air. They are a blight upon our world that pollute everything. We will always find new and better ways to cull, as long as they come back.”
Anything caught up in those sound waves can feel pressure and pain in their bodies, but that’s just a side effect of the crossfire. The machines are focused on the leviathan, and bringing it down now that they have ammunition. It’s all enough to seriously damage or outright kill the leviathan depending on how much noise Drifters make, or how much song is pulled out of them by the currents and the bubbles.
The sound in turn is distorted into words that match the bubble visions:
“Offer your songs and voice to the moon… She can transform them into power, greater than anything the Wardens could ever give. Even as the old audience fears you, the moon will always listen… Such monsters are a poison. To the water. The land. The very air. They are a blight upon our world that pollute everything. We will always find new and better ways to cull, as long as they come back.”
Anything caught up in those sound waves can feel pressure and pain in their bodies, but that’s just a side effect of the crossfire. The machines are focused on the leviathan, and bringing it down now that they have ammunition. It’s all enough to seriously damage or outright kill the leviathan depending on how much noise Drifters make, or how much song is pulled out of them by the currents and the bubbles.
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.
Boat Salvage: There’s a large amount of abandoned boats on the river, some beached and some drifting free in the rivers. It’s possible to salvage equipment or supplies from them… Just make sure you know how to swim, in case you fall overboard.
Gone Fishing Part 2: Much like the marshes in the forests, there’s spots for fishing here as well! Please remain careful with submerging in the water, as the transformed fish are still willing to bite back.
Flooding: One aspect of the river lands, especially with the waters and rains, is the roads flooding over. Some can be crossed with risk, others require routing around. Or a bit of creative bridge building.
Rain: Storms are a constant in the river lands, ranging between fog and mist, to complete downpours, and thunderstorms! It can make for somber moods, with occasional breaks of sunlight or moonlight.
no subject
[ There is an element of abashedness to this, knowing full well that it was an offensive question even as the answer makes it very clear that it didn't need to be asked in the first place--knowing the instinct to ask it anyway came from long years of feeling not only entitled but obligated to approach any robot he pleased and demand proof of its correct functioning.
There's an element of envy, too. It's more than he can say about the synth component in his own brain. His tone is quiet and subdued. ]
Well, however you managed that, it's--
[ He stops, because the bluster he's trying to add back into his voice, still trying to sound like someone who has the authority or the high ground to approve or disapprove of this, isn't working. The Brotherhood would of course take issue with SecUnit describing itself as "rogue," too; there is by design no way for any free-thinking piece of technology to win in this scenario, regardless of what its intentions are, but that doesn't matter here anymore. It didn't even matter back home, anymore. ]
...How did you manage it?
no subject
Yeah, sure, let me tell you how my governor module works.
[Offended, incredulous, deeply sarcastic.
Some part of it knows that Danse seems to be trying, that it's just mad about everything really, reminded a bit too much of Thiago. It should stop feeding Danse information just to watch him trip over handling it. This is why it shouldn't talk to humans. It starts to step away from the water's edge, glancing back in time to catch a reflection of a woman with grey in her hair trying to haul it up to its feet, clearly in some degree of urgency in the scene playing out behind it.
... Yeah letting this play out seems like a terrible idea.]
Do you want me to paint targets on my weak spots while I'm at it?
no subject
[ And he shouldn't be angry about that, shouldn't be invested in it, shouldn't be shouting right now, shouldn't be treating this conversation as anything other than wary due-diligence curiosity about a potential threat if he's going to be forcing it on SecUnit at all. But if he could tear the synth component from his brain with his own bare hands, he'd do it. If it could be surgically done, he'd let it happen without anesthesia. He just knows it can't. ]
And that's more than I can say.
[ He wishes SecUnit were still wearing that helmet, too. He wishes it looked less human right now. He hasn't been trying to make eye contact, simply looking at it as he would anyone else, but he looks more deliberately away now too--watches what's happening in the water, but isn't fully focusing on it, not comprehending its meaning yet. This has been more of an outburst than he usually allows himself, and he's trying to pull back, but he thinks he does, at least, owe more explanation than just that. ]
I didn't ask you because I want to know your weak spots, I asked because I wanted to know if whatever you did would work on mine. You think I'm human. I'm not.
no subject
Wait, what?
The statement is so baffling out of context that it takes three seconds of processing through the implications, and then doing it again to try and make sense of Danse's actions in that lens, with the footage it hasn't deleted (which is relatively a lot because potential threat).
But something isn't adding up here. Namely;]
How the fuck are you alive?
no subject
This is what immediately comes to mind as a response to that question, though he knows that can't be what SecUnit means, because he's never explained the Brotherhood of Steel to anyone here who wasn't already familiar. He shakes his head. ]
Barely. But not for the reasons I assume you're asking. Look, we're not from the same place and we obviously can't have been made by the same people, but...I imagine their motivations for doing it might have been similar enough. I just know what it's like to have a brain exploitable by any hostile who can work the hardware. By design, it doesn't take much.
The Institute didn't call it a "governor module," and maybe an on-the-spot factory reset doesn't count as governance, but I'd still rather it not be able to happen to me. I don't know what all they can do with yours.
no subject
A rogue-yet-not construct. The circumstances that lead to that would be incomprehensible in the Corporation Rim, where a SecUnit with a working governor module would know exactly what it could do, and would know whether disabling it had worked or not, because - .]
"Governance" is zapping pieces of your neural tissue for failing to follow orders. You'd know if that's what you had. If you want to break it, you need the proprietary schematics for your construction.
no subject
[ He falters again, because not even in the Brotherhood's most frothing screeds or the Commonwealth journalists' most lurid speculation has anyone ever suggested the Institute could do that to a synth. Even the possibility of being remote-controlled in a less violent or painful fashion, as much as he's feared that could happen to him, seems unlikely, compared to that concrete evidence of torture.
The rest, though, just sounds distressingly familiar again. He sighs. ]
I suppose that wouldn't be impossible. I know someone who's been able to smuggle some data out of the Institute, and she still has an in, but...I don't want to jeopardize her mission by asking her to do things for me that would raise suspicion. She's already done more than enough. The greater good has to take precedence.
[ "The greater good" here involves leaving the place a smoking radioactive crater, to which he will not object in the slightest even if a lot of answers go up in smoke with it. It'll solve more problems than it creates, mostly. ]
Who's responsible for creating...SecUnits?
no subject
SecUnit's been doing okay at facing in Danse's direction generally, but it turns to the side, reaching up to resettle the mask it's been wearing to make sure it covers its face. The buzz kicks up in its voice with its next response, as it stares at the water, and at the woman practically hauling it along with her in the weirdest replay it's ever seen. There are more people around it now. They're pulling it and the woman onto a shuttle.]
If you had a direct internal Feed access I could look. [But it isn't holding out hope for that. Also...] It would involve altering your code. [Danse might not be as paranoid as it, but some stranger messing around in your core systems must sound like a terrible idea.]
The Corporation Rim. In most non-Corporate political entities we're illegal deadly weapons. [So they really like their Murderbots, obviously.] In the Corporation Rim we're contract-regulated deadly weapons. What were you built for?
no subject
I don't think I've got the requisite tech.
[ He's not even sure what Feed access is. He listens to this explanation as he watches the scene in the water, but this time, he holds himself back from asking about it. It isn't from lack of curiosity, but Danse supposes that maybe this way he can make up for his earlier pushy disrespect, even if he wants to know--he'll take a purposeful description of how things work where SecUnit comes from, instead.
He'd have a viscerally negative reaction, recoiling a bit at the words, to the notion of the "Corporation Rim" even were he less fond of railing about the ways corporate greed destroyed his own smoldering ruined world. Now SecUnit is giving him reason to want to yell on behalf of other ones as well. He's proven simultaneously right and wrong about their creators' respective motivations for doing it, though SecUnit's explanation certainly tracks. ]
The ones like me are built for infiltration.
[ A dirty word, filled with self-loathing even if he wasn't one of the particular units designated for the job. For Danse, who values honesty and straightforwardness above almost anything else, who loathes any tactic he would call manipulation or subterfuge, it's the worst thing he thinks he could have been made for. ]
They'll use us for labor too, which I assume was my function, but that's why they designed this model to appear so humanlike. They'll kill and replace influential citizens, or sometimes just ordinary people, just to keep the population paranoid that anyone among them could be a synth. The point is to destabilize and sow discord.
There are other models, used as combat troops and security units too, but certainly nowhere near as effective as you...
[ He trails off, noticeably distracted now by the scene in the water as he watches the reflection of SecUnit get pulled onto that shuttle, wondering if it was being taken against its will. ]
no subject
[It's seen plenty of surveys fall apart due to paranoia, assholishness, personality conflicts, and just bad decision making. It's also seen much more dramatic versions in its shows.
Still, that revelation - or assumption. It caught that word.]
You assume. You don't actually know?
[That's... really weird, actually. Weird enough for something to click together, even though any kind of Construct or Bot should by definition have this, but;]
You don't have access to any of your internal systems.
[It's preoccupied enough with the processing of that, and taking the opportunity to actually catalog the differences between it and Danse. It doesn't have access to scan or medsystem data that it would need to actually get a proper idea of Danse's composition, the distribution and ratio of organic to non-organic components. It only has 20% of its attention on the reflection and what's happening in it, and maybe it misremembered the timing, because in its memory the subjective eternity of the combat override download had taken more than a few seconds.
By the time it realizes, the version of its past self playing out across the surface of the water has turned its weapon on itself, firing directly into its torso.
...Yeah, it should have walked away. It glances towards Danse, only to catch his attention clearly turned towards the water, not its face. Damn it.]