𝚂𝚢𝚗𝚏𝚕𝚞𝚡 𝙻𝚘𝚐𝚜

TRAVEL LOG #3

In the early morning of the 1st, Outsiders will receive a message in their oculars.


True enough, a SPECIAL ALERT will blare through the implants shortly after, asking those who would be willing to help with a distress call to head to the hangar. The reward will be an additional bonus pay, as this seems to be different from detecting a kaiju. There, they will see a familiar sight: the LILITH SKY CRUISER, a spacecraft capable of carrying 80 passengers. There is little time for seat assignments, so seating will be on a first come, first serve basis (hopefully you don’t get the middle seat!) and the flight will last about 10 hours. Just like any aircraft, Outsiders may stand up and walk around once the seatbelt signs turn off. There is inflight entertainment consisting of AI movies or virtual reality games (see TRAVEL LOG #2). Characters with inhuman features are required to wear their cloaking devices.

The plane will touch down at Targu Mures Airport, Transylvania, Romania, which appears to be abandoned and desolate. There isn’t a living soul to be found.



There isn’t a data portal in Romania, and there’s just no way to transport the number of cars needed for over 60 people via plane. Let’s hope you managed to get proper rest on the way here, because the hike will take about 5-6 hours through the dense forest, with the Captain feeding directions through the ocular based on where the kaiju readings are most pronounced.

All teams will be traveling together along a treacherous terrain which will include both harmful flora & fauna. Outsiders can expect to come across brown bears, wolves, European lynx, golden jackal & wild boars. Although the forest is dense, these animals are scarce to come by, but they can appear, especially when the hike takes place at dusk and into the night.

In this time of the year, hay fever is a common occurrence in these forests. Those sensitive to pollen may be sneezing and feeling fatigue through this hike. There will be steep hills, slippery ground and eerie sounds of the night to serenade the Outsiders. It doesn't help that the further they travel, the thicker a dark fog gathers around them, making the surroundings difficult to make out. Everyone will be provided with flashlights, but those with abilities to see in the dark or cast their own light will be encouraged to lead small groups. Everyone is going in the same general direction, but giving each other some space might be helpful. There will be no time to rest, no matter how tired Outsiders may be.

Just when it feels like they might need to trek through the forest forever—is that smoke coming from a fire up ahead?

Wander further through the bushes, and behold, it does appear to be smoke—but not from any natural fire. It’s coming from a chimney! The Outsiders will stumble upon the historic region of Brașov, known for its Gothic architecture and medieval towns. Romania has been classified as a desolate region for a very long time, and as far as LILITH is concerned, this city should be completely destroyed and abandoned. Yet, there is smoke coming from the chimneys, fresh laundry hanging on lines and the faint chatter of children playing. There are very clearly people living here, and this has LILITH completely dumbfounded.



One thing Outsiders will notice when they step into the town is how it appears to be lost in time. The date is still 2278 as far as anyone knows, but there’s no sign of any modern technology—no computers, telephones, or any sign of electricity or plumbing. Each and every house looks like it could have been plucked right out of the 1700s, and there even appear to be horse-drawn carriages parked along the pavements.

The townspeople themselves also look plucked out of time, with the women donning petticoats and aprons, and the men sporting waistcoats and riding boots. They welcome the Outsiders with warmth, delight, and over-the-top hospitality; more than happy to show the visitors around Brasov on their carriages. With how rarely they meet anyone from outside the village, the children are full of curiosity, following the Outsiders around and poking at their technology while bombarding them with questions, such as where did you come from? Do you know how to play any games? What do you like to eat?

Outsiders will be presented with food, clean clothing, and a room to stay at the village inns (2-3 people per room). They are free to roam and explore the village, where they will find taverns, fresh food markets, shops, inns, and a church dedicated to the village god.

One notable aspect of the town is the fact that they appear to have fresh, non-lab grown food. The vegetables taste fresher and are vibrant in color. The meat tastes much richer than it would back in Neo Tokyo. This is owed to the fact that the people of Brasov actually tend to their own farmlands, a lost practice in these times. Venture a little out of the city and you’ll find it: acres of farmland, growing wheat, corn, oats, potatoes, grapes and sunflowers. They even have livestock!

The people of Brasov are more than happy to answer questions about their town and way of living. Outsiders who go around gathering information from the villagers will learn the following:

• Why is the land so fertile? This is all owed to their benevolent village god, the Lord of the Forest. No one goes hungry because their god takes care of them. Observant Outsiders will see a common symbol plastered around town: a canine skull.
• There was a distress call. Is everyone okay? The townspeople would respond in confusion and assure the Outsiders that nothing is out of the ordinary. They have been living peacefully for centuries and it’s because their god protects them. They don’t seem to know anything about what’s going on outside their town and the word ‘kaiju’ is lost on them.
• Who is the Lord of the Forest? The townspeople will sing his praises, telling the Outsiders about how he has been providing for and protecting their town for many years.
• Where is the Lord of the Forest? He lives in the forest and mountains that surround the village. Sure enough, if the Outsiders look around, they will see they are completely surrounded by foggy forest and mountains as far as the eye can see.
• Can they go into the forest? The villagers will look worried. While the Lord of the Forest keeps them safe, the forest is still filled with dangerous creatures. Also, the thick fog and trees makes it easy to get lost. Only the most skilled hunters venture out to catch prey like deer and bears. Characters who venture into the woods will get turned around and lost but will eventually find their way back to the village, to which others will reply it is the lord's guidance that brought them back to safety.

Outsiders can do as they please. The villagers are very friendly and will try to accommodate them however possible. There seems to be very little crime in the town and the people look happy. LILITH has been quiet for some time now. Maybe this is a great opportunity to have a well-deserved break? How can you not when the people are so kind and the food looks and tastes so delicious? In fact, the longer that Outsiders stay here, the more some of them may begin to feel like they belong here.

On the night of the 7th, the villagers will knock on doors inviting everyone to a bonfire party! It’s just about time to harvest their crops so food is abundant. They can’t think of any better way to use it than to prepare a feast. The bonfire will be held in the council square. Tables and benches have been set up and an impressive spread of fresh food is laid out for everyone to enjoy. Outsiders can enjoy bread, cheese, fresh pork, stew, roasted chicken, seasonal vegetables and free flowing alcohol. There are live musicians on the scene as well, playing merry tunes on their instruments. Some of the villagers have even started dancing around the bonfire and they’re pulling people in to join them! At the center of the table, a canine skull is placed, and the villagers give thanks to their god before partaking in the food.

Nothing seems out of the ordinary … Full and content, everyone will feel tired and want to retire for the night. Characters that do not need to sleep will also feel tired.

Night passes, and daybreak comes. Outsiders might notice that their numbers have dwindled; certain people have gone missing and are nowhere to be found. There won’t be a trace of the captured Outsiders aside from their belongings that they may have left behind.

The villagers do not seem bothered and everything seems normal in the village. Asking the villagers about these disappearances will result in no answers—they claim to have no clue as to the missing Outsiders' whereabouts. It also won’t be possible to contact them, or even LILITH for that matter. It is almost like communications have been cut off completely and their implants receive weak reception.

Observant characters may notice that a heavy fog has descended upon the village overnight and though it gets better during the day, it never lets up.

Captured Outsiders are as followed:

Aventurine
Choso
Dan Heng
Denji
Ereshkigal
Hiyori Iki
Kabru
Kaga
Lucy/Kaede
Maki Zenin
Makima
Malkuth
Loop
Nanami Kento
Rover
Sampo Koski
Taryon Darrington
Wriothesley
Yzak Jule
Zagreus

A separate log for KIDNAPPEES ONLY can be found HERE.

Welcome to our third travel log!

There are no assigned seats this time, so characters may sit wherever they choose. Inhuman-looking characters will need to wear their cloaking devices so as to not alarm the people of the town. A separate log has been prepared for kidnappees only. An additional prompt will go up for non-captured characters before the kaiju fight. The scheduling will depend on actions in the captive log. We will announce it on plurk.

All tags on this log are worth 2 points and will count towards October AC.

EVENT BREAKDOWN/RECAP (CLICK TO EXPAND)

1. TARGU MURES AIRPORT: There has been a distress signal. Characters caring for eggs must leave their eggs with Dr. Spim and report to the hangar to board their flight. The Outsiders will touch down in Targu Mures Airport, and will need to hike the rest of the way through the forest.

2. BRAȘOV, TRANSYLVANIA: Romania was thought to be a desolate country but one village seems to be thriving. The town of Brasov has historic, medieval architecture and the people seem plucked out of the 1700s. They are friendly, welcoming and curious, having never seen technology like what the Outsiders have. Outsiders are provided free lodgings, fresh clothing, food and water. The villagers raise their own livestock and grow their own food, which is unheard of in these times. They don't know anything about a distress call. All around the village, the symbol of a canine skull can be found. This is the Lord of the Forest, the god of this village whom the villagers worship.

3. BONFIRE FEAST: The villagers invite the Outsiders to a bonfire party where fresh food is abundant. After a night of merrymaking, they find that certain Outsiders have disappeared from their numbers and nobody seems to know what happened to them.

THE CHOSEN

The last thing you remember might be speaking to a friend, making merry with a stranger, or enjoying a quiet night against the backlight of the bonfire. Your memories between then and now are a blur—one moment you were in the village, and the next you are here, arising from your slumber and finding yourself in a lavish room with gothic and archaic decor. The windows of the castle are bolted shut so no light goes in and no soul escapes, but candles have been so kindly lit for the captured to find their way. If you can manage to unbolt a window and peek outside, all you will see is a dark fog, obscuring all light and thrusting the castle into an eternal night. The room is old, dark, and eerie, but clean, looking very much lived in and cared for. Within every room, the skull of a wolf has been carefully placed, almost like it oversees the inhabitants.

Welcome to the Castle Bran.

Outsiders, whom attendants within the castle will so reverently refer to as the ‘Chosen’, will find themselves waking up spread across the many rooms of the castle. All their belongings were left behind at the village, and they’ll find that they’ve been cleaned up and dressed carefully in fresh, white linen. Another thing they might notice immediately is that they have been completely stripped of all their powers and weapons, rendering them as strong as any other human.

They are free to roam the many rooms and hallways of the castle but they cannot go any deeper than the ground floor. The attendants of the castle, who appear to be villagers from the town, will follow them and try their best to tend to their every need, be it food, water or a fresh bath. Attempting to question the attendants is a fruitless endeavor: they sing praises of the Lord of the Forest but provide no other useful answers, always diverting the topic back to how wonderful their protector is and how blessed the Outsiders must be to have been chosen by him.

Chosen who try to break their way out of the castle will be hit with a psionic wave, forcing them into a state of calmness, placidity and contentment. They might even be treated to pleasant hallucinations or relive happy memories. There’s no reason to be afraid, after all. The Lord of the Forest will take care of you. Any attempt to hurt or kill the attendants will be met with no resistance from them, almost like they are content to accept their fate. They will then be replaced with another attendant right away, rendering the effort meaningless. The bodies of any dead attendants will be left there to rot until someone complains about it enough, at which point the corpse will be carted off to the dungeons.

At this point, escape seems futile. The dark fog surrounding the castle renders it virtually invisible to the outside world and communications between the Chosen and the Outsiders in the town have been cut off. It may feel like there's nothing you can do but sit pretty and await your fate ...

After days of strange dreams and curious findings, it seems that help will take some time to arrive. The Chosen will have to save themselves even without their powers. Based on some observations, they may infer that something is cloaking the castle and making it difficult for others to locate it. They have to find a way to disrupt whatever is keeping them hidden.

With each day, they may notice something about the wolf skulls that hang in each room. Every time they look at one, it will trigger their flight response as if they are prey facing off with a predator. Some may feel frightened, anxious, hopeless, or submissive until the skull is out of their sight.

If they can push through those feelings and draw out their fight instinct, they can take the skulls and destroy them. After destroying a skull, a wave of energy will come from it. The energy will give them brief headaches, vertigo, and a short bout of irritability and impulsiveness. Some characters may recognize the feeling as Rift poisoning.

Each time they destroy a skull, the character will receive a microdose of Rift poisoning. Without their LILITH suits to protect them, they can experience extreme poisoning which results in flu like symptoms, mental and physical fatigue, and hallucinations which will make them more vulnerable to the psionic waves. However, with each skull destroyed, the fog around the castle begins to lift ever so slightly. After the air has cleared, the rooms feel safer and less oppressive, making them the perfect place to rest and recover. Unfortunately, if the servants notice, they may replace the destroyed skull with a new one.

Chosen characters may use this log to interact with each other and investigate the situation. It is HIGHLY encouraged to collaborate with other characters and share the clues you have been given.

Everyone who is kidnapped will have their ocular implants turned off, thus rendering communications between Chosen characters and characters who were not captured impossible, and any sort of location tracking will not function. However, certain characters will be given the opportunity to send a short message to the rest of the Outsiders. Players may use this post to have IC discussions about what information they want to provide to the rest of the team. If sending out a message, please submit your message by 11:59 PM GMT on the 10th of October so that mods may post it on the network.

Furthermore, characters can destroy skulls to slowly lift the fog around the castle. The number of skulls they will need to destroy is not specified, but it will lift during the next log.

The purpose of this log is for investigation and collaboration. We understand that players are excited to have terrible things happen to their characters. You can expect that information to be given on the 15th. Timeline-wise, characters will be kidnapped late at night on the 7th and then be freed around the 15th.

EVENT BREAKDOWN/RECAP (CLICK TO EXPAND)

1. CASTLE BRAN: Some Outsiders will awaken to find themselves in a mysterious castle and referred to as 'Chosen' by the castle servants. They are stripped of their belongings and powers, and have been freshly bathed and dressed. They are allowed to wander the castle but cannot leave or go further than the ground floor.

2. HOSPITALITY TREATMENT: Outsiders who try to leave will be hit by a psionic wave that leaves them feeling placid and happy, and may even cause them to hallucinate pleasant events or relive happy memories. Since there is a heavy fog around the castle and communications are cut off, there appears to be no method of escape.

3. WE SAVE OURSELVES: After several days, Outsiders may begin to infer that there is something cloaking the castle and preventing it from being discovered. The source is a multitude of wolf skulls hung up around the castle. Though the skulls induce fear and hopelessness in anyone who looks at it, destroying the skull will cause the fog around the castle to slowly lift. Outsiders who destroy skulls will suffer the effects of Rift poisoning.