TRAVEL LOG #1

[synfluxmods]

TRAVEL LOG #1

CONTENT WARNINGS: potential mentions of drugs, suspected mind-control, alcohol, and gambling, gore.

▶ 001. A RUDE AWAKENING.

On the morning of the 15th, the Outsiders will hear an alarm sound in the early hours. No matter what you’re doing, the alarm will not stop sounding, and it’s because they’re playing directly into your oculars. If one is sleeping, they may even be roused by the spark of colors on their oculars dictating an emergency. After a few minutes of this, the following message will appear:

PLEASE REPORT TO THE DATAPORTAL AT THE TOKYO BRANCH AND BE PREPARED FOR DEPARTURE.

"Captain Yamakawa speaking. You’ve done a great job in testing the data portals. Now that we are able to travel, we were sent a call for help in another city due to lack of personnel and resources abroad. You will be looking for evidence of a new kaiju around the rendezvous point. It may be a difficult journey, so prepare yourself. SYNTHIA will still be online to help you make it to the city. Report to the POD CHAMBER where we have installed an international dataportal and prepare for transportation."

Following the success of the dataportal testing, the engineering department was able to fine tune its abilities and widen the reach of the portals. The portals can connect even abroad now!

Despite their best efforts, however, they cannot guarantee that the same symptoms won’t appear, and ask all Outsiders who are utilizing them to practice caution. Additionally, through all their testing, they found that people who hold hands or make contact with others as they pass through will be hit with less issues.

▶ 002. WELCOME TO LAS VEGAS.

When one passes through the data portal, they will see the refuge city of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Similar to Neo Tokyo, it is also rich in life and known as the city that never sleeps. Incidentally, it is also famously noted as a place of endless vice. The city is built up around a strip of land of roughly 4.2 miles. A vast majority of the city was built up over the wreckage of the old, and some fixtures were simply made new with whatever was left preexisting. The Mojave Desert has expanded towards surrounding cities, though it will take a vehicle to get there in a timely manner.

The city has no shortage of hotels and with each hotel, a casino. While Outsiders here are on a mission, there’s no stating they couldn’t participate in the fun of Vegas while LILITH crew begin their investigation. While some hotels will be clearly abandoned or less traversed, there is no end to all card tables and slot machines, all asking for your KRYPTOS.

The hotel the Outsiders are slotted to stay over the course of the next few days is one where they built directly over the hotels of the old. While it offers a decent place to sleep, it’s not without a refurbished pirate themed bed, or the columns of what appears to have been from Caesars Palace. Is that a giant clown face staring at you in the room? Don’t worry about it. The hotel offers that this is the best place to depart into the desert from. For this mission, Outsiders may bunk up with whoever they would like, and each hotel provides two queen sized beds.

Excited to venture out into the city? Even under the threat of kaiju, the city doesn’t sleep. Outsiders may venture through the Las Vegas Strip and treat themselves to a fun night of drinking, gambling, shopping, partying and circle-style performances. The Grand Canal Shoppes, a Venetian-inspired high end mall, boasts a man-made canal with gondola rides for a fee, along with many retail outlets and restaurants. There are also numerous spas and carnival-style rides to enjoy. Las Vegas was once known as the ‘Marriage Capital of the World’, and in a world besieged by kaiju, the people don’t seem to think they have anything to lose. Outsiders may spot a few bride and grooms-to-be partying in the street.

(LILITH does not have a stance on whether or not Outsiders are permitted to get hitched as long as it does not affect their performance. )

▶ 003. TROUBLE BREWING.

It’s normal for fights to break out with so much alcohol being passed around, but something … isn’t quite right with some of the locals here. Outsiders who keep an eye open might notice people acting erratically, and not just from being intoxicated. There are people ready to pick a fight from just being looked at, people falling into despondent sadness and lethargy, people wandering mindlessly and people becoming distressed from seeing things that aren’t there. Ask the locals and they will tell you these cases seem to be popping up more often the past week.

The most concerning of all are the stories of people disappearing completely. One little girl will tell you she cried as she saw her mother mindlessly walk into the desert, as if called by a voice no one else can hear. There are many other accounts of this happening. In fact, all the people acting erratically seem to disappear within a few days …

Outsiders may interact with civilians who are acting erratic and aggressive, but asking questions they may receive answers that do not make sense, are perverse and inappropriate or may trigger aggression. Any Outsider to gets into a fight and is severely injured may report to a local hospital here and will find they are pretty packed with other civilians acting strange, hurting each other and themselves. Certainly, this was the main cause for concern that got LILITH's attention anyway.

▶ 004. FOUR FOR THE ROAD.

Within a day or two, the Outsiders will once again be called to action by a blaring notice in their implant.

YOUR VEHICLES ARE PREPARED. ASSEMBLE OUTSIDE THE CITY IMMEDIATELY.

When they gather at the location provided to them, they will find a fleet of armored campervans waiting for them. Each campervan comes equipped with beds, a kitchenette, and bathroom facilities, and will fit about 4 people. Within the campervans, they will find desert-appropriate attire designed to protect them from the scorching sun. These campervans also come with some basic artillery such as a mounted machine gun. There are also supplies in the form of water bottles and MRE ration packs.

Those who have driven large vehicles in the past are encouraged to take the driver’s seat. If the group does not have any driving experience, they will be given a crash course on driving recorded by the man himself, Seok Dang. (He probably shouldn’t be doing this with the stunts he’s pulled, but the Commander does not have any time to be teaching anyone driving, and Seok Dang volunteered so eagerly…)

"Listen. If you’ve ever handled a ▄▄ before, the joystick is exactly like that. You gotta tug it, but not too hard. Gently, yeah, like that, that’s the path to ecstasy … "

If it eases anyone’s worries, the campervans are armored and highly shock resistant, so they should withstand a crash or two.

(Those who finish his course and successfully drive 100km while supervised will receive an international driving license.)

▶ 005. THE HUNT IS ON.

With everyone settled into their campervan, the large scale road trip begins. LILITH has a general idea of where the biggest energy signal is located for the rift and they will feed the coordinates to the Outsiders. The journey will take about a few days into (and around as LILITH is searching for both people & the source of the rift energy) the Mojave Desert, and Outsiders will be permitted occasional rest stops to give drivers a break and to investigate the terrain. The terrain itself is a harsh desert, with cacti and small local fauna abundant. (Those not wanting to eat ration packs can take this time to hunt the local fauna such as birds, lizards and desert foxes.) While there is nothing else around, observant Outsiders may notice signs of human life - footprints in the sand, a shoe or torn piece of clothing being left behind, and even the odd human carcass being torn apart by vultures.

The logical conclusion would be that those missing humans have been here, and the only thing left to do is find them … but Outsiders and civilians aren't all that lurk here, and time will tell what lies beneath the desert surface ...

▶ 005. AFTERWORD.

Welcome to our very first travel log! Each campervan will accommodate anywhere between 3-5 people, with 4 being the ideal and 5 being a squeeze. Players are encouraged to connect with each other to fill up a van but the mods will not be enforcing it. If you need help finding roommates, there is a FIND A ROOMMATE header below that you can make use of.

If you'd like to test your gambling luck, we also have an IC SLOTS HEADER for you to comment to for you to see how well your character does at the slot machines. This is entirely for fun, and of course you are always welcome to have your characters winning or losing at the slot machines as much as you want in your prompts so long as they aren't winning jackpots.

Following this log, all characters who have purchased style upgrades will receive an update to their chip enabling them access to desert attire and popular styles within Las Vegas.

All tags on this log are worth 2 points.

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Comments

[curingidiocy]

[ He knows more than anyone about your charms, gambler.

Ratio remains silent as the two talk, opting to crack open the electrolyte drink he's taken and take a sip instead. He's content to let Aventurine do all the talking, now that he's here. ]

[yormama]

Is it? I just thought of what the desert wouldn't have and planned accordingly.

[ Though it's nice to have her efforts noticed! It's a nice garnish to the joy of assisting others, which is already plenty on its own. ]

If you've lived in a desert environment before, would you mind sharing some tips? Maybe something I might've missed?

[stonehearts]

Hmmm. ( He frowns, not out of displeasure but of thought, looking at the supplies she's gathered. There's plenty of things to help with the heat and the sun. But that just leaves one other thing-- ) The sand is your next enemy, if we're discounting the fact it'll get to freezing temperatures at night.

( Aventurine gestures to the linen he's wearing around his neck, and the eye protection he has stashed on his person. )

Cloth to keep the sand from your mouth, and goggles to keep it from your eyes.

[yormama]

[ Yor nods along emphatically. Lucky thing then that all their gear so far takes care of such concerns! But it won't hurt to stock up on a few more things like that before they get too far out into the desert, surely. ]

That makes sense! Sand would be terrible to get stuck in your throat and eyes. As for warmth, I'm sure everyone won't mind huddling together in the campers or making a fire if need be.

[stonehearts]

That's a very good point. The good Doctor and I have a lot of practice cuddling-- huddling -- in our campervan, so I can say it works just as well.

( It's too easy to tease Ratio like this, and his gaze snaps to the other man as he speaks, brow raising in a clear challenge for the other man. He knows the reasons they're doing so are more for Aventurine's benefit than staying warm (and for the fact there's just not enough beds for all five of them) but it won't stop him from gently teasing him. )

[curingidiocy]

[ While Ratio is paying attention to the conversation, he did not expect it to veer in that direction. He almost chokes on the water he was drinking, but thankfully catches himself before the water goes down his airway.

Leave it to Aventurine to know how to catch him off guard. He glares at the man, who is clearly looking for some kind of reaction from Ratio. ]

The low temperatures would be of concern to those who have taken to patrolling at night, as the vans have insulation and heating precisely to manage conditions during the night. Also of concern is the fluctuation between these extremes, which can trigger headaches, joint pain, fatigue, and weaken immune systems, among other effects if not accounted for properly.

Finally, despite common misconception, desert regions can feature biohazards, as is the case with the one we are currently in. The Mojave Desert hosts fungi known as Coccidioides immitis and Coccidioides posadasii in its soil, of which the inhalation of its spores has been known to cause an illness colloquially known as Valley fever. Mild cases will resolve with rest, but more severe cases may require prescribed antifungal medication. We should be able to avoid the worst if we do not disturb the soil, but ideally, we should also wear respiratory masks.

[ While this is all very relevant and useful information, it will be clear to Aventurine that Ratio is rambling out of embarrassment, as his shoulders are tense and there is a light flush on his cheeks that may or may not be attributed to the heat. Damn gambler. ]

[yormama]

[ It's during that second paragraph of Ratio's that Yor kind of...zones out. She can hear his words clearly, but there's just so many. On their own they'd be enough to pick apart and digest, but a word salad of this magnitude? She's left staring at him with a small smile and her eyes unfocus juuuuust a little bit.

That is, until she spots the blush on his face. Goodness, is that from the heat? Or perhaps Aventurine got to him with that cuddling comment? Not that she can blame Ratio if it's the latter. Her laugh is already soft, but she hides it behind her hand out of courtesy. ]

My, you two seem to get along quite well.

[curingidiocy]

[ If anything, pointing that out makes Ratio tense more. He averts his eyes—the clearest sign that he's become flustered. ]

Hardly. He is an irksome colleague who enjoys wasting precious time behaving like a nuisance and constantly trying to provoke me. One cannot call tolerating that nonsense an indication that we are 'getting along', as you put it.

[stonehearts]

( Aventurine just laughs at that, clearly not taking it like the insult Ratio means for it to be. Looking at Yor, he gives her a shrug to convey 'well, what can you do?', amusement still tinging his expression. )

You're not the first to think so. In spite of what the doctor says, we've been paired together by our work often enough because we do get along well. Or at least I've filed the least amount of complaints against him that it's close enough to our bosses.

[curingidiocy]

Truly a miracle, considering the number of complaints we filed against each other initially.

[ He's certain they both drove their bosses up the wall during that initial period of friction, because they asked him to stop sending lengthy complaints every time he was forced to collaborate with Aventurine. Unfortunately, despite the constant complaining, they both got results, and quite effectively, so they never got unpaired until each of them directly requested to be paired with someone else.

And then the complaints got worse. So their bosses just gave up and paired them together again. And somehow, the complaints stopped. ]

Those idiots you call coworkers are so utterly incompetent, I would rather tolerate your foolishness than work with them.

[yormama]

[ Gentlemen, please... ]

...I think, I should get another canvas for the tent. Maybe.

[stonehearts]

Mm?

( Oh, right, Yor is here -- he'd almost forgotten in his desire to tease Ratio further. The smile he gives her is wide, however, and unabashed about the amount of bickering he and Ratio were about to get into. )

Don't let either of us keep you, if you must.

[curingidiocy]

[ Ratio can never resist being provoked, really... Sorry Yor. But they have an audience this time, and he is not so shameless to keep bickering with Aventurine when she's still here. He clears his throat, trying to recover his composure. ]

If you require assistance, whether it be calculating the amount of provisions needed, or transporting them, feel free to contact us. We will do what we can to assist.

[yormama]

[ Yor keeps her laughter under wraps, but her smile? Nah, there's no hiding that. Ratio's sudden curmudgeonly behavior speaks volumes even to her. ]

It won't take me long. Please feel free to stay here and chat as much as you'd like!