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

[likemybooks]

[Taryon turns his head to reach a few stray hairs by the edge of his jaw, but mostly he wants to angle it to look smug.]

It's a device that blows hot air at a rate that dries it all up in minutes. Of course, if you have long hair, it takes longer. It's one of the basic tools of modern hair care.

[icyspicy]

Gods above, what haven't they thought of. That sounds like a dream.

[ Do they... have one... is there a hotel hair dryer?? ]

[likemybooks]

[It's Las Vegas. Hair dryers for everyone, especially in these bizarre hotels!

Taryon pulls away from the mirror and opens up one drawer after another until he finds the dark red contraction. He holds his out.] Here you are. Now don't spend so long in the bathroom anymore.

[icyspicy]

[ The way he looks at the hair dryer is like a kid on Christmas. This is the best thing ever. ]

Ohhh. Magnificent. I'm going to learn how to use this straightaway!

[ He is also going to steal it out of the room when they leave. Don't tell anyone. ]

[likemybooks]

[Taryon lets Winter play with it and takes over the sink while he does so. A bit of shaving has to be done here, some tonic must be added there, and eventually he'll decent enough to head to the casino.]

You point the long end at your hair. Just be careful that the air gets pretty hot.

[icyspicy]

Does it now? Give me a moment.

[ He's going to park himself somewhere to look up a tutorial on the implant. This is way more consideration than he gave to learning how to drive a motorcycle, but that just shows where his priorities lie. ]

Ah, I see. I'm going to need an attachment if I want it to be the most effective, but I think I can get it to work for me for now.

[likemybooks]

[Taryon pulls away from the mirror to check the shape of his mustache and comb it down.]

If you need help, I can brush your hair while you dry it. That adds some volume to it.

[icyspicy]

Thank you for the offer, but I'll manage on my own. Astarion was going to braid it later, anyway.

[ He glances back over, giving Taryon a look from head to toe. ]

Heading out tonight, are you?

[likemybooks]

Why not? The city deserves to see me at my best! I'm thinking of visiting that casino and walking the town in search of interesting sights. [And get mugged like an idiot.] There's all these restaurants, and stage shows, and I hear the food's really good. And who knows, I might get some compliments on my hair tonight.

[icyspicy]

If you're going to make a night of it, would you care for some company?

[ He waggles the hair dryer a bit. ]

Once I'm done with my hair, of course. I can always meet you later.

[likemybooks]

All three of us? Certainly. We'd make an amazing impression together.

[One beautiful man is interesting, but a group of beautiful men would draw all sorts of admiration and respect.]

[icyspicy]

[ Well and two of those beautiful men are taken so maybe they can wingman for Taryon instead— ]

I don't know if even this city of sin could handle all of us.

[likemybooks]

[Taryon laughs briefly and tucks his supplies back into his container before taking out his largest comb.]

Hopefully there will be some city left when we're done with it.

[icyspicy]

Gods, imagine it's been withstanding the kaiju all this time only for us to go out and ruin it.

[ Watch out Vegas, here they come!

But first: hair! Winter finally turns the hairdryer on, hovering one hand in front of the nozzle to gauge the heat of the air. ]

[likemybooks]

[Taryon arranges his hair to best showcase its feathery texture, then works on adding a tough of cologne to spice up his looks. It's a cheap thing, bought on the small funds he has, but out here, it makes him smell expensive. This is a city of money, and pretending you have money makes you more glamorous.

Surely, nothing will affect people here to make them react negatively.

Once he's done, he checks on Winter testing the hairdryer.] It's pretty hot, but it won't damage anything if you don't keep it in one place.

[icyspicy]

So I’m seeing.

[ Still waving his hand over the end of the hair dryer, like he’s trying to figure out the ideal heat distribution. He glances up. ]

You look good.

[likemybooks]

[He smiles and rests one hand on the countertop, the other on his hip.]

I should say the same for you, but I'll wait until your hair's ready. [He reaches over for the brush. His eyes shine, excited for this bonding opportunity as he and Winter get each other ready for the night.] Are you ready?

[icyspicy]

[ They definitely finish getting ready and gossiping like teen girls together, with maybe one or two more spats about who gets the mirror at any given time. At last, one final fit check.

He brushes his fingers through his hair, tousling the waves a little. ]

As ready as I'll ever be. You?

[likemybooks]

[Taryon adjusts the buttons and collar of his outfit, ready to bless the town with his expensive-looking (if nanomachine-generated) outfit thanks to the fashion upgrade. Despite their battle over the bathroom, they have come to a truce thanks to an exchange of hair tips and compliments.]

I'm perfect. [He turns to Winter.] Let's get Astarion and head out.