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𝚂𝚢𝚗𝚏𝚕𝚞𝚡 𝙼𝚘𝚍𝚜 ([personal profile] synfluxmods) wrote in [community profile] synflux2024-05-13 03:41 pm

TRAVEL LOG #1

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.


blastedass: by bokunoicons @ tumblr (💥 Ew. I think it's dead.)

[personal profile] blastedass 2024-05-31 04:18 pm (UTC)(link)
No one's going to just wander out into a fucking desert like that!

[Which doesn't bode well on his suspicion that something was luring people out into the desert. If it's able to affect their behavior to the point of aggression, lethargy, and aimless movement all the way into the city... Are they dealing with some kind of hypnotic siren or something?]

My bet's on the latter. People in the city were acting stupid without knowing it.
mechspeed: (pic#17018573)

[personal profile] mechspeed 2024-06-04 06:23 pm (UTC)(link)
If they were seeking something important, it would not be out of the ordinary for some to recklessly enter the desert.

However, given I was approached repeatedly by civilians seeking conflict unprompted, I can agree with your stance on the matter. It is likely whatever we have been sent out here in search of is the cause.

[He hasn't seen any of these kaiju yet, but it's a safe bet he figures.]

It may be similar to certain species of flatworm.
blastedass: by bokunoicons @ tumblr (💥 Unusually serious for him.)

[personal profile] blastedass 2024-06-04 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Not this many people this often.

[Between the marked aggressiveness, the lethargic ones, and those who had lost people who wandered off into the sands, there was something far more involved than interest or greed afflicting the city. The fact it's not the entire population that's under the influence is likely the most damning evidence.

Why is he not surprised Metal would find himself getting accosted by stupid people...]


Flatworm? In a fucking desert?
mechspeed: (and i've come to despise)

[personal profile] mechspeed 2024-06-04 07:41 pm (UTC)(link)
You have misunderstood. I do not believe the cause of this behaviour is some manner of worm.

[Boy will he be wrong!!!!

Still, Metal turns his attention away from the trail and stands up, turning to address Bakugo fully.
]

But the process of manipulating other life forms to engage in their life cycle. I would assume the effected have been devoured, a fate they...walked right into.

[He says with some emphasis, breaking his monotone.]
blastedass: by blastedass @ dreamwidth (Default)

[personal profile] blastedass 2024-06-04 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
You just said a fucking flatworm!

[Can we say that Bakugo later shot him a "IT WAS A FUCKING WORM" text at some point during the skirmish?

Bakugo looks out over the desert, back at the trail, and then to Metal again when the robot faces him.]


Like an angler fish or insect pheromones.

[It's some kind of lure, whether baited or siren entrapment.]
mechspeed: (just dancing along)

1/2

[personal profile] mechspeed 2024-06-06 06:32 pm (UTC)(link)
I was establishing it for the sake of comparison. Are you an idiot?

[For an insult, he states it in a surprisingly neutral way.

Also we absolutely can do that cause it's funny.
]
Edited 2024-06-06 18:33 (UTC)
mechspeed: (well witness me now)

[personal profile] mechspeed 2024-06-06 06:34 pm (UTC)(link)
...however, an angler fish is also an apt comparison.

The efficacy of such a tactic cannot be denied.

[Having all your targets come to you...he did it once, so he can't look down on that approach.]
blastedass: by blastedass @ dreamwidth (💥 Serious discussion needs happen.)

[personal profile] blastedass 2024-06-06 07:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Make a clearer comparison next time, Scrap Brain!

[Would've gotten the same reaction if he likened it to a fish! Which Bakugo just does of his own accord, so guess they're running similar weird comparisons.

He'll take the last part as a compliment, so that takes some of the heat off. Proverbial, since it's blazing out here.]


If that's how it is, we're gonna need to be careful when we find it. Most "luring" animals get their prey via sight or breathing.

[Something almost all the Outsiders need to do...]

How well can you fight with your visual sensors turned off?
mechspeed: (pic#17018573)

[personal profile] mechspeed 2024-06-20 09:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Efficiently. I am capable of maneuvering in combat without the need for visual input.

[You need it when you're fighting someone like Sonic; even as someone who can match his speed, Metal still considers him a tricky guy to keep tabs on in the heat of combat.]

However, it possible I will be unaffected given my digital consciousness, if it is biological inteference.
blastedass: by bokunoicons @ tumblr (💥 Everyone else looks like shit...)

[personal profile] blastedass 2024-06-20 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Good. If this thing is luring people via a visual stimuli, we're gonna need that.

[Bakugo has trained in following orders and directions while blindfolded, able to orient himself in the air in a given area and on the ground via quadrant numbers. It's not easy, but he makes it look simple.]

Don't rely on that. This bastard back home had a visual Quirk that even fucked up robots.
mechspeed: (pic#17018584)

[personal profile] mechspeed 2024-06-21 11:11 pm (UTC)(link)
It is simply a possibility; I will account for whether or not it is capable of such when the time comes. If it turns out to be the case, I will be vital for this mission.

[He secretly hopes it is, because then he can shove it in Sonic's face if he ends up affected.]
blastedass: by bokunoicons @ tumblr (💥 I'm liking this already...)

[personal profile] blastedass 2024-06-22 01:47 am (UTC)(link)
Che. We'll get you some high quality oil to suck on.

[Totally taunting him over his little bravado. Bakugo won't be putting Metal's ability out of mind, however. His speed and mechanical body could definitely be a saving grace against something with luring capabilities.]