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

[kubricks]

There's a few, but I suppose the most basic one is that Devils are tied to human fear, the creatures here just seem to be well, creatures. Not that I'm complaining, it's a lot easier to deal with a giant whale monster that's just a whale rather than one that embodies the fear of the sea.

[She's also noticed similarities with some others' experiences in their world and hers. It's never quite the same, at least not counting the people here from her world, but there do seem to be some commonalities.]

[gorb]

( Hers is just like his own then. He wonders if there will ever be a world untouched by human's and their vitriol, finds imagining it a fool's game before it even starts. )

You're probably right about that. I know which one'd I'd pick.

( Though fighting curses is easier than kaiju. At least with a curse he has the opportunity to use them. Something else he has to consider these days. )

Though I did think there was something emotional happening here. Have you seen how some of them behave? Like they're mad.

[kubricks]

I've noticed that too, it's strange. We haven't seen anything quite like that yet.

[Actually, she'll clarify that one a little.]

After the last mission, there were some rift effects similar to the transport. Irritability, headaches, that sort of thing, but they didn't seem tied to the kaiju specifically. So if it is responsible for the erratic behavior, it's doing something different than the others we've encountered.

[But knowing that isn't going to help her too much against it in the first encounter. Oh well.]

[gorb]

Do they usually follow a pattern? I haven't really found out much on what kind have been faced before.

( He much prefers educating himself rather than flying in blind. Having to irritates him more than he'd like. )

[kubricks]

There hasn't been much of one among the creatures themselves. There was a giant whale, the electric lizards, the boars...

[And that's not counting the monsters from the simulators like that ice creature or the acid...things.]

As to the timing, it seems they show up every couple months or so since we've arrived. The boars didn't follow that timetable, but that was less an attack and more us encroaching on what they'd taken as their habitat.

[Which doesn't bother her in the slightest.]

[gorb]

( A hum, soft and thoughtful. )

Well, it sounds manageable at least. Or as manageable as a species that have apparently devastated a population can be. Though that would make sense as to why they bring in people like us. Those who've seen things like this a little closer than others.

( He still doesn't like it, but then again, he doesn't have to. )

[kubricks]

Right, in theory it gives some of us a leg up on the situation. And so far that's proven true.

[A nod there. It doesn't explain everyone here, but it does explain a lot of them.]

And I would say manageable is a good word for it. Despite the state of things, it hasn't been too bad for us.

[gorb]

Have you met anyone incapable of fighting them?

( And then, a laugh, faux friendly. ) This sounds like a interrogation, I'm sorry. I just haven't had much room for conversation.

( Plus, he's avoiding everyone from his own world. Or at least, trying to. It's not like he can ask anyone else, that's all. )

[kubricks]

Not incapable, but lacking comparable experience.

[She thinks that's a good way of putting it.]

And it's fine, really. I'd much rather answer these things for a coworker than be grilled by my bosses. The ones back home, not here. We don't have to do things like that here, thankfully.

[gorb]

Co-worker.

( That tickles him, clearly. Something amused curling at the corners of his expression anyway. )

A nicer way than I'd put it but I suppose we are getting paid. It could be worse.

( Not that he's done much with that. Maybe when they get back to Tokyo. )

[kubricks]

Yes, there is that.

[She's a little amused by the term too, though it's something different for her. She's not used to the people she works with being equals. It's not like she doesn't have her own bosses back home, but there it's very much people work for her and not with her.]

And about that, if no one's told you, we do get a bonus after a large kaiju is defeated.

[That's important info she thinks is worth sharing.]

[gorb]

Oh, good.

( Killing things is certainly an option when it comes to stress relief. And he certainly has no qualms about killing kaiju. )

I haven't explored the city much, but that's good to know. The clothing they gave me on arrival is good, it's just not very stylish. ( Also he prefers his pant legs very wide ... Maybe he should get on that, go shopping. ) More of a reason not to get involved in gambling here, I think.

[kubricks]

I don't think you'll find much disagreement there.

[Is it anyone's style? Not that she's heard.]

There's a style upgrade you can buy if that helps, that's what I did.

[Though that's also how she ended up with cat ears on top of the maid outfit so upgrade at your own risk, Geto.]

[gorb]

A style upgrade?

( He'd look great in a maid outfit, but it would also fill him with rage, so maybe not. )

Is it something like a hologram on top of our normal clothes? I think I'd prefer the comfort of real fabric.

[kubricks]

That's more or less what it is. And I agree, the real thing is preferable, but it's a little more convenient at times.

[Install glitches aside, of course.]

[gorb]

Well, I'll certainly think about it.

( And then, as an afterthought. )

You've been very helpful.

[kubricks]

I try to be. After all, we're all in this together. Whether we like it or not.

[She doesn't mean anything in particular by that, it's more an afterthought of her own than anything else.]