PRE-FIGHT EVENT #1

[synfluxmods]

PRE-FIGHT EVENT #1

CONTENT WARNINGS: natural disaster, PTSD, mind-control, psychological trauma, violence, delirium from heat, temporary blindness, hallucinations, dead bodies.

▶ 001. STORM CHASERS.

After weeks of searching for clues on the kaiju and missing people, the desert landscape begins to blend together. Didn’t you pass that cactus earlier today? That rock formation looks exactly like the one you passed the other day. It’s natural to loop back around when conducting a search but doesn’t it feel like everyone has been going in circles more frequently?

The heat isn’t helping either. Temperatures start to rise and continue to rise to all time highs. The sun is unrelenting and the only reliable shelter they have are their campers. Prolonged exposure outside will result in heat exhaustion, dehydration, and delirium.

Warnings will be sent to the Outsiders via their implants to keep them up to date with the weather as well as providing health tips such as reminders to stay hydrated or seek shelter during the hottest parts of the day. They will also receive warnings for sand storms and tornadoes called dust devils. The storms start of short and relatively weak but gradually begin to last longer and become more powerful. Pretty soon, Outsiders will not be able to see ahead from the dense sand and wind.

Outsiders will be told to chase after the storms and if they progress far enough, they will begin to find traces of people. They will find random belongings, articles of clothing, and occasionally, human remains in varying states of decomposition. Eventually, however, they will start to find survivors suffering from extreme fatigue and dehydration. They speak incoherently to themselves and as soon as they regain their strength, they try to run into storms while calling out to things that people can’t see.

Outsiders can wait for emergency caravans to arrive from Vegas to take survivors back to the city or they can take back the survivors themselves and use the opportunity to restock on supplies.

▶ 002. THE STORM CALLS.

The sandstorms increase and grow stronger until eventually, they last entire days. The sands shift, the grounds shake, and something thunderous can be heard in the dust. It becomes harder to see out in the desert and it’s almost like the storms are trying to hide something. At the edge of a storm, sharp eyed Outsiders may catch sight of a great shadowy serpent in the heart of the storm. Messages to their implants will urge them to get closer and investigate but be careful.

The storm grows stronger as they approach and the camper vans may slow down or get stuck in the shifting sands forcing some of them to proceed on foot to make visuals. Eventually, they will get close enough to finally establish clear visuals on their target: A giant sand worm. It’s size is not immediately clear due to the poor visibility and it being partially underground. However, the worm also sees them and when it does, it glows. The light catches on and reflects against the sand particles and that’s when it hits some of the Outsiders: A sudden splitting headache followed by an inability to look away.

Some outsiders may suddenly find themselves entranced by the worm; hypnotized. They will begin to see mirages and hear voices calling out to them in the storm. Captivated Outsiders will find themselves wanting to run into the storm to chase after the phantoms, some of them images and figures of people from their past and present back home. If anyone attempts to stop them, they will become irrational, violent, and turn on their friends and allies. Some Outsiders may begin to view their allies as enemies and attack, turning on one another in a gruesome frenzy. Some of the hypnotic beams will effect those still in their campers, turning on their friends and other Outsiders.

Outsiders will have to restrain each other to keep them from running into the desert or harming each other. In the chaos, the worm disappears into the storm. The psychic effects of the monster will weaken after the worm disappears and the storm dies down but it may leave some characters feeling overwhelmed and confused in the aftermath. Some will remain in an erratic state for several days, occasionally acting normal. In the insanity of all of this, Outsiders may have picked up another Outsider into their camper van for their protection or camper parties remain shuffled. It's up to the ones unaffected by the psychic attacks to watch over the others while retreating from the desert.

▶ 003. CITY OF DREAMS.

Following the disaster of the first sighting, LILITH will order characters to return to Vegas so they can assess what happened. En route to Vegas, some Outsiders may notice some side effects from the prolonged exposure to the sandstorm. They may experience shortness of breath and coughing as a result of breathing in so much dust. Furthermore, they may experience a splitting headache or pain behind their eyes. Their implants may lag, glitch, or go completely offline which will render them temporarily blind in one or both eyes. It seems that the fine sand and dust combined with whatever psychic damage the worm did may have messed with their implants and crossed some sensors which is all the more reason to return to Vegas for treatment.

Outsiders may become lethargic and experience vivid daydreams while they are awake or regular dreams while sleeping. In these dreams, they may relive memories. Some of these memories may be pleasant but others may be traumatic or things characters would rather keep secret. Unfortunately, being in close proximity to someone suffering from these effects will force a link through a glitch in their implants and drag other characters into the dream.

These links will function similarly to how simulation training works. The dreams they visit appear to be very realistic and characters can experience pain and be hurt within the memory. They will be able to interact with the memories. While in these memories, they can try to wake up the memory holder to bring them back to reality. Who knows, maybe helping each other understand what is real and a dream may even make them more resilient to the worm’s attacks the next time they go into the desert...

▶ 004. REST & RECOVERY

As characters recover from the psychic effects and implant glitches, LILITH will try to assess everyone’s biometrics to understand what happened. Characters who need therapy or counseling after reliving some horrible memories of theirs will be provided sessions via their implants. They now understand that the worm has some sort of psychic mind control power that it can use on victims. It is currently too dangerous to go back into the desert until they can come up with a proper defense against it.

Outsiders will be ordered to stay in Vegas and focus on recovery, given two queen side bed hotel rooms again OR if they would prefer to stay in the camper vans, that is also fine, with their same room mates or new ones. They are confident that they can fix the implants with the right upgrade but they aren’t sure what to do to stop people from following the call of the desert and making them act erratically. What is important is that LILITH sticks together.

In the meantime, those who have recovered, and even those who are experiencing these issues are ordered to remain close to one another; a buddy system of sorts. Each Outsider will be given designated groups to keep tight watch over one another while in Vegas. They will be responsible for physically checking on those in their groups and making sure one another’s whereabouts are properly tracked in order to avoid losing anyone to the desert.

LILITH encourages Outsiders to hang tight and wait for instructions before adventuring back out into the desert.

▶ 005. AFTERWORD.

In light of the results of the scheduling poll, here is our first event with a preview of the kaiju. All side effects from either the sandstorms or the worm kaiju can last for as short or as long as players would like.

For the daydreams/memory share, players can decide how they would like characters to experience the memories, whether it plays out in front of them like a movie or if they're reliving it by acting out the scene all over again or a mix of both. We encourage you guys to have fun with it and use whatever format feels most comfortable.

As always, feel free to leave questions under the QUESTIONS thread. All tags on this log are worth 2 points and will count towards June AC.

EVENT BREAKDOWN (CLICK TO EXPAND)

1. STORM CHASERS: Outsiders, still in the now expanded Mojave Desert, face problems with heat and sandstorms, resulting in dehydration and delirium. Still, LILITH encourages them to press onward in their camper vans and desert approved attire. Many dead bodies are found, but those that survive, Outsiders can keep an eye on survivors until emergency care can come pick them up.

2. STORM CALLS: A glimpse of the creature causing the problems is seen beneath the sands surface: a giant sandworm. It attacks LILITH recruits with psychological damage, causing Outsiders to hallucinate memories of their past, act erratic and violent and turn on LILITH crew. Outsiders are tasked to wrangle in one another and retreat back to Las Vegas to recover.

3. CITY OF DREAMS: Seeking refuge back in Las Vegas, character's implants go haywire from the psychic attacks, causing a memory share between characters that are close enough to one another.

4. REST & RECOVERY: Outsiders are placed in hotels again, or if they prefer to stay in the camper vans. They are tasked to keep an eye out on one another and sit tight for further instructions while LILITH assesses their data and next move to wrangle in the sandworm. Outsiders are to wait until given instructions.

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Comments

[frostfist]

[ i do not know nearly enough about the edo period for that (read: i know nothing)

He's had dreams before, of running. Of an endless chase and the sound of footsteps increasing in volume and proximity, the mysterious figure behind him always gaining ground no matter how quickly he pumps his legs. Usually he wakes up right before the catch, sweat beading down his forehead, his breath coming in sharp pants in his chest.

That doesn't happen this time.

Instead he's still running, the glint of steel off a nearby window the only warning he has of a blade about to come his way, and Wriothesley immediately throws himself down to the ground in a roll. The blade cuts through something anyway - hair, fabric, the outermost layer of skin on his arm - but he pays it no mind, more concerned with not losing his neck than anything else. ]

Can't we talk this out?

[ Truly, he has no idea what this is supposed to be other than real fucking bad, but there's no harm in trying. Man-Slayer Izou, his mind supplies him with, and while the man-slaying part is definitely new, Izou strikes a chord somewhere deep inside. Maybe not of friendship but of understanding, and a silent camaraderie.

It's only an echo in this dream, worn and empty, but he tries to fish it out with everything he's got. ]

[hitokiller]

( the thin cut yields enticing results, strands of hair tickling the side of his face as they fly past.

and it's not unheard of for his targets to start pleading with him mid-chase, only this one...

--no. he's got to be trying to trick him somehow, and talking meant revealing too much about the party. about the people involved who would sidle up to him after a meeting that conveniently left him out, the lot of them having decided he was too slow to catch on to what they were talking about. and while it was true he didn't care for politics or anything beyond might makes right, the sickening feeling of being othered still lingered.

all he need do was keep his mouth shut and follow orders.

still. even then, he— )

... Why negotiate with a dead man?

( the moon hangs lower in the sky with every passing second, a niggling thought lurking in his mind now that he's got a clearer look that he might know this certain someone. not intimately, but just enough to wonder briefly what they're doing on these streets at night, and then: )

A job's a job. That's all.

( man-slayer izou sweeps his steel down below the man's legs, at his feet. )

cw: dismemberment

[frostfist]

[ A dead man, huh? Not like the guy's entirely wrong, when Wriothesley ought to have died multiple times over by now but somehow always managed to cling on by the edges of his grimy fingernails. Will this time finally be the charm? If people die in dreams, do they die in real life?

He's really not keen on learning the answer to that age-old question. ]

Sure, but [ there's a pant; looks like all the running's starting to do a number on him ] there are better jobs than this, right? Don't tell me you get off on killing people.

[ Though who knows, maybe whoever he's supposed to be right now deserves it. Maybe that was just how they did it back in the day. It's not like his own hands are clean either...who is he to judge? Though he likes to think he'd give people a chance to talk first, these days.

But as it turns out, his overreliance on talking ends up being his downfall. Once again metal flashes, a portent of what's to come, and this time he doesn't pull back quick enough, not completely. Izou's well-honed swing cuts through clean, severing foot from leg, and in the wake of watching his outline of his own foot plop to the ground, a wildly inappropriate thought enters his mind, fueled almost entirely by hysteria: Sigewinne's going to have a field day with a lopped off foot.

Except, no, that's not right. This isn't the Fortress, Sigewinne isn't here, the pain of having a blade slice through him is quicking hitting him real bad, and there's no way he can outpace Izou like this.

Alright, fine, maybe this is where it all goes kaput. Only one way to find out. ]

cw: death

[hitokiller]

( the heavy whumpf of fleshing hitting the floor is as audible as the big red mess that follows and splashes across the dirt. a scene that'd make any normal civilian feel sick and disgusting inside, like something's been wrapped too tight, but for man-slayer izou...

the sight of a job well-done sent a pleasurable chill up his spine.

it's here where the two gleaming lights that make up his eyes hiss through the air, finally taking in his target fully as he pauses before the final blow. a chance at discussion was lost on him at first, but an... inkling feeling of familiarity is what next gives him pause, seeping quickly from his chest to the crimson fingers that grip effortlessly around the hilt of his blade. this man... something about him—

it's almost like he's heard that tone of voice before. that sincerity despite the danger and exhaustion, and a soft, airy noise escapes izou.

not that it's head splitting enough to stop him from raising his blade, the reflection of wriothesley's prone form shining past the hazy gaze of a killer, but...

he'll make the rest quick. a great deal less painful, even, as a fidgety memory of their last, actual real encounter sinks into his skin like the moonlight and passes out dry, chapped lips: )

... You might be right—about this, and about my causin' trouble for her eventually... —but, I...

( the moon is high as a trembling of muscle brings his steel swiftly into wriothesley's chest, that one deliberate stroke towards the heart a practiced one.

here is where the scene starts to fray, blackening and charring with digital noise as izou withdraws the sword from the flesh it claimed. very shortly the two of them will return to the real world, the rasp of man-slayer izou's final words the only thing left resonating. )

All a man-slayer needs to think about, is who to kill.

[frostfist]

[ If you die in a dream, do you die in real life?

It certainly feels real enough, the slice of the blade deep into his chest more shocking and painful than even the lop-off of a limb. There's no time to think, no time to produce a counterargument or a desperate plea to be spared, just the flash of metal towards him and then the belated realization of being skewered through.

Hell.

Not the way he thought he would go but.....better this than starving to death alone in the back of alley, he supposes. There are worse ways to go. Is it his consciousness that's fading at the edges? The memory? With how his organs are beginning to fail and his synapses are struggling to fire, he can't tell. Not like he can do anything else but watch Izou deftly pull out his blade, murmur a few words that barely waft their way into his brain. The image of Izou in front of him wobbles. Cuts out.


And then there's Izou in real life right next to him, only Wriothesley is a little too busy gasping for air, one hand clutching at his chest as he tries to force back the pain that floods his all receptors. Did he forget how pain transfers through in these sorts of things? Maybe. Hang on, just give him a minute— ]