TRAVEL LOG #2

[synfluxmods]

TRAVEL LOG #2

CONTENT WARNINGS: natural disaster, acid rain, vehicle crash.

▶ 001. WINGING IT.

In the early morning hours of the 1st, Outsiders will receive a rude awakening blaring through their implants. No matter what they do, the alarm will not stop sounding until they are forced to get up. A message will flash through their vision:

ALL OUTSIDERS ARE TO REPORT TO THE HANGAR IMMEDIATELY FOR DEPARTURE

Get up, get dressed in your plugsuit, and it’s time to go! Once they report at the hangar, they will be met with a huge spacecraft, large enough to fit at least 80 people. This will be their mode of transport to their next location.

"My Angels of Lilith. You are needed once again. We have received distress signals from the neighbouring country of South Korea. Unfortunately, since we have not established data portals in that country, we require you to embark via air. Your aircraft is ready for you and your seats have been assigned. I bid you a safe journey."

True enough, there are more than enough seats on the LILITH SKY CRUISER to accommodate every Outsider, and to get everyone organized quickly for departure, all Outsiders will receive a seat number. Like any plane, seats are rather cramped and there isn’t much leg room. Once the seatbelt sign is off, Outsiders are free to stand up and move around the cruiser, but they might have to climb over other people or make the whole row stand up to give them room. The aircraft is serviced by robotic stewards serving light snacks of nuts and crackers, and coconut crab kimbap and seaweed soup at meal time. Any characters who use a cloaking device will be instructed to use it during the flight to accommodate the aircraft. Also, any characters who rely on a weapon or anything else (such as a Gundam), it will be loaded onto the cargo of the aircraft.

The flight will take about 2-3 hours. Outsiders may take a nap, chat or try the inflight entertainment available. This inflight entertainment is delivered through a virtual reality headset. Outsiders may pick a selection of AI movies of questionable quality, along with several virtual reality games. There are single player or multiplayer options available for every game.

Available games include:

• The Sims 30: One player gets to become the ‘god’ of a world and build houses or dictate the lives of other players and NPCs within the game as they see fit.
  
• Farm Crossing: A farming simulator game where players get to build and manage their own farms. Harvest your crops and tend to your animals! Impress the friendly villagers in the town with your beautiful ranch!
  
• Tales of Heroes: A fantasy game where players are reborn into a world of monsters and magic and have to level up by fighting monsters and slaying demons.
  
• And many more … (Feel free to design your own VR games.)

Eventually, the sky cruiser will touch down on Incheon Airport. There’s no need to be stuck waiting in line at immigration... it appears as if the Incheon Airport has not been used in decades and seems completely abandoned with the exception of the Outsiders. The old scanning machines and luggage belts are simply collecting dust. Outsiders will be ushered immediately to the nearest train station, where they will continue their journey by train.

▶ 002. WELCOME TO SEOUL.

Once descended from the train ride, they will have arrived in the city of Seoul, South Korea. Similar to Neo Tokyo, a lot of the people on the outskirts moved to this area in order to receive shelter and the benefits of being amongst civilization, rather than fending for themselves. As such, there is a certain hustle and bustle, but considering the state of their dilapidated airports and most of the other cities falling to ruin, there definitely is a more somber vibe to the city. Despite that, the residents carry on and there is no shortage of shopping, food stalls (mostly with foods that are not easy to perish), cafes, pojangmacha to have a late night food or drink at, and many more smaller businesses. The people are resilient and have every single desire to continue making a living. As such the prices here are competitive and Outsiders will find if they look hard enough, there are some fairly good deals to be made. Currency exchange is no issue, as KRYPTOS is the universal currency.

Since a lot of efforts were made to keep Seoul intact, there are still some important sights that were kept up and can be visited if desired. While LILITH urges people to keep their eyes peeled out for any clues to the next kaiju’s whereabouts, Seok Dang may or may not have sent each Outsider a map of the best sightseeing amongst many other not-so-innocent suggestions. He calls it the difference of experiences and “doesn’t want anyone missing out!” If people check back on the message a day later, they will find it was almost as if it didn’t exist at all. On the list, however, includes sights like the Gyeongbokgung Palace, COEX mall and aquarium, Seoul Sky, and many others. However, some of them may or may not exist anymore. How long was he out of the country for? For an extra “freebie” he throws in, Outsiders will find an odd message on their style upgrade saying there is a new outfit available, when opened, it will download a hanbok that they can wear at any time.

"Well, well. Unfortunately, whatever fun could have been planned will need to be halted just a mere two and a half days to get settled. Once again, a message will be produced on everyone’s oculars suggesting an emergency is on the horizon. Guess we better get to that instead of showing you my home country!"

And Seok Dang wonders why he is the Commander's least favorite.

Beep! An alert pops up on the Outsiders' ocular devices. According to the information LILITH just received, there is not just one large kaiju occupying this region, but two. In order to chase both of these leads, Outsiders are split into two groups in order to chase these two kaiju. They have described these kaiju as being very agile and fast, but resembling a serpent from the few sightings that have been spotted. As for the rift that it originated from, there is no sign of a rift in South Korea. Did it migrate here from somewhere else? More details will pour into the Outsider's devices as soon as possible, but for now, Outsiders are called to pursue the hunt.

▶ 003. TEAM SEOUL.
_{EVERLIGHT & REDEMPTION}

Within the next hour, rain will begin to fall upon the city, but this is far from the average summer shower. The precipitation doesn’t seem weather-related as much as it does seem to be a proponent of the kaiju’s abilities. They find this when studying the rain itself, which is acidic to the touch. While the buildings and other structures will remain sound, the people will need to evacuate quickly in order to avoid any lingering effects to the skin. Skin contact with the acid rain will cause both minor and severe burning, depending on how quickly it is rinsed off with normal water. At the first discovery of the acid rain's danger, Outsiders will be commanded to press a button on their plugsuit on the left shoulder, activating an invisible helmet to keep their heads and faces safe.

The Outsiders’ plug suits prevent them from receiving any damages from the rain, but that’s certainly not the case for everyone else. The first team, made up of the members of Everlight and Redemption are to prioritize the initial evacuation of the people, especially those who live slightly outside of the city limits of Seoul. They are the most vulnerable during crises like these and will need to be pulled from their homes, and those who live in the basement shelters will need to be pulled to one higher ground in case of potential flooding with the acid rain. Individuals who have skills in healing will also be called forth in order to tend to the injuries of those who are saved.

Between evacuation, there will also be tidbits of information provided to those on the team that remains in Seoul to check out specific locations in order to figure out more about this kaiju. The first location listed is Gyeongbokgung Palace. Outsiders that remain in Seoul will be utilizing that as their base. They are set to look at any remains the kaiju may have left behind. Any findings are commanded to be surrendered to LILITH. Emergency response of South Korea will use this palace as a safe haven, providing cots for sleeping overnight and other emergency supplies.

▶ 004. TEAM BUSAN.
_{BRIMSTONE & REVELATION}

The second team will depart via train on a journey to the city of Busan. The journey is expected to take 2 hours, and while there are comfortable seats available on the train, any luxuries beyond that are minimal. At least LILITH has brought along a few VR headsets for whoever wants to kill time with games or bad movies? Anyone can sit where they'd like for this ride.

An hour into the trip, a loud crash is suddenly heard, with the entire train rocking and falling to its side. This causes a complete blackout throughout the train and it stops functioning completely, leaving Outsiders stranded within the pitch black tunnel. The train system is completely inoperable in this condition. Outsiders will need to make their own journey to the city, following the rails by foot and helping any Outsiders who happened to be injured in the crash. It’ll be dark within the tunnel, but light will soon emerge once they exit it, and they will find themselves at the foot of Mount Geumjeong.

From then on, they’ll need to put their trekking skills to the test and cross the mountainous, forested region, where they will encounter various local fauna such as snakes, deer and black bears. They will also spot many destroyed villages and temples on their way to Busan. However, evidence of the Kaiju can be found in both the subway tunnel and throughout the mountain trek, suggesting that the kaiju has moved through here. This encourages LILITH to keep Outsiders in this area. The Outsiders will need to make a campsite in one of the destroyed villages, though emergency response will also pay them a visit several days later with sleeping cots and emergency supplies. In the meantime, hopefully they brought enough food with them or know how to forage and hunt for food in the wilderness. Some of those berries out there are poisonous....

The team here will be encouraged to explore the area to find further traces of the kaiju and help any villagers who are still alive.

▶ 005. STATUS REPORT.

Promptly, at the same time, all Outsiders will receive a text message and be put in an encrypted chat-room: OPERATION: RED/BLUE
CODENAME:
LOCATION:
STATUS:
FINDINGS:
Outsiders are instructed to fill out this information and send it into the chat to communicate with one another.

▶ 006. AFTERWORD.

Welcome to our second travel log!

Characters do have ASSIGNED SEATS for the duration of their flight to Incheon airport, though there are just enough empty seats that some characters can move around if they really don't like their seat buddies. Teams BRIMSTONE and REVELATION will be traveling to Busan, while teams EVERLIGHT and REDEMPTION will be staying in Seoul.

RNG below to discover what your character will find in both Seoul and Busan respectively. For the STATUS REPORT Prompt, treat it as an open chat room for all Outsiders and respond to the HEADER COMMENT. Feel free to threadjack and discuss among yourselves. You may also include this as a text prompt in your top level if you would like for people just to reply to you instead of using the header comment.

All tags on this log are worth 2 points and will count towards August AC.

EVENT BREAKDOWN/RECAP (CLICK TO EXPAND)

1. WINGING IT: Characters are told to head to the hangar for DISPATCH to SOUTH KOREA where reports of a kaiju have been seen. Characters sit in their assigned seats for a short air travel ride.

2. WELCOME TO SEOUL: We arrive in Seoul and are given orders to split into two teams: Everlight & Redemption in Seoul, Brimstone & Revelation in Busan. Seok Dang has tried to sneak in some sight seeing in between mission briefs, but it looks like there won't be much time for that, as two kaiju have been found in South Korea.

3. TEAM SEOUL: Everlight & Redemption deal with acid rain in Seoul, ushering civilians to refuge, tending to acidic burns and using Gyeongbokgung Palace as a makeshift base. Investigation hints at the kaiju being somewhere in this area as Outsiders find claws, teeth, droppings and other things that belong to a dragon-like creature.

4. TEAM BUSAN: Brimstone & Revelation board a train to Busan which has an outage, trapping them to travel along the tunnel in the dark. They arrive at the end of the tunnel at the foot of Mount Geumjeong and create a makeshift base in the village there. Investigation hints at the kaiju being somewhere in this area as Outsiders find claws, teeth, droppings and other things that belong to a dragon-like creature.

5. STATUS REPORT: Outsiders are encouraged to share their findings and speculations on the kaiju in an encrypted chat room.

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Comments

[siffriend]

[ Yeah.

That's a little too familiar, the shapes of words on the tip of their tongue. Siffrin turns onto his back, hands resting on his stomach with a sigh. ]

Hundreds, thousands of times, maybe. But you don't remember it. [ ... ] Would you want to?

[bemist]

[ Siffrin has a knack with asking the more complicated questions, worded simply, doesn't he? Whether she would change anything if she'd had the option to. If she would have wanted to remember ten thousand years of loops. ]

It's entirely possible I would have lost all my sanity if I had. Or gone against what was meant to happen and caused a hell of a lot more resets. But...

[ Her head tips forward, resting her forehead against the knee she's drawn closer. ]

She wouldn't have had to endure it alone, then. So sometimes, I wish I'd realized.

[siffriend]

... Even if you did, it's not like you could've done anything about it.

[ It wouldn't have mattered.

(It wouldn't matter, if your family members knew.

What could they do? How would it help? All they'd do is feel sorry for you, beat themselves up for not noticing sooner, be angry that you'd kept it from them in the first place--

No, it's better this way. It's better that they don't know, and they won't ever know. Maybe Angela didn't feel the same, but... she would understand, too. That it didn't matter.) ]

Once the loop reset, you wouldn't remember. That kinda thing. Probably.

[bemist]

[ ... There's that smile again. The weirdly distant one.

Gebura's quiet for a moment, before she heaves a sigh. ]

In this hypothetical of yours, where I could remember if I'd wanted to, I'd help out then. Though there's probably not a point in that now.

There are some Corporations that have access to things that can tamper with time and it never really bodes well for the average person, so in your case, I'm glad this Time Craft thing isn't all over the place.

[siffriend]

[ (You breathe in, and out.

She doesn't know the half of it.) ]

Yeah. Seems more trouble than it's worth. Mira's immune to being frozen in time, thanks to... the Change God's blessing, or something like that, [ the Headmistress, but what the public wants to hear they'll hear, ] but the rest of us have to be careful. She doesn't know how to undo it.

[ Yet, yet. The one thing Siffrin can't cover. ]

... We'll beat him. And then Vaugarde'll be unfrozen, and no one'll know how to use Time Craft again. Easy.

[bemist]

... Not to rain on your parade or anything, but how did this King know how to use Time Craft in the first place?

[ Like, how entirely certain is Siffrin that this guy is the only one who knows and is therefore the only one who can cause this kind of problem? Fixer wariness. This too never truly dies.

Boy, I wish she was full of optimism and support! ]

[siffriend]

We don't know.

[ Might be the most honest they've been the whole time, not that she'd know. But his voice softens a little, pitying in a way. It isn't his people that's being frozen. It isn't his land. But it is sad, that it's happening. That sort of feeling. ]

He appeared one day, and froze the land. But we don't know where or how he learned it.

[ (... Maybe, given a few more loops, you...) ]

[bemist]

[ Or why, she finishes silently. Getting answers to all those things would probably do them some good, but this isn't her fight to get involved in. If they can stop this guy and his ability, that's probably good enough. ]

Well.

[ A pause. ]

Kick his ass and go from there.

[siffriend]

That's the plan. None of that'll matter as long as we beat him anyway.

[ (You are so

so

tired.) ]

[bemist]

... Just rest for now. You know what you'll be going back to.

[ With a softer exhalation. ]

I kept you talking.

[siffriend]

[ A soft laugh. ]

I don't mind... This is my rest, remember? You're the one who's been running around.

[ Not that they haven't been, in their own way. But laying down like this probably inspires no confidence... Siffrin'll sit up, readjusting his hat with a small smile. ]

Make sure you get something to eat before you go back out. [ The fussy side... ] ... You might be used to it, but you have the time and place to get something.

[ So use it. ]

[bemist]

I will, in a while. I've got some time, like you said.

[ Like, she's making no move to stand up or anything, and from the look she's giving him, she thinks Siffrin is being fussy For Nothing, but she'll eat something. Human bodies do require these things. ]

[siffriend]

[ A look matched for a second before it drifts away, self-conscious.

... There really is no need, even if she doesn't seem bothered either... ]

Mm. Yeah.

[bemist]

Since you've been hanging around here, you can tell me what's good.

[ And there, he's got her guarantee. Without her flat-out saying she promises she'll take the fussing to heart. Because she doesn't want to encourage them to worry about her, after all. ]

[siffriend]

[ ...

He's hopping up and scurrying off. Gone for good? Or?






Or he's gonna bring back goodies. But Gebura looks like she's staying right there, so Siffrin only takes a single peek over their shoulder before leaving view again. ]

[bemist]

[ Siffrin's hunch is correct; Gebura is staying put!

Not that she thought he was ditching her (because he would have at least said something), so there's that. Scamper off, shortie. ]

[siffriend]

[ Good.

They'll be back with an armful of fruit jerky and two water bottles, setting everything down in front of Gebura. All hers, apparently, but Siffrin's sitting on the floor too. ]

It's sweet, but chewy.

[bemist]

[ Siffrin?? Did you really need to bring her two water bottles?? She's just assuming one is for him???

Gebura regards this, and then releases a soft snort, one that's a little more amused this time. ]

Somehow we're back to you bringing me water and rations again.

[siffriend]

[ No??? She'll need something drinkable out there??? ]

I'll spare you the pun I used before.

[ It wasn't their best... They can surely think of a better one now. ]

... As long as I'm here, you can bet I'll be waiting with refreshments. It's the least I can do for you, and for everyone else.

[ Since they are just ~so weak~ and ~defenseless in a fight~. ]

[bemist]

[ Her eyes flick to their face. The least they can do? Really?

She knows she hadn't imagined their reaction, when she'd pinned them. He had been ready to fight for his life. To (try to) kill her, maybe. And those movements weren't those of someone who couldn't hold their own in a fight.

But pointing it out seems... well, pointless. Either Siffrin will have to contribute to the inevitable fight or they'll stay put and remain on healing duty. They'll see, then.

For now, Gebura tugs off a glove; Mimicry is chilling beside her, but something else rolls into her scarred palm, small but wrapped in brown paper. The shape's not that easy to tell, with how bundled it is. ]

Then hold onto this for me.

[siffriend]

[ ...? Siffrin'll reach over to take it from her, turning it over in his hand. It's impossible to tell what it is without opening it, but that's rude to do unless it's a gift.

(You received MYSTERIOUS BROWN BUNDLE. You put it in your...

...

You hold it, for now.) ]

Okay. [ ... ] What is it?

[bemist]

Just something I'd rather not have broken.

[ Helpful! ]

If you're that curious about it, I'll tell you after the mission wraps up.

[siffriend]

[ Hmmmm.

Siffrin puts it with his silver coin, then. Not that she knows which of their infinite pockets it goes into now. ]

I'll ask then. Just don't think this means you've got permission to be reckless.

[ Not that he can stop her and he knows that. ]

[bemist]

If I start needing your permission for anything I choose to do, there are bigger problems going on than worrying about breaking something.

[ There's that lifted eyebrow again, as she takes some of the fruit jerky. ]

I'll be fine. This isn't my first fight.

[siffriend]

[ But it's still natural to worry over...

...

They're not friends, and they aren't comrades. ]

I've been watching what people have found. It seems like a pretty big creature. What's the largest you've fought?