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

4b

[saudadist]

[ The iron tang of blood burns in her nose. Coming from the direction that armored guy ran off to. That bodes well.

Curiosity is a hell of a thing, however, and rather than head back toward the others, Lucy pokes along the stink of blood and animal to see...well, a gruesome sight. That sure is the armored guy from before, and he's taking a chunk out of a deer's heart as if it were a hamburger.

Must be from Brimstone. ]

...sure you don't wanna barbeque that first?

[fursuit]

[ Tezcatlipoca takes the bite neutrally, which is at least a small plus. It’s not a sadistic act, merely a practical one, because it’s in the core of his being to do this. The king of jaguars and the almighty god of the Aztecs who was freely offered sacrifices would always be associated with hearts. With making a meal of them exactly like this.

So, when Lucy interrupts his dinner, he stands from the deer without shame. He simply chews the pieces and swallows as the blood drips down his chin. ]

…Nah, would defeat the point. Gotta be raw.

[ Why??? He sure doesn’t say right away ]

Plus, figured no one else would want the heart, so I’ll take it.

[saudadist]

[ That gruesome rating goes up a tick. Not that it shows on her face. When you're used to the sight of blood and viscera, it's not exactly shocking after a certain point. At least he doesn't talk while chewing? ]

You could make decent venison skewers with a heart, since it's pure muscle. [ ... ] Or so I've read.

[fursuit]

[ He laughs, then shrugs. ]

Well, I’ll remember that for the next one. Rest of it would be better, though. Ain’t exactly desperate enough that we need to be cookin’ the whole thing.

[ Which. He takes another bite, but smaller so that he not interrupting the conversation too much. It’s decidedly inhuman, since he tears into it like a predator would, and a sharp eye will catch a few canine teeth that are feline in nature. ]

The heart is just my tribute, let’s say. Payment for the rest of it.

[saudadist]

[ He's already killed it, so she can't imagine just leaving most of it to rot. Such a waste. Until they get more supplies, a whole deer would be plenty for at least one team. Maybe both if they ration. ]

Pretty generous. You gonna haul it back?

[fursuit]

I'm a light eater. The heart will tide me over better than most things.

[ He nods to the deer as he gives it a little nudge with his foot. ]

Can definitely haul it back on my own, but if you're pretty strong, wouldn't complain for the help, if that's what you're offerin'.

[saudadist]

[ Ordinarily, she'd be tempted to pick up the carcass with her ability and go right on back to camp. Alas, no horns means no extra hands. For now, at least. ]

Next time, I think. My "arms" aren't back yet. [ Sadly, her arrogant streak isn't as easily lost. ] But whatever I find will be bigger than that one. For sure.

[fursuit]

[ He can hear the quotation marks in her tone, but he can't help but glance to her arms that are still very much there... But, he doesn't ask a stupid question about it. People being able to do surprising shit and be stronger than they look is par for the course. So, he takes another bite with a thoughtful hum, but this one is bigger, since he's trying to finish up so they can get going. ]

Lost somethin' you can do, huh? That done while you were here, or was it just part of gettin' dragged here?

[saudadist]

It was part of all the fun with the worms about a month or so ago. [ "Fun" is doing some heavy lifting there. ] They grow back, so it's whatever.

[ She crouches by the deer; one arm across her knees, the other reaching out to lightly press her fingertip into one of its antler points. ]

Since you attack like a cat, I'm surprised you don't have cat ears.

[fursuit]

I see. Good they grow back, in that case. When they do, hope I get to see how you use 'em.

[ He's sure he will, but he still wants to express the interest. He likes to see how people fight, especially if they're not exactly "normal", but he appreciates the struggle of being disarmed (literal) deeply too. But her observation makes him laugh, and he bows his head as if conceding to her point. ]

Well, my mask has got 'em, at least. But can't exactly chow down with that in the way.

[ He'll bring it forth if she asks, but for now, he nods to the antlers, since she's touching them. ]

You want those? They're handy if you know how to craft somethin' out of 'em.

[saudadist]

[ She understands. He's not a cat man but a very dedicated cat cosplayer. ]

Can you pull them out? Or just yank the whole head off?

[ She's curious to see either one the more she thinks about it. If he could take down a whole deer, it doesn't seem that farfetched! ]

[fursuit]

The latter's easier.

[ He's surprised she'd suggest it, but... Hey, that means it'll be easier to do it without a fuss if she's interested. ]

Really, it'd just be removin' the skull plate they're on, but figure if that's the move, I'll just bring it back decapitated rather than with a big fuckin' hole in its head. People of the modern era get real particular about that kinda stuff.

[ He chuckles with a shrug ]

But besides. Not much worth keepin' in the head anyways, since we're not exactly desperate. Brains aren't my first choice. Tongue's pretty good, though, so might save that.

[saudadist]

[ She might not be aware of it, but her eyes are certainly wide with something akin to delight. A knife made of antler would be really cool, honestly? ]

The cheek meat is usually pretty soft too. Tender. Can just toss the brain.

[fursuit]

[ Ah, that's endearing... That pretty much solidifies his decision. So, he approaches the deer and extends the claws on his armor very much like a certain Marvel character, but it is convenient for this. It's a little gruesome to the uninitiated, but he's at least very precise. ]

Quick butchering it is, then. Just pop this off—

[ It's an unpleasant sound, but smoothly, the top of its skull pops off, and he cuts off the connective tissue so that the skull plate is intact, antlers and all. ]

And can make somethin' out of it. Can't make ya a knife myself, since that kinda craft just ain't in my wheelhouse, but antlers are nice n' stable. Should be able to hold onto 'em and find someone that can no problem.