INCOMING MESSAGE (NON-KIDNAPPED CHARACTERS ONLY)

[synfluxmods]

A CALL FOR HELP

▶ SUDDEN TRANSMISSION

On the 13th of October, the network flickers online and several messages pop up. Outsiders will probably recognize the usernames attached to them.

@ KIJYO

castle in the fog
skulls
watching us
sacrifice
help us

@ GOLDILOCKS

wolf kaiju
Promises protection
Found broken radio

@ BANKERBOY

🦸=❌
🐺💀🔨=less fog
👹=🦇🐺
🧑‍🌾=💩!
🏰=☠️!
go toget

@ ONESTEPFORWARD

We're okay for now. Careful of purple flowers. -🦆

Some Outsiders might notice these usernames to be Lucy/Kaede, Taryon, Nanami and Malkuth respectively. The messages end there and there will be no way to contact the senders or anyone who has gone missing. While Outsiders in the town will be able to use the network to speak to each other, the reception will be spotty and the messages might be delayed. It might be more efficient to simply meet up in person.

▶ AFTERWORD.

The messages from the kidnapped characters are out! Thank you everyone for participating! Non-kidnapped characters may use this log to have discussions (or do whatever else might be relevant). As previously mentioned, after the 7th, they will not be able to contact any kidnapped characters, and their messages to each other will be spotty or delayed (which can make for funny shenanigans if you prefer). It is probably much easier to organise an in-person meeting, but we will leave it to you to do what you like. The townsfolk convene at the church for their daily prayers and worship at about 12 noon every day. Outsiders may use this time away from the townsfolk to have more private discussions.

We have put this up early to allow people more time to thread in it, but ICly it is going up on the 13th and will lead up to the Kaiju log on the 15th. These messages are also delayed. Whether or not the captives actually are 'okay' is up in the air ...

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

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Comments

@starbow

[bluestar]

it seems like we've all noticed one or two people we know personally are missing, but i think we should also make a full headcount reference of everyone we know who came here but isn't in our group currently.

on my end, i've noticed the following from brimstone who were part of the trip but who i haven't been able to find:

-makima
-kaga
-maki

(geez are ishmael and i the only girls from the team who got spared?)

also noticed loop and ereshkigal are gone. of course if anyone we list is actually not captured and fine, they should say so.

@kensuke

[vorous]

I did not travel here with Kabru, but he happened upon me while I was at one of the blacksmith shops. I've not gotten a response out of him since people have gone missing, though.

Zagreus was on the flight, but I haven't seen him at all since then, but maybe somebody else has?

[bluestar]

thank you. i don't know either of them, but we'll do our best to help them and the others.

[vorous]

Kabru looks like this:


I can't draw humans. Just pretend it's this Ensign Wasp but a human. :'(

im crying

[bluestar]

so his eyes are blue






is there anything else im supposed to be getting from this image besides that?????

[vorous]

His eyes are very blue.

_{[ on the verge of tears here........... ]}

And if he were a female Ensign Wasp, I know he would infiltrate the cockroach's nest with his ovipositor too.

_{[ he's being very serious, but Aoko, please spare the questions before this gets worse. ]}

[bluestar]

right.

[ she wishes she never read that sentence. ]

does he know that you portray him as a bug people typically want to kill because it's hostile with its stinger?

@Gojira

[30storieshigh]

This is work to be proud of, Friend Laios. The resemblance is striking 🤔.

[vorous]

_{[ he just draws some more.. sadly.. ]}



I can’t draw humans, but you get the idea.

[30storieshigh]

[ Oh. Artistic rendition of Goji's own form. He is actually extremely flattered! ]

Your ability to depict others more than adjusts for the weakness in drawing the human form, Friend Laios. I have not seen such fine depiction of myself in many years 👍💯.

[newphew]

I haven't seen Zagreus.I tried to message him just now but it didnt work.,

Has anyoneelse tried?

@bustermove

[busternaut]

yzak jule from revelation team is confirmed missing.

[that's it. he's not elaborating any more than that.]

you might as well count lucy and taryon and the other two who sent distress messages on that list as well.

[bluestar]

that's a good point. i read that the others are named nanamin and malkuth.

[ her head hurts from all of the scanning she did with her implant, but she wants to be thorough. ]

@rubber ducky

[curingidiocy]

You have mentioned a few that I have discovered missing, but I have a much longer list to supplement that:

-Aventurine
-Yzak
-Sampo
-Wriothesley
-Hiyori
-Zagreus
-Kabru
-Rover
-Lucy
-Denji
-Choso
-Dan Heng

In total, with your information, that puts the list at 17 individuals. That is around a quarter of our number.

[bluestar]

thank you for all of this collating. it's much appreciated.
they must be planning a massive ritual if they need so many bodies.

[curingidiocy]

Including the ones who managed to send out messages, our total count is 20. That is indeed extremely concerning.

We must hurry and deal with the animal skulls quickly. Once we have removed all of them, we need to create expedition groups to search for the castle mentioned, if the fog does not completely clear. Time is of the essence.

[bluestar]

the idea to destroy as many of them at once is a good one. individual disruptions could cause short circuits, but a massive destruction of the fetish could even temporarily lift the fog.

the downside is anyone involved in the destruction will likely suffer a huge blowback. so those people should anticipate not being as useful in the next stage of the rescue.

@pterass

[raynos]

idk how much good i'd be with the rest of the rescue anyway so i can help smash skulls

which is not an offer i ever thought i would be making, in any context

[curingidiocy]

Your assistance will be appreciated. I will also partake in some of the destruction, as I am not combat oriented and will therefore be less valuable in a fight against the perpetrators, but I must reserve my strength for the aftermath. I doubt our kidnapped comrades will return to us unscathed.

[curingidiocy]

The skulls emit Rift energy in a wave when destroyed, which dissipates after traveling a short distance. It may be possible to avoid the brunt of the Rift poisoning if they are destroyed from a distance. Still, we should prepare for some of our number to be incapacitated handling their destruction. I am able to contribute to some of the destruction, but my abilities are not capable of destroying them en masse.

Those who handle the skulls' destruction should be members of the team who intend to act as support for the second phase of this rescue attempt. They will not be able to contribute much combat wise due to their condition so they will need time to recuperate.

[bluestar]

my magic is much more inclined to massive explosions. if we really are headed to a castle, i'd be of more use creating a coordinated explosion compared to firing off shots in closed corridors.

hey im new here so clue me in: how bad is this rift poisoning? could someone die if overexposed to a massive degree of it?

ACTION.

[redsoil]

[ The moment that Set sees one ( well, two... MAYBE three ) of the names on that roster, he doesn't bother with messaging Ratio; he just goes and turns up wherever the man's staying in the village, dressed in his own nondescript period clothing — which does nothing to hide the brilliant red of his hair and eyes, even if he's scooped them up under a hat as best as he can.

Also, considering he's been Very Naughty and is probably under watch. He's definitely still sporting ropes around his wrists ( which are USELESS ), for slaughtering a villager AND attempting to slaughter an Outsider afterwards. A bruise-black mark having begun to fade from around his throat, and his mind cleared up from the need to Repay His Crimes to the Lord. ]

Hm, [ he says. ] Smash skulls, part the fog, yadda' yadda'. Let's locate Aventurine first.

[ Sampo is who HE'S most angry about being MIA. Aventurine is a close second, because he has deal(s) with both the gambler and the gambler's partner. Wriothesley is the third. Because Wrio gave him a funny picture, once. ]

[curingidiocy]

[ It's with trepidation that he turns around to face Set when the god appears. His feelings for the human sacrifice performed were complicated, to say the least, and—it's not disgust he feels for the gods who performed the ritual, nor is it quite disappointment, but maybe something adjacent to that.

Either way, the emotions result in him eying Set cautiously, trying to determine if the man is still brainwashed, and what mood he might be in. It is all masked by an outward facade of calm, however. One that Ratio has maintained ever since he realized Aventurine had gone missing. ]

I intend to support the group leading the search from the rear. With any luck [ ha ], he will be relatively unharmed.

[ As much as he wants to be one of the individuals leading the charge, he understands that that has never been his role in this group. Compared to even their teenage comrades, he has little more than the strength of the average adult man. Suitable for brawling with idiot researchers who picked a fight with him, but ineffective against kaiju.

Set's caught the man with a small pile of skulls that he's taken from all over the town. There are no more than 15 skulls grouped up neatly in a cone-like arrangement. ]

[redsoil]

[ The mood he's in is definitely elusive, as all of his moods are. He's a temperamental bastard, with a hair-trigger temper and a habitual case of Yapp-itis, to begin with. In approaching Ratio, there's a calm over him. An eerie quiet held tight to his person, the mark around his throat a pale, washed-out grey to suggest the hold that the Lord has upon him is not as strong. Present, but not as strong. Every now and then, a light flickers across his eyes — muscles twisting against the rope, like he might go for Ratio. Only to settle back down, in conversation.

Controlled, for now. ] Yes. I think I will be most helpful in an assistive position this time, rather than taking direct action.

[ Because of his condition. His eyes follow the line of Ratio's body, down to the heap of skulls he's gathered up, and he tips his head thoughtfully at the familiar shape they've been lumped into. Yay, pyramids. ]

I am not in this for the glory of it. I am powerful and that is fact, but the recognition of my name or deeds is beyond my given role. No matter what I do, whether my intention is good or not, I am to be seen as functioning in the worst possible manner.

[ He gestures to the skulls. ]

That being said, want me to take care of those for you?

[curingidiocy]

[ He is not as animated as Ratio has seen him before, usually jovial and friendly around the scholar. There is a tension in his body that isn't usually there, and a flicker in his eyes that suggests an internal struggle that he is trying to contain. Best to keep an eye on him, then, not because he suspects Set will betray him, but for Set's own well-being. ]

Good. It will be far less troublesome to monitor your condition here.

[ Though Set says he's powerful, all he's seen of the gods is how easily they're tossed around by the kaiju on this planet. They're little more than stronger humans in the form LILITH has given them, so he does not view them as any more than that. If there were ever a chance to meet them in their own home worlds, with the full power and glory they are able to have when mingling with humans, he would very much love to grasp it, but as it stood—they were only gods in name, and nothing else. ]

I have been studying the properties of Rift energy with these skulls. The wave of energy these skulls release amplify when groups of them are destroyed, but it appears to be additive in nature. There is therefore a limit to the distance in which a group of destroyed skulls can release its energy—though you would perhaps need the entire supply of skulls this town has to approach that limit. The exact value is not important anyway, as we are not likely to encounter Rift energy contained in such a manner frequently.

[ Ratio steps away from the pile of skulls and motions for Set to follow him. ]