TRAVEL LOG #5

[synfluxmods]

TRAVEL LOG #5

CONTENT WARNINGS: death, nightmares, gun violence, survival scenario

▶ 001. EYES WIDE OPEN.

"Angels of Lilith, report for duty in the DISPATCH."

The day starts off with alarms blaring and oculars shining bright lights in the Outsiders' heads, waking them up early for an emergency dispatch. Although the current Rift at Mt. Fuji needs to be explored and examined, the Rifts continue to appear in different parts of the world, and this Rift is no different. Captain Yamakawa continues,

"We have received a distress call from EGYPT. Much of the region fell during the first kaiju crisis. Now it is a desolate land that survives with the help of a generator called an ESSENCE which is currently malfunctioning. We assume the cause is Rift energy—according to our radar, there is a heavy amount of Rift energy coming from that area. We will move out immediately. Pack all the things you may need, but each Outsider will be supplied with a care package of their own containing essentials."

Even though it is 4:00 AM Tokyo time, LILITH hopes you all have slept well. It could be the very last good sleep in awhile. While the dataportal to Egypt is operational on Japan's end, because of the malfunctioning generator, Outsiders are unable to come out on the other side. The old method of using the flying cruiser will be used once again.

There will not be assigned seating for this other than by teams. Everlights will sit with Everlights, Brimstones with Brimstones, and so on. The Outsiders will be encouraged to rest on the flight, and a few hours before landing, an in-flight meal will be provided. The meal is surprisingly delicious and consists of chicken or pork katsu cutlet, but with the warning that all Outsiders will know about: it contains high amount of cyber caffeine. This sort of newly innovative caffeine can keep Outsiders awake for several days, but sometimes it may cause restlessness or hyperactivity, causing characters to have a jittery amount of energy but razor sharp focus. Other times, it simply keeps characters awake and they feel no different. The cutlet will be served with KAIJU™ Energy Drink. Any Outsiders that require a different diet will be provided with what they need, and the cyber caffeine will be added to it if they would like.

Yamakawa gives instructions again:

"We have received more information about the kaiju. Civilians have died in their sleep from horrible nightmares, and we are encouraging Outsiders to sleep together in pairs or groups, or disregard sleeping at all until we obtain more information. We are still receiving facts about this monster, but this meal will help with keeping everyone awake as a safety measure."

Those who do not want to have the highly caffeinated meal can have everyone's favorite: a ration bar that isn't spiked with any energy, but it doesn't taste good at all. Outsiders may be more likely to fall asleep and be in danger by choosing this meal. The balance of a dystopian society.

▶ 002. ARRIVAL IN EGYPT.

When they finally arrive, the air is temperate and dry in Alexandria. The Outsiders might have to check their clocks once more to make sure everything is right; everyone is expected to land in the late afternoon and every clock says it should be close to evening, but the city is already growing dark with the sun setting quite early. Because of the ESSENCE disruption, Alexandria is running on back up energy, which makes for spotty lighting and loss of basic power.

LILITH will be greeted by a small group of researchers at the airport and they will help take the Outsiders to their base: the Alexandria Institute which was once the University of Alexandria. They will give the Outsiders a quick run down of the situation and some background.

1. LILITH does not have a strong defense branch in the region any more. Instead, the branch here seems more focused on research, especially on the origin of kaiju and rifts.
2. This region is extremely prone to spontaneous Rifts. Many of them are small and pass quickly but this most recent one is unprecedented.
3. One evening, in the final week of March, the Alexandria Institute received a corrupt file from their fellow researchers in Greece. It shut down much of their research facility (including their warp portal) and all they have been able to recover so far are the words, "Do Not Go To Sleep."
4. The next morning, they awoke to find the sun rising later and setting earlier. It feels like the days are getting significantly shorter.
5. Many locals developed a fear of the dark and going to sleep. They would then die in their sleep within the next few days.
6. The autopsy of these victims have shown no cause of death, puzzling coroners.

Progress has been slow because the corrupt file shut down many of their facilities. They have not been able to track the source of the Rift or identify the kaiju responsible for it. They believe the answers may be within the corrupt file and will be happy to receive any help they can get from the Outsiders.

When they arrive at the Institute, Outsiders will be set up in the old student dormitories. Each room has 2-4 beds depending on the room, with a common shared area on each floor. Given the current threat, there is also a supply of energy drinks and bars boosted with cyber caffeine. Outsiders have two options:

1. OPTION ONE: Stay in Alexandria and help the researchers with the generators, while keeping themselves and teammates awake during the night by playing games.
2. OPTION TWO: Go out into the Egyptian desert on camel-back, spending time getting to know their camel before heading out.

OOC NOTE: While players may write prompts for both options, we ask that you submit for a clue only once per player (not per character, as we have a lot of characters in game now!)

▶ 003. LEARN & EXPLORE. (ALEXANDRIA RESEARCH.)

Times are hard in Alexandria right now with their generators malfunctioning and efforts being split. The researchers are trying to get the generators back up and uncorrupt the data they received from Greece. LILITH will instruct the Outsiders to help with the research but also warn that they cannot afford to just sit around and wait to crack codes. The researchers also agree. Sometimes the best way to get research data is to go out into the field, but they haven't been able to do it due to not having much protection. The desert is vast, and there have been sightings of other small kaiju lurking beneath the sand and in some smaller cities.

Outsiders can decide to stay in the city of Alexandria to help crack the codes, or they can opt to go out into the field. For the latter, they can choose to stay close to home and investigate within Alexandria.

Those who wish to help with the ESSENCE generators and researchers will stay in Alexandria, using any downtime when not investigating to try and stay awake, slumber-party style. Two Truths and a Lie? Maybe Spin The Bottle? Perhaps some games can keep Outsiders enticed so they don't doze off.

▶ 004. FEELING SANDY (DESERT EXPLORATION.)

For those who wish to explore the desert and smaller cities, Alexandria Institute will supply what they need, such as water, food, essential tools for digging, sleeping bags (no sleeping, but maybe for resting!) and anything else. To conserve energy, the researchers supply camels for the Outsiders to use. The camels are mostly tame, but have their own distinct personalities, so they may need a little more handling and can be coaxed to behave with treats like artificial carrots and bananas. Outsiders can spend time getting to know their camel if they are going to explore the desert or cities. A camel can seat two people on its back comfortably, but also carry any essentials that travelers need to bring along.

In the distant small cities and across the desert, Outsiders will come across Sand Crocodiles, one of the smaller kaiju that have been inhabiting the desert. These monsters are basically crocodiles but with a twist: they can spit fire if angered and they can camouflage in the sand. They hide strategically, and one wrong step will cause them to push their jaws out of the ground, harming a person or camel. The stubby quills along their backs or rounds of their horns aren't entirely covered while hiding, so watch carefully. Fortunately, Outsiders will be supplied with a shotgun. Aiming between the eyes or in the mouth will kill it, but also beating it with the back of the shotgun will also do the trick. And yes, they also taste like crocodile too, if anyone is hungry.

After exploring, Outsiders are requested to report their findings back in Alexandria.

▶ 005. AFTERWORD.

Welcome to our fourth travel log!

Welcome to the new and improved Travel Log! Below, you will see the link to the MONSTER DEBRIEF SHEET post that has information about the kaiju below along with RIFT EFFECTS. Fill out the form for RNG Attacks and whether you would like to receive a RIFT EFFECT. This should give characters some ideas for the status of their character in the next log, which will have more action and monsters in it. Outsiders may use the CHAT to report and discuss any findings.

We thank you in advance for your patience as we try out this new format!

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

EVENT BREAKDOWN/RECAP (CLICK TO EXPAND)

1. EYES WIDE OPEN: Outsiders travel to Egypt after receiving reports of their power generator, ESSENCE, being unstable and malfunctioning, leaving citizens in peril. They are instructed to "stay awake." They are supplied cyberpunk caffeine and told to try not to sleep or stay in pairs to be watchful of any danger.

2. ARRIVING IN EGYPT: Arriving in Alexandria, the Outsiders are confirmed that citizens have been dying in their sleep, with coroners unable to determine the cause. The days are mysteriously getting shorter and people are unable to stay awake.

3. LEARN & EXPLORE: Outsiders are given options to stay in Alexandria to help with the generator or find clues to assist the research team. Between researching, they are asked to continue to stay awake by any means possible. Those who will be exploring the desert and smaller cities for clues are given a camel for transportation. Outsiders are encouraged to get to know their camel before traveling.

4. FEELING SANDY: While looking for any clues out in the desert, Outsiders encounter smaller kaiju known as Sand Crocodiles. They hide in the sand and attack at the opportune time, snapping jaws and spitting fire. Shooting them between the eyes or in the mouth will K.O. them.

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Comments

[zauneyete]

And yet they seem to keep making more of it.

[ He doesn't really think any of them are particularly smart. He'd like to see them compared to Jinx, actually. She could run circles around them.

Then again, could Silco have much room to stand on when it came to powers that they didn't understand? No, but that's because he's a regular ass human with a kid who reverse-engineered magitech hextech. He's lucky he can use his implants. ]

I think the word you're looking for is mortals. Humans are not particularly novel compared to other species.

[ He's been hanging around Tezcatlipoca (and Set) too long. ]

[harboredfeelings]

Mhm. Maybe they're concerned about being too experimental with it. Who knows.

[ S h r u g. She's a warrior, not a scientist. It's not her job to get creative with the technology that's lying around. ]

You throw that word around like you think you aren't one. Megalomania's not a healthy habit, you know.

[zauneyete]

[ Silco rolled his eyes. ]

Hardly. I'm from a world where there are more than simply humans. It's fact. A vastaya dies just as much as a human does. [ Yordles...well. Arcane yordles are probably NOT the same as LoL Yordles?? It's complicated don't make me get into this. ]

I simply refuse to let some of us who are just the same as your average human be ignored for a point. [ He's magnanimous like that.

silco justifying his shit forever ]

[harboredfeelings]

How noble of you. Though I can't help but think most of the human... sorry, "mortal" Outsiders would be better off ignored entirely, for their own sakes.

[ Said matter of a factly rather than mockingly. Actually if anything there's a hint of anger to her tone. ]

Some of you I get, but for every experienced soldier there's two or three Outsiders who've never even seen a real war before let alone know how to fight in one. Having people in support roles is one thing, some of them feel like they've just been sent here to die.

[ She sounds even more bothered at that last sentence. Excuse her for a moment as she reaches into the sleeve of her kimono and retrieves a small flask, which she proceeds to drink from before going on. ]

But you're Brimstone. That just amuses you on some level I'd imagine?

[zauneyete]

Do I look like a soldier? [ He won't ask if she thinks he's seen war, because, well. Look at him. The scar says enough that he's seen something. For being a painfully normal person, Silco, at least, has seen a lot more than he lets on.

But he waved a hand. Anyway!! ]

I would not say that this amuses me, no. In fact, it annoys me. [ His jaw tight. ]

You're correct, most are not suited to be here. I'm hardly suited to be here. I have no interest in support, no interest in fighting for these people. [ Silco is ill-equipped to be here, truly. ] Putting me here is the same as bringing along the local civilians. So I do not understand why they do not simply do that. They are as capable as I am.

[ To be fair, Silco has been in a war. He has fought. A lot harder than people here really realize. He's boasted about slaying a god, but does anyone really understand what he was willing to do, to do that? Most don't. Hell, even as a Zaunite, Silco was more capable. He obfuscated it to make his point. He said these things because it made him feel righteous. Correct. ]

So then waht is the point of the pagentry of shipping us about the world like this? Other than to fire into the ether to pull out the few that are worthwhile? Then why bring people like me along?

[ Asks Silco, the guy who keep obnoxiously getting some form of recognition. Teamwork makes the dream work baby ]

[harboredfeelings]

Hmm. As much as we disagree with it they're clearly onto something. I'm not the one with a drink made in my honor, after all.

[ Said right before she goes back to drinking. If Kaga wasn't a KAN-SEN you could easily claim she has a problem. But seeing as she comes from a group of people who can drink coolant and oil, and do so willingly, this is may as well be water for her.

She uses the time to turn over some of what Silco's said. She doesn't buy for a minute that someone who looks like and acts like him isn't useful to a degree on a battlefield, but some of the others? Take Hiyori for example, a doctor who can work under pressure sure, but couldn't any combat medic native to this world have done that task? Or Makima, sure she leads people who fight monsters in her home world but who in LILITH can't do that? ]

You'd almost think they do this because we're expendable... but that doesn't track either. [ She waves a hand around the aircraft, her metallic hand, it helps make the point. ] We may not like this flying bus but it can't be cheap to keep something like this going, to say nothing of the enhancements they've made available to us. There's the matter of our fake identities and jobs too, they don't have to do that. They could just as easily keep us prisoner in the bases and let us loose with threats of violence.

[ A beat as she stows her flask away, then raps her knuckles of her real hand against her metal arm. ]

And Brasov. Three people died and LILITH went out of their way to bring them back. If we were just easily disposed of fodder that they intend to see die out on mission then why would they bother? None of it really adds up.

[zauneyete]

And a board game!

[ He points out. It was twice, thank you very much! ]

[ She has a point, as loathe as he is to admit it. They aren't just fodder, even though that seems the automatic answer. It makes him wonder. What was the point? The purpose? They were carted around like some sort of... superhero and it made him annoyed, because he had so many other things he could be doing.

Yes, of course, he had made his mark, but without shimmer, he was never likely to touch one of them.

So why? They could have tasked him with truly tearing down the structure of illegal kaiju dealing, and yet they didn't. Well, he had his theories on that, but... ]

Perhaps it was because we would riot if they didn't. Their desperation however, speaks to how poor the situation is. Perhaps they need us to feel invested in. Perhaps, even, they can't truly control whatever it is that they are using to pull us in. So they're left with only what they have.

I do think they should learn to strategize more properly with us.

[ Silco, that's not the spirit of the game!! ]

[harboredfeelings]

Right. And a board game.

[ She'll concede it to him because unlike some people Kaga's not an entirely unlikable unreasonable person to be around. Anyway.

There's something to digest there and some things to fully throw out. Creator help her but speaking to Silco is actually turning out to be a productive usage of her time. Distasteful as the man may be he's also smart.

And in Brimstone. Probably not a good combination. She should really keep a close eye on him, shouldn't she... ]

Doubt they're worried about dissent in the ranks. The chips in our heads keep us from killing each other, they'd likely just fry our brains if we tried turning on LILITH. Desperation... that's the long and short of it I think. They've found something that can pull us Outsiders here, they're using it liberally because up till now doing things the conventional way has lead to most of the world becoming overrun by monsters. We're their last hope... Creator help us all.

[ There's the urge to reach for her flask again... she just barely fights it down. ]

Asuka-kun's been saying much the same about the lack of coordination between LILITH and us, not to mention the Outsiders' general lack of organization. I don't disagree with either of you. [UGH SHE HAD TO AGREE WITH SILCO... ] But this Shirou who's in charge hardly seems reasonable enough to listen to that complaint. The man's response to a fumbling a mission due to bad intel was to drug his entire irregular force with stimulants and make them train until they collapsed. Not exactly sound military strategy, that.

[zauneyete]

He expected better of his investment.

[ He says, bluntly. ] Put the money into feeding us, housing us, training us, and then watch as we apparently make the wrong decision.

[ A twist of his lips, at that. ]

Because he would have made the right one, of course.

[ Silco doesn't care about him any more than he does any other member of LILITH staff. He snuck away from the training because he has no interest in it. He sees him as ineffective as Spim, or anyone else. Because his organization would have been run better. (Says local man who flipped out on his goons once. Sure, jan.)

Then again, he also doesn't care about the purpose, why they're here. It infuriates him. ]

They may be able to make us, regardless, but I know a thing or two about forcing people to participate.

It is always better if you can get people to care. Just because they have to, doesn't mean they'll give everything. If they make us care, make us want to, we'll work harder.

Desperation will not aid them. Not as much as they may wish.

[ Silco is dangerous. Someone to watch. He knows how to do this, fight monsters bigger and more powerful than him.

Perhaps, really, that's why they brought him. It isn't for the meager hits. It's for this. Now if only he would actually participate willingly. ]