MAY TDM

[monstertruckers]

code

Things are a little stranger than usual at the gas station and garage. Namely that gravity just isn't working as it should. Objects float, pieces of the floor float... Even unlucky new arrivals can also find themselves floating! It's going to be a challenge to get around without any scrapes or scratches... Though at least there's what looks like a hospital nearby? Granted, it's an upside down hospital, but it's better than nothing.

01: SUMMONING CIRCLE

Drifters come to with an odd floating sensation hooked into their stomachs, and instead of laying on the concrete find themselves drifting a foot or two above the floor. An unfortunate few may be stuck on the ceiling. Whether they crash down hard into the floor (and the various vials, daggers, and broken glass scattered about) or remain floating in the air is a coin toss.

Still, it might be best to lend a hand with pulling them back to the ground, and hoping gravity will work as normal in another breath or two.

Once they make their way out, they can see a gas station and garage located in the midst of strange, floating rocks… And an upside down hospital close by, for those who had a rougher landing.

02: START UP

New arrivals will have a similar experience to before; a Convoy waiting for them, and a collection of vehicles, one of which feels like it belongs to them. The key to the vehicle may already be in the ignition, on the dashboard… It may have even been on their person, ever since they woke up in that garage. Either way, Drifters have the keys to the vehicle now.

…But there’s a few rough edges on these vehicles. Flat tires, cracked windows and mirrors, maybe some stuck doors and locks; all of them the sort of thing that requires two pairs of hands and supplies. The garage can take care of the (sometimes floating) supplies… Now it’s just a matter of finding some extra hands.

And hopefully no one's vehicle has decided to float. But one can never be sure in a place like this.

03: HUSKS AND HAUNTS

The inverted hospital seems to have trouble deciding the exact formation of its hallways, whether the new arrivals should be walking on the ceiling, floors, or walls. But one thing that is certain: this place isn’t entirely deserted. Warnings of “Beware the Husks” have been spray painted on the walls. Metallic bodies line those same halls, some of them broken open. A wet trail leads from the broken Husks to the rafters… Where several odd monsters wait to drop down. Some look like they’ve merged with the hospital equipment, while others look like they’ve been cobbled together from different body parts. And all of them look ready to turn the newcomers into a corpse, or part of a specimen collection.

Strange, malformed chimeric creatures that are Unknown stalk the hallways. Unknowns come in three different colors, red aligned with fire, green with poison, and purple with lightning.

Adding to that are the various screens flickering on, and diagnose new arrivals as infected. The screens declare the infection seems to be contained, but requires further study… And if the monsters aren't enough to worry about, there’s also the restraint systems trying to activate and tie the new arrivals down.

04: TESTING (CW: Needles)

The deeper someone plunges into the hospital, the more the building reacts to them. More defenses are deployed, treating them as thieves or intruders. Traps and monsters alike wait for them, with syringes melded into the forms of attackers, or lining places where someone might step or reach for. The syringes make a quick bite on skin… But it’s only a few minutes later where the effects become clear. Something in those syringes is now in the blood and forcing monster transformations. There might be an antidote amongst the supplies… Or the newcomers might need to rely on each other, in order to stay anchored.

The needles can also force temporary Swarm traits, along with:
+Group Mind: compelled to link thoughts with other Drifters, to share emotions, memories, and achieve cohesion.
+An increasing reliance on telepathy/empathy/etc in place of speech.
+Increasing collectivist mindset. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few; this becomes more evident during high stress situations.
+Compelled to hunt and share their prey with others.
+Gravity Affinity: If possessing wings or the ability to wall climb, may freely hunt/traverse corrupted gravity areas.

05: LONG WAY DOWN

A portion of the gas station breaks away with groan and a rumble. And it is slowly pulled up and up, taking a portion of new comers with it! They (and anyone watching) will need to act fast, as gravity starts to go weird the further they rise. They’ll need to find a way back down, taking any supplies from the now-floating garage that they can grab.

What’s more, they are drifting closer to the broken moon, and that seems to be having a strange effect on those stranded on the new floating ruin. They may start to feel their control fray, and their forms shift, the higher they rise.

In terms of getting back down, there’s a handful of tow lines in the ruin that might work as ropes. There’s also a few pieces of rock that are floating up more slowly, and could work as stairs back down… Or there’s just jumping and falling fifty feet and hoping for the best.

06: PSYCHIC ECHOES

There's one last quirk to this area; a few scattered bits of odd plantlife, and the odd dead brain monster. While these things aren't a threat on their own (beyond being unnerving) they still pack a psychic punch; mainly in the form of temporary psychic abilities.

It's possible that after coming in contact with either plants or corpses, newcomers will find themselves gifted with either empathy (projecting or receiving emotions) telepathy, OR the ability to share their dreams with others, and having their dreams influenced by others in turn. This effect fades in just a day or so, but is still capable of causing mishaps.

MICRO ENCOUNTERS:

PLEASE NOTE! These are small bits of set dressing for players to include in threads if they wish, rather than full fledged prompts or events. You may handwave your exploration of these areas, or thread them out.

Broadcast: The garage contains a few burnt out monitors. But a handful of them are playing a message over and over again on loop, filled with static. It’s a recording of important looking people in lab coats advising people to remain indoors and avoiding all objects falling from the sky. Especially “moon shards.” They insist that they are working to contain and cure the infection, but the safest action is to remain inside.

Warped Air: As seen in Long Way Down, the air overhead has strange warped pockets in it. There seem to be slightly different shards hanging suspended in the air, looking more silvery than the surrounding rocks. Almost like it could have fallen from the broken moon overhead.

Medical supplies: Most of the medical supplies found in the hospital seem to consist of healing salves and potions, a handful of healing herbs, and a few antidotes for poison or sickness. As for reverting transformations… It’s advised that new comers be careful of taking any experimental medicine. It may revert a change. It may also leave them hallucinating nightmares and fears, and they’ll be wanting someone close by to help administer the drug.

NAVIGATION || RESERVES || APPLICATIONS

Comments

[bufudine]

And that's the part that rather bothers him. Many others were gaining changes that came with natural weaponry. He... is not. If anything, his changes are making him more vulnerable. The wings impede his movement and make him unable to wear armour. The magic at his fingertips leaves him reeling and weak.

Serph allows Heat to grasp his wing, calmly staying still so he can examine it more closely. Unlike most feathered wings, theh are also missing an extra layer of feathers, immediately identifying them as non-functional to anyone with knowledge of bird wings. The feathers themselves feel no different, the ones on his body and closer to wingbone having that comfortably soft texture of down.

"Varuna is always with me." In many ways, it's a relief that he has his demon to fall back on. His long term goals might necessitate Varuna's eventaul demise, but that doesn't mean Serph resents his demon's presence like Argilla or Gale. "This one doesn't have a name I know of. It doesn't have a voice."

No hunger. No urges. As far as he knows.

[iron_stomach]

He doesn't know enough about real birds' wings to know the difference, his assessment is more primitive, automatically categorizing weakness that someone might choose to exploit. It's interesting, it's soft, and if he burrows his fingers in its warm. But it's also utterly without any kind of protection, no hidden scales or scutes or claws buried in the feathers. "Huh."

No voice. So it's more like.. a changed default state than a new demon?

Eventually he lets go, frowning. "I don't like it, that's a lot of new targets." Not a matter of appearance, that part was fine and he wouldn't really mind seeing how far the feathers went.

At least there was still Varuna. Serph wouldn't BE defenseless, and anyone underestimating him would find out how badly they erred. "... It looks okay," he adds with reluctance. "Sera's seen it yet?"

[bufudine]

It's the same sort of conclusion he came to; the wings represent more targets for injury and therefore he's more vulnerable to attack. The only benefit to them is that his roommates seem to like his wings.

Once Heat has finished examining his wings, Serph folds them back tidily behind him, shaking his head at the question. "You're the only one I've seen since my arrival."

Five months.

Five months of not knowing exactly why Heat turned his claws on him. He'd resigned himself to not knowing the reasons, but the thought had sat in the back of his mind, a seed of undigested emotion that had only grown as somehow his life falls into the same patterns even while in another world.

Now Heat is here and Serph can't even ask him.

"We go to Nirvana." He leaves the implication that they will meet Sera and the others there unsaid. "That hasn't changed."

Even as the words leave his mouth, his gut twists. Something about it feels wrong, and yet strangely familiar. He doesn't believe the rest of the Embryon will be there; they are supposed to be somewhere else. But if he doesn't give Heat a direction, he'll tear apart the world looking for Sera.

And he'd much rather Heat be by his side.

[iron_stomach]

And by the immediate realization and restlessness at Serph not seeing anyone else for five months, he wouldn't have waited long to start looking for her. Serph could at least defend himself, awkward but interesting new additions aside, so could the rest of the tribe .. Sera could not. And even the thought of her out there on her own..

It's disturbing in a way he can't articulate.

Serph could ask, but would he get the answer he wants? He'd turned his claws on his Leader before, but he hadn't intended to kill him. Something changes.

Heat doesn't relax exactly when Serph reiterates their goals, the same one as before - reaching Nirvana. But a little of the sudden apprehension fades by degrees. They were supposed to be there already, and it's easy to come to the conclusion that somehow it's only they that are separated from the rest, and Sera and the others must in fact already be there.

Must be safe. If they weren't, Serph would be in more of a rush, right? "Fine. But this 'convoy' or whatever better not drag its feet." At least they knew where the temple was last time, this place looked ... a lot bigger. "We could probably make better time on our own."

[bufudine]

Serph shakes his head.

"This is larger than the Junkyard." Without knowing where Nirvana is located, it would take them a long time to scout for it, potentially fruitlessly. They don't even know what it looks like in this world. They lack information. "There are threats we can't handle alone."

He doesn't feel the need to elaborate. If Heat were someone outside the Junkyard or if he was speaking to Gale, he would explain more. But if he says the engagements are too risky for them to go ahead with just two, he expects his judgement to be trusted by the rest of his Tribe.

Serph folds his arms, a beat passing before he adds, "We have new comrades. Some are non-combatants."

Like Sera.

So he can't leave them behind either.

[iron_stomach]

It's impossible to tell which part led to the low disgusted noise, that this place requires more than just the two of them, or the presence of noncombatants. Or more likely, both. Maybe they'd just need a third, which was currently lacking if this convoy is full of people who can't fight.

How they wound up with the dregs of the other tribes he didn't know.

"Of course they can't fight. Can they do anything or are they completely useless?" He doesn't bother to question why Serph's picked up a pile of losers, that was pretty normal of late instead of just eating them. So much so that Heat's not even going to bother arguing against it aside from very clear disapproval, pointing out they're better off eating the weakling members won't get him anywhere.

For now, whether or not this was the Junkyard or Nirvana or neither, Serph's word is still law. It might annoy him but he won't outright disobey without far more behind it than annoyance.

[bufudine]

Serph's own disapproval at Heat's response is immediate in his frown. While his normal expression and body language remains largely the same, his wings are far more animated than the rest of him, half flaring before they settle back down.

There's a steely undercurrent to his voice when he says, "They helped me in other ways."

He doesn't expect Heat to understand if he tried to explain.

But he won't press the point; that would be bordering on nagging. He's not Gale.

"After we finish here, I'll take you to meet them."

[iron_stomach]

"Like what?" Sera, if he could put his attachment to her aside (not actually possible), he knew was in spite of her inability to fight, from a pure tactical standpoint immensely useful.

Potentially these strangers would be too. If they were part of the tribe then so be it, they'd be more or less left alone, but if all they could do is exist and consume resources, then Heat would have to find SOMETHING they're capable of. Even if it's just making sure that their weapons are maintenanced and loaded, freeing up thei time to do other things. There are other ways to be helpful than bloodshed. He couldn't think of many, but he knew they were out there somewhere as possibilities. Support staff even amongst the Embryon tended to be less front-lines oriented than others, but he knew what they did.

It doesn't keep him from being scornful of the idea. Finishing here means more hunting, and Heat's expression darkens by degrees as he turns to the otherwise empty hallway, annoyance and resignation at war. "How many of these useless accessories did you find?" That's not a nice way to put that-- "And how much do they eat?"

It's not like a bunch of people who don't fight will be doing their OWN hunting. He knows who's going to have to, and half these damn things just ... disappear when killed, making it even more obnoxious to find enough to keep others fed. It's not the first time he's had to, and he doesn't figure it'll be the last.

[bufudine]

They keep him company at night. He can already hear Heat calling him an idiot if he said anything along those lines aloud. But it's hard to put into words that grim finality of hanging up that title of leader and realising he was in an unfamiliar world where the familiar was happening again and while having none of his comrades, none of his tribe, by his side. The Convoy is small in comparison to the hundreds of soldiers in their territory.

He had been alone in Nirvana, but not for long.

Since the beginning of his remembered existence, before they were a Tribe of significance, he always had someone by his side. What is a leader without followers? What is a Tribe without people?

You can't be a comrade alone.

But instead, he says, "My armour was destroyed. One made these clothes from the limited supplies to replace it."

He folds his arms.

"They don't have an Atma. They don't need to hunt."

[iron_stomach]

That is one of the cagiest responses he's ever heard pass Serph's lips, which was in a way its own explanation. He's hiding something. Combined with knowing that the people here were also demons and at least one wore an atma mark (or what looked like one, he didn't recognize the type specifically), Serph's replies silence Heat entirely for a time.

On the surface it's both protecting these people, and lying through his teeth. It's not painting a pleasant picture, but it's also one he's not sure how to address. The possibilities were nearly limitless, from being under duress by one of these 'useless' people, to some extended form of Charm, to.. what else?

Maybe they're responsible for these wings.

Heat turns, as if that does settle the matter however temporarily, though it's certain it hasn't, fully intending to head further into the hospital. They don't need to hunt. "I do. I'm going. You can stay here or come find dinner, I don't care."

[bufudine]

When Heat turns away, there is a strange pain in Serph's chest. Somehow, it feels like once again Heat is slipping away from him. But this time, he's here to see it happening. That somehow, he's driving Heat away.

Siezed by impulse, Serph reaches to grab Heat by the shoulder before he can walk off. But the words he really wants to say seem to be stuck in his throat.

"We're the only ones from the Junkyard," he says instead, wings tucked tightly at his back, tense. They're the only ones who know what it was like to live there. "Everyone else... they come from different lands."

He won't stop Heat from pulling back, but he won't have Heat hunt alone either.

[iron_stomach]

Heat has a lot to try to work out ... and do something about. Subtlety isn't his strong suit, espionage even less so. Investigation is best left to other people with more analytical minds, but who else was there? Something was really off here and Heat can't tell what it is besides a growing sense of wrong, like a demon lurking just out of sight, little more than a whiff of scent now and then on the breeze as a warning.

He never bothered to learn the skills needed to scour away an affliction such as whatever might be plaguing Serph. What else could it be?

There's no violent retaliation when Serph grabs his shoulder to stop him, but for a moment it seems like he might just keep going before reluctantly falling still, glancing back. He knows little about what wing positions mean, but there's tension everywhere else too to go with it, and the one visible red eye narrows. Everything Serph says is heard, but it's now through the filter of growing certainty his leader's been compromised and in need of assistance.

Subtlety is NOT his strong suit. "So there's more than one. I've seen their brands, Serph." More junkyards for Angel to dissolve.

It's dismissed after a moment, he'll burn that bridge when he came to it. "It's fine." It really isn't. "Nothing's changed. We're still going to Nirvana. We're still surrounded by hostile demons."

Once Serph was clearheaded again, they'd start rebuilding. The sooner they were a cohesive tribe the faster they'd get there. Sera and the rest were waiting.

[bufudine]

Serph lets go of Heat's shoulder, but he can barely keep his frustration down even though he doesn't show it on his face or body language. No, the other places are nothing like the Junkyard. Had he mistaken someone's sigil for an Atma brand?

Does Heat simply need more time to adjust to this new world? Maybe he would better understand as he butts up against more parts of this world that do not align with his understanding of how things work. Maybe if Heat were to meet Jack and John, he would be able to see how different they are to denizens of the Junkyard.

"It's not like that."

It's not fine.

But Heat is right about one thing. They're still going to Nirvana, surrounded by hostiles.

He steps forward so he's not lagging behind. He's done talking about this for now; they have other monsters to hunt.

[iron_stomach]

Nothing he's encountered yet didn't in some fashion fit in with what he expected, or what he was already used to. He had admittedly been expecting Nirvana, but this place had much in common with it, didn't it? A sun. Blue skies.

Maybe beaches. "Doesn't really matter, does it?" This isn't where he wanted to be, but they were still going there. The details were largely irrelevant to him. But with mere hours between his arrival and now, anything that really stands out as unusual and out of place simply hasn't registered, if it's been noticed at all.

Priorities: a meal, and kill whoever's messed with his leader. Maybe more than one meal, he was hungry. "I know where to find these disgusting looking ... arm ball things. They wriggle on the way down." You know, the important things.

The rest .. is important. But Serph might not be able to actually explain anything; it'll have to wait.