monstertruckers (
monstertruckers) wrote in
memestertrucks2025-05-15 04:31 pm
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MAY TDM
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.
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.
…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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Karlach Cliffgate | Baldur's Gate 3
It probably says something about Karlach's life that floating a few feet above the ground in a strange stone space littered with debris is not the most disorienting way she's woken up. Even were she the type to go for introspection - and she is decidedly not - there isn't time to decide exactly what it says, though. Gravity reasserts itself, and she twists enough to take the brunt of the fall on her shoulder. Something crunches beneath her, and she pushes herself up with a low grunt, grimacing as she eyes a shard of glass embedded in her upper arm. She reaches up to pull it from her skin, then glances around. Her sweep may not turn up anyone familiar, but her gaze does land on another tumbled Drifter.
"Hey. You okay?"
Husks and Haunts
The sound of fighting around the bend in one of the hospital's hallways - clanging metal, a human-sounding shout, an alien screech - suggests someone has fallen afoul of some of the monsters haunting the twisted structure.
Anyone following the noise will find that one, as they turn the corner, gravity shifts so that the innermost wall is now the floor, and two, it looks like maybe the stalking creatures are the ones who've fallen afoul of their intended prey. One, a twisted wreck of tubing and flesh, with too many eyes and scalpel-sharp talons, is already down, cut nearly in half at what might be the waist, mouth agape and tooth-lined tongue lolling. A tall, muscular woman, red-skinned, horned, and terribly scarred faces off against something with three legs and far too many arms. It reaches for her, and she brings down a huge battle axe, severing one of those grasping limbs, which falls twitching beside two more of its kind.
Above, on what should be the outer wall, there's a shift of movement.
Start Up
Eventually, Karlach does circle back to the convoy and the nagging sense of rightness that comes with the battered vehicle that someone from the right period on Earth might recognize as a heavy-duty Jeep, and that she recognizes mostly as some kind of transport. She stares at it for a long moment, consternation clear both on her face and in the waves of emotion hanging like heat haze in the air around her.
"What am I supposed to do with you?" she mutters, and while she could be talking about the fact that two of the tires aren't just flat, but missing entirely, she really, really isn't.
Summoning Circle
"I don't think my back took it very well."
Re: Summoning Circle
"Let me help you up," she says, with a sympathetic smile that manages to look entirely genuine.
Start Up
"Depends on who you're talking to." he answers, even though he's certain it wasn't to him. He's just nosey like that. Spy-like instincts, and all.
"Where I'm from? That thing would probably get scrapped for parts. You'd probably get a lot of caps for it, too. Here, I'm willing to bet it's more valuable in one piece." he shrugs, shoving his hands into the pockets of his faded jeans.
"Unless of course you were asking about me, and then I'd tell you that most of the people I meet don't know what to do with me, so at least you're not alone."
Re: Start Up
"Oh, I was talking to this beast," she says, thumping the hood of the jeep with one hand. And then smiles, broad and friendly. "But it's always good to know who's trouble."
no subject
"Ah." Deacon smiles, all-too casual for a guy who was just yanked from his own fucked-up world and thrown into this one. "Trouble. I like that. What should I call you?" he asks, as if she's just assigned him a new name.
Husks and Haunts
"Beautiful work," he murmurs with a slight nod of his head to the slain monsters before Karlach, then smirking in her direction as his hands rest on his narrow waist. Even if she were not taller than most, he'd seem small, standing nearly a full foot shorter than her even with his exceptional posture.
"But there are more coming. Be ready."
Re: Husks and Haunts
"There always are. Think they're coming from deeper in?"
no subject
He hasn't explored too deeply inside the building yet, taking his time and proceeding with caution. Still, the further inside he traveled, the more danger awaited.
"It makes one wonder what is at its core. But finding out may not be worth the risk without a larger team and a strategy."
A dagger is twirled once in his hand before he grips the handle and cracks his neck with his other hand, the sound of more creatures growing louder just around the corner.
Start up
Yes, he knows she's confused about more than how to fix it, but he's starting with the easiest thing. And he can definitely slip more explanation in while they find tires.
Re: Start up
There's a wide array of vehicles, in varying shapes and sizes. The parts are almost certainly similarly varied, and she wouldn't want to bet on them being labelled in a way she can understand, if they're labelled at all.
Re: Start up