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memestertrucks2025-05-15 04:31 pm
monstertruckers) wrote in memestertrucks2025-05-15 04:31 pm
Entry tags:
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.
Varuna's stern look is far more menacing.
Wounds ignored could occasionally be improved by finding the right tasty snack and devouring it. That'd work fine for him, he still wanted to kill something.]
It's fine, his horns are just sharper than I expected. That stupid laser didn't even hurt that much. If Dia's working when Agi isn't, fine, but I can just devour things for a while too.
[He has a strong preference for which option is superior. But Serph has the right of it to be concerned, he's seen what Jayce's power can do, and sharp antlers are not the problem. While the wounds from antlers and blunt teeth aren't exactly getting better, at least that isn't continuing to slowly spread. Heat had never bothered to learn any of the healing skills that others did, but this planet had seen fit to take care of that if he ever bothered to try. But why would he? He knows his role in a fight and it isn't healing.]
}:(
Re-opening his eyes, Serph raises his hands, a faint glow emanating from them.]
Where.
[Where did the laser hit him? Serph isn't going to let this go untreated, even if the side effects of his healing magic granted by this world will temporarily incapacitate him. And the flat tone of his voice means he isn't accepting arguments about this.]
no subject
That's bullshit. Why don't any of my mantras still work?
[There's some logic to it. They're the only Embryon in the Convoy right now, they'd both need to stay at reasonably high capabilities for the foreseeable future. With some reluctance the side Jayce had first struck with his hammer and then torn open with antlers and teeth is indicated; armor and bodysuit neatly hide most any visible sign of injury.]
Cielo hits harder.
no subject
It was the corruption that slowly killed Jayce.
[Yes, he looks alive and kicking now, but Serph remembers vividly standing in a pool of his rainbow coloured blood, corpse propped up in the back of his truck, heart destroyed. Cielo might hit harder, but the corruption was like a poison, slowly destroying from the inside.]
Life was forced back into him by another. I don't know how they did it. I'm not taking that risk with you.
[The glow emanating from his hands, hair and eyes grows more intense as he lays his palms on the injured side. It feels dulled to Serph's senses, healing through the thick armour instead of direct contact with the injured site, but he stays focused on mostly the corruption tainting beneath the flesh rather than the other wounds; a normal injury could be healed with devouring. Rainbow webbing is unpicked from Heat's insides, purging every corrupted thread seeking to entwine itself around flesh and sinew after a great effort from Serph.
Infection cleansed, Serph's knees buckle from underneath him.]
no subject
[Heat's mutter is sullen at best. He'd strip if he had to but magic rarely cared about things like armor and clothing, so it's probably fine. Even with it in place he still jerks slightly at unwelcome contact, even light pressure unpleasant. He's still sure he'd heal without intervention. He's wrong.
It's very much like poison but more persistent, subtler. It's easy to tell poison's immediately harmful, ignore it for even a few minutes and it could get debilitating. They all found that out the hard way a long time ago. Jayce's arcane rot would have taken longer, maybe as much as a couple hours as it spread and consumed, but in time even his great endurance would have faltered. The rest wouldn't kill him. This would have.
There's some part of him that is suddenly pretty sure he could use that same spell if he wanted to as the dim sense of malaise is purged, but there's no time to consider it. No sooner does the feeling of injury settle into a more ordinary pain than Serph's legs give out, and Heat grabs for him immediately, alarmed.]
Serph? Hey, what--
[.. Chatting can wait. If Serph can't stand under his own weight, the wounds that remain, mere torn flesh and muscle, are not enough to prevent Heat from being able to hold him up instead. That is NOT how he expects magic to work. It's not a debilitating power.]
no subject
He closes his eyes.]
It will pass.
[He's obviously experienced this ill-effect before. Serph generally tries not to use this healing magic while in hostile territory, but he doesn't know enough about the corruption that plagues Jayce, only its ultimate end result.
But the monsters here aren't particularly strong compared to even a partially injured Heat, so he's confident he would be kept safe from harm while recovering. There's a hint of annoyance as he says-]
This world's healing magic isn't useful in combat.
no subject
Then you're a moron for using it.
[For all the harshness of the rebuke, he's careful to the point of almost gentleness in working on seeing if Serph can support his own weight, and if not simply picking him right up, wings and all. He's strong enough, and though it'll hurt, it's not enough to be a real hindrance.
Some things are always more important.]
We're getting out of here.
no subject
He didn't know he missed being told off until he heard it for the first time in months.
With support from Heat he's able to stay upright, though their walking pace is slowed as he focuses on putting one foot in front of the other and not sway too much.
All this is only a roadbump on their journey to Nirvana.]
[ooc: Seems like a decent place to tie this off? Once they're out of the hospital Serph could probably sit for a bit and recover before they go back to the Convoy.]
no subject