memestertrucks | JANUARY TDM/EVENT

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The storm drives the Convoy to the very summit of the mountains, before hitting a blinding pitch. The wind howls and drives snow in a way that promises to freeze everything… And there’s also a twist of smoke in the air, to further blind everything.

There’s one thing visible through the storm: a massive fortress clinging to the side of the mountain. The Convoy pulls up into the shelter. It seems this will be the best place to wait out the weather, even if the storm lasts for weeks.

It’s a cold welcome for new arrivals. The garage offers scant protection from the elements, and a winter storm rages outside. Snow, lighting, and thunder all blend together and do their best to break the windows and doors of the structure.

The storm itself shows no signs of abating, at least until several days have passed. So it’s up to the new arrivals to figure out how to survive the storm, find better shelter… And weather the strange changes foisted onto them.

01: SUMMONING CIRCLE

New Drifters arrive to a cold and half frozen garage, almost swallowed up by snow drifts. The Convoy is just visible through sheets of snow falling from the skies, and it is parked in the shelter of a nearby fortress. Getting out of the garage and reaching the fortress will take some work, though.

Starting with digging out through the snow. At least there’s a shovel or two inside the garage and the gas station. But digging through the snow is still cold work, and it’s imperative to duck back in the garage and find ways to warm up.

There’s still a small fire burning in the corner of the garage, near the summoning circle. It curiously doesn’t seem to need fuel to keep burning… Though throwing more on it will certainly increase the heat of the flames. Be advised that the fire will also burn clothing and flesh if a Drifter gets too close to it.

02: FORTRESS 

The abandoned fortress offers some reprieve from the elements… But the prior battles have found a way to seep into the stones. Ice and Fire both have an effect on the surroundings.
+FIRE Condition: Arcane lava is flowing through the foundations and seeping up through the stones of the building. This is especially clear in the kitchen and dining hall. It may be toasty to the touch, but it also threatens to set things aflame; objects and people alike. Drifters weak to fire will suffer from the increased temperatures.
+ICE Condition: The extremes of the fortress are freezing over in enchanted ice, leaving only the main hall and kitchen with any heat. Drifters who lack ice affinity risk frost bite and hypothermia while exploring the other areas of Bastion. Direct contact with the ice also carries a risk of encasing the limb or the entire Drifter in ice. Might need some help getting chipped out.

In the midst of all this, there are still rooms and beds available for those who want a change of pace from the convoy, or bedrolls for those who want to camp out in the main hall.

03: START UP

After digging out, one can see that there are various cars surrounding the garage. Some of them parked directly outside and sheltered from the worst of the storm. But a few are further out, and will also need to be dug out of the snow.

There’s also a certain connection between different newcomers and cars. Something that suggests a particular vehicle is theirs, backed up by possessing the key to that vehicle. 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 supplies… Now it’s just a matter of finding some extra hands.

04: WILD ELEMENTS

Even when taking shelter in the fortress, the storms from outside have a way of seeping through the bricks. And trying to take root inside any Drifters. Cold mists and winds seep into the castle, along with fire traveling across the floors and lightning crashing against the roof.

Drifters exposed to extreme elements will find those same elements seeping into their blood.

Teeth also grow along portions of the walls in long fangs, ready to snag at any newcomers. Drawing blood on those teeth can result in changes in the new arrivals… As well as pulling a monster out of the hallway to try and draw more blood.

These monsters frequently manifest as:
+Gyuki, a spider and bull demon fusion.
+YinYang, a Frankenstein abomination
+And Malzeno, a strange eldritch dragon.

05: FUEL PUMPS

The fortress also holds a network of pipes leading through the halls and connecting to the gas station. Text from the Convoy asks for at least a few Drifters to follow the pipes to their source, and activate them. Following those pipes leads to a chamber in the base of the fortress, with basins full of liquid.

Glowing and quicksilver liquid, at that. Liquid that looks like it could have been poured straight out of the moon. An inscription on the tanks reads “Moonshard fuel refinement” while a stack of papers details the various attempts to distill moonshards into an energy usable by humans without mutating them. It seems they’ve mostly succeeded with this attempt: once the valves are turned on, the fuel can be pumped into the Convoy and top off almost depleted fuel tanks.

But there is still a risk. Coming into contact with the fuel can instill a sudden, ravenous hunger and push new changes to the front. Prolonged exposure activates all traits at once, and will only revert the person when another monster has been hunted down, and their energy absorbed.

06: IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK

The walls of Bastion reach an impressive 20 feet up and stretch for long distances… And have Husks merged into them, often in the hallways and occasionally in the rooms. The Husks clearly belong to either the Silver Tear or the Steel Wardens, given the insignias on them. Many of them are locked together, frozen in a fight. And their last words and thoughts are written on the walls in gold and silver script.

Most of the words are frantic, about defending the moon shards from heretics or freeing the moon shards from confinement. But if any of the words are read aloud, the Husks react by merging together and spawning a berserk heavy tank/tankceratops. Or a large Burner type monster. OR a dragon dinosaur with exploding, punching fists. Drifters may also get caught up in the monster changes, and fuse their own monster forms together!

07: MONSTER FUSE

An element saturation isn’t the only strange thing in the fortress. Anyone who makes contact with the fortress stones will find themselves building a resonance with a fellow Drifter. This grows stronger the more time they spend in the fortress.

Until finally the bond solidifies on the next change the Drifters go through and hits a fever pitch. The next threat they encounter WILL force a transformation. When that happens, their next change fuses their two monster forms together into something new.

Their fusion form is a combination of two Drifter’s traits. It is also twice the size it would normally be, and is well suited to taking on any giant sized monsters. It can even give Drifters a brief insight into the memories of their partner, as the fusion takes place.

When this happens, both Drifters can switch control over their merged form. Those with greater synchronism will have more control, while those who squabble and fight will find that their monster form becomes more feral and savage. This fusion lasts until the threat abates: when that happens, the fusion breaks apart, and Drifters return to their prior state.

08: STORM CALL

There’s something outside that isn’t just the storm; it calls out in a howl that can make the blood run cold, and also pulls at one’s feet. Until it hits a point where the Bastion doesn’t feel like a restful place. Drifters who hear the storm call need to step outside and find the source; the storm itself isn’t particular on if they search on their own feet, or behind some wheels.

Drifters who travel on their own feet will swiftly be overwhelmed by the storm, and a moon warp hiding in the snow, and forced to transform. It doesn’t help that there’s wild saber-tooth Barioth wyverns prowling the wilds and ready to pounce.

Being inside a vehicle helps to shield them from the worst of the storm and the changes, and also gives Drifters more traversal options:
Tough cars are capable of wading through even the deepest snow without getting bogged down, as well as towing any stricken or stuck vehicles out of the drifts.
Fast vehicles can follow rivers of fire and lava that move through the wilds, without burning up due to prolonged exposure.

Eventually Drifters will find their way towards the summit of the mountain, and the discovery waiting beyond.

09: MONSTER CHANGES

Between the weird fuel, the teeth in the fortress, and hostile elements trying to force changes, new arrivals can quickly find their humanity getting worn away and new monster transformations taking place.
With the cold weather and regal structures, the environment calls out to Undead. As long as the elements rage, all Undead traits are available and also:
+Warm Blood: Undead can easily track living bodies through the wilds and the fortress, sensing the warmth of their blood in contrast to the storm.
+Rivalry: Tends to form rivalry with other Undead monsters, becoming territorial and protective of potential food sources.
+Ice Affinity: Undead find themselves better preserved by the cold and thriving in it, energized and strengthened by the snow, and even taking on glowing blue veins and eyes.
+Fire Fear: The presence of fire inspires aversion, and even terror and need to flee from it. Smaller flames like candles provoke unease, larger flames like a bonfire result in more panic.
+Holy Symbols: Presence of Steel Warden symbols (a sword piercing moon) can cause unease in Undead, and even repel them a location.
+Snow Shift: Exposure to snow forces the Undead into a more bestial form. This could resemble a bat, wolf, or deer/horse/bull.

10: FROZEN HEART

At the summit of the mountains is a collection of freakishly tall and twisted trees. In their branches is a collection of frozen hearts growing like strange fruit. And further up is a massive object that looks like a deer skull with branching antlers. The ice storm flows from its eyes and mouth… And it shows no signs of ceasing without destroying the skull.

The frozen hearts are giving off a cold aura that freezes anything that doesn’t resist ice. Drifters will need to neutralize the hearts to dispel the cold aura. The hearts can be melted by fire, shot down with ranged weapons, magic, etc. When burned, the hearts give off a smoke that causes a terrible hunger and need to hunt in anyone who inhales it. Shattered heart shards also rain down and embed themselves in Drifters, and cause a berserk fury in those they cut.

But with each felled heart the barrier of the skull weakens, as does the storm. When the last of the frozen hearts falls, the storm skull fractures and breaks apart like brittle ice. Drifters can deliver the finishing blows, ending the storm in the process. After that, the way down the mountain becomes clear, and the Convoy may continue down without worry.

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.

Fortress Library: Books and screens seem to have fused together. Assorted data about monsters is on display here; everything from hunting strategy to contradicting praise of their strength. (Read: all lore information from the monster pages is available IC.)

Dining Hall: This time around the gas station and garage are empty of supplies… But there’s plenty of preserved foods in the castle kitchen and dining hall. Though the hot dishes are almost painfully spicy, and the cold served foods can almost freeze a mouth shut.

Snow Fields: Surrounding the fortress are fields of snow, ready to bog down anyone who wanders too far into them. It would be next to impossible for anyone to make it far on two feet without the aid of a vehicle… Or the aid of a monstrous transformation.

Fire Snow: The storm can wildly swing between temperatures, from freezing to burning with how the snowflakes fluctuate. They can suck warmth out of a Drifter’s body on contact, or risk burning any exposed skin.

Armory: The Steel Wardens kept an armory and arena close by for sparring. Various weapons and armor are stored here; some antiquated, some modern and augmented with technology. And everything but the older models are badly damaged by the elements; frozen over and metal crackled, or half melted from fire. They won’t have much use as weapons, but could be used as metal materials.

View from the Peaks: When the storm clears, one can look out from the peaks and see what’s next. A strange, twisted landscape stretches out below the peaks. And beyond that is something on the horizon; a massive city reaching upwards, and the buildings intact and gleaming. Going back to the Convoy reveals a new update in the database: Nirvana is near. And will be reached in an estimated 60 days from now.

NAVIGATION || RESERVES || APPLICATIONS

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Oh, nice! Does somebody need to monitor it from back here or turn it off later or something?"

Donnie crosses over towards the tanks again to have a look at the gauges.

"Hmm... Perhaps at the start, just to make sure things are going all right. But everything looks pretty good right now. I can't know for sure until we start fueling up."

He glances at the tanks themselves, tilting his head. "I don't know if we need to turn them off. Maybe someone will need it. But I don't expect us to be heading back up this way ourselves."

Levi thinks for a moment. "We probably don't have to turn them off right away. Maybe send someone back here when the tank starts to get full and then use the radios to coordinate."

He frowns, "Though we may need to have a guard set up here, I'm not sure if the monsters will want to stop this but if any of those metal dogs or other traps are around they probably do."

"I haven't seen many monsters roaming inside, much less the chromehounds." Actually, he hasn't seen the latter in a long time, but he's not sure how well they'd fare in the extreme cold.

"Honestly, I don't see any reasons any monsters would want to stop it specifically- I don't think they have that much of a cognitive grasp to be that intentional."

"I was thinking more because its making noise that they'd be interested in it. Or they might just want to break and eat everything, that's entirely possible."

Donnie looks around again. "I don't know, the only way I found this place was because the convoy pinged us about it, and there were pipes to follow. It doesn't seem to be really noisy, and I doubt anything wants to chew on pipes."

He circles the tanks, nearly slipping on a thin puddle of fuel that's seeped from one of them. "-gah!"

"Mm. I wouldn't trust anything to be safe in this place. This fuel is important and there's no way the Wardens would want us to have it, they might have set something up to spring once it starts flowing." Also he's pretty paranoid from...everything in his life.

When Donnie slips Levi rushes over and offers a hand to help steady him. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah," Donnie sighs, grabbing onto Levi's arm as he shakes off his feet. "I don't know how long that's been there, but I don't think it's from opening the valves."

He still hangs on even once he's regained his balance, looking unfocused for a moment. There's that sense again, that twisting feeling of hunger, but it seems so much stronger. He can practically feel it stirring, that other sense, which doesn't really help but stoke his harpy instincts.

He doesn't realize he's panting as he tries to get a grip on himself.

Levi lets Donnie hold onto him for as long as he needs to, so Don might notice Levi's colder to the touch than usual. As if he were dead.

"A-are you okay?"

Distracted as he is, it takes him a moment. It's not as cold in here as it is elsewhere in the fortress or outside, but it's probably only because he's accustomed to how Leo feels these days that it has him start to reconsider that it might just be due to the environment.

"I...don't know. I need to hunt something down or I might just eat the next thing I see..."

He looks at the tanks and then track down towards the puddle. "Ohhhh I'm so stupid," he groans, running a hand down his face. "This stuff...is distilled from moon shards. The notes said it shouldn't- Never mind, L-Levi, we need to not be here."

"I am kinda hungry..." He cants his head. "We do?" He's hesitant to leave it unguarded, but he can always come back later and watch from a distance.

"We're done here," he snaps, wincing almost immediately after. "S-sorry. We can't stay, exposure is bad- already affecting us."

Donnie finally lets go, moving away from the puddle of fuel. "If it behaves like regular fuel, the fumes are already filling this room. But unlike gasoline, it doesn't have any scent. The earlier spray and this probably exacerbated things."

Hm, that will make defending it harder. Shifts could work, along with guarding more the entrances of the room that the pumps themselves. He'll think about it later, now Donnie was right and they needed to go.

"Okay. You lead the way." He takes his rifle off his back, just in case they run into trouble on the way.

Donnie's already done with this room in his mind. If they can fill tanks up then that's all that matters to him.

With Levi in agreement, the winged turtle slips back towards the entrance, creature-like as he resorts to all fours, but its faster this way, and feels more right.

That was weird...but whatever worked. Levi stays on two legs as he follows, though, but doesn't say anything about the way Donnie is moving.

He heads back down the halls that he'd followed the pipes, quick, but he always pauses to wait for Levi before moving onward towards the main hall. The warmth that spills from the lava-ridden rooms is enticing, so he drifts closer to one of the doorways to soak in the heat.

Levi follows after, pausing when Donnie drifts closer to a lava-room. "Careful with that. The floor isn't always as stable as it seems."

That does at least get him to stop, snout wrinkling as he looks at the floor with suspicion.

"What, really? I thought it was only on fire in places, ugh. Can't trust the warm rooms, freeze over in the cold ones if you touch the ice- I hate this place."

"No the lava, uh, moves. Like a really slow and really really hot river or something. So I've seen pieces of floor fall into it. I'd just stay as far from it as you can."

"That is how lava generally behaves, yes," Donnie says, but he grimaces at the implication that it's taken some of the floor with it like an actual volcanic event.

"Uuuh...good call." He steps away from the doorway, sighing. "I just want to be warm, is that so much to ask!"

Levi sighs, "Apparently. But be careful or we're gonna end up in a blazing desert next month."

"We already passed through one," Donnie reminds him as he slinks along the hallway again. "I do not care for a repeat."

"That is true...this place doesn't tend to do repeats." Except maybe this month, since they were in the snowy mountains last one too.

Mountain ranges tend to be pretty big. Donnie doesn't want to think about how far they've gone, but up and over seems a lot quicker than going around. He just hopes the signals they're picking up and the directions the Convoy has are accurate.

"Since I have no compass nor GPS to refer to, I can only assume we've been going in a roughly straight line to somewhere, but so far as I can recall, all the areas have been relatively different. But then there's also seasons to take into account, and I have no idea if Revan is anything like Earth by way of its cycles."

He pokes his head around a corner leading down another hall. "...and then there's the whole moon mess... So I guess the best we can do is try to be open and prepared for anything. Not that it tends to do us a whole lot of good."

"Yeah...we just have to try and be ready for anything. At least the terrain tends to be the least dangerous part."

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