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

[Well as it turns out, Max's feelings towards his own particular cult are starting to sour, so he might be open to hearing about other ones. Where do the Followers land on the indiscriminate slaughter of ghoul children? That is a bit of a sticking point with the Brotherhood that he's discovered recently.]

Is it always this cold here?

[Now that things have calmed down a bit, Max stretches one of his new wings out in front of himself and starts fussing with the feathers, getting them all back in order.]

It's my first time seeing snow. Don't think I like it.

[ The Followers do not condone the indiscriminate slaughter of anyone, actually, they are pretty vehemently and expressly against that kind of thing in general. But Arcade is not recruiting, and much more likely to stick to mundane, surface-level talk about the weather, if given the choice, honestly. ]

No. Well - I don't actually know. It might always be cold here, but we haven't been here all that long. ...And hopefully won't be for much longer, either.

[ If this storm doesn't last long enough to keep them snowed in indefinitely, at any rate. (And that looks like a real possibility, from inside the thick of it.)

Arcade glances over when he starts fidgeting with his wing, but a glance is all he spares. It's certainly an interesting mutation, though. ]

How long have you had those?

[A Wasteland group against wide-scale slaughter? Fascinating. Perhaps someday Max will run across them and gift them a certain sacred relic, since he's on the hunt for some Good People(tm) to gift it to, no matter what Thaddeus thinks about turning a profit from it.]

[But while he's here, he'll complain about the weather instead.]

We're always moving then. At least, that's the impression I got?

[Which Arcade seems to be confirming.]

Two days.

[The first wing is done, its feathers all neatly preened back into place, and Max starts on a second one. He can't explain why, but leaving his wings with the feathers askew is deeply uncomfortable.]

That was the first time I flew with them, though.

That's right. We'll get stuck somewhere for a few days, on occasion - like this. But it isn't usually this kind of weather keeping us there.

[ Other kinds, sometimes. But the blizzard is a first, thankfully. And hopefully a last.

His glance is a little dubious, this time, but he doesn't have room to be too critical, there. ]

Everyone has to start somewhere, I guess. Just, uh, be careful. I don't really know how to bandage wings.

They don't make any sense.

[With one side done, Max folds his wings back down over his shoulder, where they rest like a feathery pauldron. Then it's on to the next side.]

They twirled. I've never seen anything with wings that twirl before.

[He gestures above them, where the rotors are still churning away.]

They moved like those.

I can't say that I have, either.

[ Not that he's all that well-versed in the anatomy of flying things, but, well. It seems obvious they wouldn't fly by twirling, for some very easy to assume reasons, even without that specialized knowledge. ]

You suspect that you're part vertibird, then?

[ It's a joke, but hey, weirder things have happened, right? ]

Maybe?

[It's half joke, half question. As far as Max knows, there aren't any human-vertibird mutants out there, but he's starting to realise he's only scratched the surface of weird stuff out in the Wasteland. Maybe one of those other Brotherhood factions that fuck robots have one.]

I'd rather be part power armour, if I had the choice.

[He already misses having his armour.]

It seems like a no-brainer.

[ Power armor definitely has more advantages than having a propeller on your back.

Arcade leans forward in his seat, peering out into the dark and whirling snow as a somewhat more solid shadow-shape looms from the rest. ]

Hey, what's that look like, to you?

[Not just one, but two propellers on his back. Very fancy stuff.]

[Max leans forward too, squinting through the blowing snow.]

Is that a tree?

...It looks like a forest.

[ Or at the very least an unexpectedly thick stand of closely packed old growth - at a far higher altitude than something like that would generally appear naturally. Which means it's probably exactly what they're looking for. ]

Hang on.

[ Before they get too close to use the trees as a safe windbreak, Arcade tips them forward and starts to take them down for a landing. ]

[Max half-rises out of his seat, until his seatbelt cuts across his legs. With a slightly higher advantage point, he peers through the snow until he spots a flat area, and points.]

There, sir. It looks flat enough to land.

[The honorific slipped out without him thinking about it.]

[ He's not going to nitpick the title while he's this busy keeping the vertibird upright and steady, as another brutal wind rattles against the glass.

Instead, he makes a short, affirmative sound and steers them in the right direction.

The landing isn't particularly gentle, but they seem to be on firm ground, when everything settles. Arcade is still pitched forward, four hands gripping the controls, but he manages a short nod in Max's direction. ]

Thanks.

[If Max thinks the landing was rough, he doesn't show it. Honestly, most of the Brotherhood pilots drive these things like they're ten seconds away from crashing at any moment, so Arcade not trying to pitch them over the tops of the trees is already an improvement.]

Thank you, sir.

[Max starts to do a Brotherhood salute but then catches himself and stops.]

I appreciate the ride. And the pick up.

[And he really appreciates this warm cab, which he's in no great hurry to leave, so he peers out the window instead.]

Any idea where we are?

...Not in the slightest.

[ Arcade leans further forward over the dash, one hand idly hitting a few more buttons to power down the rotors overhead as he tries to make sense of what they're looking at.

From down here, it does look like a forest - or at least a very dense copse of trees, all of them apparently dead. Except - there are still things... growing from them? Strung up in their branches?

He's no more eager to try his luck out there, but the longer he looks, the more sure it seems that this is what they were out here looking for. ]

We'll probably have to find out sooner than later, though.

[It's kind of interesting to watch Arcade's four arms working together like that, but Max tries not to stare. He's already getting the sense that staring at other people's mutations here is frowned upon. No one has been weird about his wings, so he should try and return the favour.]

[He's reluctant to leave the cab, but if there's a mission out there that needs doing, he's still enough of a Brotherhood man to resign himself to carrying it out. Max buttons his coat's fur lining up around his neck and undoes his seatbelt before standing up.]

Can you open the doors?

It's unlocked.

[ Arcade shrugs toward the far door, then reaches for his own, demonstrating. ]

Right here, under the crossbar. Just pull the handle. Uh, be careful, though.

[After a bit of wrangling--he's not used to using the doors on the vertibirds, he usually piles in through the sides--Max figures out the handle. He hops out into the snow, and immediately wants to climb back in the vehicle. Snow is the worst, and his wings instinctively fluff up around his ears like a pair of feathery earmuffs.]

I'll make a trail.

[He's younger, so figures it would inevitably become his job to break through the snow, so he might as well volunteer. He starts bulldozing through the snow drifts, towards the shelter of the trees.]

[ In fairness to Max, even if he was used to vertibird doors - these aren't quite the same, anyway, operating more like truck cab doors still, despite the mostly-glass construction. And Arcade doesn't stop to critique his ability, anyway, already gritting his teeth as he opens his own side.

Cold wind and snow immediately cut in through the gap, but the only alternative is sitting here doing nothing, so—

He piles out into the snow after Max, holding his coat closed around him in a desperate bid to conserve already fleeting body heat. ]

Hey! Wait up!

[Max pauses, halfway through a snowdrift, and waits for Arcade to catch up. That's right, Arcade is Old by Wasteland standards, getting through the snow is probably harder for him.]

You okay?

[Pushing through the drifts is actually raising Max's internal temperature, and he gestures at his own coat.]

Do you want this?

[ Arcade is not old by any standards, thanks, and if Max values his health he should never mention that dire miscalculation within earshot of him.

Not that that means he's doing well with the cold, either, but it's been seconds. He'll survive a while longer, before the cold drives all of the heat out of his body.

He shakes his head, holding his own coat close around his shoulders. ]

I'll be fine. But I can help with that - you don't have to just plow through it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

JANUARY TDM/EVENT

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