MARCH EVENT/TDM

[monstertruckers]

code

The Convoy leaves the mountains behind and sets off across a long expanse of strangely bleached and tangled up land. The landscape is littered with both Husks and spent moon shards alike… Along with strange ruins and remnants that clearly don’t belong to the wilderness.

And always on the horizon is a mass of buildings; a shining city that doesn’t seem affected by the chaos and ruins dotting the landscape. The Convoy database continues to try to update, but can only label the location as “Nirvana” and leave the information corrupted.

The surrounding landscape is match for the database: These lands are twisted. And navigating them to reach Nirvana is going to be a task.

01: PATH OF SPIRES

Dotting the landscape are tall spires glowing with ominious light. Moonshards have been gathered together and carved into radio tower spires and fixed with glyphs that mirror Sigils. Various Husks rest against the spires, and it’s clear that they gave their lives up to create these structures. The worst of the environment twists are centered around these spires, like they’re acting as magnets to Warps and sparing the rest of the area. Drawing close to the spires results in whispers in the ears of the Drifter, and seeping in through the speakers of their phones or vehicles.

“We can’t let them destroy what we’ve built. They’ve already sundered so much of the world… Whether it’s Tears or Wardens, they can’t be trusted. We turn our backs on them, we renounce what we used to be.”

Skeletons of monsters drift around the spires, orbiting in weird halos. Coming into contact with either the spires or their halos results in the spire trying to absorb the Drifter, even as it heals them of any wounds and tries to pull their changes out of them. The Spires also try to broadcast any thoughts or strong the emotions the Drifter is feeling to those nearby; that transmission disrupts the spire just long enough to pull at trapped Drifter free.

02: SUMMONING CIRCLE

New Drifters arrive in a bleached out garage, looking like color and life has been drained out of the structure. Broken down walls are crumbling away, which at least makes it easy to get outside. A collection of spires rings the garage, but many of them are broken and give off sparks instead of drawing Drifters into them. It's enough to let people make a break for it, into the wilds.

There’s dark shapes prowling around the periphery… And strange metal, humanoid Husks gathered all around the towers. The towers give off faint, whispering messages that can be heard through the radios lining the garage.

“Nirvana… Imminent. Last leg of the journey almost complete. Advised to find your vehicles, and adjust to your powers and forms.”

03: START UP

Outside of the ruined garage, one can see there are various cars ringing the structure. Most of them are parked near the garage, but a few of them are placed near the towers. Approaching them increases the odd humming transmission in the Drifter’s ears: various snatches of information about Nirvana, and how it is only weeks away. That it is a safe haven from the rest of the chaos.

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: CROOKED PATH

The landscape is twisted, even on the road. And the further one travels, the warping of the land becomes more volatile. Stepping off the road results in hostile terrain that fluctuates depending on the time of day.

During the daylight hours, the grounds are rife with streams of aether. The aether behaves almost like water with how it flows and refreshes those who come in contact with it. But while contact can heal, it also transforms Drifters by imparting Angel traits. Staring into the aether streams can also show people visions of "could have beens" in a Drifter’s life in a positive and hopeful way, and share those wishes with other people.

At night the landscape begins to burn, with streams of fire and lava. The unchanged aether currents react by flowing upwards and away from the fires as far as possible. It’s possible to ride the aether currents; either on wings, on feet, or on very swift and lightweight vehicles. Those who can’t avoid the lava will either be burned or forcefully turned into demons. They will also catch visions of potential disasters and nightmares that could happen in their lives… And these visions are easily visible to other characters.

05: THE HUNTER

Something else stalks the twisted lands; something that travels in a pack, and dwarfs even the Convoy. It walks on taloned legs that shriek with rust and metal on each thundering step. It keeps a maw full of steel teeth close to the ground, seeking out prey… And when it opens that mouth, a distorted roar spills out.

Once it comes into view, the Convoy screeches to a halt and throws up its shields, while blaring an alarm. An automated voice urges Drifters: “Remnant monster approaching. Seek shelter in the shields or retreat immediately. Remnants are hostile weapons of the Steel Wardens, seek shelter immediately.”

And as the monster sees an old, rusted car and pounces on it, it becomes clear why the Convoy must hide behind its shields. The Remnant monster looks like a dinosaur built out of machinery, and is hungry to absorb more… Or to simply make a meal out of any flesh and blood creatures it can find. The database urgently blurts all of this out... Even as the Remnant turns towards the Convoy.

05-A: THE CHASE

The pack of robot t-rexes attack the Convoy, trying to beat down and break the shields. This close up, Drifters can see all the various vehicles and scrap that make up the robot… And worryingly, how some of those electrical components look almost human or cyborg based. They could easily have belonged to the Steel Wardens. A strange droning sound emits from the speakers; sounds that could be a creed or a doctrine, all blended together with snarls and roars.

It’s clear the Convoy won’t be able to last forever under this assault. Fast Vehicles are needed to act as bait, and lead the Rexes away from the Convoy. Meanwhile, Tough vehicles need to brave the off road warp conditions to see if they can find something to help weaken these monsters, or find a hiding place.

05-B: THE DOCTRINE

During this time the Remnant gives off a piercing roar while attacking and chasing vehicles. And now there’s words audible in that roar:

“We are denied a place in Paradise, because of our zeal… We do what we must, what we know. We hunt.”

The Rexes do their best to run cars down, trying to throw them off their wheels or paralyze the drivers with a thundering roar and shaking footsteps. The Warden’s Doctrine also spills out of the speakers, causing adverse effects for any Drifters who listen too closely. At close range The Doctrine weakens monsters by driving them feral and activating all of their monster traits at once.

Those speakers will need to be silenced if anyone wishes to go toe to toe with the Rexes. And since no one can get in close at the moment, that means either ranged attacks and magic to temporarily silence the speakers. Fortunately, there’s a tool for disabling the speakers permanently, close by.

06: SPIRE ANTENNA

The burnt out moon shards forming the towers aren’t that burnt out, after all. And they seem to be providing some power to the spires, along with a strange and almost melodic hum. There’s a build up of residue that needs to be torn off the towers, as they seem to be muffling the transmission…

And there’s still the Rexes prowling the landscape. But any time the robots get close to the towers, they reel back in pain or confusion. It seems that once these Spires are cleaned, their sound should be boosted. The coating can be burned or washed away.

And once they do, the hum is amplified and overwhelms the Doctrine; the speakers on the Rexes short circuit, busting out completely. It leaves the Rexes reeling and retreating away from their attacks on the Convoy. Other attacks can also short circuit the speakers, leading to similar results.

07: SHATTERED TEMPLE

The closer the Drifters get to the city the more old ruins crop up; they look far more ancient than many of the structures previously encountered, like they belonged to an ancient temple, long since exploded and had various pieces thrown across the landscape.

There’s still some strength left in the old stones, and it’s possible to duck into the ruins and evade the monsters swarming the lands. Old cloisters can also be turned into improvised parking garages. And while the hazards outside are kept at bay… There’s the various altars to investigate.

There’s always an altar in each of the ruins, along with the usual incense smoke and stained glass decorating the halls. The symbol of the Silver Tears has been painstakingly, artistically carved onto each one. Along with a scripture. Coming into any contact with the altars, or even staying there long enough to read the inscriptions can also activate event monster traits… Or swap them between Drifters.

Those who visit more than one shrine may also find their monster forms becoming more fluid, enabling them to swap or fuse as they need to… Which may prove to be very important in facing against the robot T-rexes.

07-A: SCRIPTURE

Snatches of the following text can also be found all over the shrines:
“Those not forsaken by the moon, we’ve called to you across worlds. We are no longer worthy of carrying the blessing, so it falls to you. Bring the gift back to the Moon, where its body lays shattered… Just beyond the reach of Nirvana.

Listen to our tale, know the truth of your blessing and our woe. When the creator shaped our world, a spark of brilliance and madness was placed in us. A fragment of the divine. But our flesh was too weak to hold such a thing. Our bodies needed to change to better accommodate that blessing, to wield the magic and knowledge. Sometimes. Many times. It drove us mad. But we were determined to master it… Until the Creator took pity on us, took much of the power and sealed itself and the blessing into our moon. Trying to protect us and purify the blessing… Though pieces still found their way to Revan. Moonshards to transform us, test us.

But of course, the wretched Wardens viewed it as a curse. Hunted the blessed to ‘safe guard’ humanity, unaware how they stifled us. Almost hunted the blessing to extinction. We’ve had no choice but to try and awaken the Creator, to break the moon open and release the secrets once again… No matter what it may do.”

08: MONSTER SHIFT

Due to the twisted energy and moon warps wracking the landscape, Drifters can also find themselves gripped by changes in turn. Two monsters reflect two extremes of the landscape and try to manifest in Drifters. Angels and Demons are both available, with the following traits:

+Chaos Pull: Drawn to places of chaos and conflict. The wilds are an especially powerful draw.
+Order Pull: Drawn to places of order and tranquility. The Convoy shields are a powerful draw, as are the shrines and temples.
+Light Switch: Monster powers and traits grow more powerful when bathed in light, whether that's daylight or headlights.
+Night Switch: Darkness powers up monster traits and powers.
+Hellfire Surge: The nighttime lava and fires cause hellfire powers to grow in power, but also lose control and fires grow more chaotic.
+Heavenly Surge: Contact with the aetherstreams boosts holy and light powers to a high degree, but leaves the Drifter half blinded from using them.

09: METAL MOSH

Since the Doctrine speakers have failed, the Rexes are all the more eager to hunt down the Drifters and consume them and their vehicles. Fire leaks out of the jaws to try and melt metal. And equally worrying, the dinosaur can combine that with a sonic scream/roar, to make a combustive hunting cry.

The Rexes try to use this cry to ignite anything in a cone in front of it; flesh, plant, or anything flammable. If there is nothing to take the impact, it super heats the ground and turns the dried sand to glass. If the Rexes manage to weaken anything with their roars, they try to close with fang and claw. The robots also become briefly disoriented after using its roar, leaving them vulnerable.

The Rexes would sooner be destroyed… Which considering the capacities of fused and empowered Drifters, is more than doable. Due to assorted attacks and mishaps with the tower spires, there is also one Rex that is too weakened to fight back, and all of its vital circuits are exposed and open for reprograming. When the Rexes are reduced to scrap and exactly one is tamed due to player feedback, the Convoy can finally continue on.

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.

1. Twist: The landscape isn’t always content to stay in the same shape. In fact, it seems conflicted between being a bleached out desert and badlands, and warping into a landscape populated with venomous and vivid plant life. Said plants have a way of causing wracking pains or vivid hallucinations with too much exposure; either way it’s advised to step carefully.
2. Torment: The pathway off the roads is sometimes lined with spikes, ready to pierce all but the Toughest tires and feet. And if the ground draws up blood, it eagerly drinks it in and begins to shape a calcified echo of whatever it bled; the pale sculpture looks like it is in pain and shifts between various monster phases and forms the Drifter has experienced.
3. Warp Weather: The assorted moon shards have been pulled toward the towers. Gathered together their warping nature is channeled towards the sky. And various weather starts to unfold; auroras snake across the sky before turning to thunderstorms, then rain shifts into a fog that distorts sounds and melts into bright sunlight. The weather is wild and varied, and often hostile.

NAVIGATION

Comments

[purplexing]

"AAH-oof--!"

Being speedy only works when you're not doing so in the direct flight path of someone less flight-savvy. At least Donnie is clearly more used to aerial antics, as despite being bowled over into a midair, backwards somersault, he still flares out his wings to keep them from plummeting.

[vaultless]

Lucy immediately wraps her arms around Donatello's neck, and clinging to him like a buoy. Her wings flap wildly, in the same way a drowning person might flail their limbs while trying to swim, trying their very best to help keep them airborne. Unfortunately, their best isn't necessarily very good.

[purplexing]

Ohhhh this is a lot more contact than he ever prefers. Donnie tenses as Lucy clings to him, mentally shorting out for a moment until things kick back in when he realizes she's throwing off his attempts to keep them steady.

"H-hey! Okay I need you to stop moving like, right now for starters or you are going to make us both crash."

[vaultless]

Convincing her wings to stop flapping while in mid-air is... difficult to say the least. It goes against Lucy's every instinct. She is trying to stay up in the air! It doesn't make sense to stop flapping!

But distantly, she also recognises that Donnie is much better at the flying thing than she is. So, even though it's difficult, she tries her hardest to still her wings. And she mostly succeeds! There is the occasional twitch and flutter still, instincts she cannot fully suppress, but she is trying her hardest here.

She is also clinging her hardest here. Sorry Donnie. She'll let go soon. Probably once she feels sweet, sweet earth underneath her feet again.

[purplexing]

It's still a lot better than earlier. Donnie manages to mostly steady them so they weren't rocking all over the place.

"Okay, okay, you need to slow down with the flapping for starters. Flapping doesn't actually hold you up for long, it's stirring the air, spinning it to give your wings a breeze to catch. This is all very simplified, of course. So take a breath, don't panic."

[vaultless]

At least with them hoovering a bit more steadily in the air, Lucy relaxes her tight grip on Donnie's neck. Oh, she is not letting go, not any time soon. But at least Donnie is at a lower risk of getting accidentally choked.

"Flying is... harder than it looks."

Lucy should've stayed on the ground. Correction, she should've stayed under the ground. Oh sweet dependable Vault, how she misses you.

[purplexing]

That's an improvement. She's still way too much in his personal space, but Donnie's not going to just let her plummet.

"I think it's a matter of not thinking too hard about it. I mean, birds push their young out of the nest so they're more or less forced to fly. Pretty effective what you learn when you've only got very specific choices in front of you."

He beats his own wings steadily.

"Can you at least unwrap your arms because this is very uncomfortable. Compromise: I will hold your hands."

[vaultless]

Does Lucy want to unwrap her arms? Absolutely not. Will she? Reluctantly, yes. She has been raised to be A Good Person, and good people do not force themselves on others, even in an innocent context like this.

Of course, now comes the part where she actually lets go.

"O-okay. Here goes." Lucy squeezes her eyes shut --maybe it is less scary that way-- before unwrapping one arm from another Donatello's neck, blindly groping for one of his hands. The other arm will come off as soon as she has a good grip on his hand, she promises!

[purplexing]

Donnie meets her half-way, although with her blindly seeking out his hand it makes him have to do more work to catch it.

"I promise I won't let you fall," he says, hoping that'll make her stop moving around so much. He gives that hand a squeeze in reassurance. "Also, I have been flying even before I got wings here, so I am pretty much a pro."

[vaultless]

Lucy clutches his hand, before slowly unwrapping her arm from around his neck to seek out his other hand. His comment though has her opening one eye just a bit, so she can squint at him. She's always been a bit too curious for her own good, but then, it might help keep her mind off being so high up in the air.

"How did you fly without wings?"

[purplexing]

"My battle shell. Back home I wear one to protect my usual one since I don't have a hard one like my brothers." He grins. "I've equipped it with a pair of rotors. I've made other versions, and one is literally a jet pack."

There we go. Of course, since Lucy isn't being supported by hanging onto him, she will dip a bit, but Donnie's still hanging on.

"Try holding your wings steady. I'll stir up the winds so it'll help keep you aloft," he says, to try getting her level with him.

[vaultless]

At that first dip, Lucy lets out a little yelp, squeezing her eyes shut again. Her hands go tight on Donnie's hand, and for a moment her wings just flap wildly, before she tries to hold them steady like instructed.

"Please talk more about your battle shell." Anything to distract her. And to prompt him-- "I thought all turtles had hard shells."

Not that Lucy knows much about turtles. Do they even still exist? Probably not, probably all got eaten by Mirelurks.

[purplexing]

"Oh no, there's different variations of hard and soft-shelled species!" Honestly, it doesn't take much to prompt Donnie into info-dump mode.

"My brothers are all variations of hardshell types; my eldest brother is an alligator snapping turtle, and my brother Leo is a red-eared slider, and Mikey, the youngest, is a box shell. I'm a spiny softshell."

Having a soft shell allows him to do a lot of things his brothers can't. He definitely has more flexibility. It's just easier for him to get more banged up or something than them, which has made his brothers overprotective at times. Perhaps a bit of that is what rubbed off on him. He didn't want to be hovered over all the time.

"My battle shell is state of the art! All designed and built by yours truly, of course. Previous iterations include a the aforementioned jetpack, an earlier, four-rotor model, and my spider-shell, which had four extending limbs to help scale walls and such."

[vaultless]

Thank god for info-dumps. Lucy is generally curious enough that she likes listening to people talk about subjects she is unfamiliar with, but right now, it serves the extra purpose of keeping her mind off the fact that she is in mid air.

Bit by bit, her grip on Donnie's hands relaxes and without her mind interfering, her wings start behaving on instinct, opening wide to keep her hoovering in the air.

"I never knew that about turtles. There are no animals in the Vault. It's not resource-efficient." When you already need to make choices about which American citizens to house, you can't just waste spots on companion animals. Just don't ask where the meat they eat comes from. "Why did you make a spider-shell? If you had a jetpack version already, wouldn't that give you enough aerial mobility already? Or did the spider-shell come first?"

[purplexing]

"I guess it's not really common knowledge unless you had at least some passing interest in reptiles to look it up," Donnie says. He glances behind her briefly, smiling to himself. Maybe he can start letting them descend now. It just takes a slight slowing of the beat of his own wings, the winds that he stirs really like the mildest of dust devils, generating just enough wind to keep them from outright plummeting.

"Options! At the time, I hadn't worked out how to condense designs into one- more equipment means more weight, and even if I'm using titanium, it's still something I have to carry on my back. My most current battle shell has both a rotor system and a pair of extendable limbs, as well as built in lights."

[vaultless]

"I hope this won't come across as rude but... how old are you?" Because it sounds like he has been working on his various battle shells for a while. And Lucy knows he also built the Tank, and who knows what else he hasn't mentioned yet. Yet, at the same time, he sounds pretty young. It's really hard for her to get a bead on where to place him in her mental age line of the people she knows.

[purplexing]

"Sixt-" Donnie starts before catching himself. His lips twist thoughtfully before he resumes.

"Actually probably seventeen by now."

It's always a sobering thought to realize how long he's been here.

[vaultless]

"S-seventeen?!" Now Lucy's eyes pop open, staring at Donatello in total shock. Not that Lucy is that much older --just a handful of years, really-- but that is an incredible list of accomplishments at that age. In her Vault, they've barely taken the G.O.A.T. by that time, only just getting started on whatever specific training they need for their occupations.

"How did you learn to do all of that? Did your dad teach you?"

[purplexing]

Donnie laughs at the thought of Splinter trying to fix anything. Actually, it's kind of a sad thought given how he very well knows it would probably left in a worse state than it began.

"Oh no, entirely self-taught," he says. "I basically became my family's personal handyman since I was the only one who ever figured out how to fix anything, and since we live in the sewers it's not like you can just call someone down to fix the power or the plumbing."

[vaultless]

Lucy's mind immediately jumps to the mental image of a teeny-tiny Donatello --she has no idea how turtles, especially mutant ones, mature, so she's really just picturing him as is, but shrunk down-- lugging around a wrench as big as he is to fix something. The mental image is distressingly adorable.

"That's really incredible. I did a ton of science experiments growing up, but that was always with my dad guiding me. And I never became as good as he was." She had other things she was good at though, like not being a complete asshole of a person. "Your dad must be so proud of you."

[purplexing]

He supposes he should give his dad some credit. Splinter had been pretty encouraging early on, and be it out of negligence or not, he had determined his son was intelligent for his age enough to not get too hurt using power tools. Not that there weren't instances, because children are still children, but if anything, Donnie still learned.

Of course, having a mostly hands-off father meant Donnie got away with a lot more than he probably should have, simply by not being told 'no', it's not good to make your brother a shock collar or boost their intelligence because you think they're all stupid.

Donnie flushes a bit, glancing away with a shy smile. He always craved to hear his dad say that he was proud of him, and absolutely treasured every single time when Splinter finally did. It also stirs that ever-present homesickness that only ever settles every now and then, pretending it isn't there.

"That sounds cool. Wish my dad did science experiments with me, but he really isn't much of a science guy..."

[vaultless]

The shy little smile makes Lucy want to audibly 'aww'. She doesn't, because she knows teenagers are sensitive creatures and she is clearly the mature adult here. But lets just say that if anyone every asks, she'll add it to her list of good things to say about Donatello.

"Well, I'm not as good as my dad, but if you ever need a helper for a science experiment, I'm your woman."

And under Lucy's supervision, there will definitely not be any more shock collars or intelligence-boosting headgear, even if she does understand that little brothers (or older brothers. Or pseudo-twins) can sometimes really really make you want to implement such things.

[purplexing]

It's fine, he got over that phase. Now he'll just try to murder anyone who messes with his family. Progress!

Donnie smiles at that offer though. "Well, if the opportunity ever comes up, I'll be sure to come to you first," he promises. "And voilà, we're back on the ground!"

[vaultless]

Lucy lets out a relieved laugh when they are back on the ground. Sweet, sweet earth. She will never abandon you again.

(She will probably abandon it again in a little while to practise more)

"Oh thank goodness. I'd hug you, but I think we've already established that's a no."

[purplexing]

"To be fair, the first time was closer to a throttle and a tackle than an actual hug," Donnie points out. He smiles crookedly.

"When birds fly, they aren't creating their own force when they beat their wings. The wings are stirring the air, spinning it, actually, which is what ultimately causes lift, allowing them to glide. So flapping fast does not really help for stability. You were essentially just creating way too many contradicting directions."