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

IV

[bufudine]

Serph recognises Max at a distance but doesn't immediately approach, gaze observing the environment shown in the aether streams. He doesn't recognise the scene as particularly ordinary; if anything, it looks so extraordinarily peaceful to him. A beautiful world, though the presence of soldiers signals to Serph that the world isn't always so.

It isn't safe to be too caught up in the visions and memories this world shows them, particularly when you're alone. This world is still with monsters that are more than capable of attacking unsuspecting prey.

So he approaches, his footsteps audible to mark his presence before he calls, "Max. Don't get drawn in."

For once, Serph's appearance since arriving in this new environment hasn't changed. All six of his large, feathered wings billow behind him, hair and eyes emanating with the same light as the aether streams.

[stolenvalour]

Max recognises the voice, but when he turns to look, Serph is very much not a fox. He blinks, taking in the human form, the wings, the bright eyes and hair. He's not as familiar with ancient art as Lucy, but Serph suddenly reminds him of a figure his mother used to put on top of the tree at the end of the year.

In the aether, unnoticed by Max, a scraggly little tree with an angel figurine on top of it ripples in and out of existence.

"You have wings too. When you're not a fox." Serph probably told him that before, but Max is a little awestruck actually seeing them.

[bufudine]

Serph did indeed say that. He even described himself as looking like a Biblical angel. He stretches them out to their full, glorious size, almost as if to silently say, Yes, I very much do have wings glad you noticed, before folding them back up with a nod.

"Distraction is dangerous when alone here." His unemotional tone flags his words as more of a reminder to keep eyes and ears alert for danger than a reprimand. He gestures to the aetherstreams. "Is this your world?"

[stolenvalour]

Max doesn't do it deliberately. For all the dick waving contests that happen within the Brotherhood--and lord, there are many--he tries to not engage in such behaviour. But when Serph spreads his (much bigger, much flashier and angelic) wings, Max's own lift off his shoulders and fan out too. They are significantly smaller than Serph's set, and are patterned like pigeon wings instead of whatever bird of prey has bright orange bands.

Show-off.

Max glances back at the aether. It's still showing Shady Sands, but it's starting to fade out and become more distant. "It was. That town hasn't been there for about thirteen years now."

[bufudine]

Luckily, to Serph all creatures are a new and intriguing novelty, the pigeon patterning are marvellous and fascinating as any other bird's wings.

Serph's expression softens in sympathy. "I see."

Thirteen years... nearly twice his own lifetime. Losing the Junkyard one year ago is a pain that hasn't left.

"Was it your home?"

[stolenvalour]

Since Serph isn't flapping or otherwise trying to dick-wave at him, Max's wings fold back down over his shoulders. Harrumph. They might not be as pretty, but he can move like a vertibird, so that's worthwhile in and of itself.

"Yeah. It was called Shady Sands." Max sighed. "It got bombed."

The aether solidifies, showing the deep crater where a bustling town used to be.

"There weren't a lot of survivors."

[bufudine]

Serph gaze lifts to see the crater, expression unchanging despite the surge of empathy welling in his chest.

"...It's painful losing your home."

If Max will allow it, Serph reaches for his shoulder to grasp it in solidarity. It hadn't been so difficult to leave Muladhara, despite it being the base that held the most memories. It was a necessary sacrifice to keep Sera safe. But not all the Tribe were willing to leave, and remained to defend what had become their home.

It was different, seeing the Junkyard destroyed.

"And losing your comrades."

[stolenvalour]

"Yeah." Max wasn't expecting the hand on his shoulder, but he appreciates it all the same. He glances over at Serph, and when he does, the aether starts to tatter and dissipate.

"It happened to you, too?"

[bufudine]

Serph nods, letting go and giving Max back his space. "Just over a year ago."

For Heat the Junkyard's destruction is more recent. But as far as their short life experiences go, it's already been an age passed.

"I sought a better place than what we had." The aether lights up with a new vision. A beach with a beautiful sky and tall palm trees. There's a mansion in the distance and many people with hair of unnatural colours on the beach. Serph doesn't know what a swimsuit is, so the aetherstream shows them dressed in the same, strange grey armour that Serph had started his time in Revan with. "We ended up with neither."

[stolenvalour]

Max is fascinated by the image the aether shows. He's never seen anything like it, but there's something about it that appeals on a base level. He wants to see somewhere like that, to live on those soft sands and play in that water that very much does not appear radioactive.

He doesn't know what a swimsuit is either, so the clothing choices don't raise a single question.

"Do places like that actually exist?"

Not where he's from, certainly, but if Serph knows about them, then maybe somewhere?

[bufudine]

He wonders about that...

"I've been searching for a place like that all my existence."

A dream. Maybe this sort of environment exists somewhere in a world. But for his vision to be true, it isn't just sand and sea that needed to exist. He's discarded his dream in favour of seeking a reality where his comrades can live a better life.

He can't quite keep the longing out of his voice though; it's hard to fully let go of something he's chased for years.

"We passed by other..." Serph frowns as he tries to find a word that could accurately encapsulate the way his heart would soar upon seeing the environment every time they changed location. The novelty hasn't yet grown old for him. "...pretty locations in our journey."

[stolenvalour]

"Yeah. I can see why." Places like that had to have existed somewhere, right? Maybe not anymore, and maybe not in Revan, but somewhere. "It looks... peaceful."

There's a hint of longing in Max's voice too.

"I've seen trees like that before. They used to grow in California." Some still do, although they're not lush and healthy like the ones in Serph's vision. "And there's water there too, but it's not that colour. Maybe it used to be, though."

He turns when Serph mentions other places they've passed through. "Why didn't you stay there?"

[bufudine]

Something about the name California pings in the back of Serph's mind for some reason. He's never heard of California and yet it sounds familiar. Another mystery.

Serph turns to gesture at the Convoy; the pretty places he's seen have all been in Revan. "We go where the Convoy goes."

The thought of staying in one of the places without following the Convoy never occurred to him; he couldn't not follow a road (or rather, the lack of one) that held Nirvana as its destination. It was unlikely to be the Nirvana he desires, but what if.

Besides, "The travelling is...nice." Before, having a base would have been his preference. But after Jack put the question to him, about whether he would be happy continuing to live like this travelling with his comrades, he realised that having a mobile base is a truly wondrous thing. "There's nothing like this in my original worlds."

There's still so much to see.

[stolenvalour]

Max nods; he understands Serph's meaning. The idea of striking out on their own hasn't really occurred to him either. There's safety in numbers, and everyone in the convoy has more or less left him and Lucy alone. It's nice, having both protection and freedom, and he doesn't want to jeopardise either.

"Nothing like this where I'm from, either." Max glances back at the aether, which is still holding Serph's vision. "Things here are... pretty. There isn't very much that's pretty back home."

There is Lucy! Aaaaaand that's basically it.