You're probably woken up by the explosion first. A loud, deafening boom comes from behind the walls of the residential district. When you look outside your window towards the darker, more secretive area of the city, you might see the structure around it... crumbling, the land falling in on itself slowly but surely. That might be what wakes you up first. If it doesn't, you may be awoken instead by the sudden jerking feeling behind your navel pulling you from where you are to somewhere... else.
It's dark. The first thing you notice is that it's dark -- and then come the scrabbling sounds of creatures in the dark, like metal being dragged across metal, a chilling, sharp sound. The first thing that becomes clear, as your vision adjusts, is that you're on a rickety pathway, metal and rusting and frail, above what appears to be yawning blackness. Far, far below, there's the faint sound of rushing water, a ways away.
The second thing that becomes clear is that you are very much not alone. Something is out there with you, and from the screeching metallic noises that come ever closer, it seems to be stalking you.
Thankfully, you're not alone -- right?  ...
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PHASE I [ ??? ] It’s drafty here. You’re below ground, that’s for certain from the echoes of the wind in the darkness. If you continue on forwards along the rickety, metal railing that serves as a walkway, the skittering noises of creatures in the dark follow -- but they don’t appear.
It seems everyone has been dumped along this pathway at random; you may be with friends, with enemies or with someone you’ve never met before, but either way, it soon becomes clear. There are only two ways to go along this path: up or down.
If you choose to take the path that follows a gradual slope down, the sounds of water lapping against a surface increase bit by bit, the air growing heavier and danker, until finally, the metallic platform gives way very suddenly (watch your step!) to a muddy bank. Down here, everything is darker, and not far away there’s the water. It’s cold and frigid and there are unfriendly creatures that await if you choose to delve into it. However, if you brave those creatures, and dive deeply enough, there is a mask. It rests half-buried by silt and rocks, but it’s there, and can be found by any intrepid explorers.
Somehow, it feels a little familiar.
And if you carry on in the cave system underground, eventually you will come across what appears to be an altar. There is blood on it -- not fresh, but not more than a month old -- and pieces of trinkets. Old bits of cloth, locks of hair, and some of them may even be familiar. Any dropped character who has a reasonably large amount of spiritual or magical power may have left scraps, such as pieces of clothing, trinkets, hair, or the sort behind at the altar.
Maybe that's why they weren't in the Nexus Code.
PHASE II [ ??? ] If you go up, you will eventually make your way above ground. It takes some time, and some luck -- you’ll have to avoid rusty railing and pathways, the path crumbling under you and that creeping sensation that something is following and watching you -- and then you’ll suddenly be in fresh air.
Well. It’s not so fresh, really.
The landscape is broken down and crumbled. It may have once been part of the city of Cerealia, but now it is in utter disrepair and decay. Buildings have crumbled, and debris is everywhere. There are signs of the same level of technology that Cerealia has -- but it is all broken down and utterly inaccessible.
And you’re not alone.
It seems the technology and metal and broken down destruction has gained sentience over its time sitting alone, waiting. And it is not happy to be disturbed. The creatures are made of pieces of everything around them, and when cut down, they’ll just slowly rebuild themselves from the debris.
It might be time to run.
They aren't happy about being disturbed, and you're in their way.
PHASE III [ ??? ] Above ground, there are a lot of broken down buildings.
Some can’t be accessed at all; some are too broken, too reduced to rubble. For those looking for shelter, they'll be able to find buildings where the doors can be forced open and they can camp out on the inside to various degrees of stability. Though the ceiling may cave in or the floor fall out from under you at a moment's notice, it's better than being out there. Be careful, because none of the architecture here can be trusted anymore.
And other buildings... are even less trustworthy than that.
There is a series of buildings in the midst of the wasteland, somehow still standing. They stand there silently, towering over the rest of the rubble in their two-story glory, and if the doors are forced open, it soon becomes clear that the building itself is full of mirrors.
Once, the mirrors had perhaps covered the walls and ceiling. Once, this building might have been akin to something of a ballet studio, somewhere to express yourself creatively. But now the mirrors are shattered and broken into pieces and the building lacks the joy it might have once held. Shards of mirror cover the floor, some big, some not so big, but they still hang from the walls as well and everywhere you look, you can see yourself.
And then, the reflection changes. From one blink to the next, you see a memory playing in the mirrors. Your memory. You’ll see a glimpse of one of your most traumatic or life-changing moments, broken up but clear in the shards. Blink and look away, and it’s gone, only to show up again in the next mirror a few moments later. Surely it’s just a trick of the light, right?
Except if someone else is with you, they’ll see it too -- and you might end up seeing a bit of their own past as well. Hope you're fond of sharing.
PHASE IV [ ??? ] If you survive the monsters, the crumbling landscape and the untrustworthy buildings, you may eventually find a terminal. It is buried deep among the rubble. One turn around a corner, one stumble into a hole, and you will find it. It sits there, out in the middle of nowhere; the building in which it used to be housed is apparently long gone, reduced to nothing but rubble.
And if you turn it on, there is a brief message.
Transmission Broadcasting.
Transmission Connected.
And then, there is a face.
BONUS [ ??? ] For those who have been wearing their masks a little too much, they might also start to notice that there are some strange effects attached, which worsen the more they’ve been wearing said masks. How badly they worsen is up to your discretion.
➝ Broken Mask: An intense feeling of paranoia, focused on whoever your character is with. They might also begin to remember fabricated memories of being betrayed by those people.
➝ Barcode Mask: Everything will begin to have value to them. There will be whispers in the back of their mind of the worth of their friends, the worth of a monster, the worth of everything around them. An intense need to own and consume as much as possible and as quickly as possible.
➝ Dripping Blood Mask: An intense lack of self-worth, a hollow feeling and thoughts of being weak and empty. Feeling as disposable as possible and an intense listless along with it.
➝ :( Mask: A need to prove yourself, to show everyone how strong you are as quickly as possible. You can do things, you can be of worth to everyone around you. Why won't they see that? Why?
➝ Ivy Mask: A choking sort of terror from all things metal and technology based, and a need to lash out against it. An intense distrust for anything that they feel is against the laws of nature.
➝ Grey Mask: More personable than normal, more emotional, more empathetic. An intense feeling of kindness and gratitude to those around you and a renewed love of life.
➝ Feather Mask: A dulled, lack of emotion. A detached feeling to everything around you. A sort of bland curiosity towards things without any empathetic reaction.
➝ Bloody Fingerprints Mask: They'll feel absolutely fine. No change.
The effects of the broken mask can stack on top of the others, if they chose to break their mask after the other effects began to appear. No other effects can be stacked, as no other changes can be stacked.
PENALTY [ ??? ] For characters who die while in the dark parts of the city, things will get... a little strange. They will die as normal, but they will wake up almost immediately after their death -- in the Nexus Code. They will have a few surreal moments to be there, to see their friends who have left Cerealia hanging lifelessly from odd, glimmering strands (though there are some faces, of course, that are missing, anyone who was spiritual, or magical, seems strangely absent) and then --
They’re back to being dead.
When characters revive in Cerealia, anywhere from one IC day to three or four IC days later, they will find that things are… not quite right with their code. They’re glitching, for a lack of a better word. Sometimes, their fingers will phase right through an object, their own limbs registering as cold and lifeless. Sometimes, they will see a face watching them -- but when they turn around to try to see who it is, the face will be gone.
These effects will last an IC week, before slowly things go back to normal.
That was strange.
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
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Freddie Cavanaugh | open
[Freddie has been trying to find a place to stay, something to eat or drink, anything. While he has some good survival instincts, this setting is completely unforgiving, and like everyone else, he was brought here unprepared. He doesn't even have shoes, just his pajamas, which are pretty torn at this point. Of course, his mask is with him, shoved as best as he can manage into the small pockets on his pajama pants.
He can't venture far into this building, too afraid of stepping on glass shards. His feet have already taken a lot of abuse in his time down here. But you can catch him just as he was about to leave. He stops, seeing something catching his eye in the mirrors. The image of a monster, a spiky grey-green terror with a long neck and many teeth, flashes in the shards. Behind is the smoking rubble of a desert city, and chaos in its path.
Freddie shakes his head, and backs away slowly from the room. That was just his tired mind playing tricks on him, right?]
[Phase II]
[If you happen to be making your way through the debris, not paying attention, a hand will reach out and grab you, pulling you awkwardly into a small crevice in a dilapidated building. A terrified, bedraggled teenager in a set of pajamas doesn't say anything; he holds up a finger to his mouth in a shushing motion. Be quiet, or else one of those scrap creatures that has been stalking Freddie might find you both. It can't be seen from where they're hiding, but the scraping of metal and clatter of debris gets closer and closer as it tries to dig them out of hiding.]
PHASE III.
coming upon this post-apocalyptic looking area, it's not any worse than zero's seen before. even with the monsters.
zero is at a distance, but sees a stranger even from there. they raise a hand briefly in greeting before walking—quite quickly—over.
if there's a time to run, it's now. ]
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He waves back cautiously.]
Um, hey.
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Are you lost?
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[He holds out his arms for a moment, indicating his clothes.]
I've been looking for... anything. Any other people, a way out, something to eat, a way to hide from those monsters. A lotta things, I guess.
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ii
... Wonderful, scrap creature stalkers... ]
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Staying quiet will be the hard part. There's not so much trash here as chunks of brick and building material to crawl over, but it is dark. Freddie, for his part, is actually surprisingly good at moving quietly.
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That thing chanced me down, and I only barely managed to get past it. Whatever it is.
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II
A hole in the wall. As far as hiding places go, this is basically the same as a fortified castle. Good choice.
[The person he's pulled rolls her eyes extravagantly as she examines their surroundings and completely ignores his command to be quiet.]
How did you people ever make it past the Stone Age again?
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The greatest irony of the modern world is that the species at the top of the food chain is worse at defending itself than a field mouse.
Are you really just going to sit here until it goes away?
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Wh-- Look, I was trying to help you, so don't give me a lecture on human nature right now. I don't have any choice but to hide! It came after me, and I only barely managed to get away the first time.
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II
[Really, what was there to be afraid of? Okay, some people didn't have cool powers that could be used to defend themselves. Archer was fairly cavelier about it, not exactly afraid of rebuilding scrap. He'd faced much worse in his life and just shook his head at people thinking this much was frightening.]
Don't tell me you're worried.
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Of course I am! That thing was chasing me a minute ago, trying to kill me. I was trying to help you before it caught you too!
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[He could do stealthy when he wanted but it really wasn't the time for him.]
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phase ii
Running, she wasn't watching where she was going at all and the hand on her arm has her trying to turn in the awkward, small space only to see him holding a finger up to his mouth as the creature clanks up to where they're hiding. She plants one hand on the wall, holding herself almost imperceptibly in front of Freddie for what little good it would do.]
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We need to hurry. There might be somewhere to hide in here. I hope.
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I think...that rather than hiding, it would be best to go through here and see if we can lose it. I do not think we should stay on the chance that it may not find us.
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2
There. Sounds like one of those metal monster things is getting closer, and unfortunately, Cerberus hears it too. Nico can feel the fur start to rise up on his dog, and he knows the canine is going to start growling at any second. They really need to get out of here if they want to avoid fighting it.
Nico quickly gets to his feet, holding out a hand to Freddie as he looks around for the nearest shadow at the same time Cerberus lets out a small warning growl.] Trust me. [Nico says the words quietly but quickly.] I can get us out of here fast but you have to trust me right now.
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It might help if you held your breath.
[And that's the only warning he gives before he steps them into the shadow. For a moment, there's just the feeling of whooshing through cold dark nothingness, then seconds later, Nico's stepping them out into a different area.]
Are you okay...? [He spares Freddie a quick glance to make sure he's in one piece before he starts scanning around to make sure he's brought them to a safe area.]
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phase 2
[Oh, the universal sign for shut the heckeroni up. Which is indicative of a dangerous situation. Why has he been dragged into a dangerous situation?! He only reason he's compliant in not flipping his shit is because the perpetrator is easily identified as Freddie, and...
And he's obviously in a pickle.
With his evoker at his side, he's not overly concerned with the machinecreatures guarding the area (or doing whatever it is that they're doing). Freddie's gonna get a slight punch to his side, but nothing that should really hurt.]
Pain in the ass.
[He murmurs, and retrieves that gun from his side. There's some hesitation in the gesture, but there aren't many ways around it. He's not one to stammer over the motion itself, but Castor...
Castor's a questionable guy.]
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I was trying to keep you from getting caught! That thing came after me and I just barely managed to get away.
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I would've noticed them by then.
[Nevermind any word of thanks. He does offer the guy a lingering stare, as if to make sure he's not been injured. He looks well enough, probably fine if he's fussing himself with other people's health.]
Is there somethin' under there, or is that what they look like? Pieces of junk all smashed together, it'll be easy takin' them out.
[Just buying himself time, uncharacteristically so. And he's definitely encountered stupider-looking monsters in the past. This should be a piece of cake.]
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