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?  ...
...........
................
:)
|
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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no subject
"Are they not keeping to their word here?
What exactly was the word?
Is BARE the acronym for your affiliation?" ]
no subject
They are overdue.
1.2
2.2
The sign flips around:
"—Are the alters their way of payment?
Or is it something else?
Maybe we could help if we understood."
ok but do you wanna help these sketchy people, Eli? ]
no subject
Those are not ours. We do not care. Where you are. What is there. That planet. Do not care.
We charge compensation. We charge currency. CERES is overdue. Bring CERES to us.
no subject
Elizabeth and Katsura glance at each other, and finally Zura puts his mask directly over his face too. Fucking aliens and their weird customs.
Zura chimes in: ]
If you're looking for Julius-san, the former CEO, to our knowledge he's dead.
Is he the one that made an agreement with you?
[ Elizabeth lifts a sign with an arrow on it:
"What he said." ]
no subject
Contracts are not broken by death. Who is left?
no subject
A sign lifts:
"They could be hearing us now—
Why should we jeopardize ourselves for you?"
You haven't given them any reason to trust you. ]
Snitching can have serious consequences, Face-dono.
Whatever payment you are trying to receive, you haven't told us if it is by money or by blood.
[ Sometimes when something is "overdue," the consequences can be disastrous depending on the context.
Was he actually trying to defend CERES? After all this time of wanting to rebel and fight against them?
Don't tell Mosley. ]
no subject
Do not care. Do not need you. CERES cannot escape us forever.
Conversation is over then.
no subject
He's expecting the feed to end, but he's curious: ]
How much do they owe you?
Ah, a lemonade stand is good way to raise money. I am notorious for my lemonade making. [ ??? ]
[ he'll set up a lemonade stand to help out if that makes you happy and will stop you from being creepy. ]
no subject
A placard appears for Zura this time:
"They don't need us, so they'll miss out—
It must be a lot of money if they want to just speak with CERES."
No non-sense Eli, thank you. ]
no subject
A lot of worlds.
1.2
—Our worlds? Do you mean our worlds that were destroyed?
[ that he doesn't believe were destroyed but now you're saying shit like this and — ?? ]
You mean to tell me that you're .. —
2.2
Fear not, I sympathize with you! If you have had your worlds snatched from you by this company, we can understand!
[ One last hit from Elizabeth, this time it practically sends Zura out of his wheelchair.
Eli gets it. He knows what is going on— and he doesn't want to be a part of it.
A placard appears, though the writing looks rushed (how does he even do this anyway?)
"What happens if they don't pay you back?"
Because maybe it's about time for them both to think outside of the box as they stay here. ]
no subject
They will be treacherous. They will be betrayers. They will be contract breakers. Maskbreakers.
Maskbreakers are put to death.
no subject
It's a good thing he didn't put his mask in the microwave like he wanted to when he first got it. It was set to the POPCORN setting and everything. ]
Ah, yes. We have been taking good care of our masks— we have. Both of us. We love them. Masks are the greatest. I have even made a little bed for mine to rest in when I am not wearing it. A soft bed with many duck feathers where it is safe and will never break. I wear it so much.
[ he doesn't. ]
Ah, such a cute mask.
[ ok then.
"CERES has broken their masks before?" ]
no subject
CERES has not.
If CERES does.
We will make them pay.
:)
no subject
So, he inquiries further: ]
—If we decided to assist you, what kind of benefits would we have? You are looking for CERES, but not Julius-san. You want to know the names of those you should be looking for.
Would there be a way to go back home from where we came if we were to help?
[ or is it really long gone because of you guys? ]
no subject
Your price tag means you are theirs.
You will share their fate.
If CERES does not pay.
no subject
I don't want to be theirs.
I never have wanted to.
no subject
[ To Elizabeth, on the other hand: ]
Do not get involved in our contract. We always complete our contract.
no subject
[ —is the only sound that escapes him before Elizabeth covers his mouth with his flipper. The only thing Katsura can ever remember doing well is being against CERES since he got here. He's insulted you'd say something like this; never mind the fact he's halfway defending them right now.
The last part is a bit spooky. Elizabeth will get involved if it means that people he cares about are going to get a penalty for CERES' failure.
Though, he remains stoic and polite:
"I won't—
It is your business."
What a liar.
This masked person isn't willing to help them; so they won't be willing to help this mask person.
The sign flips around, though:
"Until it is my business, too."]
no subject
Understandable.
[A considering pause from the masked alien, and then: ]
Good luck. :)
[ And then the transmission cuts, and cannot be reestablished. ]