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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no subject
Ahaha, for you to carry me to Haru himself… I might wind up injured on purpose, just to see that.
[ he’s kidding about getting injured! maybe… maybe. he doesn’t have too much time to look thoughtful, though, as a tug from her has him looking back — and oh.
even with an enemy on their heels, tsurumaru’s not the kind of sword to take it too seriously — at least, on the surface, and he immediately mouths back a ‘keep running!!!’, tacking on a quick wink afterwards.
but as they pass one of the many crumbling buildings, he dashes behind it, suddenly yanking her alongside him, using the building’s shadow as a temporary hiding space.
with luck, they might’ve managed to trick one of the monsters? but there are still two more… ]
no subject
[Still, he’s her only option right now and being a tsukumogami must mean he’s not too shabby in battle, so she follows him into the shadows, quiet as a mouse… The one they managed to trick trundles off to kill other punks, but the two that stick around get nearer, and nearer… Okuni darts a quick look around, then grabs a piece of rubble big enough that she needs both hands to hold it and then –
hurls it away in the opposite direction like a discus, so that it makes a muffled, but loud thud far off into the distance. Immediately, the second speeds off to follow the sound, leaving… ONE]
[Okuni then slides a finger across her neck in the universal silent gesture of ‘ARE YOU GONNA KILL IT’ all while looking expectantly at Tsurumaru with her big ole eyes… WHAT NOW]
no subject
that does leave one more, and now, it looks like it's his turn.
he mimics the gesture of sliding his finger across his own neck, signaling back 'YES, I'M GONNA KILL IT'. and then, he presses his index finger against his lips, as if to say 'stay put, so that a fourth monster doesn't come after us', but whether
punk #2okuni will actually listen to him or not has yet to be determined...instead of heading immediately towards it, however, he'll scale the side of the dilapidated building that they're hiding behind — while using the worn down, broken parts as footholds, because while tsukumogami are capable of many things, just floating up the sides of buildings isn't one of them. it's clear that he's reached what remains of the top of the building soon enough, though, and he peers over it cautiously, waiting for the monster to amble over a little closer, and then —
— he jumps off, blade held downwards with both of his hands, and when he lands neatly on its shoulder, his sword sinks into the back of its neck at the same time.
ah.... but the monster is kind of big and kind of tall, so while it's dying......... he might....... be falling with it........ ]
1/2
[WAIT A SECOND........]
2/2
[She doesn't actually tear her way up to the top of that building to jump off after him because THAT WOULD BE DUMB, instead she shimmies up just until she's level with the falling monster and Tsurumaru... And reaches out to grab Tsurumaru by the ankle before he can become a nasty streak on the pavement below --]
[She almost pitches off the ledge after him, but manages to hold on to the wall and to Tsurumaru... that is, unless he can't yank his sword out from the monster in time then THEY'RE BOTH PROBABLY GOING TO FALL OFF]
The sword -- !!
no subject
but he's thankful for her timing — when she reaches out to grab his ankle, she's successful, even if it results in him sort of dangling there in the air...
with some quick thinking and effort, he manages to yank his sword free from the monster with his other hand, holding onto it determinedly as if it were some kind of lifeline... well, it is his lifeline, it is him, so he'd probably rather die than let it go in the first place. regardless, he has his blade, so they're okay now!! ]
Got it — !
[ slowly, he'll watch the monster topples over once it crashes to the ground, falling into pieces of rubble, and yikes, that might have been him, had she not grabbed him in time.
he's still kind of dangling there, so once it doesn't seem as if the monster will move anymore, he looks back up at her, with a sheepish smile. ]
Mind letting me back up?
no subject
[with more strength than might be expected, she hauls him up relatively easily -- grumbling all the way though. Once he's on SECURE GROUND ONCE MORE, she lets him go and looks him over.]
Would you have gotten hurt if I hadn't caught you? [She sounds a little put-out here... probably because she acted like a Decent Human Being in that last second]
no subject
but he mulls over that question for a bit, looking up towards the roof of the shabby building, then back at the ground, then back at his sword. ]
Probably not... at least, not too badly. I mean, if you took a sword and just dropped it from that height — it'd end up kind of bruised, but it certainly wouldn't break.
[ her decent human being efforts were in vain...... kind of? they half-paid off! ]