Priority Log - Part 1

[locomodo]

Log 02 Priority (Part I)
The Mine Car

As characters enter the car, their phones will notify them of a new message…

> ▮▮▮▮▮▯▮▮
> ▮▮*
> OVERRIDE: TUTORIAL MODE DEACTIVATED.
> OBJECTIVE:

>

NAME: The Mine Car
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT: Gothic era
DANGER LEVEL: High
GENERAL STINKINESS: High
COMMON DENIZENS: Humans, ornithrops, bearkin
CUISINE: Peasant gruel, bird seed

There is no sender. Or objective?

But that's fine, probably! The car itself is completely functional, and features a fully developed society.

Passengers will arrive in this car and be immediately greeted by a fog that chills them to their core. The car around them is vast, and yet deathly silent. They'll find themselves starting off in a forest of petrified wood, the ground hard and unyielding underneath their feet, with flora and fauna in various stages of decay around them. While the fog around them is thick, the lights of a nearby village can still be seen from a distance, and as they travel, the dirt road will give way to cobblestone.

Eventually they'll be greeted with a signpost, welcoming them to the town of MINECRAFTIA.




While Minecraftia's denizens are harrowed and distressed, they're quick to warn the passengers traveling through of the ailment, a mysterious illness that is plaguing their town. It's been leaving even healthy youths bedridden, and while the town mayor has passionately declared that he will find a solution, it appears that there's no cure in sight.

Locations

Minecraftia is a foreboding little town, even in the daylight, with murky skies above and fog blanketing the roads. Still, the denizens persist through their daily routines, and won't stop the passengers from exploring.

Clinic: The town's only clinic with the town's only doctor. It's a small, rickety building that operates all hours of the day. Between the rapid spread of sickness and the steady depletion of supplies, it's a grim place to be nowadays. Anyone healthy who visits might be roped in to help, and those who look ill will be quarantined with an uncomfortable bedroll and thin blanket.

Cemetery: Located on the outskirts of town, the cemetery is home to dead bodies, even deader earth, and a deadpan gravekeeper. The exit door is here in a flower-covered plot, but cannot be opened.

Chicken House: A barnyard building home to the town's chickens. Lately they've been more worked up than usual, and taken to flying the coop and finding refuge by digging their claws into the scalps of bystanders. Agitating one chicken may cause a whole flock to descend on you!

The Dark Woods: The village is surrounded by what was once lush woods, but the trees now stand dark and eerie, an unusually thick fog rolling between them. While there are some of the usual, woodland creatures chirruping in the dense silence, they're hard to find. Monsters, meanwhile, are much more common.

The Mines: In the heart of the woods are entrances to the town's expansive system of mines. Stepping inside shows that the dirt and stone is laced with beautiful gems and minerals, but passengers will be shooed away by miners if they try to explore any deeper. It seems there's several dangerous mine shafts underfoot, as well as past attacks by what seems to be mole monsters.

Mayor's Mansion: The largest building in Minecraftia, situated on a hill. While Mayor Chadsef's staff welcomes guests, they will be cautioned not to explore past the lobby, which just smells a little like cleaning chemicals thanks to a diligent maid crew.

Denizens

Players may use denizens as convenient in threads, as well as these NPCs, except for the Mayor. He's a very busy man!

Madam Vermeer: The Madam is a human extremely afraid that she'll die before seeing her son marry. Which means that she is hunting the streets for eligible men and women, and whisking them in droves away into her mansion to be made over, trained in the art of serving, etc. before presenting them to her son.

Cassy Cassatt: Cassy is an ornithrop and the owner of the chicken house. She's shorthanded nowadays, but business-savvy enough to prey on considerate bystanders. She'll rope anyone she sees into helping out, whether it's collecting eggs, feeding or breeding.

Turner: Turner is a bearkin, and one of the nurses at the clinic. He's taken to drinking his weight in mead whenever he's off the clock, and it's not uncommon for his body to be seen unconscious on the road. He'll try to flee or swat blindly if anyone tries to help him, but he really does need help getting home.

Chadsef: The mayor of Minecraftia, who is notably wealthier than the rest of the citizens. He's young and inexperienced, but carries a Birds of Economics degree, and is determined to bring jobs to the town. He'll just need to make sure people are alive to do them first!

Other

The longer that passengers remain in the car, the more they'll learn, and soon they'll realize the following:

1. They are not immune to the illness. They can't determine what it is that triggers it. At first it's a sense of fatigue, then hunger and irritability. Then, the numbness will begin, starting in their extremities and spreading up their limbs, until that numbness turns into pain. Eventually that pain will lead to madness, a state of delirium where they begin to behave erratically, endangering themselves and those around them.
   
   
2. There is something in the woods. Though the passengers saw nothing when they arrived in the woods, at night they can hear growling. Venturing outside will reveal grotesque creatures emerging from the fog, rampaging into the town and tearing flesh and stone with their massive claws. These creatures appear rabid, familiar but warped, and they swarm the town with no regard for their own safety or benefit. Examples: (1) (2) (3) (4)
   
   
3. Corpses are disappearing. Despite deaths, the cemetery isn't seeing any more business. Rumour has it that a certain wealthy denizen has been paying to have the corpses taken away. But to where, and why, remains unknown…

Numbers

Numbers! Everyone starts with one that glows on their bodies — as a fun thread mechanic, we suggest they're somewhere visible, but it's up to you!



Because while this is not IC knowledge yet, numbers are determined by how troubled your character is. This may be based on their past actions and crimes, but also alienating habits, regrets, personality flaws, trauma, etc — a higher number does not necessarily mean they're a bad person, but it may signify a difficult time in their life, or substantial personal issues.

As passengers enter this car, they'll notice that their numbers may begin to change in response to certain actions and decisions. The general rule is that numbers change as characters work through their issues. If they make a decision that serves to better themselves, their number will decrease. But if they make a decision that is ill-intentioned, their number will increase. Players can change their number as they see fit going forward.

OOC Notes

Exploration: Players may submit on-going threads here to get a short mod tag with further discoveries in any given location. Characters can potentially earn items or clues as to the car's objective this way. Please limit your explorations to one per player; we will let you all know if we have the capacity to do more!

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FULL NAVIGATION

Comments

Tessa | ota

[sulahnan]

I. arrival — the petrified forest

[ Tessa stands in the middle of the chilly fog, eyes closed and breathing in the scent of this place. And ya know what? It's bad. Smells bad, fam. Acrid, musty, sweet in a sickly way, cloying, the kind of funk that gets right up into the back of your nostrils and stays far longer than it should. In the darkness, the elf's eyes glow like a cat's, reflecting what little light there is so she can really get a clear look at all the fog. No amount of night vision will penetrate that. ]

Hmm. Reminds me of home, kinda. I guess we oughta walk that way, eh? [ She points towards the distant glow. ] Before we find out what lives in these woods. I bet whatever it is, it's proper spooky.

II. nobody here but us chickens

[ It really shouldn't be so hard to wrangle a few escape-artist chickens, but these ones are quite tenacious. Vicious, even. Just when Tessa has a hold of four, two in each hand, a fifth appears out of nowhere to flap its wings at her head and make her drop the other hens. ]

Oh come on! Oi, you there! Gimme a hand here will ya?! These mothercluckers are wild and crazy!

III. not a vibe

[ It's been a while since entering this car, and every passing hour feels a bit heavier. A bit stinkier, a bit more… headachey. Tessa has been running around fighting monsters and wrangling chickens for a bit, but for the moment she's sitting on a low cobblestone wall, phone in hand, typing very slowly. She's still new at this, and her literacy was already suspect before, to say nothing of her technological capabilities.

She's tapping out a network post:

herd about sum bodies gone missing, any1 else?

and also texting Vanadi:

do u happen 2 feel loik utter shit the longer we r hear?]

iv. wildcard

[ hit me with your best shot, I'll match formats ]

[vadarta]

[ oh no tessa why do you write like this, this is terrible. having had more than enough time to perfect his own texting: ]

No? Why? Can demons not tolerates trains, is that a new thing?

[sulahnan]

[ honey you've got a big storm comin' ]

TRAINS r a new thing, berk

but no i mean loik

tired and hangry??? and the smells round hear, they r proper bad

[vadarta]

Tessa,

Is this how you spell?

[sulahnan]

yes??

I havnt ever used a fone before, hav I?

and it snot like I went to

[ There's a brief pause between her sending the unfinished sentence and its end; presumably because she had to work out how to spell: ]

school

ii.

[catsy]

[Rounding up filthy, (probably) disease-carrying birds is not Selina's idea of a good time, so even while she's called to assist, she's just going to lean on the fence once she meanders over, safely away from all of... that.]

I don't know. It looks like you're doing a fine job by yourself.

[It does not look like she's doing a fine job by herself.]

[sulahnan]

Are you mad?! What about this -- oof, fuck, ow! -- seems like a fine job?!

[ Squawked indignantly, much like the chickens' own protestations. Tessa reaches up to snag the chicken attacking her head and hurls it over-handed towards the open barn doors. The chicken, flustered but unharmed, gently flaps its way to the ground as if it was never aggro at all. The others, though, have scattered like college students at the sound of a cop knocking on their party door. ]

Aw, for fuck's sake...

[catsy]

[Selina is delighted. Better someone else do the dirty work, and if she happens to be somewhat adjacent, well, maybe she'll get credit for it, too.

However, she was not anticipating the sudden expulsion of every other chicken, and there's suddenly a lot angry poultry in her direct vicinity. Luckily, the fence keeps them from actually escaping, but unluckily, Selina gets a bunch of feathers to the face.]

Never mind! [She spends a moment spitting feathers out of her mouth. Ick.] Are you sure they need to be kept alive?

[sulahnan]

Pretty sure! A dead chicken can't lay eggs, right?

[ Right. Tessa turns away from the coop door to track the other chickens, and sees Selina finally, not through a flurry of flapping feathers. She stops still for a beat. Wow. Then, back to trying to wrangle the birds.

One thing at a time, Tessa. You can be affected by the pretty lady later. She points at one of the fowl criminals and calls out: ] That one! Grab 'er!

forest

[fluxing]

_{[ Jack has, once again, found himself in Tessa's company. Likewise, he's also taking in the smells by flicking out his tongue a few times, very a-kin to a slimy serpent (which he is) and it looks like his eyes are also faintly glowing? Oh. Night vision buddies. ]}

Nope.

_{[ NOPE. ]}

Don't like this place. Can't we go back to the dog world? Oooooor, like, where is the free alcohol car? OR, imagine—

_{[ Jack spreads his hands out, gesturing. ]}

The Kinky Car. With EVERYTHING you could ever need or want.

[sulahnan]

[ Night vision buddies, eyyy. Tessa looks behind them, around them, ahead of them towards that glow. ]

Doesn't look like there's an option to go back anywhere, really. It's just fog and trees and stink.

[ She shrugs and starts walking, assuming Jack will follow. ]

[fluxing]

_{[ Of course he's gonna follow! He's been in rough situations before and he knows damn well sticking together is better than being alone. He trots after her until he's by her side again. ]}

Now would be a pret-ty great time if I could transform.

_{[ But he can't! He knows there's plenty of tech inside of him that is preventing his true powers from coming out, but also, he's unaware that the train has taken that gift away from him. ]}

I'd feel a lot stronger that way, you know! Alright, let's think here.. what is it that you can do since I know you're not a human either.

[sulahnan]

[ She looks at him, aghast, with brows raised, and points at her ears. ]

You mean these aren't human ears?? How many lies have I been living?!

[ Melodrama aside, she shrugs. ]

Nothing remotely close to transforming. Not on me own, anyway. I'm mostly a punching, kicking, fast-running, heightened-senses kind of girl. And I can see in the dark, o'course.

[ A beat. ]

Now, when you say kinky, I'm assuming you don't mean like curly, right?

ii

[sociably]

[ Beatrix is hovering nervously by the door of the coop, having also been scouted into helping usher the local escape artist chickens back into their cozy home. She is looking decidedly worse for the wear, scratches littering her bare legs and forearms, and there are clumps of hair falling outside of her neat ponytail. ]

But I already had to chase after chickens today! I don't wanna...

[ Unfortunately for her, she does not get a say in the matter; one of the chickens has decided that hassling Tessa is no longer entertaining and has set its beady little sights on Beatrix. With a squawk, it puffs up and immediately hop-flies over to its new victim, who promptly shrieks and falls to the ground. ]

Nooo, wait, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

[ This is a mess. ]

[sulahnan]

Well, I'm glad it's not -- oof! OW!

[ She's interrupted by a bird to the face, but luckily with it right there, she can easily grab it like a football and chuck it back into the coop, slamming the door behind it. The others are elsewhere, still loose, still attacking poor Beatrix, but at least that one is behind...chicken mesh. ]

Glad it's not just me, I was gonna say. [ Tessa jogs the few steps to the girl getting hassled on the ground and picks up the hen with two hands pinning its wings to either side of its body. It immediately pecks at her fingers to be let go, but she unfortunately can't let the damn thing go unless someone opens the coop door for her again, otherwise there'd just be one more chicken out and about and causing trouble. ]

You awright there?

[sociably]

[ Teamwork makes the dream work….except that there's no teamwork here, only Tessa slowly cleaning up this mess while Beatrix squawks like a chicken herself. Well, if nothing else, she can serve as a target for the chickens while Tessa picks them off one by one. ]

Yeah….I'm fine….. [ She swats at her hair, and then swats at another incoming chicken aiming for her shins. ] But I'm pretty sure I never want to see another chicken in my life after this.

[ Maybe she'll even go so far as to swear off eating them, who can say. She peeks up at Tessa. ]

You look like you're doing pretty good though. If we ever have to do this again I'm calling you first.

[sulahnan]

Nooo, no no no. If I was doing well this all would be done by now.

[ Gesturing with the chicken in hand, she nods towards the coop. ]

How about you get the door and I'll do the dirty work, eh?

III

[shiftybladesofcray]

[some people don't deserve the fingers they type with.]

*I heard about some bodies going missing, anyone else?

[sulahnan]

[ oblivious ]

o hey thats wat i jus asked

do u kno anything about it?? shit is proper weerd

[shiftybladesofcray]

[every day on this train Toko must endure new forms of suffering]

I haven't made a point of visiting the graveyard, no. This town is depressing enough as is.

Have you found anything important down there?

[sulahnan]

dunno

are ded bodies important?

3

[unrepentant]

I know this place has a lot of other things to worry about, but losing more than one body?

Where would you even keep it?

[sulahnan]

bit of a mystery, innit

Maybe they're walkin off on their own? unlikely

[unrepentant]

I thought maybe they would get studied to find a cure.

The Mayor's been pretty confidant about finding one hasn't he?

[sulahnan]

how's lookin at a body gonna help?

not like sickness leaves claw marks or killin blows, right?