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Priority Log - Part 1
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:
- 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.
- 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)
- 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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In the meantime Toko is losing her damn mind.]
YOU'RE NOT GONNA DIE! [She reaches to pry at the girl's fingers around her legs. Maybe succeeds in...holding her hands...or maybe they're wrestling for dominance now, ultimate bottoms lightweight championship. She tries to squirm her legs some more, loosen that grip a little.]
The only way you'll d-die is if you sit around crying and give up! Got it? It's your choice. As long as you're alive, you have a ch-choice. You can move your legs, can't you?
no subject
Right now it's Beatrix in the lead, who has been given strength via alcohol. Toko does succeed in prying Ms. Big Boobs off her legs, but the cost is that Beatrix has now grabbed onto her hands. How romantic, the girls are now holding hands. Too bad one of them is a hissing cat and the other is a drunken woerm. ]
You….you're right…. [ She sniffs, and wipes her tears/snot on….Toko's hand, because she thinks it's her own. Sorry. ] We just...have to keep moving.
[ Here it is, the shining moment in action movies where the down-on-her-luck heroine finally is given the inspiration to get back on her legs. And she will, in a bit. First she is going to stare at Toko a little longer. ]
Hey….you're pretty smart, you know. I bet [ another sniff ] a lot of people come to you for advice.
no subject
[Too late. There's another woman's snot on her hand now. Toko has instantly aged forty years.
She is trying to wrest that hand free, or at least bring it over to wipe on the ground or the girl's uniform, something that is not herself, when the praise comes.
Toko stares her down. Sorry, processing this through a few filters. Positive affirmations? This is...the ramblings of a drunk. That's all.]
...No. [She says wearily.] P-people tend to avoid me actually.
[It would be nice if you could follow suit?? Why are we holding hands? Why are you draped over her body? This is too intimate for her to endure.]
no subject
Really? But you seem so nice!
[ The drunk Beatrix of today has not linked this Toko with the extremely rude Toko of days past. Also, she rarely bothers to look at the directory so she doesn't actually know what user nefelibata looks like anyway. ]
Everyone else just hasn't gotten the chance to know you yet then! Or they're just terrible people. [ Like her. ] I bet you know a lot of really cool stuff, and that you're really funny.
no subject
I'm not.
[Said devoid of life. This girl was so out of it. A lost cause. If Toko was spending more time looking at the directory herself, she would have connected the dots and realized the degree of dumb she was dealing with here. Who else could this bubbly bonehead be? Alas, she's overly suspicious, but uninterested in the other passengers as a whole. She wants a way out, not to make friends.
Her nose wrinkles. It...hurts a little to listen to this. The girl's so far off base it's ludicrous, yet she's prodding so many soft and bruisy parts like she's got a sniper's shot at each. Toko thrusts her head to the side and breathes deep. Works back the lump in her throat.]
What? Just because I stopped to help you, I m-must be some kind of high school idol? Don't be stupid. [It's fruitless, but she attempts to pull her hands loose again. This was embarrassing. She shouldn't get worked up at the drop of a hat like this.] Assuming the best of everyone...that's a l-luxury only cute girls can afford. I bet everyone falls over their own f-feet to come help you, don't they?
no subject
Haaaaaaaah. No way. Everyone thinks I'm useless.
[ She frowns, slumping back onto her butt on the ground. ]
I'm too loud, or too eager, and I can never stop and think before I do something.
[ If Sergeant Ilsa and everyone else is to be believed, she can't do a single thing right. It used to drive her crazy and send her temper shooting up straight through the roof, but with the years have come a smidge of maturity. Instead of becoming incensed, she finds that she just misses them all now.
Frowning, she pillows her arms across her drawn-up knees, planting her chin atop one forearm. ]
Also it just makes you nice, which is way better than being an idol. Some of them are really self….self-absorbed.
no subject
Okay she's coughing on nothing, so it's not hard to understand why. Toko just watches the fit play out with exasperation and is relieved it doesn't end in choking. Or vomit.
Despite that sad display Toko finds herself frowning too, sitting up proper now that the girl's pulled off her legs.]
Well. I w-won't argue about idols. And maybe you sh-should think about things before you do them. [Like lying in a road next to a drunk bear.] Why do they call you useless? You have a giant sword, obviously you c-can do something with that.
no subject
In any case, she's descended into a weird depressive state now, but better silent depression than her hysterics from earlier. ]
You can't do everything with a sword. You can't save all the people you love even with the most powerful sword in the world if you don't plan beforehand.
[ How many of her impulsive adventures had ended up her getting stuck in a bad situation and having to be bailed out? Too many to count. Even now she's running into trouble that might have been avoided with a little bit of forethought.
Or with a few good friends at her side. Her head droops lower into her arms. ]
None of it means anything anyway without my friends.
no subject
Ugh, she can't do this. She's terrible at this. Komaru can attest to this, really, she's no good at comforting people. It's enough to make her wish she'd go back to wailing and whining.
What's worse is that she's right. You can have the right weapons but use them in the wrong place, wrong time. Or not know how to use them at all.]
...You're not the only one without f-friends here, you know. [Not the strongest start, but she's working up to it. Toko bites her lip. Carries on.]
Look. No one's p-perfect, all right? Even if you were the smartest or the st-strongest, it wouldn't matter. You're going to mess things up. Other people win. Sometimes the bad guys win. That's how life works. Not just for you, but for everyone. Things go wrong and they've been going wrong since the b-beginning of time. But...
[Should she pat her head or something? That's going too far. She's not touchy. She barely likes to be touched. And who knows where this girl has been?]
Like I said, you're still alive. So you'll have more chances to change things. Maybe not what's already h-happened, but things up ahead? Put your focus on that. If...if there's th-things about yourself you want to change too, then it's the same. Take a look at what needs to be done, and think about what the most practical step should be. It d-doesn't have to be a big one. Just don't be a quitter. If you g-give up you might as well be dead already.
no subject
Toko is once again right, and despite the wooziness still cottoning her brain, Beatrix listens to everything the other girl says. (On the other hand, if Toko had written all this down, she wouldn't have read a word.) ]
I know.
[ The alcohol drifts sluggishly through her system, its depressive effects muting her usual good cheer. She's shockingly quiet for some time longer, chin still tucked into her forearms as she stares ahead into the murky darkness. But sitting around and brooding has never been her thing, so it's not long before she's springing back into action, bolting back up onto her feet as determination blazes in her eyes.
Or more accurately, fumbling her way upright, with more than a few stumbles here and there. ]
You're...you're right! We have to keep going! L-let's go!
[ Go....where? ]
no subject
As she swims through her mental muck, Toko watches the girl close for signs of further outburst. Or rather, that she'd misspoken, and sent her into a worse spiral than ever before. She's only got her thoughts together on paper. Only Komaru makes her feel comfortable speaking her mind. Without her, Toko feels adrift when she opens her mouth for anything more than insults.
To her surprise, the girl is roused. She clatters upwards, rejuvenated. Ready to go.]
Wh-where? [Toko blinks, rolling to her feet as well. She dusts her skirt a little (a lost cause) and reaches to steady the inebriated mess on legs.] You sh-should probably go home.
[She glances sidelong at that bear, who should also be rolled towards some kind of shelter. If she weren't a wee woman with a drunken hanger-on, she might consider doing it herself. Luckily there's another bearkin in the distance. Toko hails them, explains the situation and gets a disapproving cluck of the tongue and a shake of a head. "That Turner...not to worry, I'll see that he makes it home in one piece. Get yourselves to a warm bed."
And with that, Toko is carting her charge off into the night. Later they might exchange names, might experience a nasty shock, but there's no changing what was said. Even internet drama can't stop the brute force of impending Gal Pals.]