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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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locomo e2 traincationFAQ & Game Info / Calendar / Taken
Applications / Reserves / Hiatus & Drops
FULL NAVIGATION
no subject
Why would we need to walk home? [ Her phone is plucked from her very reasonable trouser pockets (getting rid of the dress was the first thing she did upon discovering the clothing app) and waggles it for emphasis. ] We're all carrying home around with us.
[ Back into the pocket it goes, and she nods towards the encroaching fog. ]
I was thinking more like a patrol. Seems like shit's about to get proper spooky 'round here.
no subject
Right, yeah. I dunno about you but I feel like a building’s a little bit more secure than whatever tent that thing decides to pitch.
[ Especially when things do indeed seem to be rapidly approaching proper spooky territory. Vidal’s gaze follows her nod out into the fog and he squints. She’s got night vision, he remembers that much, but unless she’s got the heat vision bundle, she’s not much better off than he is. ]
Shit really hasn't been shy coming in to welcome us to town, and you wanna go looking for it?
[ This is nothing like him. Hunting down huge, spooky monsters in the dark? Basically one of life's greatest joys... But this whole place has done nothing but set nails raking down the chalkboard of his spine since he set foot into the car and he really can't say that he's a fan of that. ]
[ She looks serious though. It's not like he's going to let her go off on her own either. All he can do is set his jaw and try not to look too terribly unnerved. ]
no subject
[ Tessa takes a step and turns to look at Ruben. She doesn't have heat vision, but she can hear his heart thudding away, dancing to the tune of Fear. ]
Oi, mate. You good? I won't let anything [ Anyfin. ] hurt ya. Promise.
no subject
Yeah, I’m good, you’re right. Sittin’ around won’t solve anything, I know.
[ Hands stuffed into his coat pockets, Ruben takes off after Tessa, keeping a stubborn pace with her once she gets moving again. The prickly determination really isn’t doing much to help the hammering in his chest, but at least it’s enough to shift his focus a little. ]
Hate to get lumped in with everyone gettin’ shitfaced at the bar at a time like this.
no subject
[ Tessa slows just enough to let Ruben catch up and then resumes pace, peering out into the dark and fog. ]
I guess I oughta ask if you can fight, eh?
no subject
I mean, depends where you go.
[ Around here, yeah. It's all ye crusty olde fantasy shit. (Sorry, ye crusty olde fantasy lass.) At her question, he pulls a bit of a face. ]
I can when I pick on somethin' my own size, for sure. I'm usually a little more armed-and-ready when I'm dealin' with the big ones.
[ But he has, does, and will deal with them... Or at least will retreat from them with extreme efficiency. A bit more seriously, ]
I'm gonna hope you're not totally banking on it if you're asking like that.
no subject
Nah, just assessing. [ Tessa isn't a tactician by any stretch of the imagination but she needs to know whether she'll be fighting monsters and protecting him, or fighting monsters and not worrying about him dying. ] I can hold my own, don't you worry. I'm little but I'm scrappy.
no subject
[ And he does, honestly. Big Scrappy Energy off this one. He'd give her a same if it didn't involve admitting to being little too loudly. The shoes and coat are usually sort of kind of enough to argue the contrary (he tells himself). Maybe she doesn't look it, but he's known long before showing up here not to judge books by covers. There's a certain air of casual confidence he's come to recognize in those with the power to back it up. ]
[ And if he's wrong, well, he's the champion of running like a bat out of hell. ]
Well I know what I'm doing around things like this, I can tell you that much.
[ Just ignore the whole symphony of frayed nerves that have nothing to do with his competence, thanks. ]
no subject
[ A low, menacing growl emanates from the fog. Thanks to the spooky nature of everything it sounds like it's coming from all around them, but it's definitely more intense in the direction of the forest.
Tessa whispers: ]
Oh, shit.
no subject
Okay, general rule of thumb: head, neck, eyes. Next, joints key to locomotion. Usually whatever qualifies as knees, gets a little tricky if it don't got limbs. [ All spoken rather fast and very under his breath. ] If it glows, 'bout a sixty-forty chance it's a weak point or it's for prey-attraction, not worth goin' for straight off the bat.
[ If she knows how to fight, she ought to know that much through trial and error if nothing else, but it's just as much reassuring himself that she knows as it is for her benefit. He forces himself to be silent, though. Listening with his normie ears. ]
[ Fortunately or otherwise, whatever it is has definitely drawn far too close to escape his human notice, crunching through the undergrowth to their left and snarling all the while. ]
no subject
Nothing leaps out at them, so Tessa slowly urges them both forward, further down the road. As they walk, Tessa hears not just the growling, steadily omnipresent, but also a distinct crunch of scythe-like appendages stabbing into the tree trunks in a rhythm not unlike... walking. Following. ]
Listen, [ She whispers to Ruben. She holds up one hand to gesture towards the treeline to their right as they walk. ] D'you hear that?