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…

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

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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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Comments

[onlyhope]

[ It isn't Cal's voice that makes Obi-Wan turn his head, it's the glow of his saber. The orange from the corner of his eye is unusual enough that he does a double take. Not yellow like the Temple guards, not the red of the Sith. He can't recall ever seeing something like it — but that is a question for later. ]

We will soon find out!

[ He calls, because while the immediate area is clear, Obi-Wan's wartime experience tells him he will still need to keep an eye out.

Leaping off the back of the monster, he starts forward at a jog with the hope that between the two of them, maybe they can prevent the beasts from coming further into the town. As before, their lightsabers act as beacons, and when they draw closer gleaming eyes turn their direction. ]

[psychometries]

Come on, buddy.

[ That's for BD-1 (who whistles energetically in reply, taking up his usual spot on Cal's back) as Cal takes off after Obi-Wan, letting the other man lead the charge.

The beasts' attention is drawn to the lightsabers, cutting through the fog, and they go on the attack almost immediately. They're aggressive, which is a bit of a surprise to Cal—sure, he's used to hostile wildlife, but he couldn't really blame them, since he was the one trespassing on their territory. But these creatures seem almost rabid, which cannot be good.

Cal immediately shifts into a defensive stance, lightsaber held in two hands out in front of him, as one of the boars charges him, then sidesteps out of its headlong path, slashing across its side as it passes. The boar shrieks in pain and tries to swing back around, but he closes in quickly and brings his saber down on its head, killing it. ]

[onlyhope]

[ It's clear that in the years Cal has been away from the Jedi and the Temple, he has had to fight to stay alive — and that his technique and style has become rustic for it's improvisation. Not that Obi-Wan has time to really watch Cal when he's busy with his own opponent.

But if there is an apparent difference between them, it's in the way Obi-Wan leaps in to fill the gap made by Cal's focus on the monster. Bolstering himself with the Force, he leaps impossibly high and over the now-dead boar to slash his lightsaber through the face of a third beast barreling at high speed right at Cal and his downed opponent. Unfortunately, killing it immediately does nothing to stop it's momentum, and it continues forward a few steps before hitting the ground hard &mfdash; skidding along the cobblestone until it crashes into the body Cal had left.

Obi-Wan turns his blade over his wrist and steps back into the opening form of Soresu, but glances over his shoulder at Cal, calling: ]

Are you sure that little droid should be out here?

[psychometries]

[ It's different, watching a Jedi Master in a fight—especially Master Kenobi, who was well-known for his mastery of Soresu. Cal catches glimpses out of the corner of his eye, and it just makes him all the more aware of his own shortcomings—how rusty he is with even the basic Shii-cho techniques he learned as a Padawan, how everything else follows no particular form, since he's just made it all up on the fly, in an effort to not-die.

Obi-Wan shifts into the opening form of Soresu, and Cal finds himself staring, a little awestruck. The question snaps him out of it, just as BD-1 trills in protest, and he answers wryly: ]

Wouldn't dream of leaving him behind. Right, buddy?

[ That earns a more enthusiastic trill. Then Cal realizes that more of the boar creatures are barreling towards them and extends an arm, using the Force to freeze one in place while he moves to deal with another one. ]

Besides, he's saved my life more than once.

[onlyhope]

You boys and your droids.

[ He sighs, hyperbolic in his exasperation, but unable to really remove the fondness from his tone. Anakin was just the same; it was no surprise at all that he had quickly become fast friends with the little BD unit. Obi-Wan's binary has never been that good, but he can gather the basic idea of what Beedee is trying to say. It reminds him of Artoo, another droid that wasn't built for combat and yet was still something of a menace.

Though Obi-Wan gets the impression BD-1 probably gets in trouble more for his curiousity more than his foul mouth.

As Cal turns his focus elsewhere, Obi-Wan takes over the frozen boar with both hands flung forward, his lightsaber out an an awkward angle and held between his thumb and two fingers. It takes most of his concentration to reverse the momentum of the boar but, with a great heave, he throws it back the way it came. The beast tumbles over until it crashes into another boar, creating a messy roadblock.

Obi-Wan marches forward, putting himself bodily between Cal, the boar he was tangling with, and the rest of the beasts. ]

Cal! Make sure the area is clear of civilians!

[psychometries]

[ Cal hears the fondness underneath Obi-Wan's tone and it sends a jolt of warmth through him, despite the current circumstances. In a way, it also makes him miss Cere and Greez and Merrin, and the way they were able to come together as a little... family?

Would he be able to find that here too?

He sets the question aside for now, springing to follow Obi-Wan's instructions. Lightsaber still humming at his side, he glances around the area, peering through the darkness and fog for any stragglers, and spots movement nearby. Holding his lightsaber up for light, he rushes over to find a young woman supporting what must be her mother, disoriented and unnaturally pale in the orange glow of his saber—she must be sick.

Cal wraps an arm around the woman to support her other side, then calls out to Obi-Wan, so he knows to keep the boars distracted: ]

Master Kenobi!

[onlyhope]

[ His weight sways back, his head turning over his shoulder to look for the tell-tale glow of hot plasma. It shows him exactly where Cal is, casting him and the two people with him into a hazy blue glow, fuzzy around the edges. He finds he has no anxiety about whether or not Cal can take care of himself. The boy has demonstrated his ability to hold his own well enough, and to get to the age he is would have required a certain degree of scrappiness to avoid detection by the Empire.

Obi-Wan would know. It used to be the Republic.

He only nods at the younger Jedi, then is turning forward to face the biggest creature he has seen yet. Is it still a boar, or something else entirely? It's difficult to tell, around the shadows it's shaggy body casts and the gleam of it's eyes. Obi-Wan offers his free hand to the great, snorting creature. ]

I don't suppose you want to talk this out?

[ Like a mudhorn, it throws it's head and smashes it's tusks against the ground. ]

Well, It was worth a shot.

[ He says, and is then baiting the great beast away from Cal and the women. Launching himself up, he lands atop a lamp post, then starts running along them the opposite direction. The gleam of his saber creates huge arcs of blue light as he leaps from post to post, casting an eerie glow on the beast chasing him. ]