VoidTrecker Express Mods ([personal profile] voidtreckermods) wrote in [community profile] middleofsomewhere2021-01-11 05:58 am

Fierce New World- Mission Start!

"Good Morning passengers. Today is day six of the month of Jelly." The voice echoes through the train as passengers wake up in their beds. Not long afterwards their SCA’s glow with the colour of the void and a holographic image will appear.

Preparation and Arrival

They have a short time to prepare for their mission, enough time to read their briefs, make decisions, meet in their teams and gather anything they may need.

A few hours later there is another announcement. "Shortly arriving on System #2207385. All passengers get ready to disembark. Next stop world #2207385. Exit from void in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one."

The train judders as it leaves the void, the colours from the windows turn into the blackness of space but quickly white as the train descends into the entrance of the biosphere.

The doors of the train open and passengers can enter the large white-walled holding bay. Currently, they are the only vehicle inside. There are four large doors around the bay each labelled with where they lead. Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

The doors open easily, and their SCA’s show a basic route, though the non-linear nature of the sectors mean that obstacles will need to be navigated. While they are in a closed world, there is a day and night cycle: the panels far up above are designed to make it seem like there is a natural sky, brightening and dimming every ten hours.

Red/Summer

Empty Streets

Wide streets divide sealed-off factories and manufacturing pods that tower up towards the ‘sky’. It is hot here, though the fumes from the factories are vented out, leaving the air breathable if overly warm.

Sometimes the pods are not yet finished, empty shells that can be sheltered in. There are also stations for living, with plumbing and basic amenities scattered through the sector. Places to rest as they move towards the center and the Great-Summer that they seek.

Helpmates

Where factories are still being built they will find Helpmates, operating machinery or moving materials.

They will not pause in their tasks for long but are programmed to answer questions so can be drawn into a conversation. Or, if the Voidtreckers are unfortunate, they will find those that are malfunctioning turning on them as they approach.

They aren’t too difficult to fight, but can do some damage with the machinery if they manage to take a Voidtrecker by surprise. They can be fought with weapons or magic, or for those that think to use the panels they can be shut down outright.

Wild Weather

Though warm, the corridors remain a constant temperature that is not too unpleasant for people. For the most part. Unfortunately, due to the malfunctioning state of things routes may become impassable. Boiling air, freezing blasts, electricity crackling across a pathway.

Their SCA’s do a good job of warning them, allowing them to change direction or shelter in nearby buildings.

Purple/Autumn

Exploring

The Autumn sector is the least complete of the sectors, with shells of habitation pods and not much else. No one is expected to live here until nearing the end of construction, and so the pods are unfurnished, many missing doors, some missing internal walls.

Outside the streets are wide and clearly made to be pleasant to walk on; it is airy, bright and spacious, if a bit eerie due to the quiet.

There are panels on the walls, to call Helpmates to appear. Here they are primarily for helping citizens, giving directions and offering aid.

Malfunctions

Since there are more helpmates there is more risk of them malfunctioning. They attack with or without weapons, using any tools they can pick up to attack. They can be fought with weapons or magic, or for those that think to use the panels they can be shut down.

They won’t chase people into the houses, their privacy programming preventing them from doing so.

Turned Around

The roads seem simple, built in a grid pattern around the houses. However, whatever is going wrong here is affecting the very streets themselves. Sometimes there will be a wall where there wasn’t before or roads go in circles. Sometimes they find themselves at a dead end, trapped until structures shift again.

Their SCA’s do their best to keep up but it can take a while for them to reroute and by the time they do, that path might be blocked too!

Blue/Spring

Patchwork Forest

The Spring sector houses the hydroponics and pastoral sections. It alternates between grazing land and more heavily forested areas with rows of pine-like trees in a checkerboard pattern, with empty plots interspersed. Walkways divide each square, but all squares appear able to move about as required, as though on a conveyor system.

There are clear walkways to avoid stepping on any newly growing plants. In the grazing land live flocks of camelid creatures resembling alpacas with blueish wool, on average a metre and a half tall at the shoulders. Helpmates appear here as if on a timer to feed the animals and tend to plants.

Destruction


If the Helpmates here malfunction they attack anyone nearby, cause havoc to any farming equipment and frightening the animals.

They can be fought with weapons or magic, or for those that think to use the panels they can be shut down. The panels here are less obvious than they are in the more urban sectors, low to the ground, looking almost like energy panels. But once they know what to look for they will be able to use them to shut down the Helpmates.

Stampede

Frightened animals are likely to flee and unfortunately in this case it means rampaging across the grazing land to the newly growing trees.

They will need to be calmed, returned to their grazing lands and the plants restored. Or it might be that the Voidtreckers can stop the Helpmates before the creatures get too spooked.

Orange/Winter

Exploring

The Winter sector’s primary concern is life support. Huge banks of air scrubbers form artificial cliffs, while other sections are tanks filled with water in varying stages of processing or recycling.

The paths here are a lot narrower than they are in other areas, sometimes requiring moving between pipes or scrambling over layers of railing.

There doesn’t seem to be any easy or straightforward path through the sector, their SCA takes them on wild winding routes through the machinery.

Help or Hindrance

The fluctuating temperatures here are causing problems with many of the pipes, several sections are flooded, others are in danger of being so.

There are patch kits in easily opened panels, designed to be used by the helpmates and indeed there are many helpmates out.

But some are less helpful, those that are malfunctioning are more likely to cause more damage than they are there to fix. They will attack any one who tries to interfere with them. They can be fought with weapons or magic, or for those that think to use the panels they can be shut down.

Patch Job

Once the malfunctioning Helpmates are dealt with the pipes still need to be fixed. The patch kits do not have any instructions but are simple enough that anyone with a basic knowledge of how to fix things should be able to figure them out- though the more knowledge and expertise they have the better the fix!

For those that don’t, many of the jobs will need more than one person and so for those that don’t mind taking instructions they will find an extra pair of hands is always welcome.
10billionpercent: (Default)

[personal profile] 10billionpercent 2021-01-13 05:29 am (UTC)(link)
"I guess, not a thing that personally bothers me, but I know it does some people." Senku mused thoughtfully. "People have inexplicable fears."
magicurls: (magic musket)

[personal profile] magicurls 2021-01-13 05:34 am (UTC)(link)
"Ah---thank you---"

Mami is breathless, but she's not down and out yet. She's vaguely seen this new person around, but. Time for yet another awkward introduction!

With the opening she needs, she disappears in a flash of yellow light, popping back out in her white and yellow gunner's dress. One wave of her hand, and a rifle drops into it.

Boom. Alright, one arm...another rifle's needed for the next shot. Her magic has that key inefficiency, and she's just slow enough that another swing is attempted.

Even with the scythe in the way. Poor helpmate, it never knew what was coming.
Edited 2021-01-13 05:35 (UTC)
10billionpercent: (Listen...)

[personal profile] 10billionpercent 2021-01-13 05:36 am (UTC)(link)
"Ack! Hey!" Senku protested when he was picked up all of a sudden, although when he was set down safely, that was good and helpful, but he didn't like to be surprised like that.

He rolled his shoulders a bit and balanced, watching her skitter in excitement. "Don't do that." He stated it plainly, not with much irritation, but she had put him back down.

That out of the way, he looked at what she was looking at. "Yeah. Do you think the Helpmates built all this in the first place?"
magicurls: (be alright)

[personal profile] magicurls 2021-01-13 05:37 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm glad it doesn't," Mami says gently, gesturing for him to sit on a nearby cushion.

She waves her hand, the silver ring on her middle finger transforming into an egg-shaped yellow gem.

"But you'll still walk better after this. Breathe, okay? It'll only be a minute."
10billionpercent: (Huh?)

[personal profile] 10billionpercent 2021-01-13 05:38 am (UTC)(link)
He wasn't going to complain about the help.

"You? Not at all." Senku mused. "Why, are you crazy?" That seemed like the pertinent question.
bakegarasu: (i hear you)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-01-13 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
He sits down and huffs, watching the egg transformation.

"Fine. Whatever. I'm still fine, you should save your healing for other people." But he's not stopping her, at least.
melodiouspacifist: (Dance Water Dance!)

[personal profile] melodiouspacifist 2021-01-13 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah." Demyx answered, because it was obvious and he offered a bit of a grin.

"As long as you're not planning on shocking me, Larxene's done enough of that for a few lifetimes."

His sitar wasn't really meant to be used as a cudgel, it was time to use it in proper context. Demyx could help but move his sitar into position with a bit of flair, all showmanship, but this would have substance.

"Dance, water, dance!"

What kind of water did Reno want? He played a few notes and a few good sized balls materialized in the air. He could do certain things without his sitar, but he was so much stronger with the music.
pleple: (Default)

[personal profile] pleple 2021-01-13 06:03 am (UTC)(link)
Excellent. Ple Two might need to start working with those eventually - but for now she's even more useful with the technical skills she has been improving. Still, it's hard to scan for them while moving quickly enough to not be a target.

"Shut these down... then onto the next..." she mutters to herself, before finding a panel and sliding down next to it.
controlsthedie: game art of Thanatos default conversation picture (But the other saying I like so much more)

[personal profile] controlsthedie 2021-01-13 06:10 am (UTC)(link)
Well.

Someone else killing it solves the problem of whether this would be Death taking a life before their time. (This is different than fighting shades in the Underworld. They're already dead and will reform again and again.) He'll continue blocking the helpmate's attacks while the yellow girl fires her very slow... and multiple adamant rails.

Yes, Thanatos knows what a railgun is but not a gun gun. Hades is weird like that.
pleple: (but i made my bed)

[personal profile] pleple 2021-01-13 06:11 am (UTC)(link)
That's convenient. Now, why fight them one at a time, when you can solve a whole cluster of them all at once? "Good! I should be able to disable the nearest ones!" Should is the operative word, because she's definitely improvising a little - but she's clearly very confident.
worthallthis: (Default)

II

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-01-13 06:25 am (UTC)(link)
"Nope," Soldat agrees, and pops up the collar on their coat. Finally, not sweltering in their layers. "There's a road around the far side of the last building that might take us around this patch. Depending on how far it extends."
worthallthis: (startled)

Wild weather

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-01-13 06:34 am (UTC)(link)
Nope, she slams right into a teammate, because said teammate is frozen, staring at the crackle of energy across the walkway ahead of them. Compared to how quick and reactive they were with the helpmates, how alert they have been as they prowl along the roue, this is kind of uncharacteristic, letting someone fall right onto them.

Thankfully, that does startle them out of their stupor, and they scramble back, metal arm hooked around Mami's waist to set her down well out of range of the electricity.
worthallthis: (hat-jefferson)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-01-13 06:43 am (UTC)(link)
Soldat shifts their coat aside to get to their rucksack, pulling out the notebook they've brought along. They flip to the back, a blank page, and offer it and a pencil to Otoha. "Give it a try. Then you can tell me about Reiji if you want to."
worthallthis: (rifle)

[personal profile] worthallthis 2021-01-13 06:51 am (UTC)(link)
Soldat's eyes practically light up. Guns. They will take single-shot if they have to, and even without the shot, it's still a goddamn weapon that's less likely to break than a bone knife, even if they have to bludgeon something with it.

They snatch one up, slam the nearest assailant with the butt of the rifle, and bring it up to line up a shot and fire in one smooth motion. The approaching helpmate from the line falls, head shattered by the shot. The rest of it fizzles out, leaving the two nearest, and one more approaching.

Soldat tosses the spent rifle aside and grabs a second, and just uses the butt to start beating the nearest back, giving Mami room to fire.
bakegarasu: (those cold blue eyes)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-01-13 06:56 am (UTC)(link)
He's still for a few moments before grabbing the notebook and pencil. His writing is rough, the characters a little lopsided and a few scribbled out as he just writes the kana because he can't remember the kanji.

It takes a bit for him to finish, but he finally sets it down, staring at the page and clenching his fist before he remembers that this is a borrowed pencil that he shouldn't break. He sets the pencil down and keeps staring at the page as he starts talking.

"He was... my only friend. Got sort of assigned to me as a 'little brother', but kept pestering me until I let him hang out. He was... he really shouldn't have been a yakuza. He was too nice... pretty sure he did it for the money. Don't actually know what his family situation was, could have been for that. Could have just been greed."

Somehow he doesn't think that's right, but he doesn't really know. "... He hated the way my brother treated me but knew there wasn't any way to stand against him. The night I became... what I am now... we were stealing money from the group's safe. We were gonna run away to New Zealand where no one knew us. Had... heh. Had our eye on a nice small house... a little bit away from people but enough for a garden... maybe some animals..."

It sounds so stupid now.
reluctantjinrou: (Default)

[personal profile] reluctantjinrou 2021-01-13 06:58 am (UTC)(link)
"I suppose, but it's more likely man made, or those strange creatures who made it...I don't know." He wasn't the kind of person who would be good at explaining electricity, so he won't try.

"There should be." He looked at his SCA, musing. "We need to double back and turn left."
reluctantjinrou: (You Better Not Be Talking About Me)

[personal profile] reluctantjinrou 2021-01-13 06:59 am (UTC)(link)
"Yes, as I had the unfortunate displeasure of finding out." Natsuno commented.

"And then of course, if you try and tell people they just think you're crazy."
bakegarasu: (death carnivore)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-01-13 07:02 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah. Saw that firsthand. Even the people who saw the yokai after Eko's battle probably don't really believe what they saw. Not sure how they'll cover up some of the stuff, but they probably will..."
reluctantjinrou: (Sleepy)

[personal profile] reluctantjinrou 2021-01-13 07:04 am (UTC)(link)
"I wouldn't have believed it either, I think, if I wasn't suspicious. I suppose in that regard, Shimizu's penchant for stalking me was particularly helpful." He frowned, yeah that had been annoying on its face.
sciencegirl: (091)

[personal profile] sciencegirl 2021-01-13 07:26 am (UTC)(link)
She should probably apologize, but it had looked necessary at the time, and she'd done it. So she doesn't apologize yet. She might later, if it trickles through her thick skull and many pounds of hair.

"I don't think so. At least not the ones around now. That's fine tech, this is meant to be long-lasting. Now, maybe there were Helpmates before.
Maybe something had to build the something that built the Helpmates. Who knows where this began! I'd love to find out. We're not going to find out, are we?"

She sounds disappointed by that idea, but for now she accepts that.
renegadeprince: (annoyed 02)

Mostly hindrance - B

[personal profile] renegadeprince 2021-01-13 07:26 am (UTC)(link)
[He was supposed to be with Red team over in the Summer section, but Vegeta got bored. This was NOT what he had wanted in a first stop, being stuck in an artificial space that he knows will not be able to take his full power without destroying a section of it and possibly jettisoning everyone in a section out into space. So while he had been heading to the Winter section that she was in, he also had taken the chance to look at Spring on his way over, and planning to investigate Autumn on the way back to the rest of Red team. Flying thankfully cut down a lot of the time between travel, though he was still leaving his team behind for a bit by doing so.

They seemed to have it all under control.]


Just what are you doing? [Vegeta quizzed her, having came across her having a go at the helpmate.]
sciencegirl: (046)

[personal profile] sciencegirl 2021-01-13 07:30 am (UTC)(link)
"I wonder if they were made by another AI? It's possible."

She manages to shut this one down and it goes slack. Disentangle its little drill from its hands and she hangs onto it because uh... she might need that. She's low on tools.

"But if they don't have some way of maintaining this place, anything that lives here isn't going to make it. Which is a shame because this is such an impressive feat of engineering! We can fix it and buy it some time. But for continued work it needs oversight."

Oh please let there be some big AI or invisible people out there or something.
renegadeprince: (calm 06)

Pre-Preparation/Wildcard

[personal profile] renegadeprince 2021-01-13 07:35 am (UTC)(link)
[While he had sat in on the Red team's meeting, for the most Vegeta wasn't really expecting much out of this. If anything he's in a bad mood at the idea they were going to an artificially made location with no natural atmosphere. It meant he wouldn't be able to use the space to train without risking putting a hole into a wall and into space. Better to avoid that. He also has a bad habit of not really preparing for such events. It came from many years of just being sent to a planet without any supplies bar an exit option with the Battle Pods, and of later years where most of their adventures didn't take a large amount of time. Or had supplies gifted to them during it.

However there is one thing he's certainly going to sort out before they leave, and to offer to Trunks as well. So it's this reason that Vegeta is tracking his son down.]
Trunks.
inquisitor_lavellan: have you no idea that you’re in deep? (do I wanna know?)

Alleyana Tabris - RED

[personal profile] inquisitor_lavellan 2021-01-13 07:53 am (UTC)(link)
xxxxx(I will match prose or brackets!)

xxxxx🛡️ Arrival

Alleyana is part of the red team, and inclined to stick to the assignment. She's through the door marked 'summer' without hesitation, and settles in for what could be a Very Long March through some Very Weird Shit.

Which, really, is like a Tuesday for the Inquisitor.

Her gryphon-winged mace from Thedas is at her hip, hanging off a belt loop of her train-issued cargo pants. A borrowed shield is on her back. The lack of weight from proper armor is disconcerting, and she's still getting used to not having a left arm, but she's fairly sure she's endured worse.

xxxxx🛡️ Empty Streets

Here, the scarred elf claims a small shelter to rest in, and does exactly that. She slides down a wall inside with a grunt to sit on the floor, tireder than she thought she'd be. It must be the heat -- it's been a while since she'd last marched through the desert, and that's the closest comparison she has.

Just going to sit here out of the 'sun' and try to cool down.

xxxxx🛡️ Helpmates

As soon as Alley sees they're approaching figures, she pauses to kneel down on the ground and secure the borrowed shield to the flat metal bar standing in for her left arm.

And it's a good thing, because the first helpmate she approaches is one of the malfunctioning ones. It turns the machinery its driving her way, and Alley snaps the shield up, taking the impact of whirling agricultural blades without so much as a stumble.

Gonna have to hit a lot harder than that, pal.

xxxxx🛡️ Wild Weather

"Well, that's no fucking good."

That's the Inquisitor's assessment, staring at the path ahead which is currently... on fire.

"In fact, I'd go so far as to say that's a problem."

xxxxx🛡️ Wildcard?

xxxxx(Wildcard!)
bakegarasu: (quietly listening)

[personal profile] bakegarasu 2021-01-13 08:20 am (UTC)(link)
"Shimizu? Is that who... did that to you?" That's how vampires work, right? He's pretty sure.