Fierce New World- Mission Start!

[voidtreckermods]

"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.

Comments

Xie Lian | Purple Team

[lucklessgege]

Arrival
Xie Lian hasn't been on a mission yet and so he isn't entirely sure what to expect when he steps off the train. At least he is used to doing things like this where he is from but at least there he knows that what he will encounter will most likely be a ghost or demon of some sort. He doesn't know what he will be fighting here.

And as he looks around at the strange city they have arrived in it is unlike anything he has ever seen before. He doesn't see any people around which is perhaps the strangest thing.

He walks up to one of the panels and touches it. The technology in this place is odd but also slightly similar to what he has seen on the train.

"Are all the worlds the train goes to like this?" The one with the festival and the snow hadn't been. But they were simply on vacation. Perhaps all the worlds that need help are going to be this odd.

Helpmates
When he is admiring the panel one of the helpmates shows up behind him. He turns to look at the strange creature and immediately Ruoye unwraps from around his wrist and comes out as if to defend him from it. The little silk bandage strikes at the machine but only ricochets off of it.

Xie Lian draws the little bandage back and starts to walk up to the robot. Not at all intimidated by it. "It doesn't necessarily look like it wants to harm us."

Except at that moment the machine decides to malfunction. It moves quickly towards him, a large pipe in its hands to swing around like a sword. Xie Lian backs off again and Ruoye shoots out to wrap itself around the machine to try and get it to stop the swinging of that pipe. When the robot gets close enough Xie Lian ducks below the pipe and slams his hand into it's chest, sending it flying backwards.

Ruoye comes back to him and wraps around his arm. "There is a lot of those around. This could become complicated."

Arrival

[paopuofyourlife]

Kairi was looking around quietly, taking everything in that she could before looking over.

"I can't say about the worlds the train takes us to, but from experience, not all worlds are exactly alike."

[lucklessgege]

He looks over at her and smiles, that does seem to be likely. "I don't really have much experience with traveling worlds. This goes way beyond anything I've thought possible already. Have you been on one similar to this before?"

[paopuofyourlife]

"I have only really been to like a few but none of those I had gone to were anything like my home or much like each other." So she could at least say that much confidently.

"but... I haven't seen anything similar to this either, so we add tuit to the list of new."

[lucklessgege]

"Hopefully I can adapt to this type of place so that my services can be of use. It would be a shame to be unable to assist on my first mission."

And he doesn't like feeling idle or useless. Xie Lian has always found a way to do whatever he can to help even when things seemed hopeless.

arrival

[blitzcheer]

At the idle touch Xie Lian appears to place on the panelling, it doesn't take more than a few seconds before a humanoid figure appears beside him with a soft blip sound. Its face is barely human in features, with slits for eyes without colour and simple shape, a thin lines for a mouth that doesn't move as it speaks.

'Greetings. Are you in need of help?'

Xie Lian may miss the sounds of a startled fellow passenger nearby, who is hurrying over to join him with the appearance of -- something? Someone? Tidus is on the case!!

"What is it? Does it talk?" he asks in a hurry, slowing as he comes near - and the form turns, to better face the pair of them.

'Affirmative. We do speak,' it answers.

[lucklessgege]

Xie Lian tenses slightly when the thing approaches but his uncertainty becomes surprise when the thing speaks. He looks over at Tidus when he appears beside him then back towards the talking creature.

"What are you called?" Xie Lian feels terribly unprepared to deal with something that isn't alive in the traditional sense of the word. But if he has something to call them then it might make it a little more comfortable to deal with.

[blitzcheer]

'We are the Helpmates of sector Autumn,' it answers cordially. 'Our function is to help you make your stay easier, and to answer any questions you may have.'

"So it's a help desk," Tidus figures, his arms folding. These things weren't anything new to him, but it's been a while since he's seen one. How well did it work, anyway? "Hey, do you know what happened here? We got a distress signal."

'We're sorry, can you repeat the question?'

Oh, boy... "A distress signal? Anything going wrong?"

'We apologise. Is there someone lost? We will help you file a report.'

[lucklessgege]

He looks towards Tidus, "Are you used to these kinds of things?" Because he definitely is not.

Xie Lian listens to the two of them communicate, quite confused by how this is working. The creature doesn't seem to be particularly intelligent since it can't seem to answer the desired questions.

"Can you simply take us to who is in charge so that we might be able to report to them directly?"

Xie Lian isn't really interested in dealing with a middle man if he can talk directly to someone in charge of bringing them here.

Helpmates

[azrthmtrnznthos]

"Back up incoming." Dark energy surrounded the Helpmate, pinning it in place. Raven wasn't far away either, blue-cloak and cowl surrounding her, one hand outstretched with that same dark-energy.

[lucklessgege]

He looks over in the direction the energy had come from, "Thank you for the assistance. I'm not sure what set it off but I guess this must be one of the problems we were informed about."

Xie Lian would hate to think that these things were just randomly going around hurting people.

[azrthmtrnznthos]

"They're malfunctioning in some way, most likely." Raven continued to hold the Helpmate in place with her dark energy as she looked around. "That panel over there might have information about them. Are you familiar enough with technology to look at it?"

[lucklessgege]

"I'm afraid I don't know anything about this kind of thing..." But that doesn't mean he is one to simply give up. He walks over to it and looks at the panel, reaching up to touch it.

"What if this just calls more of them over here?"

wildcard

[crimson_rain]

It's their first mission, but even they don't know what to expect. There are preparations made and Hua Cheng listens carefully as to what is expected on the mission. The dangers and high-risk, which he isn't concerned about, but aware of. Normally, he never takes orders from those in charge, but for once he listens with great interests and take note of the plan.

The planet is quite big and he has never seen the likes of robots before. It's a lot of science that even Hua Cheng isn't familiar with. Who knew even stars has a semblance of civilization? This is new to him. He decides that the higher chance of success for those involved is to split up, and Hua Cheng goes with the red team for the more dangerous tasks at the factories.

"Let's meet at a rendezvous." He trusts Xie Lian can handle on his own with team purple until he's away with the others on team red.

With his promise, he'll meet his beloved at the end of the day at a certain meeting point until he returns from the factories with the others.

[lucklessgege]

Xie Lian hurries towards the rendezvous point. He had gotten a bit distracted by the helper creatures and lost track of time. But he makes good time as he cuts through the abandoned streets and towards where Hua Cheng had told him to meet. After a couple wrong turns because apparently this place likes to keep things interesting and put random walls up...he finally makes it.

He looks around once he is close and then spots the man a short distance away, "San Lang!"

[crimson_rain]

The mission doesn't seem so complicated so far, but finding his way around on this world takes a while. The dysfunctional factory is like a maze, but there isn't anything E-ming can't handle. The helpmates are distracting, and the roads and walls keep changing and shifting, block and obstructing his way.

But eventually, from a distance away, he spots his beloved and with a smile, he comes toward to him.

"Gege. Are you well?"

[lucklessgege]

"Sorry I am late, San Lang." He reaches him and smiles, glad to have been able to find him.

"I'm fine. I just had trouble navigating the roads. They are quite tricky." He knows that they might not get to see much of each other while the mission is going on so he is glad for this chance to meet up for at least a little while.

"Have you met up with your team mates?"

Helpmates

[melodiouspacifist]

He happened to find Xie Lian while he was looking at a panel and he waved a little bit.

"Hey, guess we're both still here, huh?"

Demyx had been ignoring the helpmates for the most part, but one of them was charging at him with a wrench.

"Whoa now!" He said, jumping out of harms way, and reflexively pushing an admittedly small, unimpressive ball in its direction, but it would be enough to knock it over temporarily, buying time. He glanced aside and there was another one already looking in his direction.

"At this rate, I'm gonna have to get serious."

[lucklessgege]

Xie Lian smiles at the man as he approaches but he doesn't get a chance to formerly say hello when the things attack. He steps back as another approaches and uses his strength once more to send it flying away.

He doesn't have any spiritual energy to help with these so all he can do is rely on his physical strength. Luckily that is more then a typical human having been built up over his centuries of life.

"They seem to be quite persistent."

[melodiouspacifist]

"Man, always comes down to this, doesn't it?"

Alright then, if they weren't going to just back off, even if they weren't terribly threatening, he could buy them time, but to do that, he'd need a lot more water than what was at his disposal.

He held his hand out and water appeared around him, the drops heading upwards and forming a ball above his head as he raised his hand. It changed and he summoned his sitar, catching it in mid-air easily enough, practiced.

It might be an odd choice for a weapon.

[lucklessgege]

Xie Lian is without his sword and his own weapon is a piece of silk bandage around his wrist, so he certainly isn't one to judge a person's weapon choice.

"This could be the reason we are here. To subdue them. I just hope they aren't upset when we destroy all their hard work."

He sends Rouye out and the little bandage seems to fly along the air to wrap itself around another of the creature's heads as if trying to blind it.

Arrival

[longforgottenpromise]

"No..." Taiki, who was dressed in a red hoodie but in the purple area with the rest of the purple team, smiled softly at the man who was at the panel.

"They are all different... They aren't usually as... Technologically advanced as this one."

They had been on a space station once. But even that had felt... Different to this. This was even more advanced, a whole artificial world.

[lucklessgege]

He turns towards the person who is speaking and then looks up as well, "This is far beyond anything I have ever seen before." He is used to houses made of wood and dirt and natural materials but this doesn't seem to be like that at all. As if the train wasn't odd enough.

[longforgottenpromise]

"If you have any questions... I don't come from a place like this but I have lived in a world that had most of the technology we have on the train... Except not anything like... the train itself."

No flying void trains, but he at least knows what a toaster is which puts him at an advantage compared to many people.

[lucklessgege]

"Thank you. I appreciate that. I've managed to learn enough on the train to make due. But I fear coming to this place is going to require learning quite a bit more."

He is definitely out of his element and wondering if he will even be very useful on this mission at all.