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.
blitzcheer: (mrhrhrhrhrhgghgh)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2021-01-14 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
What is this sudden tense reaction?! Tidus blinks at Roland in bewilderment, expecting nothing more than a 'is that so' at most to his coming along with Purple. This has him slightly wide-eyed, surprised, shaking his head at the apparent concern.

"Nothin'! More people go with Red now, so I figured they'd be okay." And...

And there's a way that he looks aside, was already even when he spoke up, not meeting Roland's gaze. His mouth parted afterward like he's about to say more, but he doesn't. Not immediately anyway, until he looks back properly at Roland, finding his energy again.

"Well? Are we gonna hang around here? Let's get going!"
adregem: (Default)

[personal profile] adregem 2021-01-16 01:14 pm (UTC)(link)
"I see."

He doesn't offer resistance to an explanation that simple, and doesn't feel the need to anyway. Not even the slight delay in Tidus's response draws much suspicion from Roland, and in fact, allows him the chance to brighten up his expression, smiling wide and slinging an arm around his shoulders nicely.

"I'm sure Red and Blue will miss their ace, but it's been a while since we worked on a Purple mission together. So you won't be hearing complaints from me. Welcome back, pro. Let's wrap this up nicely, shall we?"

And get going they do indeed, as soon as Roland pats his arm warmly, resuming the walk towards the Great Autumn door. Though it might be that Roland's breath grows heavy again, like a switch to remind him that work looms over them now, and there would be no more time for fun and games for now. This is the first mission where they know way too much about their circumstance on the train...So he assumes they'd be looking for clues regarding the void while performing tasks for the mission at the same time.

He nods. "Ready when you are."
blitzcheer: (just ???? faces everywhere)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2021-01-16 02:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Is Tidus the one who should be concerned here? Puzzled? The brief moment of the arm around him, and the mix from apprehension to a warm friendliness puzzles Tidus. ...or maybe the arm is what does more.

But he puts it aside, tries not to overthink it and follows Roland in his footsteps over to the door, large and unassuming. A switch sits to the side, eyes on it before Roland's approval. But with it spoken, Tidus walks over to put his hand on it, and the barrier splits apart from the middle and draws inward into the framing of the walls; revealing on the other side of the threshold the plain expanse that awaits them.

Stretching, stretching on. Tidus stares for a second or so at it from where he is, but steps inside without hesitating. Looking up to a ceiling that bears upon it a cloudy blue sky in motion. A contrast to the world of nothing below.

"Someone didn't finish decorating," is Tidus's first thought to it all. Puzzled, perplexed. This was...a sight.
adregem: (< suit > you're all talk right now.)

[personal profile] adregem 2021-01-18 09:58 am (UTC)(link)
Roland can only concur, but no words pass through his lips. The arms that come crossed against his chest fall to his sides as the area is surveyed with an uncharacteristic eye for detail, doubting immediately that this couldn't be as simple as a bare biome that looks like it was abandoned halfway through their blueprint. The hum that does escape him, low and deep, lends to the feeling of shifting attitudes. Everything is sterile and cold and lifeless that he can't help but be reminded of somewhere else he'd rather not be, or think about.

The eerie blanket of complete silence doesn't help his impression any. He walks, follows the initial flow of the streets if it can be called that, pausing only to peer at what does stick out...Though expectedly, there's nothing to find there either.

"Hm." Roland breathes out. "What a party." The sarcasm isn't lost on him, but he says it deliberately. A careful pivot on the ball of his foot to look back at the distance they've crossed, the doors that have shut, separating them from the rest of the train; he frowns deeply at the nothingness behind them too.

"No signs of forced entry or destruction from the holding bay," he says steadily. "And no signs of it in here. So who are we lending our aid to, and has the threat come and gone...? Or worse?" Paranoid as he might sound, how could one ignore such forewarnings when Roland flashes his trademark quirk of the brow, the crinkle in his forehead to indicate deep thought. Gears churning, wondering of what to make of it all.

But this was no time to sit and chat, so he keeps moving while talking with Tidus instead.
Edited 2021-01-18 10:00 (UTC)
blitzcheer: (HUUMMM)

[personal profile] blitzcheer 2021-01-18 12:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Tidus watches where his feet walk, the surrounding area, the far off distance. Nothing immediately standing out, and what did that mission briefing call this area again? Blue was pastoral, but that he only remembers thanks to Madoka. This place was... what?

He wonders, he thinks, a small dip to his brow as he continues to walk, waiting for his eyes to adjust and find some detail they haven't yet been able to. As if something more than this blank slate will finally reveal itself.

"They were working on this place," Tidus says slow, trying to piece together what's going on, what they should maybe be thinking about. "And it was a distress signal. If it's a signal... then maybe whatever's happened in some place. But the train doesn't know where? For some reason."

It's only on the end of those words that a thought occurs to him, a slow 'oh' dragging out from him.

"Nita did say she had a dream - somewhere with grass, or- a lake or pond. A body of water. That might be where we need to go."
adregem: (an inkling of a plan.)

[personal profile] adregem 2021-01-22 04:46 pm (UTC)(link)
He only stops walking when his vision takes in an unusual sight. Lines running across white and clean concrete, a view from the bird's eye with steps to either side of them descending into a space that looks like it should belong in a complete horror film set in outer space more than Roland gives this mission credit for. By no means should this area even resemble a place of habitation, since every pod even from where they stand seems like there was no intention of ever finishing it in the first place. Or that they should be lived in at all.

He takes the lead and enters the breadth of the Great Autumn, cautious yet steady.

"A grassy area with a body of water...Sounds like a dream compared to all this." He gestures with a quick scan, craning his neck from side to side, wondering out loud. The distaste in his voice is obvious, since he isn't trying to hide it at this point. "For an area meant to be made into homes, everything feels so sterile." He hums, not wanting to advance inwards too fast for one reason or another.

Grass. A lake. A pond.

Roland turns to Tidus, half-joking.

"Sorry your grand return to Purple is so anti-climactic. I think if we're supposed to go to a place with more nature, this definitely isn't it." Roland looks across the area again, eyes narrowing. "Or we keep moving forward and find a pleasant surprise, I suppose."
Edited 2021-01-22 16:47 (UTC)